Science & technology

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The Future is Fungal / Science & technology

With Brian Pickles, Gavin McIntyre, and Vanessa Toholka

Mushrooms, it seems, have some uncanny properties. Fungi are more closely related to humans than plants, and if we can work with our fungal cousins, we might find a way to reduce waste – and perhaps even salvage our planet.

Gavin McIntyre and Brian Pickles are two ‘bio-neers’ whose work is at the forefront of the new mushroom movement. McIntyre is…

Promo image for Search Me: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Search Me: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz / Internet, journalism, media & publishing

With Seth Stephens-Davidowitz and Jacinta Parsons

‘What is a fidget spinner?’, ‘how to make slime’, and ‘what is the Paris Climate Agreement?’ were among the top Google searches of 2017.

What was the last question you typed into Google, and what does it reveal about you? What does the data on all Google searches since the beginning of the internet tell us about our species?

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz has…

Podcast episode

Cover image for of Whitewash: Crops, Corruption and Cancer

The Fifth Estate

Whitewash: Crops, Corruption and Cancer / Health & medicine

Glyphosate is the most widely used weed-killer in the world. It’s the active ingredient in Roundup, the flagship agricultural herbicide sold by Monsanto, and it’s used in more than 130 countries including Australia. Glyphosate is in our parks, gardens, golf-courses and playgrounds. And it’s in our food and water.

Veteran investigative journalist Carey Gillam has spent decades exploring the links between big business, biotech and agriculture in America. In her new book, Whitewash, she looks into the growing body of research about glyphosate’s health risks – and reveals the legal and marketing strategies Monsanto has employed to prevent and conceal damaging revelations about their product.

With Sally Warhaft – and in the immediate aftermath of a landmark US ruling on Roundup's links to a cancer case – this tenacious Kansas-based journalist talks corporate power, public health and reporting Roundup.

Presented in partnership with Bendigo Writers Festival.

Enjoyed talking to ⁦@careygillam⁩ at ⁦@bgowritersfest⁩ last night. Not sure where she found the American sized beverage in rural Victoria but not surprised. She’s been on Monsanto’s case for 20 years. pic.twitter.com/HmhUlOKvTZ

— Sally Warhaft (@SallyWarhaft) August 12, 2018

31 Oct 2018

Past event

Search Me: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz / Technology

With Seth Stephens-Davidowitz and Jacinta Parsons

‘What is a fidget spinner?’, ‘how to make slime’, and ‘what is the Paris Climate Agreement?’ were among the top Google searches of 2017.

What was the last question you typed into Google, and what does it reveal about you? What does the data on all Google searches since the beginning of the internet tell us about our species?

Seth…

12 Aug 2018

Past event

Dark Emu Revisited / Indigenous

With Bruce Pascoe and Tony Birch

With his 2014 book, Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe presented robust evidence that entrenched assumptions about Aboriginal hunter-gatherer societies were false. Nobody predicted the intense, ongoing interest that would follow. Drawing from the journals of European explorers, Pascoe showed that pre-settlement Aboriginal people engaged in various forms of agriculture.

Dark Emu itself was just the beginning of a series of…

11 Aug 2018

Past event

Promo image for Whitewash: Crops, Corruption and Cancer

The Fifth Estate

Whitewash: Crops, Corruption and Cancer / Environment

With Sally Warhaft and Carey Gillam

Veteran investigative journalist Carey Gillam has spent decades exploring the links between…

Anything and everything in Science & technology from across our archives.

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11 Apr 2011

Medical Researchers Rally Against Funding Cuts / Science & technology

By Alex Landragin

The federal government is also coming under pressure from health researchers after government spokespeople refused to deny speculation that next month’s federal budget will include a significant cut in funding for medical research. Medical researchers are alarmed at a rumoured cut of $400 million over three years to National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding as the government seeks to return the budget…

10 Oct 2014

News

Promo image for Friday High Five: Books on HBO, Psychopaths and Astronauts

Friday High Five: Books on HBO, Psychopaths and Astronauts / Science & technology

By Jo Case

27 Apr 2017

Past event

The Longform Society

Meeting #1: Robots / Technology

With Sophie Cunningham, Mel Campbell, Jeff Sparrow and 1 other

Lunchbox/Soapbox: Dyani Lewis: Are We Too Promiscuous For Our Own Good? / Health & medicine

13 Sep 2017

Past event

Promo image for Tim Flannery: Rays of Hope

Tim Flannery: Rays of Hope / Technology

With Tim Flannery and Hilary Harper

27 Oct 2010

New Nook Shares Reading Around / Technology

US book chain Barnes and Noble have announced they’ll release a new e-reader that’s creeping closer to being an iPad, according to GalleyCat.

Unlike the Kindle the Nook Color promises a new high quality colour screen and links in with social networking sites. The NOOKFriends feature lets you copy passages of a book into Facebook or Twitter so you can tell everyone what you’re…

23 Mar 2011

Google Digitisation Project Thrown Out of Court / Technology

By Alex Landragin

A Federal Court judge in New York has rejected an agreement between Google, publishers and a group of about 40 libraries. Google has been digitising books in these libraries - which include Stanford University and the University of Chicago - with a view to making them viewable and searchable online. The books Google has been digitising include out-of-print books and ‘orphan’ books - books…

Promo image for Intelligence Squared Debates: Copyright is Dead, Long Live the Pirates

Intelligence Squared Debates: Copyright is Dead, Long Live the Pirates / Books, reading & writing

13 Nov 2013

News

Promo image for Amazon Launches Australian Ebook Store

Amazon Launches Australian Ebook Store / Bookshops

By Jo Case

Innovation, Energy And Climate Change In The Developing World - Tim Costello / Energy, environment & climate

Nick Earls / Books, reading & writing

With Chris Flynn and Nick Earls

17 Jan 2012

News

The Summer of Hate / Digital culture

By Jon Tjhia

The Fifth Estate: Power Flail / Climate change & weather

With Philip Chubb and Sally Warhaft

24 Oct 2014

News

Promo image for Friday High Five: My Friend Siri, Walkleys and Catfishing

Friday High Five: My Friend Siri, Walkleys and Catfishing / Digital culture

By Jo Case

21 Mar 2017

Past event

Promo image for Technology and the Brain

Question Time

Technology and the Brain / Technology

With Madeleine Morris, Michael Arnold, and Olivia Carter

22 Dec 2010

Assange Memoir Due Next Year / Technology

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is reported to have sold his memoir to UK press Canongate, according to the Bookseller.

Still facing charges for sexual assault in Sweden, Assange is expected to deliver the manuscript in March of next year. Daily Finance reports that Canongate publisher Jamie Byng had confirmed the news via email with a US edition to be published by Knopf. News…

28 Oct 2010

Barry’s Movie Deal / Technology

Writer and now executive producer Max Barry

Yesterday a relieved Max Barry tweeted about his online book being made into a film by director Darren Aronofsky. Barry tweeted “For months I have borne the terrible weight of knowing Darren Aronofsky was attached to direct my movie without being able to brag about it.”

Barry serialised Machine Man posting it on his website as he…