Science Friction
ABC listen
Science Friction's latest season is: Artificial Evolution. In 1996, Dolly the Sheep became the first ever cloned animal. Nearly 30 years later, genetic technology has reshaped the world around us. What exactly has happened, where are we headed, and are we OK about it?
In this series, environment reporter Peter de Kruijff tells the surprising stories of genetic engineering. Meet the scientists changing the food we eat and creating animals with organs we can use. Hear about the criminal conspiracy to clone a giant sheep, and the teams bringing extinct animals back from the dead.
Artificial Evolution traces the influence of genetic technology from Dolly into the future. It’s the latest series of Science Friction, an award-winning podcast from ABC Radio National.
Brain Rot (Season 3): How does being chronically online affect our brains? Technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre explores the wildest ways people are using tech — from falling in love with AI companions to data-dumping a life into a language model — and the big questions about our own screen use.
Cooked (Season 2): Why do some studies show ice cream is good for you? Why do some people say they feel good going carnivore, and do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet tells us? Food and nutrition scientist Dr Emma Beckett cuts through these confusing findings to explain how nutrition science works.
AI Overlords (Season 1): AI didn't come from nowhere, and its development hasn't been a smooth, straight line — it's been rife with drama, conflict and disagreement. Technology reporter James Purtill looks at where AI came from, who controls it and where it's heading.
In this series, environment reporter Peter de Kruijff tells the surprising stories of genetic engineering. Meet the scientists changing the food we eat and creating animals with organs we can use. Hear about the criminal conspiracy to clone a giant sheep, and the teams bringing extinct animals back from the dead.
Artificial Evolution traces the influence of genetic technology from Dolly into the future. It’s the latest series of Science Friction, an award-winning podcast from ABC Radio National.
Brain Rot (Season 3): How does being chronically online affect our brains? Technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre explores the wildest ways people are using tech — from falling in love with AI companions to data-dumping a life into a language model — and the big questions about our own screen use.
Cooked (Season 2): Why do some studies show ice cream is good for you? Why do some people say they feel good going carnivore, and do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet tells us? Food and nutrition scientist Dr Emma Beckett cuts through these confusing findings to explain how nutrition science works.
AI Overlords (Season 1): AI didn't come from nowhere, and its development hasn't been a smooth, straight line — it's been rife with drama, conflict and disagreement. Technology reporter James Purtill looks at where AI came from, who controls it and where it's heading.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 7, 2020 • 38min
The carnivorous woman – a saga from Charles Darwin to Wheatbelt Western Australia (Part 2)
A flesh-eating botanical saga. Outside the hallowed halls of science, revolutions are made.
May 31, 2020 • 26min
A wild and whimsical world of flesh-eating plants (Part 1)
From Day of the Triffids to Little Shop of Horrors, meet a most sagacious animal. What the hell is a plant doing eating flesh?
May 24, 2020 • 36min
The Gendered Brain - Gina Rippon and myth shattering neuroscience
Girls. Boys. Brains. Biology. Society. The game of Whac-A-Mole that is the science of sex differences.
May 17, 2020 • 31min
The Scientist and the Spy - China, the FBI, espionage, and racism
A shady story about seeds, China, the FBI, and industrial espionage. Mara Hvistendahl delves into America's pursuit of ethnic Chinese scientists.
May 10, 2020 • 33min
The Big PhD Pause - postgraduate students, COVID-19, and the next brain drain? (Science Interrupted Part 3)
Doing is a PhD can screw with your mind at the best of times. Isolating and exciting all at once. What’s happening to PhD students locked out labs worldwide right now? What will their options be as the clock ticks towards D(eadline) Day?
May 3, 2020 • 26min
The Ruins of Science - a story of misdirected medical power
In the 1960s, when gay sex was still treated as a crime in Australia, science intervened in shocking ways.
May 1, 2020 • 5min
PREVIEW RN Presents — Hot Mess: Why haven’t we fixed climate change?
What do we know, what will it take, and why have we struggled to effectively act on climate change? Don't miss the compelling new series, Hot Mess.
Apr 26, 2020 • 36min
The astrophysicist Survivor star and immunologist dropping everything to help save you from COVID19 (Science, Interrupted Part 2)
Exploding stars and killer cells. Then comes a pandemic. Drop everything. Head into the battle-zone. It's Survivor but not as you know it.
Apr 19, 2020 • 38min
Science, Interrupted Part 1 - lives, loves, labs upended by COVID19
Extraordinary scientists doing extraordinary things. Then came the pandemic.
Apr 12, 2020 • 36min
If we can mobilise around a pandemic, what next? Meet two revolutionaries already flouting the rules
After the pandemic, what else can we make work better? Here are some dumb things to start with. We flush fresh water down our toilets. We throw out perfectly edible food by the tonne.
