The Science Show
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The Science Show
The Science Show gives Australians unique insights into the latest scientific research and debate, from the physics of cricket to prime ministerial biorhythms.
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New idea for the origin of language
Conventional explanations for how humans became ‘the language animal’ focus on our need to cooperate to hunt, fight or make tools. Now, evolutionary b...
Lab Notes: Slip! Slop! Slap! SUCCESS!
Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world — but there's some good news for Aussie kids. The presence of moles is a strong predictor of mel...
Astronomy and toxicology converge at Caltech
When raised lead levels were noticed in Los Angeles last year, a chemist — who usually examines asteroids — quickly saw that the fires that ravaged th...
Lab Notes: Why air traffic won’t return to normal for months
Major international airports in the Middle East have been closed this week due to the war with Iran, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stran...
How the US came close to losing half its science funding
Robyn Williams reports from the 2026 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Stories told by feet
An ancient human may be a new species, and extinct giant kangaroos - could they hop?
Lab Notes: Why buying a star name is nonsense
A quick online search reveals multiple paid services for naming stars as commemorative gifts. You'll be provided with a certificate and a map for find...
Ancient humans lived in an Indonesian cave until Homo sapiens arrived
A cave in Sulawesi was home to our ancestors for tens of thousands of years. Archaeologists are piecing together the story.
Lab Notes: Skincare, pregnancy and a minefield of mixed messages
Retinoids are big business for reducing wrinkles and treating acne — but there's conflicting advice on their safety for pregnant women.
Should m...
Social media ban impacts political knowledge of young Australians
Australia’s social media ban aims to protect young people from online threats, but it may also restrict their access to discussion of democracy and po...
Lab Notes: Can we tap the brakes on energy-hungry AI?
AI seems to be absolutely everywhere at the moment. While we're still waiting for the productivity revolution — or the jobs apocalypse — the energy co...
Humpbacks threat, green cities and EVs, and origins of life
How did life begin? It may not have been on Earth, with asteroids carrying a range of organic molecules
Lab Notes: What's behind the rising tree death rates?
Fire, insects and disease all pose a threat to Australia's forests but scientists are now seeing a rise in natural tree deaths right across the countr...
Mysterious stellar object discovered
Natasha Hurley-Walker considers what might explain a mysterious stellar object which shines every 18 minutes.
Lab Notes: The oldest rock art in the world…that we know of
A faint orange hand stencil on the wall of a cave in Indonesia just became the oldest art known to science.
The art, made by splattering ochr...
Kiruna: The city that moved to make way for a mine
In the Swedish city of Kiruna, an entire community is being relocated to accommodate the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine.
A portrait of Dame Miriam Rothschild
She became an expert on fleas and despite no formal education received honorary doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge was elected a fellow of The...
Lab Notes: The Treaty of the Metre: how the metre came to be
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 sys...
Mary Somerville - Brilliant polymath, scientific genius
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...
Celebrating 50 years of The Science Show
Norman Swan, Fiona Stanley and Lorin Clarke describe their involvement with Robyn Williams and The Science Show with MC Richard Glover at a party cele...
The Science Show
The Science Show gives Australians unique insights into the latest scientific research and debate.
Émilie du Châtelet - portrait of a leader of the Enlightenment
She battled rigidities of 18th century Europe. But with writer and philosopher Voltaire, Émilie du Châtelet led the Enlightenment.
Émilie du Châtelet - portrait of a leader of the Enlightenment
She battled rigidities of 18th-century Europe. But with writer and philosopher Voltaire, Émilie du Châtelet led the Enlightenment.
Author Terry Pratchett’s links to science and Adelaide
Retiring Vice Chancellor of the University of South Australia David Lloyd awarded Pratchett two honorary degrees. In exchange, the author honoured the...
Evidence shows no link between pain relief drugs and autism
In her book Prove It! Elizabeth Finkel presents the evidence showing no link between pain relief drugs and autism
Lab Notes: Are bioplastics the future of packaging?
Step into the supermarket and there's plastic around just about everything, even mangoes — and not all that packaging will be properly disposed of.
3 young high achievers in science, and Sydney hosts space conference
The International Astronautical Congress held in Sydney showed how space science is vital to our modern world.
Lab Notes: Why aurora season isn't over yet
Astrophotographers have had another great month, with the aurora australis lighting up night skies as far north as southern Queensland.
And whil...
Rare earth minerals – we’ll need geologists to find them
University departments of geology and geophysics are getting smaller or closing. So how will we find new mineral deposits?
Lab Notes: How are long-range weather forecasts made?
It looks like most of Australia is in for a warmer-than-usual summer this year.
That's according to the Bureau of Meteorology's long-range forec...
Bragg winners for science writing, more from the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science and water droplets used for geoengineering
In just 75 years the Earth’s average temperature is predicted to be close to 3 degrees above pre-industrial levels. We are in the fast lane to a diffe...
Lab Notes: How breastfeeding can protect against cancer
Thanks in part to 18th-century nuns, we now know that having children and breastfeeding reduces a mum's risk of developing breast cancer for years, ev...
The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science and a dilemma over the appropriate use of artefacts from a Roman shipwreck
Robyn Williams reports from the 2025 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science ceremony in Parliament House Canberra.
The history of life on Earth may be very different to what we think
We’ve built a picture of the evolution of biodiversity based on a few accessible fossils. But the real story may be very different.
Lab Notes: Times we thought we found aliens
We have a mysterious visitor to our little patch of the cosmos this week: A comet called 3I/ATLAS.
This icy, rocky ball is only the third inter...
Paint additive boosts plant growth in greenhouses
An additive in paint converts ultraviolet light into red light allowing plants to grow more producing higher yields, a boon for greenhouse agriculture...
Teenagers encounter their challenges
Jonathan Porritt’ recent book, Love, Anger and Betrayal charts the lives of young British climate campaigners. Meanwhile in Australia under-16s are ab...
Lab Notes: How solar eclipses trick birds into singing
Few astronomical wonders are as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, when the Moon fully covers the Sun, plunging us into daytime darkness.
If...
2025 Nobel Prizes plus more from the British Science Festival
Richard Robson from the University of Melbourne has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the nation’s first Chemistry Nobel in 50 years.
Lab Notes: How humpback whales bounced back
This has been a bumper year for whale-watching on Australia's east coast, with thousands of humpbacks spotted cruising along their annual migration ro...