The Science Show

Fresh Australian dietary guidelines are due next year, and they’ll likely focus on the health of the planet as well as people.

Small chemical groups inserted or removed from around DNA may affect gene expression and so be a way to control genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anaemia and beta thalassemia. 

Meat ants don't sound like the most endearing Australian animals. These purple-red insects are super territorial, swarming and biting anything that threatens their nest. 

But it turns out they're not just aggressive, flesh-tearing fighters. They're also farmers, architects, and — best of all — cane toad exterminators. 

Is the US shooting itself in the foot, or shooting itself in the head? As Donald Trump removes funding for medical research, climate research and more, Matthew England reflects on how science will help us cope with a changing world.

It's impossible to escape microplastics. They're in our food and water, and the air around us is teeming with them.

So considering they're all around us, how can we minimise our exposure to tiny plastic fragments without resorting to living in a cave?

A 100-yr flood is now a more regular occurrence in the German town of Passau, bringing widespread destruction, another local impact of a planet getting hotter.

It feels like you can't go a week without hearing about some new quantum technology which promises to change our lives for the better. 

But quantum mechanics is already well and truly present in our daily life — and you don't even have to be a physicist to be using it. 

There was a famous debate. And truly weird ideas about how the universe works at a subatomic level. Shelby Traynor traces the history of quantum mechanics.

If you've given birth to three daughters, what are the odds that your next child will also be a girl?

One in two, right? Well … maybe not.

The odds of having a fourth girl could be a fair bit higher than 50 per cent, according to a new study into families with single-sex sets of siblings.

Discover the story of a pair of brothers who invented an early electric scooter, humidicrib, fax machine, Olympic scoreboard — and much more! — in their South Australian workshop from the 1930s to the 60s.

We also learn about a trial that's generated energy from the waves, and unearth two rare photographs of a long-lost bandicoot species.