The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

A UN report in September said global heating will hit 1.8C — at least — but this could be partially reversed by removing carbon from the atmosphere. One way to achieve this is by establishing vast new forests. Trees take carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis, and it turns out microbes living in tree bark can absorb another potent greenhouse gas, methane. Shelby Traynor ...

Around the start of September 1859, an intense solar storm triggered widespread auroras and set fires in telegraph stations throughout Europe and North America. This event is often cited as the first such event that had a big impact on technology. And as space weather researcher Brett Carter explains, earlier solar storms impacted systems such as railway signals, causing train d...

The Pantheon in Rome features the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It has a diameter of more than 43 metres and was completed nearly 2,000 years ago yet is still in excellent condition. So how have Roman concrete structures such as the Pantheon dome and the vast system of aqueducts lasted for hundreds of years when modern concrete seems shoddy in comparison?

The African lion and, to a lesser extent, the leopard, are the most dangerous big cats for people living in Africa today. But a couple of million years ago, our ancestors and hominin cousins had to contend not just with lions and leopards, but many other predators, including multiple species of sabre-toothed cat. Palaeontologist Justin Adams describes some of the now-extinct big...

AI is getting so good at maths that it is now tackling, and apparently solving, some of the hardest mathematical problems that exist. But as huge companies like OpenAI and Anthropic race to outdo each other, human mathematicians are getting caught in the crossfire... and their field is changing forever.  Jonathan Webb speaks to ABC AI Technology Reporter Cam Wilson about the fu...