Ockham’s Razor

What does it take to bring an extinct species back from the dead? Well, sometimes — a Woman's Day magazine.This week, we're hearing from Tyrone Lavery, a detective who hunts — in a good way — for lost Australian mammals. And he's on particular lookout for a sweet little native mouse.

How are your knees feeling? There's a pretty good chance one or both of them are sore — after all, knee osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability globally, and Australia's no exception.Trouble is, we don't really have any way of treating it. But never fear — this week we're hearing from someone who's bringing her engineering background to take a peek inside dodgy knees and see what it might take to fix them.

What does it take to survive on the driest inhabited continent on Earth? Indigenous people have tens of thousands of years of knowledge about this, but their place in the conversations about water planning and management are often tokenistic at best, or worse, completely absent.Bradley Moggridge wants to change that. He's a Kamilaroi man and hydrogeologist, and he knows Indigenous knowledge needs to be central to Australia's water future.

Don't you love tipping your head back on a clear, dark night, and seeing those silvery stars twinkling above you? We know in our brains that they're giant balls of burning gas, even though they look like fairy dust scattered across the sky. And the reason we know this is because of the science of astronomy.This week we're hearing from an astronomer about the incredible discoveries her field has managed to uncover, and what the next generation of radio astronomy might achieve… right here in Australia.

You probably have a favourite colour, flower, or song. But do you have a favourite parasite?Shokoofeh Shamsi does - although she studies parasites for a living, so maybe that makes a bit more sense.The bad news for the rest of us who don't spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff? Her favourite parasites live in many Australians' favourite food.

We know that exercise is good for us — good for our muscles and bones and mental health. But what if it's good for other parts of us as well? Research is showing that exercise releases molecular signals that can protect our eyes from diseases like age-related macular degeneration. The next step is to figure out how to harness these benefits, which is exactly what Dr Joshua Chu-Tan is on a mission to do.

What does a natural landscape look like to you? Maybe you think of a dense forest, or a sparkling body of water. Somewhere untouched by humans, right? Maybe the word “wilderness” comes to mind.Today we’re hearing from someone who wants you to think twice about this idea of wilderness.Michael-Shawn Fletcher is a geographer and a descendant of the Wiradjuri – and he wants to challenge the idea that country that's untouched by humans is a good thing.

Do you have a favourite place that’s been affected by the extreme weather that’s hit Australia over these past couple of years?This week on Ockham's Razor we’re hearing from Barbara Norman, who has her own special place that’s been hit hard by climate change.But luckily, Barbara is an expert in urban and regional planning, and she has ideas on how we can plan better to adapt to climate change.

There are some moments you can look back on and go 'yep – that’s when I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.' The moment your ambition really crystallised.This week, we’re hearing from Emily Finch about when that moment happened for her – on a family field trip to what she calls the “science donut”.

Priyanka Pillai combines computer science skills and a background in biomedical sciences to take on complex challenges in health data, particularly for pandemic preparedness research.You know, just in case we ever need that sort of thing …