Because Why?! The Science and Nature Pod. (Formerly Now, That's What I Call Green.)

Welcome to the first episode under the brand-new banner, Because Why?! The show where my curiosity gets the better of me, and I drag you along for the ride. (You're welcome?)

We’re still talking about the environment, but now the scope is much wider: science, ethical business, politics (even when it makes my eye twitch), and the weird, wonderful, and occasionally infuriating claims floating around out there.

In this episode, I’m kick...

A few weeks ago, we had the amazing physicist, science writer, and communicator Laurie Winkless on the podcast. She was so great, one episode wasn’t enough... so she’s back to do some mythbusting!

In this episode we talk about:

• If glass is really a liquid
• A bunch of physics myths that have been debunked
• What 5G actually is and whether 5G towers kill or control people
• How microwaves work and if they are safe
• Whether you can use yo...

Welcome back to Part 2 of a fascinating kōrero with science journalist and author Bethany Brookshire. This one gets a smidge more controversial...

We talk about the animals we hate because they’re successful (looking at you, pigeons), the cultural weirdness of how we define pets vs pests, and how control - or our lack of it - shapes our relationship with the natural world.

Plus, there's a story involving Burmese pythons and a pa...

You know when you see someone on social media and you just KNOW they'll be amazing to chat to? Well, that's Bethany Brookshire for you.

Bethany is a science journalist, animal behaviorist and author who writes about the animals most people hate. Rats, cockroaches, spiders, pigeons... And how our feelings about them are mostly cultural, not scientific.

We talked about where fear and disgust come from and how cute a mouse eati...

Today's guest is Laurie Winkless. She's a physicist, a science writer and she's the only person I know who's actually made writing about friction interesting. You could say she's a science friction writer...

She’s appeared everywhere from Forbes to Wired to BBC, and she has written two books. Oh and she won a scholarship to do some training at NASA. As you do.

I am very excited to talk about her transition from sc...

I wanted to talk about politics and combating polarising opinions… but I didn’t want to get dark about it.

So, to help, I’ve called in my friend and optimism security blanket, Dave Richards. He’s one of those people who has realistic but optimistic insight into the world. He’s lived all over the world, has a deep cultural understanding, and just makes me feel better about the state of things.

So I thought I’d have him join me for a b...

About half of the oxygen that you are breathing right now is made in the ocean. And last year, scientists found that some of it is made three kilometres down in total darkness by microbes that live on the seabed.

We had no idea about any of this before then, and now, next month, the United Nations International Seabed Authority is deciding whether they will let industrial rigs strip minerals out of the seabed. But is that a good ide...

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the last few episodes have been somewhat… bleak.

There’s been a lot to discuss around climate change, governments, and corruption, but I realised if we kept focusing only on that, it was going to get all-consuming.

So this week, I’m welcoming back Kate to help me share some good news stories instead!

In this episode, we cover:

• What are drop bears?
• Some fun community topics
• What happened at the UN O...

You reckon you’re immune to propaganda and disinformation, right? A critical thinker who sees through the rubbish.

I thought the same - until I realised I’m way more likely to believe something if it backs up what I already think.

That’s not a personal flaw. It’s how we’re all wired. But we need to get better at spotting it, because it’s fuelling polarisation and making it harder to have real conversations with people we disagree wit...

Well, we are officially halfway through the election cycle. The coalition government has been in place for about 18 months now. David Seymour is our Deputy Prime Minister.

So, how are things going?

I did my first ever political roundup episode - I think it was episode three - and it ended up being one of our most popular ever.

Interestingly, you lot seem to care about what's going on out there, which is nice. So I thought we’d do a c...

Are you tired of arguing about climate change with your uncle, or your co-worker, or that weird person online?

Welcome to the club. Now, if you really want to keep banging your head on that wall, I'm not here to stop you, but I am here to try and give you some facts that might help - because even though you are almost certainly not going to convince those people, it is often worth trying to combat some of that misinformation.

You...

We are officially out of time to prevent hitting 1.5 degrees. Yep - earlier last week, the World Meteorological Organisation said that we are going to hit 1.5 degrees of global heating by 2027, which is just two years away.

So I thought we’d have an episode about what that really means - because what actually changes at 1.5 degrees? And what happens if we go beyond that?

In this episode:

• Why scientists identified 1.5 degrees as a ...

There’s a worm that shoots out glowing green slime, a squid that can turn itself invisible, and a fish that literally walks on land. To celebrate World Oceans Day last week, today’s episode is all about the ocean’s weirdest and most wonderful creatures.

I'm joined once again by Melissa Márquez - an amazing marine biologist, shark scientist, and science communicator. She’s been on TV, given TEDx talks, written books - she’s just awes...

June 8th was World Oceans Day, and if you listen to this podcast, you know this is a day I am very much here for - because I am obsessed with the ocean… for good reason.

But rather than going on about it myself, for this episode I thought we could celebrate World Oceans Day with the help of another ocean obsessive: Melissa Cristina Márquez.

Melissa is a marine science education expert based in Australia, and is known as "the most ent...

Imagine a fungus slipping into your bloodstream, hijacking every single neuron and freezing you alive while it knits its own flesh with yours.

If you were an ant or a spider, that could be you — but thankfully, Ophiocordyceps doesn’t (yet) affect humans.

In this Microgreens episode, we’re peering into the terrifying and slightly creepy world of fungi.

In our main episode, we covered why fungi are important. Today, we’re getting into t...

Without this one thing, every single thing you know and love would disappear. Soil would fail, forests would starve, antibiotics would, well, vanish, and your morning coffee, bread, beer, and even chocolate would be gone.

The thing I’m talking about is everywhere. It’s probably in your lunch. It’s almost certainly in your lungs. It’s in your sourdough starter, your compost heap.

Got a clue yet?

Most people don’t actually know what ...

Leaded petrol has made us measurably dumber.

Scientists suspect that leaded petrol has also made us more aggressive and of course it kills people as well. And the same guy who put lead in fuel also created a miracle refrigerant that tore a hole in the one thing that protected our planet from runaway radiation from the sun.

This is the first of our Microgreens episodes where I spend a short amount of time answering your questions, or...

Most of the cabs on the streets of New York back in 1899 were electric, so why did they disappear? And why has it been so hard to bring them back?

In this episode, I am diving into the history of electric vehicles to reveal why a cleaner, quieter, and generally better technology got stamped out almost as quickly as it arrived.

This is part of our series, “Inventions That Changed the World”, and I think you’ll find it very eye-opening...

Fast beauty may look pretty on the surface, but there is a massive catch; the real cost of keeping up with these ever-changing trends, to people and planet.

I'm having a chat about the not-so-pretty side of fast beauty – from the piles of plastic packaging to the pressure on our planet. I've got some stats that might just make you rethink that next 'must-have' beauty buy. But don't worry I do get it, and there a...