The Cosmos Podcast

Remote and wild, Antarctica was once solely the domain of hardcore explorers. As the continent becomes more accessible, science and tourism are expanding – but does this come with an environmental cost? Should access to these fragile ecosystems be regulated, and who gets to decide?

Professor Steven L Chown FAA FRSsaf is Director of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future, an Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative and Professor at Monash University. His Antarctic research covers many aspects of biodiversity variation and its conservation. Owing to his interest in the science-policy interface, for many years he represented the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), of which he was also President (2016-2021), at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, providing scientific advice on a broad range of environmental and science policy matters.

Dr Jaimie Cleeland is an early career scientist working on Southern Ocean fisheries at the Australian Antarctic Division. Her research directly contributes to the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources, where she represents Australia as an independent scientific delegate. Providing advice on the impact fishing has on bycatch species such as seabirds and deep-water skates and sharks, and ways that we can better manage fisheries around Antarctica to conserve non-target species.

Greg Mortimer OAM is best known as a mountaineer; he was one of the first two Australians to climb Mt Everest (1984) and the first Australian to climb Antarctica’s highest peak, Vinson Massif, in 1988. He later co-founded adventure cruise company Aurora Expeditions and has led over 80 expeditions to Antarctica. He trained as a geochemist and geologist has also previously worked for the New Zealand Antarctic Division.

They join our host, Professor Alan Duffy of The Royal Institution of Australia to discuss this key issue.

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In the September 2022 Cosmos print magazine, Kate Evans looked at how the nautilus’s lineage made it through all five of Earth’s previous mass extinctions and asked can it survive the Anthropocene.
The article has been read by Renee Garvin and published for free as part of our Ultramarine project, which is funded by Mindaroo Foundation.

Welcome to a Cosmos Insights podcast, where we talk to scientists in Australia about the impact of their work.

This year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Science has gone to a mathematician who wondered how much heat is contained in a kilogram of seawater, while he was swimming in freshwater in Boston.

Trevor McDougall AC, Scientia Professor of Ocean Physics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New South Wales, has received the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, recognising “his transformative impact in the study of oceanography and ocean thermodynamics. “

Today Cosmos journalist Imma Perfetto talks to Scientia Professor McDougall about his work.

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Welcome to a Cosmos Insights podcast, where we talk to scientists in Australia about the impact of their work.

With brownish feathers, distinctive fine white streaks, and a long cocked tail, the western grasswren (Amytornis textilis) is a charming but elusive native Australian songbird.

If you are lucky enough to spot one, you might find it darting between shrubs as it forages along the ground on Dirk Hartog Island in Western Australia – thanks to the first successful grasswren translocation effort last month.

It was to re-establish the population after the introduction of sheep, goats, and feral cats caused the birds, and 12 other species, to become extinct on the island.

Today Cosmos journalist Imma Perfetto talks to Dr Saul Cowen, Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and Aline Gibson Vega, whose PhD project helped in the translocation.

Find the science of everything at the Cosmos Magazine website

Subscribe to Cosmos Magazine (print) or the Cosmos Weekly

Watch and listen to all our Cosmos Briefings

Special 10% discount on Cosmos magazine print subscriptions (1 or 2 year), or 1 year Cosmos Weekly subscriptions for Cosmos Briefing podcast listeners! Use coupon code COSMOSPOD in our shop.

Welcome to 'Would You Rather' a podcast where Cosmos science journalists debate a topic and only one comes out the victor.

Today, Jacinta Bowler and Evrim Yasgin debate whether telescopes or microscopes are better!

Find the science of everything at the Cosmos Magazine website

Subscribe to Cosmos Magazine (print) or the Cosmos Weekly

Watch and listen to all our Cosmos Briefings

Special 10% discount on Cosmos magazine print subscriptions (1 or 2 year), or 1 year Cosmos Weekly subscriptions for Cosmos Briefing podcast listeners! Use coupon code COSMOSPOD in our shop.