The Science Show

The next time you pick up a bag of spuds from the supermarket or fill up the car with petrol, you can thank the Treaty of the Metre for the metric system that underpins daily life. 

The treaty was signed exactly 150 years ago, when delegates from 17 countries gathered in Paris to establish a new and standardised way of measuring the world around us. 

But the metre's inception predates the treaty that bears its name by nearly 100 years. So how did it come about, and how has its definition changed over the centuries? 

This episode was first broadcast in May 2025. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith 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:

Bruce Warrington, CEO and chief metrologist of the National Measurement Institute 

More information:

The metre originated in the French Revolution, but its definition has changed many times since

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people.

She could only read and write from age 10. She reared children and had a first unsupportive husband. But Mary Somerville was able to correct the work of Isaac Newton, help discover Neptune, and write a science book which became a university text.

Every now and again, dozens or even hundreds of perfectly healthy looking whales strand themselves on a beach. 

And despite people's best efforts, many — if not all of them — will die. 

So why do whales strand themselves, and why do they seem to do it at the same locations? 

This episode was first broadcast in August 2025. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith 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:

Kate Sprogis, marine mammal ecologist at University of Western Australia 

More information: 

Cause of mass pilot whale stranding at Cheynes Beach still no clearer one year on

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people.

Norman Swan, Fiona Stanley and Lorin Clarke describe their involvement with Robyn Williams and The Science Show with MC Richard Glover at a party celebrating 50 years of broadcasting.

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? 

This episode was first broadcast in August 2025. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith 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:

Cassandra Rauert, microplastics researcher at the University of Queensland 

More information:

Microplastics are in our food, water and air. How can we minimise our exposure to them?

Human exposure to PM10 microplastics in indoor air

Average household dishwasher releases 33 million nano and microplastic particles per year, research finds

Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution — but you can clean your clothes more sustainably

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people.

She battled rigidities of 18th century Europe. But with writer and philosopher Voltaire, Émilie du Châtelet led the Enlightenment.

Australia's known for having some of the world's toughest sunscreen standards, but in June, that reputation was rocked.

Independent testing of 20 sunscreens found 16 did not meet their advertised SPF50 rating, including three children's sunscreens and three sold by the Cancer Council.

So how are sunscreens tested, and what can we learn from these recent SPF revelations?

This episode was first broadcast in September 2025.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith 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:

• John Staton, scientific director at SciPharm

More information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people.

Retiring Vice Chancellor of the University of South Australia David Lloyd awarded Pratchett two honorary degrees. In exchange, the author honoured the university with a special scholarship – to be offered every year forever. This week David Lloyd explains his enthusiasms for the Discworld author in front of a packed audience at the Hawke Centre in Adelaide.

A huge cold blob of air above Antarctica and bushfires spreading along ridgelines don't appear to have anything in common, yet the strange behaviour of these natural phenomena — and many others — can be understood and explained by mathematics. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith 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:

• Chantelle Blachut, mathematician at UNSW Canberra

In her book Prove It! Elizabeth Finkel presents the evidence showing no link between pain relief drugs and autism