Revisiting some past stories from episodes of Lost in Science Fiction, we look at the science contained in (and the science inspired by) Star Wars, 2001: a Space Odyssey, and Ad Astra

This week the team explore the science behind some science fiction classics. How strong would a tornado have to be to suck up the shark from Jaws? Would murderous robots in the future really be human-like? And what is the best science fiction movie, according to quantum physicists?

This week, Linden reveals a new study into predicting the tipping points when mathematicians have a sudden “ah-ha!” moment when working on a blackboard; and Claire stuns us all with research that found a single ant was able to lay eggs for two different species.S. Tabatabaeian, A. O’bi, D. Landy, & T. Marghetis, An information-theoretic foreshadowing of mathematicians’ sudden insights, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (35) e2502791122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2502791122 (2025).Juvé, Y., Lutrat, C., Ha, A. et al. One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants. Nature 646, 372–377 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09425-w

This week we pay tribute to the science winners at this year's Nobel prizes, though possibly not as much fun as the Ignobels from last week, they will definitely get people thinking (and solving problems) if not laughing as much about the research.

In this week's episode we welcome two more students from the University of Melbourne's Science Communication program. Carola explores her own family history through the story of Mendel's peas, while Lucy spills the tea on how the world's scientists rejected the idea of the Anthropocene as a geological era.

A recent study suggests elephants have nicknames for each other. Find out more with Jessica on this week's episode. Photo by Nam Anh on Unsplash In this week's episode we welcome two students from the University of Melbourne's Science Communication program. Jessica and Niqi discuss the amazing communication styles of elephants, and try to quash bad news stories about ravens from around the world.

Stu talks to Ted Vanderfeen, a Palawa man from Peerapper lands in Northern Tasmania who has shifted his sights to space exploration. He tells us about his work in the US at the NASA jet propulsion laboratory through the Australian National Indigenous Space Academy and his current work on mechatronics with CSIRO.

This week, Chris speaks to climate scientist Michael E. Mann and vaccinologist Peter Hotez about how their common challenges with denialism and anti-science influences led to writing their new book, Science Under Siege: How to fight the five most powerful forces that threaten our world.

This week Linden talks to Clancy "The Bee Man" about native pollinators and how to look after them, while Stu finds out about how we can "Scan for life signs" in the 21st century without having to actually see any living things directly.

This week on Lost in Science, Claire speaks with researcher Saskia Gerhardy about her fascinating new work revealing that the critically endangered plains-wanderer has a much wider habitat than previously thought – including the discovery of a new population in South Australia.And from the archives, Chris revisits a conversation with animal reproductive biologist Jarrod McKenna, exploring the bold and controversial research that aims to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction and into the wilds of Tasmania.