The Cosmos Podcast

The recent pardon petition by leading Australian scientists regarding the Kathleen Folbigg case – in which new scientific findings have shown her four children could have died of natural cases – has raised a number of questions about how specialised scientific evidence is regarded by our system of courts. 
Gary Edmond (law professor at University of NSW), Anna-Maria Arabia (chief executive of the Australian Academy of Science) and Richard O’Brien (endocrinology professor at the University of Melbourne and frequent expert witness) join our host Professor Alan Duffy (Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology and Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia) to discuss why science and law can't communicate. 
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Healthcare has been changing rapidly since genomic data became available, and has opened the door to precise, targeted therapies and treatments for an individual. However, the amount of data that can be collected from a single genome is immense, especially when looking to learn about whole populations. For this, high processing computers and AI are necessary to help distil and analyse genomic data.

Dr Deborah Devis, a science journalist with the Royal Institution of Australia, talks to Dr Mileidy Giraldo, Global lead of Life Sciences at Lenovo about the future of personalised health care and the need for big data, high processing computers and intersectional expertise.

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It has been two years since the official launch of the Australian Space Agency. While the Agency is still young, it has opened exciting doors for the nation from fast-growing startups to multi-national collaborations. We look at how Australia’s space industry is expanding, what we can do to stay competitive, and how to maximise the benefits of private industry alongside government at the final frontier. 
Dr Cassandra Steer (Mission Specialist with the ANU Institute for Space, and a Senior Lecturer at the College of Law), Adam Gilmour (CEO and co-founder of Gilmour Space, a venture-funded space technology and rocket company), and Aude Vignelles (Chief Technology Officer at the Australian Space Agency), join our host Professor Alan Duffy (Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology and Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia) to discuss.
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A major threat of climate change is to future food security. With a projected Australian population of 35.9 million in 2050, and rising average temperatures of up to 4°C, how will agricultural science work to feed the future? Should we lean on gene technology or traditional methods? Professor Rachel Burton (Head of the Plant Science Department & Chief Investigator ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at Waite Campus, University of Adelaide) and Dr Angela Pattison (Research Scientist at the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute) join our host Dr Deborah Devis (Geneticist & Science Journalist  at The Royal Institution of Australia) to discuss.
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Barely known to the public before the COVID briefings of early 2020, epidemiological modelling informs public health decisions that can shutter communities and alter lives. But what does it mean? Professor Jodie McVernon (physician and director of Doherty Epidemiology) and Professor Tony Blakely (an epidemiologist, specialist in public health medicine and Director of the Population Interventions Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) join our host Professor Alan Duffy (Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology and Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia) to discuss.
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Demand for renewable energy technologies is growing across the world, but their constituent materials – such as the lithium used in batteries – are non-renewable, as the Earth contains only finite amounts. Currently, 55% the world’s lithium supply comes from Australia, so we must ask ourselves: how do we mine these materials in a sustainable and responsible way? Dr Mahdokht Shaibani (Research Fellow at Monash University, with expertise in materials synthesis, engineering, and scale-up for next-generation energy storage systems) and Professor Rick Valenta (Director of the WH Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre at the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland) join our host Professor Alan Duffy (Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology and Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia) to discuss.
Find the science of everything at cosmosmagazine.com