Ockham’s Razor

Where does cancer come from? Well there are a few answers to that question – genetic changes, maybe it’s triggered by a virus.But for two species of cute, fuzzy animals, they can be transmitted directly.This week, we’re hearing from Ruth Pye about this surprising thing that two species in very different parts of the world have in common.

Are you a fan of pop music? What about rap? Or maybe you like edgy, experimental, electronic stuff?Well – that’s what you think. But if we covered your head with sensors and played you some music, we might discover differently.

Our own health and the health of our planet as two things that are intertwined.Today, we hear from obstetrician Kristine Barnden about the gap between good health in theory, and the challenges to having it in practice.It’s something Kristine sees not just in human health… but in the health of our climate as well.

Did you know that across the Tasman, in New Zealand, some kitchens have roller cupboard doors instead of, you know, normal cupboard doors?It’s because of the earthquakes. Sometimes they’re so bad that your crockery can shake out of your cupboards and smash, and the roller ones prevent this.Lucky for us, earthquakes don’t really happen in Australia, so it’s not something we need to worry about. Right?Well… it’s time you met seismologist Dr Trevor Allen.

If you had to pit endangered species next to each other in a contest of who was most good-looking, tigers would have to be pretty close to the top of the list. They’re gorgeous – and getting people on board with the idea of protecting them isn’t too hard.But what about the people who live on the edges of their habitat?This week, we discover that conservation is a noble goal… but it’s got to be done in partnership with local communities.Our narrator: Professor Wendy Wright from Federation University. And the story starts early one morning in rural Nepal.

Living as we do in a country that’s prone to drought, it’s no surprise that the subject of irrigation for farming can become a contentious one in Australia.Stepping up to the mic today is Rose Roche, who wants to bring some much-needed nuance to the water debate… and she’s enlisting the help of fairy tales and Disney princesses.

If you could take your brain and zoom in a couple of times – and then a bit more – you’d see structures that look like towers and tentacles, and behave like pieces of automatic Lego. It’s a crazy miniature world, and one we’re going to get a tour of today.Our tour guide is Dr Kiara Bruggeman, who’s hijacking and hacking these nano-sized structures, in the hopes of helping stroke-affected brains heal.

You know in movies, where it turns out the scrappy young hero had the power to succeed inside themselves all along – they just had to learn how to harness it?It turns out this is more than just a storytelling trope – it can also be true for communities, recovering from disaster.

Look, don’t put your mobile phone in a blender. Just… trust me on this one.But if you did, you’d find more of the periodic table of elements in that pulverised phone dust than you might expect.What’s that, you want more context? Allison Britt from Geoscience Australia can explain.

We’re pretty used to walking into a supermarket and expecting the stuff we want to be on the shelf.Or at least we were until last year, when panic-buying lifted the curtain a bit on just how complex our food supply can be.Lucky for us, it’s something smart people are studying hard – including development economist Katie Ricketts.