The Science Briefing

Did dinosaurs have feathers, coloured skin and sing and dance?

It's more likely than you think. 

The mental image we have of dinosaurs has been drilled into us thanks to how the media has painted them - think Jurassic Park. 

But how accurate is this image?

Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist about unlocking what dinosaurs truly looked like.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ancestry.com, hair samples and crime scenes - that's likely what you think of when you hear DNA. 

Probably not fish mucus and kangaroo scat.

That's what's called environmental DNA - or eDNA - and ecologists can track it down pretty easily to find out what animals and organisms have been where.

But some are concerned about human eDNA could be collected and used in nefarious.

Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Ellen Phiddian about the good and the bad uses of environmental DNA.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Talking to chatbots has become an everyday part of life for a lot of us.

They help set timers, make calls and give us the weather forecast. 

But what if the voice coming through your smart speaker belonged to a loved one who had passed away?

Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Petra Stock about resurrecting loved ones through artificial intelligence, what these conversations might sound like and whether or not it's a road we should go down.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve become so reliant on maps apps on our phone that use GPS, it’s hard to imagine navigating our way around without them. 

R.I.P street directory books. 

But what happened if GPS systems around the globe randomly went down? 

Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Jacinta Bowler about how GPS technology works and what would happen if it suddenly went dark.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some volcanoes erupt multiple times a day, others, once every 600,000 years.

But how do we know when they're going to blow?

Predicting eruptions has baffled those studying volcanoes, but is that about to change?

Dr Sophie Calabretto asks Cosmos Magazine journalist Evrim Yazgin about predicting volcanic eruptions and the researchers using artificial intelligence to unlock when a volcanoes about to go off. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve modelled the ice melting in Antarctica for decades, but new research suggests it’s melting five times faster than we previously thought. 

The biggest concern is that more melting ice means higher sea level rise, but that’s far from the only thing we should be worried about.  

Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Matthew Ward Agius about what’s going on with Antarctica and putting a plug in sea level rise before it gets worse.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not a fan of needles? What if getting vaccinated was as easy as putting on a patch? 

Studies around the world are looking into printable vaccine patches and if they could be used in place of the typical jab, and so far, the results are looking promising. 

Dr Sophie Calabretto asks Cosmos Magazine journalist Ellen Phiddian what are vaccine patches, how are they made and how far off are they for human use?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The SpaceX Starship fails to launch.

Birds eating beetles get toxic feathers.

Dinosaur triangle unearths the Ann sauropod skull. 

Dr Sophie Calabretto chats to Cosmos Magazine journalist about 3 major science stories from April that you might have missed but should definitely know about.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kathleen Folbigg has served 20 years in prison for killing her four children.  

She has continually professed her innocence.  

An inquiry into her convictions re-commenced last week with scientific findings from November edging her closer than ever to a possible release.  

So what happens next? And what’s the likely result from this latest inquiry? 

Dr Sophie Calabretto talk to Cosmos Magazine journalist Matthew Agius about the latest developments in the Kathleen Folbigg story and the science that blew the case wide open two decades later.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might walk and talk like meat... but is meat grown in a lab, actually meat?

Yes!

Lab grown meat is coming in hot – and fast – as a sustainable, cruelty free alternative to regular meat.

But how is it made? And does it taste any good?

Dr Sophie Calabretto and Cosmos Magazine journalist Jacinta Bowler put cultivated meat to the taste test and run through some of the wild lab meat ideas manufacturers have in the works.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.