Ockham’s Razor

Flexible. Innovative. Sensitive.They're attributes of the next generation of electronics. They're also great attributes in the people who are designing them.Madhu Bhaskaran is an engineer who embodies all the qualities we mentioned before – and she knows that coming up with new tech is only the first step in a long journey to market.

To say that malaria elimination is close to home for Varunika Ruwanpura is an understatement.Her mum literally gave birth to her while sick with malaria.Varunika is now lending a hand in the fight for elimination.She's chosen to focus on health policy – it might sound a little unsexy at first, but as she explains, it's a powerful tool many of us don't think about enough.

What makes a pig-nosed turtle's flippers so special?What's the most dangerous creature you'll encounter on a research trip to the Amazon jungle?What's the optimum age for freaking your kids out with wildlife cosplay?Carla Eisemberg has the answers to all these questions and more as she gives us a tour of what it's like to be an ecology researcher and teacher.

If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one around to hear it… you've heard this one before, haven't you?What about if someone does a groundbreaking bit of science, but no one finds out about it?Tom Carruthers makes the case for, not just good science, but good science communication. 

When we think about climate change, we're usually looking up – towards the sky, where greenhouse gases form a heat-trapping blanket over the planet.But some people — including Freya Mulvey — say part of the global warming equation is found in the other direction… right beneath our feet.

There are a lot of fields that claim to fuse art and science.But while it might not be the first one that springs to mind, the field this week's speaker specialises in is arguably most worthy of the fusion.Jared Archibald has spent a large chunk of his career as a taxidermist. It's science for sure – a knowledge of anatomy and animal behaviour are essential – but there's an artistry to it too. 

When a lot of us first heard of drones a couple of decades ago, it was about their use in military operations.Now people use them to take photos of their neighbours or maybe even get pizzas delivered.But Vanya Bosiocic has a much more important – and constructive – use for drones.

What's your favourite animal? It doesn't matter really — because this talk is about to change your mind.Carol Palmer, who's based in Darwin, studies marine megafauna. Yes, dolphins and whales live in the waters of northern Australia! And she's about to convince you that the most charming animal on the planet is the false killer whale.

We know climate change is bad for the health of the planet, and many of the species that live on it. That includes us humans.Bushfires, heat waves, flooding — they all have human health impacts.Sounds bleak, doesn't it? But today, we're hearing from someone who says if we're prepared to take a level look at this challenge, there are ways we can better meet it.

Do you know someone on the autism spectrum? Perhaps you are on it yourself. This episode, we're hearing from a speaker who says we need to be better at diagnosing autism as early as possible — not to medicalise people, but to ensure we're making a world that supports and includes them.