Where Are We At With...?

Democracy is in danger. Around the world, the number people living in a democratic system is shrinking, and some of the biggest and most powerful democracies are showing dramatic signs of falling apart. If our vote doesn't guarantee our voice is heard, what can we do? Saffron Zomer is the CEO and founder of the Australian Democracy Network, an advocacy group intended to fight for a system that Winston Churchill famously said was th...

Coral reefs are under immense pressure around the world. Climate change, oil spills, pollution, plastics and tourists are all contributing. But for more than 60 years, we've been aware of another threat that is part of the reef ecosystem itself. The Crown of Thorns Starfish is voracious, venomous and very, very hard to stop. Professor Morgan Pratchett from James Cook University has spent three decades studying the creature in an ef...

The first casual running shoes were invented in the 1970s, and within 50 years, some of them are so good that they're banned for competitions. But our feet didn't evolve to wear shoes. Millenia of improvements left humans with unique, brilliantly adapted structures for movement. A big brain and fast feet took us to the top of the ancient food chain. Now, we wear shoes every day, and for myriad activities. People like Professor Glen...

Eucalyptus trees define the Australian landscape. However, what sustained First Nations Australians for millennia mystified and frightened European colonisers. Now, Eucalypts are grown around the world, often causing immense damage to the local economy, environment and culture. One of the world's most respected botanists, Professor Stephen Hopper from the University of Western Australia, explains what modern science can tell us abo...

What does our brain do when we dream? Can we tell if someone is dreaming just by scanning their brainwaves? What do we mean by conscious? Does ADHD make the brain act like it's dreaming during the day? How many people are actually aware during hospital operations?

Just some of the deep and challenging questions that people like Professor Nao Tsuchiya from Monash University are trying to answer, using science, philosophy, psychology ...

Watch a movie from the 50s or 60s about the future, and apparently, we should be all wearing silver jumpsuits around now, or coloured PVC. Most of us aren't, but what we are wearing is shaped by a myriad external influences, be they cultural, social, demographic, economic, political, or more.

Dr Madeleine Seys from Adelaide University explains what role colonisation played on fashion in Australia, and why active-wear was already a t...

No longer just an eye in the sky, drones in the air, sea and on land have changed military strategy forever. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians alike. To the world's horror, international law and expectations have been savagely upended, but to its surprise, the smaller nation has managed to keep fighting.

Dr Oleksandra Molloy from UNSW explains why drones have become the most imp...

Nuclear fusion is the holy grail of power production. It is what powers the Sun and all the stars we see in the night sky.

For the past 80 years, scientists have been saying it's been only 30 years away from being perfected. Except now, with the massive projected electricity demands of AI and the scaling back of fossil fuel use, it could be close to reality.

Our guest is Dr Warren McKenzie, Managing Director of HB11, a small Australi...

Koalas did not catch chlamydia from humans. Humans can't catch it from koalas either, but we can catch it from birds!

Koala chlamydia often makes people snigger, thinking that the animal symbol of Australia can get what we think of as an STD. But the disease is decimating populations of the fluffy marsupial that are already struggling due to habitat destruction, road deaths and the curse of the feral cat, fox and dog. Not all is los...

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening, to me, and most of the sane world, given that climate change promises more frequent and intense storms, as well as droughts, and floods.

Forecasters and meteorologists rely on centuries of observations and modelling. Data is now available in exponentially greater volume and distribution and using it are not just humans, but computers with learning Artificial Intelligence that are tr...

It's the worst wildlife disease disaster ever, and yet so many people haven't even heard about it.

More than 90 amphibian species extinct, hundreds more on the brink, all from a fungal disease that spread around the world before we even knew what it was.

Researchers like Dr Tiffany Kosch, from the University of Melbourne, are working hard to find an answer deep within the froggy genome, and posing some tough questions about what we m...

The car of the future is apparently one that we don't even control. Autonomous vehicles are already commonplace in large mines, and have been popping up in a number of cities around the world as taxis.

Professor Michael Milford is the Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics in Brisbane, Australia. He explains why the ability to not drive yourself is a relief, the key hurdles that have already been overcome, and just how soon we will...