Australian Highlights

How much do we know about the world’s deadliest spider, which lives only in Australia’s largest city?Turns out, not much!The Sydney funnel web, Atrax Robustus, has a venom only toxic to primates. While their venom has been studied in depth, resulting in an antivenom, little is known about their life and habits.Arachnologist Caitlin Creak studies the Sydney funnel web spider unlike anyone else before – in the wild. This dangerous, cold and wet field work has never dampened her love for these spiders and her quest to know more about them.Hear actor behind Hoot from Giggle and Hoot, Nicholas Richard, grapple with his respect and fear of our eight-legged neighbours. Will he come to love the creature we’ve been taught to avoid?TranscriptLinks for moreThe Australian Museum page on funnel websThe Australian Reptile Park page on handling funnel webs for the antivenom programCaitlin’s website for more spider insightsFollow Nick on InstagramCreditsProducer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuests: Caitlin Creak, Nicholas RichardMusic: Michelle CashmanEditor: Dianne WellerMade possible through Meta Australia Public Interest Journalism Fund, administered by the Walkley Foundation, with support from Comedy Victoria.

Why do we not know this? Why is this not in the mainstream?This is a catch up that generates more questions than answers. As we unfold insights from each episode in our latest flash, there are a few tangential revelations: Rachel drops a koala-related bombshell; Kirsty learns about Australia’s feral cat problem; and Rachel wants everyone to know about the true Australian highlight, the numbat. Overall, Kirsty is astounded at how much from our previous episodes are not common knowledge. How many of our topics and tangents were you aware of?See our episode writeups on the website: australianhighlights.com.auTranscriptCredits:Producer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuest: Kirsty KappMusic: Michelle CashmanEditing: Graham HunterMade possible through Meta Australia Public Interest Journalism Fund, administered by the Walkley Foundation, with support from Comedy Victoria.

A great discussion on writing practice came out of our science poetry episode with poet Tricia Dearborn and comedian Jeeves Verma. While it did not make the final episode, the discussion has been saved here in a special bonus episode, perfect for those of us wanting practical insight for writing something wonderful - whether it be a poem or a comedy set.Tricia and Jeeves exchange writing tips and tricks: how they deal with the things that get in the way and how they capture their creative ideas. Some are less conventional than you would expect.TranscriptLinks for more: Highlight article from the full episode, Ep 15: Tricia DearbornTricia's book, AutobiochemistryA selection of her poetryFollow Jeeves on InstagramCreditsProducer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuests: Tricia Dearborn and Jeeves VermaMusic: Michelle CashmanEditing: Graham Hunter

Can science really be the perfect inspiration for poetry?Tricia is one of many poets around the world embedding science into their writing. The award-winning writer and editor lives in a world where there is no divide between the artistic and the scientific. She has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Honours in Biochemistry, and a Masters in Women’s and Gender Studies, specialising in literature. After spending some time as a biochemist, she realised that words were her preferred medium for experimentation.Tricia wrote her first poem at seven, and hasn’t stopped. She is a founding member of Plumwood Mountain, the ecopoetry journal and was the first Australian poet to be invited to the international Poetry on the Move festival.  Comedian Jeeves Verma begins by aligning poetry with onions: can he be inspired to consider science poetry an exciting genre of creativity?Hosted by Rachel Rayner, Science Explainer.TranscriptLinks for moreHighlight article by Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerTricia's book, AutobiochemistryA selection of her poetryFollow Jeeves on InstagramCreditsProducer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuests: Tricia Dearborn and Jeeves VermaMusic: Michelle CashmanEditing: Graham HunterMade possible through Meta Australia Journalism Fund, administered by the Walkley Foundation, with support from Comedy Victoria.

This is the recording of our launch event for the Australian Highlight series, which took place at SciTech’s Chevron Theatre on 8 Feb, 2025 in front of a live audience.See Natasha's radio sky image.Did you know Australia leads the world in the field of radio astronomy, and is the home to some of the biggest discoveries?The newest mystery from space is called a Long Period Transient.Yes, the name is uninspiring, but hearing any astronomer or quantum physicist talk about it illuminates the exciting possibilities it opens up for our understanding of the Universe and makes us ask, is anything really impossible?Perth-resident behind the 2022 discovery, Prof Natasha Hurley-Walker, will reveal the roller-coaster journey that brought her here: forging opportunities and following a hunch after multiple set-backs and disparagement from established modes of thinking.The world-leading mind for long period transients, Natasha has also led a project to make the best radio-image of our sky. Using the Murchison Widefield Array, a telescope operated by an international consortium and located in Western Australia, she produced an iridescent image that illuminates what had gone unseen in our own galaxy. Will we convince comedian Zeppo that Long Period Transients are the most exciting thing in our sky?Hosted by Rachel Rayner, Science Explainer, who sounds more nervous than usual.TranscriptLinks for more:Highlight article and event photosAbout the GLEAM image (also the episode picture)GLEAM image on the ABC newsThe Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)Natasha's discovery paper for Long Period Transients (her second paper, and her third paper).Article on the third paperFollow Zeppo to find out where they're performing nextCreditsProducer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuests: Natasha Hurley-Walker, ZeppoVenue: SciTech, PerthTech: Melody Rachel, Luke MorrisMusic: Michelle CashmanEditing: Graham HuntMade possible through Meta Australia Journalism Fund, administered by the Walkley Foundation, with support from Comedy Victoria. 

What if we saw rubbish as a valuable resource?Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an inventor, engineer and leading expert in the field of recycling science. She is the founding Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMART) at the University of NSW. Making waste valuable, her first invention reduced carbon emissions from the steel industry, and her second is promising to empower communities to become their own manufacturers. Adding a few more ‘r’s to the reduce, reuse, recycle list – such as reform and remanufacture – she is upending existing systems to engineer solutions for a waste-free world.Comedian Bec Charlwood is excited to be on such a classy podcast and we're thrilled to have her help host Rachel Rayner unravel our trash to reveal the treasure within.TranscriptLinks Highlight article by Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerRead more on UNSW's SMaRT Centre More on Green SteelMore on plastic filaments from MICROfactoriesMore on ceramics from MICROfactoriesFind out more on the circular economy at the Australian Circular Economy HubCheck out Bec Charlwood's comedy on her YouTube channelCredits Producer: Rachel Rayner, Science ExplainerGuests: Veena Sahajwalla, Bec CharlwoodMusic: Michelle CashmanEditing: Graham Hunter