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, the poetic, and the physical of endings this week on Science Friction.Hear Part 1: What Came Before the Big BangGuests:

Alicia SometimesPoet, writer, broadcaster, podcaster

Chris FerrieQuantum physicist, Associate Professor, Centre for Quantum Software and InformationUniversity of Technology, SydneyAuthor, Quantum Physics for Babies (and other children's books)

Katie MackTheoretical cosmologist, Associate professor, Department of PhysicsNorth Carolina State University,Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science CommunicationPerimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsAuthor, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)

Writer: Alicia SometimesWriter: Alicia SometimesProducers: Alicia Sometimes, Natasha MitchellSound Engineer: Matthew Crawford 

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 the face of the climate crisis.France gave so-called 'deliberative democracy' a crack, where lay citizens are assembled to deliberate and shape vital policies. Europe is ahead of the game in this, but find out what happened next in the French experiment.Catch up on the whole series HERE, or wherever you get your podcasts.Guests: Amandine Roggeman, Louis-Gaeten Giraudet, Professor Nicole Curato.

Host: Jo LauderReporters: Jo LauderSeries Producer: Cheyne AndersonExecutive Producer (audio): Joel WernerExecutive Producer (digital): Clare BlumerSound engineer: Hamish Camilleri

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 face of the climate crisis. Catch up on the whole series HERE, or wherever you get your podcasts.Guests: Saul Griffith, Andrew Davies, Cameron Gardiner

Host: Jo LauderReporters: Joel Werner, James PurtillSeries Producer: Cheyne AndersonExecutive Producer (audio): Joel WernerExecutive Producer (digital): Clare BlumerSound engineer: Hamish Camilleri

Science and culture ... with extra spice. All species welcome.

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.  A floral story of love, exile and serendipity. Oh, and an Emperor and Empress!

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 Intimacy: Virtual Friends, digital lovers, and algorithmic matchmakers), and Josephine Taylor (Eye of a Rook).

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 together to share a conversation about worlds past, future, real, and imagined.

What came before time as we know it began? A time before. Can we ever really know?

Four big minds on the next steps for our species.

Sex is complicated. Oh yes indeed.