Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

100 word including guest & book

Western Australian woman, Donna Nelson was in Japanese court this week, appealing her 6 year sentence for drug smuggling. Romance scam expert, Monica Whitty, gave evidence for Nelson's defence that was rejected as part of the appeal. But Monica's report leaves little doubt that Nelson was a victim of organised crime that specialised in using romance scams to trick victims into becoming unwitting drug mules. 

Guest: Monica Whitty, Professor of Human Factors in Cyber Security in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University

It's a microscopic single cell organism, known by the scientific name Karenia Mikimotoi.

And right now this micro-algae is wreaking havoc on a large stretch of the South Australian coast, forming a destructive algal bloom that's grown to 4,500klms in size - or about twice the size of the ACT.

GUEST:

Professor Shauna Murray Marine Biologist, at the UTS School of Life Sciences.

Actor Yael Stone had finally secured a  Green Card - that ticket to the American dream that gives outsiders the legal right to live and work in the United States.

Something coveted and potentially life-transforming it’s literally the prize in an annual lottery.  

So not many people give up something like that, and especially if that card has allowed you to star in a hit series on Netflix.

Guest: Yael Stone Actor and environmental activist.

Currently performing in Mother Play for the Melbourne Theatre Company

Malaria killed an estimated 600,000 people globally in 2023 and 94% of those deaths were in Africa. Advances in genome editing means that it may now be possible to eradicate the malaria carrying mosquito. Paul Ndebele is a bioethicist from George Washinton University  who grew up in a malarial zone of the Zambezi Valley so brings a personal perspective on whether plans to eradicate the mosquito should proceed. 

Guest: Paul Ndebele, bioethicist and Professor in George Washington University’s Department of Global Health

How good are you at Microsoft Excel? Not as good as the young people in a new documentary called Spreadsheet Champions. Having its Australian Premiere at the MIFF, the documentary follows six national Excel champions from Guatemala, Cameroon, Vietnam, Greece, Australia and the USA as they compete in the World Championships.  

Guests: Kristina Kraskov director Spreadsheet Champions and Guatemalan Excel champion Carmina Solares

Spreadsheet Champions is having its Australian Premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Screening details here.

While city streets teeming with robots might feel like a scene from a sci-fi movie, service robots are already commonplace in the public spaces of cities like Tokyo and Singapore. But while the technology forges ahead, the regulators that plan the public policies for our cities are being left behind, leaving a potential for a gulf between what populations needs from service robots and what is delivered. Professor Michael Mintrom shares the findings from his study into what policymakers need to consider when preparing for the robots of the future. 

Guest: Michael Mintrom, Professor of Public Policy at Monash University 

Sotheby's sold a meteorite from Mars for US$5.3 million last Wednesday to an undisclosed buyer. Sotheby's claims is the largest Martian meteorite in the world, at nearly 25kgs. But for planetary scientist like Professor Gretchen Benedix,  the value of Martian meteorites is beyond the imaginations of most private collectors. She shares the science that has been used to analyse meteorites, and the potential discoveries that might be made from access to such a large Martian rock. 

Guest: Professor Gretchen Benedix, cosmic mineralogist and astrogeologist at Curtin's Space Science and Technology Centre, and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at Curtin University.

It is hard enough to complete a PHD, but imagine doing it without access to libraries or the Internet. One inmate from the maximum security Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington in Central West NSW has completed a PHD designing and constructing  hydroponic garden that grows fresh vegetables for the prison population. How did he do it?

Guest: Dr Christian Tietz, Senior Lecturer, Industrial Design, UNSW

How maximum security prison inmates and officers worked together to create a farm behind bars The Conversation.

Tasmanians are going back to the polls, after a successful no-confidence motion was made against the Premier Jeremy Rockliff.

The snap poll comes just over a year since the last election, and its likely whoever wins will have to once again navigate a politically diverse crossbench.

GUEST:

Richard Eccleston Professor of Political Science, University of Tasmania