The Science Show

* Fluorescent sensors bring cell contents to life* Plotting the Oceans: Stories of Powerful Maps and Their Makers* Animal senses that work as well in water as on land* Mushroom Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Fungal Lives* Descend two kilometres underground to the cleanest lab on Earth

The longest survey of our southern skies — The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) — has just begun from the Vera Rubin Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert.

Over the next 10 years, the largest digital camera on Earth will look at the same patches of sky time and again, aiming to record exploding stars, new asteroids, and maybe find what's behind dark energy.

Jonathan Webb gets sucked into grand cosmic questions with Dr Anais Möller, as they discuss how astronomers are getting a head start on their research from the survey.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Dr Anais Möller, Senior Research Fellow Swinburne University

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

* Celebrating Charles Todd, father of the overland telegraph* Diverse background ideal for leader in pioneering science* Mirror life risks catastrophe* Future Right Now reveals concerns of young people* Botany courses becoming an endangered species

This year has been one of the worst starts to the snow season since records began. And it's a trend that researchers say will only continue in the years to come. 

But what's causing this change? What's the outlook for the rest of this ski season, and should we all just be booking a holiday to Japan? 

Jonathan Webb goes off-piste with climate reporter Romy Stephens about what this all means. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Romy Stephens, climate reporter

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

* Gillard tribute to Ogilvie* The future of sleep* Fossil graveyards an archive of climate and ecology* How bacteria behave in the body* White possums in peril

Before any new therapy or medicine is placed on the shelves of a pharmacy, it needs to be tested in humans first.

What does that process look like? And who are the people testing these new drugs?

Jonathan Webb goes behind the curtain of clinical trials with health reporter Lauren Roberts to take a look at what happens in Australia.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Lauren Roberts, health reporter

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

A team from Caltech is using ultrasound to reveal processes at work one kilometre under Antarctic ice. 

AI chatbots are helping to crack long-standing mathematical problems, including some of the famous Paul Erdős conjectures that have remained unsolved for nearly 80 years. It's not just researchers finding these solutions, either: it's also amateur mathematicians armed with off-the-shelf ChatGPT.Jonathan Webb wheels out the chalkboard with Dr Melissa Lee to discuss how AI is shaping the field of mathematics, and if anyone can be a mathematician these days.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Dr Melissa Lee, Senior Lecturer Monash University

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

We visit a wildlife sanctuary north of Canberra where enclosures are being built to quarantine the eastern quoll, a species already endangered. Will it work and is this a long-term solution?

Old satellites and bits of space junk regularly fall back to Earth, burning up as they pass through the atmosphere.

All this burning metal causes a chain reaction and ultimately destroys ozone molecules, which keep us safe from most of the Sun's harmful UVB rays. Could a new era of satellite "megaconstellations", like the one run by SpaceX's internet company Starlink, undo humanity's hard work repairing the ozone layer?

‌Jonathan Webb launches into this issue with Dr Alice Gorman (AKA Dr Space Junk), taking stock of just how many satellites are burning up and what can be done to solve the problem.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Dr Alice Gorman, Flinders University

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.