The Science Show

Cobras, taipans, black mambas — Tim Friede's been intentionally bitten more than 200 times by some of the most venomous snakes on Earth.

And he survived, mostly because years of self-injecting venom let him develop immunity to them.

(Please do not try this yourself!)

Now his blood's been used to make a broad-spectrum antivenom that researchers say may protect against nearly 20 deadly snakes.

But this is not how antivenom is usually made. So how are snake antivenoms produced, and where are we with a "universal" version?

Mansi Kasliwal describes how she detects supernovae – the massive stellar explosions where elements are formed. We learn how dung beetles saved the Australian environment from the big problem, and David Attenborough shares his love for Birds-of-paradise.

Hate getting needles? You're in good company — one in five people in Australia have needle fear.

Sharks have survived 500 million years while mass extinctions have wiped out other species. Now, sharks are under threat.

Somewhere out past Mars in the early hours of Easter Monday, a space probe called Lucy whizzed by an asteroid named Donaldjohanson.

Lucy then sent back images showing Donaldjohanson is about five kilometres wide and shaped like a peanut.

It's one of a handful of asteroids on Lucy's 12-year itinerary.

So what does the billion-dollar mission hope to achieve?

Palaeontology helps reveal why some animals are in desperate need of help while others thrive.

Gout Gout is fast becoming the face of Australian athletics, regularly clocking blisteringly quick times over 100- and 200-metre sprints.

And he's only 17. Many think the best is yet to come.

So what is it about Gout that makes him such an impressive sprinter at such a young age?

A protein in the immune system, DECTIN-1 - primarily responsible for defending the body against fungal infections, has been found to control the severity of autoimmune diseases such as irritable bowel disease (IBS), type 1 diabetes, eczema, and other chronic disorders.

We've been hearing a lot about a certain proposal to get nuclear power up and running in Australia, but little's been said about what happens when plants reach the end of their life.

Decommissioning a single nuclear power plant can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take decades.

So what's involved, and why is the process so long and expensive?

Soils are too often neglected but caring for them brings many benefits for plant nutrition, human health and a boost for the farm economy.