Science Friction
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Science Friction's latest season is: Artificial Evolution. Almost 30 years on from the creation of Dolly the sheep, we may not be cloning humans, but the technologies that brought her into the world are increasingly influencing the foods we eat, the animals around us — even our own bodies. ABC environment reporter Peter de Kruijff follows the story of gene technologies all the way from Dolly right through to the present day.
Brain Rot (Season 3): We're looking at what being chronically online is doing to our brains. National technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre tackles the wildest ways people are using tech and the big questions about our own use - from falling in love with AI companions to data-dumping your life into a language model.
Cooked (Season 2): Why do some studies show ice cream is good for you, why do some people say they feel good going carnivore? Do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet tells us? Dr Emma Beckett examines what these confusing findings tell us about how nutrition science works.
AI Overlords (Season 1): AI didn't come from nowhere. And its development hasn't been a smooth and simple process. It's been rife with drama, conflict, and disagreement. Online technology reporter James Purtill looks at where AI came from, who controls it, and where it's heading.
Brain Rot (Season 3): We're looking at what being chronically online is doing to our brains. National technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre tackles the wildest ways people are using tech and the big questions about our own use - from falling in love with AI companions to data-dumping your life into a language model.
Cooked (Season 2): Why do some studies show ice cream is good for you, why do some people say they feel good going carnivore? Do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet tells us? Dr Emma Beckett examines what these confusing findings tell us about how nutrition science works.
AI Overlords (Season 1): AI didn't come from nowhere. And its development hasn't been a smooth and simple process. It's been rife with drama, conflict, and disagreement. Online technology reporter James Purtill looks at where AI came from, who controls it, and where it's heading.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 23, 2023 • 4min
I for one welcome... Hello AI Overlords!
2023 has been the breakout year of artificial intelligence. After decades of investment and improvement, the technology suddenly went mainstream. For many, it was as though a miraculous machine was plonked in our midst.But AI didn't come from nowhere. And it hasn't been a smooth and simple process. It's been a story rife with drama, conflict, and disagreement.So where did it come from? Who made it? Who controls it?Welcome to our new Science Friction series Hello AI Overlords!Across six fascinating episodes, we'll tell you the human stories that shaped the emergence of today's AI technology over more than half a century and where we might be heading.First episode out Wednesday 25th October
May 19, 2023 • 26min
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 4) — The Lost Boys
Two groups of boys on a camp in the wilds of America are pitted against each other. But the camp leaders have only one thing on their minds. Science. The mind-blowing story of a psychological experiment that crossed a line. Big time.
May 12, 2023 • 27min
What family secrets hide inside your cells? Epigenetics, trauma, and ancestry
What family secrets lie deep inside your cells? A story of survival against the odds, hope after the Holocaust, and the eye-opening new science of epigenetics… Can biology help you transcend the traumas of your ancestors, or forever burden you with their legacy?
May 5, 2023 • 26min
Robbie and the DNA Detectives
At the heart of this moving and extraordinary medical mystery is Robbie, a man in a genetic lottery. Two rare mutations made his life uniquely interesting. Then came a third, random event...a chance encounter, a global detective quest and science at the cutting edge.
Apr 28, 2023 • 26min
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 3) — The superstar of Tai Asks Why
Tai Poole is a self-described scientist and the teenage star of multi-award-winning podcast Tai Asks Why. Love, climate change, death, dreaming…there is nothing Tai's tenaciously, voraciously hungry mind won't take on. He joins Natasha Mitchell to talk life, the universe, and everything.
Apr 23, 2023 • 26min
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 2) — I grew up in a cult
When pioneering Australian RNA biologist Archa Fox was a child, her parents were drawn into the orbit of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Her family packed up their life to join the Orange People communes in India and Oregon as disciples. Archa shares her candid, confronting story of what happened when this spiritual movement morphed into a cult.
Apr 14, 2023 • 26min
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 1) — The nuclear boy scouts
Nuclear weapons are not toys. But what happens when children get their hands on nuclear know-how? Two explosive stories of two smart kids — both with a radioactive obsession, but with very different outcomes — one celebrated as a child genius and given his own university lab as a teen; the other dead at age 39. Meet Taylor Wilson and David Hahn.
Apr 9, 2023 • 3min
Thanks for the fun! Science Friction's Natasha Mitchell has some news
Natasha Mitchell, presenter and co-producer of Science Friction, has some special news she wants to share with you. Listen in.(Spoiler alert: You can catch her as the new host of the ABC's Big Ideas from April 10 2023. Follow the show on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts).
Apr 6, 2023 • 26min
The fantastical world of fusion – The Expanse's Ty Franck and futurist Karl Schroeder (Part 2)
How has fusion inspired the imaginations of science fiction writers? In The Expanse blockbuster book and TV series, fusion energy has changed the course of civilisation in extraordinary ways – for better and worse. Ty Franck, one half of the James S.A Corey writing duo behind The Expanse, and Canadian futurist and science fiction writer Karl Schroeder join Erica Vowles to weigh in on the fantasy and future of fusion.
Mar 31, 2023 • 26min
Nuclear disruption — will starry-eyed startups win the nuclear fusion race? (Part 1)
The promise of nuclear fusion is clean, limitless energy for all. But why do start-up entrepreneurs think they can solve a problem that's perplexed scientists and fuelled the imagination of science fiction writers for decades? Are they kidding themselves, or inching closer to a breakthrough? Big name billionaires like Bill Gates and George Soros are now in the fusion game too.
