He imagined the atomic bomb, he believed in a world government, he wrote books about science and science fiction and was the first popular communicator of scientific ideas. Today we commemorate the life and achievements of Herbert George Wells. (this program was first broadcast June 2016)

Geology departments becoming smaller or closingWhitley Awards celebrate 50 yearsNorfolk Island – food bowl for Australia’s first European settlers

Do fish and crabs feel pain, what went down at COP26, and how might climate change dampen the spirits of homeowners in low-lying areas? Plus and environmental scientist explains his theory that the earth has a spirit and we meet a researcher with an unusual obsession with slime.

Time to take kids more seriouslyNorfolk Island once a convict hellholeHedy Lamarr - actress, inventor, amateur engineer

What can we learn from fake news, going electric and formerly Facebook's fate.

Rare new fossil site gets palaeontologists excitedThe first computer – a product of Victorian England

A look back at 2021 – a new malaria vaccine and an Alzheimer’s drug get the thumbs up, COVID vax facts and nutritional myth busting.

We continue Ian Johnston’s story of the parallel developments of physics and music. Some combinations of notes we find pleasing. Others less so. How is this explained by physics?

Why was Mars making news so often in 2021, what sent out mystery interstellar radio signals, and who, if anyone, won the billionaire space race?

New thinking in the Renaissance led to a new understanding of physics and with it, a new musical scale and new instruments. Physics and music bloomed.