Science Friction

By ABC listen

What's Science Friction about?

Artificial Intelligence has suddenly gone from the fringes of science to being everywhere. So how did we get here? And where's this all heading? In this new series of Science Friction, we're finding out.

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Science Friction episodes:

11.28.2023
06 | Is super-intelligent AI around the corner?
Behind the rise of AI there's big questions about where this technology is going. Is it going to be super intelligent — and if that happens — is it going to kill us all? In our final episode, we're diving into the future and...
11.21.2023
05 | The year the world woke up to AI with a bang
2023 was the year powerful new AI technology went mainstream, with image generators and tools like ChatGPT. And people quickly started wondering where these advances were taking them. This is the story of 2023 in three chapters: the first contact, the backlash...
11.14.2023
04 | If you control AI, you control the world
AI is often portrayed as being all about technology. But it is also about money and control. Because those who control AI, may control the world. In the AI world, there are two names that keep coming up: OpenAI, the company...
11.07.2023
03 | The bumpy history of driverless cars and their AI brains
When you think about a driverless car future, perhaps your mind goes to being driven around, watching movies from the backseat and drinking martinis. For over a decade, perfect driverless cars have seemed only a few years away. But in reality, they...
10.31.2023
02 | Locked up by AI for a crime he didn't commit
As ChatGPT shows us, AI can do some amazing stuff. But it does some creepy stuff as well. And it's already been responsible for locking up innocent people. The story of how AI scanned millions of drivers licences and accused Michigan...
10.24.2023
01 | The day modern AI toppled humanity's champion
The world is experiencing a boom in artificial intelligence (AI). It's everywhere. In just a few years, computers have learned to paint a picture, write a novel, translate languages and consume the entire internet. But how we got here goes back...
10.23.2023
I for one welcome... Hello AI Overlords!
2023 has been the breakout year of artificial intelligence. After decades of investment and improvement, the technology suddenly went mainstream. For many, it was as though a miraculous machine was plonked in our midst. But AI didn't come from nowhere. And...
05.19.2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 4) — The Lost Boys
Two groups of boys on a camp in the wilds of America are pitted against each other. But the camp leaders have only one thing on their minds. Science. The mind-blowing story of a psychological experiment that crossed a line....
05.12.2023
What family secrets hide inside your cells? Epigenetics, trauma, and ancestry
What family secrets lie deep inside your cells? A story of survival against the odds, hope after the Holocaust, and the eye-opening new science of epigenetics… Can biology help you transcend the traumas of your ancestors, or forever burden you...
05.05.2023
Robbie and the DNA Detectives
At the heart of this moving and extraordinary medical mystery is Robbie, a man in a genetic lottery. Two rare mutations made his life uniquely interesting. Then came a third, random event...a chance encounter, a global detective quest and science...
04.28.2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 3) — The superstar of Tai Asks Why
Tai Poole is a self-described scientist and the teenage star of multi-award-winning podcast Tai Asks Why. Love, climate change, death, dreaming…there is nothing Tai's tenaciously, voraciously hungry mind won't take on. He joins Natasha Mitchell to talk life, the universe,...
04.23.2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 2) — I grew up in a cult
When pioneering Australian RNA biologist Archa Fox was a child, her parents were drawn into the orbit of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Her family packed up their life to join the Orange People communes in India and Oregon as...
04.14.2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 1) — The nuclear boy scouts
Nuclear weapons are not toys. But what happens when children get their hands on nuclear know-how? Two explosive stories of two smart kids — both with a radioactive obsession, but with very different outcomes — one celebrated as a child...
04.09.2023
Thanks for the fun! Science Friction's Natasha Mitchell has some news
Natasha Mitchell, presenter and co-producer of Science Friction, has some special news she wants to share with you. Listen in. (Spoiler alert: You can catch her as the new host of the ABC's Big Ideas from April 10 2023. Follow the show on the...
04.06.2023
The fantastical world of fusion – The Expanse's Ty Franck and futurist Karl Schroeder (Part 2)
How has fusion inspired the imaginations of science fiction writers? In The Expanse blockbuster book and TV series, fusion energy has changed the course of civilisation in extraordinary ways – for better and worse. Ty Franck, one half of the...
03.31.2023
Nuclear disruption — will starry-eyed startups win the nuclear fusion race? (Part 1)
The promise of nuclear fusion is clean, limitless energy for all. But why do start-up entrepreneurs think they can solve a problem that's perplexed scientists and fuelled the imagination of science fiction writers for decades? Are they kidding themselves, or inching...
03.24.2023
The unexpected lives of Lab Shenanigans and The Scholar Diaries
It started with one post on Instagram. What followed was unimaginable. Scientists turned social media giants Darrion Nguyen (aka Lab Shenanigans) and Dr Cindy Pham (aka The Scholar Diaries) share moving stories of trauma, self-discovery, and growth. Superficial shiny stereotypes of social media celebrity ......
03.17.2023
Out of jail, is the CRISPR-baby scandal scientist at it again?
Chinese scientist Dr Jiankui He flouted the law and bioethics basics to create the world's first CRISPR gene edited babies. Now out of jail, he's back on Twitter recruiting patients and raising funds for more trials, this time in adults not embryos....
03.10.2023
Science is political — Australia's science minister Ed Husic
Science is political. So let's go straight to the heart of political power in Australia. 10 months into role, the Federal Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic joins Natasha this week. From the muzzling of scientists to stemming the brain...
03.03.2023
Quantum bullsh*t — how (not) to ruin your life with advice from quantum physics
Self-proclaimed TikTok mystics, healers, wellness influencers are increasingly turning to quantum physics to give their claims credibility, with potentially dangerous consequences. How do you disentangle the woo from the wow in quantum physics? And can it be deadly?
02.24.2023
We're here, we're queer, and omg science!
Chemist Kim Kwan didn’t realise how much they needed to find their queer crew in science until they did. Rami Mandow threw in a successful career in finance and business to find true love — astronomy. They share frank, fearless stories about coming out as third culture kids and why...
02.17.2023
World Pride 2023 - Love Your Nature
Australia is hosting the 2023 World Pride festival and queer botanists are celebrating by bringing their full selves to their science. Ryan O'Donnell is an accomplished opera singer and musical theatre performer turned botanist studying orchids and fungi. Botanist Hervé Sauquet is piecing together the...
02.10.2023
Rock celebrity! The big bucks and wild geopolitics of meteorites - Part 2
From the nomadic world of the Sahara Desert to a fantasy wonderland inside a Melbourne industrial warehouse ... meteorites are a growing business and a controversial one. Are the secrets inside space rocks at risk of being lost to wealthy collectors in the West? And, the...
02.03.2023
Rock celebrity! The Black Beauty saga - Part 1
A rock celebrity with a wild biography. Saharan nomads, a weight-loss doctor feeding an unusual addiction, scientists seeking the origins of Everything. 'Black Beauty' has it all. The meteorite with a mighty story, with love from Mars.
01.27.2023
Gene edited foods back on the menu - what are they and what's changed? (REPEAT)
Scientists Jonathan Napier and Cathie Martin remember when they needed armed guards and high fences to protect their genetic experiments. But the rules around genetically modified crops are rapidly changing. What could this mean for your dinner plate? (REPEAT)
01.22.2023
Twinning! (REPEAT)
A pair of twin girls is born in the late 1980s and their mother, Chris, is told a series of ‘facts’ about them. Each born with their own placenta, Chris is told it’s extremely unlikely that her twins are identical, but,...
01.15.2023
Escaping Russia's new Iron Curtain — superstar science podcaster Ilya Kolmanovsky (REPEAT)
Science journalist, biologist, podcaster, teacher and activist Dr Ilya Kolmanovsky is a superstar science communicator. He hosts one of the biggest Russian language podcasts. Bigger than podcasts on sex or politics. But he's no stranger to the brutality of Russia's political leadership. Now,...
01.08.2023
AI ethics leader Timnit Gebru is changing it up after Google fired her (REPEAT)
Leading computer scientist and co-founder of Black in A.I, Dr Timnit Gebru, was hired by Google to co-lead its Ethical AI team with another tech industry trailblazer Dr Margaret Mitchell. The team investigated the ethics of artificial intelligence to understand and...
01.01.2023
Scratch that itch! Meet the Sneaky Artist (REPEAT)
What does it take to reimagine your life? In this occasional Science Friction series, scientists who end-up their lives and strip themselves of their professional identity to become artists. Kolkata-born engineer Nishant Jain flew in the face of expectations, threw in a...
12.25.2022
The mighty fly army (REPEAT)
It started with an idea. Then came the university car park full of tonnes of fish heads. Now this extraordinary 20-something couple have deployed a mighty maggot army to turn 50 tonnes of food waste a week into … well, you'll want...
12.16.2022
Brains vs brains, boys vs girls! Science Friction's 2022 quiz show
Two teams. Scientists and science journalists. Brains vs brains. Boys vs Girls. From the small (bed bug sex) to the big (er, the whole cosmos), it's the year in science with a tongue firmly in our cheeks.
12.09.2022
Prison for protesting - climate change activists or criminals?
The long prison sentence given to Sydney climate protester Deanna 'Violet' Coco for blocking traffic on the Sydney Harbour bridge has surprised many, including her fellow protester Jay, who spent 42 days under house arrest. Are new laws suppressing fundamental human rights to protest, or a proportionate...
12.02.2022
The soul in the machine — anthropologist, technologist, futurist Genevieve Bell
We make machines, but do our machines make us? And who's in control really? Superstar anthropologist, technologist, futurist, cyberneticist, and Silicon Valley insider Genevieve Bell and guests talk machines, minds and messing with the code to make the world so...
11.25.2022
The End of the Universe with poet Alicia Sometimes (Part 2 of 2)
If the universe began with a big bang, how will it end? This question has suddenly got very personal for acclaimed science poet Alicia Sometimes. Physicists have got some hair-raising ideas, from the Big Crunch to the Big Rip. The personal,...
11.17.2022
Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Citizens Assemble!
Should solving climate change be left to politicians? What if YOU could drive policy without ever running for an election? WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? is an ABC podcast about the people who are trying to map out a better future in...
11.11.2022
Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Better Call Saul
Saul Griffith has an ambitious plan to save the planet. It all begins at home and it's completely electrifying! WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? is an ABC podcast about the people who are trying to map out a better future in the...
11.04.2022
Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 2 of 2)
Science and culture ... with extra spice. All species welcome.
10.30.2022
Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 1 of 2)
When intrepid botanist Tim Collins went sleuthing in the wilds of Australia in pursuit of a papery daisy's DNA, little did he know he'd find himself at the heart of an historical saga, a complicated romance, and a botanical mystery....
10.20.2022
Sex, tech, intimacy and power — Jennifer Mills, Rob Brooks, Josephine Taylor
Too much. Not enough. Too weird. Not weird enough. Sex is enjoyed, explored, exploited, and policed in countless ways. The pleasure and pain of writing about sex … with authors Jennifer Mills (The Airways, Dyschronia), evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks (Artificial...
10.14.2022
Deep Past meets Deep Future — science fiction star Becky Chambers
2022 Hugo Award winning science fiction author, Becky Chambers, is loved by fans for her brilliantly hopeful imagined worlds in her Monk and Robot and Wayfarers book series. Archaeologist Dr Emma Rehn investigates the ancient relationship between humans and fire. Science Friction brings Becky and Emma...
10.07.2022
What came before the Big Bang? Poet Alicia Sometimes wants to know
What came before time as we know it began? A time before. Can we ever really know?
09.30.2022
Do we need a revolution? Bruce Pascoe, James Bradley, Michelle Johnston, Lesley Head
Four big minds on the next steps for our species.
09.21.2022
Sex cells! Are there just two biological sexes? [Part 2]
Sex is complicated. Oh yes indeed.
09.18.2022
Simón(e) Sun - I knew I was trans because of science [Part 1] REPEAT
Science is way personal.
09.09.2022
I still call Australia home ... but. Why the USA is stealing our scientists
Three rising stars in science on why they can’t come back.
09.02.2022
Fire of Love – the radical passion of Katia and Maurice Krafft
An explosive love triangle with a difference.
08.26.2022
If trees could talk (Part 2) - Living fossils on the edge
They hold their secrets close. But these scientists are getting Tasmania's "living fossil" trees to talk. And whoa, we need to listen!
08.19.2022
If trees could talk … what could they tell you? (Part 1)
There's a wild tale inside every trunk. The trees join us alongwith Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees & The Heartbeat of Trees) and other tree lovers.
08.12.2022
YOU can save the planet. Con or not? National Science Week debate
Comedian Craig Reucassel (The Chaser, The War on Waste), mathematician Barbara Holland and their teams are out to change your mind.
08.05.2022
The wattle war (repeat)
Flower power, and a botanical battle that divided nations.

What's Science Friction about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Science Friction episodes:

06 | Is super-intelligent AI around the corner?

05 | The year the world woke up to AI with a bang

04 | If you control AI, you control the world

03 | The bumpy history of driverless cars and their AI brains

02 | Locked up by AI for a crime he didn't commit

01 | The day modern AI toppled humanity's champion

I for one welcome... Hello AI Overlords!

REAL WILD CHILD (Part 4) — The Lost Boys

What family secrets hide inside your cells? Epigenetics, trauma, and ancestry

Robbie and the DNA Detectives

REAL WILD CHILD (Part 3) — The superstar of Tai Asks Why

REAL WILD CHILD (Part 2) — I grew up in a cult

REAL WILD CHILD (Part 1) — The nuclear boy scouts

Thanks for the fun! Science Friction's Natasha Mitchell has some news

The fantastical world of fusion – The Expanse's Ty Franck and futurist Karl Schroeder (Part 2)

Nuclear disruption — will starry-eyed startups win the nuclear fusion race? (Part 1)

The unexpected lives of Lab Shenanigans and The Scholar Diaries

Out of jail, is the CRISPR-baby scandal scientist at it again?

Science is political — Australia's science minister Ed Husic

Quantum bullsh*t — how (not) to ruin your life with advice from quantum physics

We're here, we're queer, and omg science!

World Pride 2023 - Love Your Nature

Rock celebrity! The big bucks and wild geopolitics of meteorites - Part 2

Rock celebrity! The Black Beauty saga - Part 1

Gene edited foods back on the menu - what are they and what's changed? (REPEAT)

Twinning! (REPEAT)

Escaping Russia's new Iron Curtain — superstar science podcaster Ilya Kolmanovsky (REPEAT)

AI ethics leader Timnit Gebru is changing it up after Google fired her (REPEAT)

Scratch that itch! Meet the Sneaky Artist (REPEAT)

The mighty fly army (REPEAT)

Brains vs brains, boys vs girls! Science Friction's 2022 quiz show

Prison for protesting - climate change activists or criminals?

The soul in the machine — anthropologist, technologist, futurist Genevieve Bell

The End of the Universe with poet Alicia Sometimes (Part 2 of 2)

Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Citizens Assemble!

Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Better Call Saul

Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 2 of 2)

Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 1 of 2)

Sex, tech, intimacy and power — Jennifer Mills, Rob Brooks, Josephine Taylor

Deep Past meets Deep Future — science fiction star Becky Chambers

What came before the Big Bang? Poet Alicia Sometimes wants to know

Do we need a revolution? Bruce Pascoe, James Bradley, Michelle Johnston, Lesley Head

Sex cells! Are there just two biological sexes? [Part 2]

Simón(e) Sun - I knew I was trans because of science [Part 1] REPEAT

I still call Australia home ... but. Why the USA is stealing our scientists

Fire of Love – the radical passion of Katia and Maurice Krafft

If trees could talk (Part 2) - Living fossils on the edge

If trees could talk … what could they tell you? (Part 1)

YOU can save the planet. Con or not? National Science Week debate

The wattle war (repeat)