Science Friction

It starts as a mozzie bite ... but then it turns into something much worse.

And the search for a cause stretches back decades.

How did flesh-eating bacteria come to be in Melbourne's inner suburbs?

And what do possums have to do with it?

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

KylahMelbourne

Professor Paul JohnsonInfectious diseases physician, Austin Health and University of Melbourne

Professor Tim StinearMolecular microbiologist, Doherty Institute and University of Melbourne

Dr Veronique ParisMedical entomologist, University of Melbourne

• Presenter: Belinda Smith
• Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Senior Producer: James Bullen
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins

More information:

In 2021, four people across four different parts of the United States fall ill.

They all have the same disease — a life-threatening bacterial infection.

But the weird thing is they haven't travelled anywhere. And the bug that causes the infection isn't found in the US.

So how did they get it?

This handful of cases kicks off a disease investigation with roots that stretch back to northern Australia.

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Guests:

Dr Julia PetrasEpidemiologist, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr Mindy ElrodMicrobiologist, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Will MisiSupport worker, Cairns

Dr Josh HansonGeneral and infectious diseases physician, Cairns

Dr Ella MeumannInfectious diseases physician; Clinical microbiologist, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin

• Presenter: Belinda Smith
• Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Senior Producer: James Bullen
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins

In 2000, people who visited the Melbourne Aquarium started to get sick. Really sick.

This outbreak would go on to become the largest of its kind in Australia.

This story goes back 50 years to a mystery that stumped scientists in Philadelphia. 

How did they crack the case, and why are we still struggling to stop this disease?

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

Professor Robert PromisloffClinical Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Drexel University

Dr Jane GreigEpidemiologist, Burnet Institute and Médecins Sans Frontières

Dr Verlaine TimmsMicrobiologist, University of Newcastle and University of Western Sydney

Stephen WalshLawyer

• Presenter: Belinda Smith
• Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Senior Producer: James Bullen
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins

From mystery illnesses to flesh-eating bacteria and the looming threat of bird flu — outbreaks can push scientists, communities and health systems to their limits. 

For Science Friction on ABC Radio National, Belinda Smith looks back on some of the disease outbreaks that shaped Australia.

Hear about the scientists racing to find answers, the unusual diseases they're hunting, and the everyday people caught in the middle.

Outbreaks is a four-part series from Science Friction on ABC Radio National. Episode 1 is out Wednesday October 14th.

When it comes to the often incomprehensible world of quantum, it can be hard to distinguish hype from reality. 

We might be on the verge of a breakthrough ... or tech start-ups might be trying to drum up momentum for the benefit of their stakeholders.

Hype is important in science, but can it go too far? And has AI knocked the wind out of the sails of quantum computing?

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

Dr Tara RobersonScience communicator

Stela TodorovicMedia Director for PsiQuantum Australia

Gideon LichfieldJournalist, former editor-in-chief of WIRED and MIT Technology Review

Professor Warwick BowenDirector of the Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology and leader of the Quantum Optics Laboratory, University of Queensland

• Presenter: Jacinta Bowler
• Script producers: Fiona Pepper, James Bullen
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins
• Archives Research: Lisa Chidlow, Michael Osmond

You might not know it, but Australia is an unexpected frontrunner in the race to build a quantum computer. 

Despite our isolation, leading quantum experts have called Australia home for decades, chipping away at this massive challenge. 

What have we learnt, from our first digital computer CSIRAC, to now? And will it all culminate in the world's first million-qubit computer?

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

Dr Peter ThorneFormer weekend service operator for CSIRAC

Professor Michelle SimmonsCEO of Silicon Quantum Computing and director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, UNSW

Professor Robert ClarkFounding director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology, UNSW

Professor Geoff PrydeChief Technical Director, PsiQuantum Australia

• Presenter: Jacinta Bowler
• Script producers: Fiona Pepper, James Bullen
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins
• Archives Research: Lisa Chidlow, Michael Osmond

It's 1994, and a mathematical algorithm puts a spotlight on quantum computing for the first time.

Defence departments, spy agencies and cybersecurity experts are on edge over the explosive Shor's algorithm.

They spend decades and billions of dollars searching for a solution before something called "Q-day" arrives.

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

Dr Henry EverittSenior technologist for optical sciences, US Army

Emeritus Professor Charles ClarkPhysicist, formerly National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Dr Sushmita RujAssociate professor, University of New South Wales' Institute for Cybersecurity

Special thanks to Nick Adams for reading Peter Shor's limerick. 

• Presenter: Jacinta Bowler
• Producer: Fiona Pepper
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins
• Archives Research: Lisa Chidlow, Michael Osmond
• Additional audio courtesy of CSIRO Publishing

Google announces it has achieved something game changing — quantum supremacy. But not everybody agrees.

The company claims its quantum computer called Sycamore has solved a problem that no classical computer could manage in hundreds of thousands of years. 

IBM wants this stricken from history.

A war of words breaks out as two tech giants race to build a useful quantum computer that could change how the world works.

Got feedback? Email us [email protected]

Guests:

Scott YoungCropping and livestock farmer in Ballan, Victoria

Gideon LichfieldJournalist, former editor-in-chief of WIRED and MIT Technology Review

Professor John Martinis2025 Nobel laureate in Physics

Credits:

• Presenter: Jacinta Bowler
• Producer: Fiona Pepper
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins
• Archives Research: Lisa Chidlow, Michael Osmond

This story was made on the lands of the Wurundjeri, Gadigal and Menang Noongar peoples.

More information

Quantum computers could be the next giant leap in technology — transforming how we heal people, how we grow food, how we get around our cities.

So how close are we to the quantum future we've been promised?

For Science Friction on ABC Radio National, Jacinta Bowler unpacks how the weird world of quantum physics could change everything.

Hear about the surprising twists, the quantum cat-fights and the plucky heroes that have defined humanity's effort to build nature's most unpredictable machine. 

Dead and Alive is a four-part series from Science Friction on ABC Radio National. Episode 1 is out Wednesday July 8th.

The Integrity astronauts are back on Earth recovering from their journey, while NASA prepares for Artemis III. 

Belinda and Jacinta answer some of your questions in the wake of a successful moon orbit mission. 

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.