PFAS—also known as "forever chemicals"—are in your water, your clothes, your food packaging, and even in your body. 

They’ve been widely used for decades to make products resistant to heat, stains, grease, and water, including non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, and stain-resistant fabrics. 

But engineers, regulators, and the public are increasingly concerned about their long-term impact.  

In this episode of Engineering the Future, environmental engineers, UNSW Professor Denis O’Carroll and Andrew Mitchell from ADE Consulting, joins STEMM journalist Neil Martin to unpack the science behind PFAS and how they ended up in our environment.  

They explain the new detection and removal methods used to clean up PFAS, and emphasise the need for better regulation, public awareness, and the development of better alternatives of the chemical. 

For the full transcript of the episode and to learn more about our speakers, visit our website.

Read more of our stories on PFAS: 

• Specific ‘forever chemical’ found at unexpected levels in firefighting foam 

• New method to degrade PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ found effective in the lab 

• PFAS 'forever chemicals' above drinking water guidelines in global source water 

• Trying to solve the 'forever problem' of PFAS pollution 

Don’t miss out on more conversations about the technologies shaping our world. Subscribe to Engineering the Future on your favourite podcast platform and follow us on ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ and BlueSky to stay up to date with the latest research and news from ⁠UNSW Engineering⁠.  

Acknowledgement of Country 

We would like to show our respects and acknowledge the Bedegal people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which our Kensington campus is situated on, and to Elders past and present. 

Not all healthcare is created equal. 

Whether it’s a postcode that limits your services, a language barrier at the clinic, or a system that overlooks accessibility - too many people are being left behind. But how do we build healthcare systems that can fairly serve its communities regardless of postcode, income, or identity? 

In this episode of the Engineering the Future podcast, UNSW’s biomedical engineer Associate Professor Lauren Kark, and Managing Director of Taking Paediatrics Abroad, Kathryn Currow, chats with STEM journalist Neil Martin, about the challenges of ensuring healthcare that is just for all and the importance of advocating for sustainable solutions and capacity building over mere financial investment.

For the full transcript of the episode and to learn more about our speakers, visit our website.

Read more of our stories on equitable healthcare: 

• It works! GeneEQUAL is improving health care for people with intellectual disability
• UNSW Kirby Institute’s remote testing program wins major university award 
• UNSW medicine graduate awarded NSW Rhodes Scholarship 

Don’t miss out on more conversations about the technologies shaping our world. Subscribe to Engineering the Future on your favourite podcast platform and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest research and news from UNSW Engineering.  

Acknowledgement of Country 

We would like to show our respects and acknowledge the Bedegal people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which our Kensington campus is situated on, and to Elders past and present. 

📧 Have you ever fallen victim to a phishing email? You're not alone.  

Cybersecurity threats are growing more sophisticated every day, making the protection of personal and corporate data more critical than ever. As artificial intelligence reshapes both attack methods and defence strategies, what are the risks of not securing our infrastructure against emerging threats?

Lecturer at UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering and former NASA researcher, Dr. Hammond Pearce, and Director of InTune AI, Sharat Madanapalli, joins STEMM journalist Neil Martin to unravel the evolving landscape of cybersecurity and how to safeguard your privacy online.  

For the full transcript of the episode and to learn more about our speakers, visit our website.

Read more of our stories on cybersecurity: 

• What to do about deepfakes: opportunities and problems as AI tech makes leaps and bounds 

• Today’s top cybersecurity threats for consumers, and how to fight them 

• Beware the dangers of data breach fatigue 

• An award-winning breakthrough in computer science education 

• The internet of things: protecting network assets and infrastructure 

Let’s connect: 

Don’t miss out on more conversations about the technologies shaping our world. Subscribe to Engineering the Future on your favourite podcast platform and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest research and news from UNSW Engineering.  

Learn more about UNSW Institute of Cybersecurity.  

Acknowledgement of Country 

We would like to show our respects and acknowledge the Bedegal people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which our Kensington campus is situated on, and to Elders past and present. 

From smart homes and cities to business and healthcare, smart technology is promising to enhance efficiency, convenience, and connectivity in daily life. But with it comes growing concerns about data security, reduced privacy, and the control of information.

Dr Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson, Senior Lecturer in Epistemics at UNSW's School of Computer Science and Engineering, and senior experience strategist Dr Erika Whillas join STEMM journalist, Neil Martin, to discuss how smart technology will change the way we live and interact with our communities in the future - and how best to deal with the challenges it will undoubtedly create.

Too much water in the form of flooding, or too little water in the form of drought. Two of the biggest global challenges when it comes to water are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

UNSW Associate Professor Kristen Splinter, and water

They discuss the importance of ensuring the ever-increasing global population has safe water to drink, and enough water to also grow suitable amounts of food, while also dealing with issues around flooding and sea

Industrial decarbonisation is a fundamental way Australia and other countries around the world can achieve 'Net Zero' emissions targets by 2050, and therefore fulfil promises made in the Paris Agreement to help reduce climate change.

David Eyre, CEO of the UNSW Institute for Industrial Decarbonisation, and engineering and manufacturing executive Shay Chalmers join STEMM journalist Neil Martin to talk about the challenges of decarbonisation as populations grow and demand for products such as cement, steel, plastic and ammonia rise as a result.

They will explain why fostering collaborations and partnerships is important to keep producing such important materials while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and provide analysis about new decarbonisation technologies, revealing how technical and economic feasibility is just one part of the whole process.

Supersonic commercial planes are making a comeback, but it may be only high flyers that can afford them.

For everyone else, our cities could soon drastically change as flying cars (but not as we imagine them) are set to extend the reach of our cities and slash commute times.

UNSW senior lecturer in aerospace design, Dr Sonya Brown, and sustainable aircraft designer Andrew Moore join STEMM journalist Neil Martin to talk about the future of flight. They also debunk myths about hydrogen fuel dating back to the Hindenburg blimp disaster, discuss the use of drones to save lives by fighting bushfires, and explain the tricky balancing act needed to make flying more sustainable.

800 million people currently go to sleep hungry, but 1 in 4 of us are predicted to be obese by 2035. Securing access to food for everyone and making it sustainable for our planet are some of our greatest challenges. Professor Johannes le Coutre, the leader of UNSW’s food program, and Katherine Samaras, Laboratory Head of the Garvan Institute and specialising in diabetes and obesity prevention, join STEMM journalist Neil Martin to talk about potential solutions for keeping us fed and the planet happy. They discuss why looking back to old agricultural techniques could hold some answers, and how diabetes drug Ozempic isn’t the fix for over-eating. 

UNSW researchers are largely responsible for the way the world uses solar power today. Decades of innovation on photovoltaic cells from people at this very university have helped the world get a running start on the global green energy transition. But there’s more work to be done. A lot more. 

Executive Director for the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, Professor Renate Egan, and Vice-President of world-leading solar module manufacturer JA Solar, Dr Zi Ouyang, join STEMM journalist Neil Martin to discuss how the industry is making leaps and bounds, what’s happening with old rooftop panels and the potential for covering houses in solar cell ‘paint’. 

It might seem like something out of Star Trek, but people controlling so-called ‘smartbrains’ with their own thoughts could happen sooner than you think. And it doesn’t stop there. Innovations in biomedical technologies is speeding the progress of things such as artificial lab-grown organs, nanorobots inside the body, or computers hardwired to the brain which is becoming common in the next 20 years.

On UNSW’s Engineering the Future podcast, Associate Professor Mohit Shivdasani and Claire Bridges talk to STEM journalist Neil Martin, about how the science-fiction of bionic humans is now rapidly becoming a reality.

For more information on our speakers or for a full transcription of this episode, visit our website.

Read more of our stories on biomedical technologies:

Let’s connect:

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest research and news from UNSW Engineering.

Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to show our respects and acknowledge the Bedegal people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which our Kensington campus is situated on, and to Elders past and present.