Citizen Science Show

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Episodes

188

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Welcome to the Citizen Science Show, a place to share stories of purpose about ecology. We explore the diverse activities of passionate people who record observations, gather empirical evidence and use technology to uncover scientific proof for positive social, cultural and political change. We hope that these stories will inspire and encourage you to take action and become a Citizen Scientist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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60 recent

August 12, 202624 min

#195 From Bone-Conducted Sound to Moon Dirt: Ben Newsome Wants Every Kid to Think Like a Scientist

Ben Newsome, founder and director of Fizzics Education, has spent over two decades turning kids into scientists, reaching more than four million young Australians since 2004. In this episode, recorded ahead of National Science Week 2026, Ben joins Dani to unpack this year's "Seeds of Science" theme, runs three physics experiments live on the podcast using nothing but a balloon, a straw and his own elbow, and shares how student-designed experiments have made it all the way to the International Space Station, including an ongoing project tackling real NASA engineering problems for future lunar habitation.Ben also previews his lineup for the Hunter Science Festival at Newcastle Museum on Sunday 23 August, a free, family-friendly event where the Citizen Science Show will be running a live pop-up podcasting booth.If you're in the Hunter region, come find us and say hello.Event detailsHunter Science Festival, Newcastle Museum, Sunday 23 August 2026. Free entry. Presented by the Hunter Innovation and Science Hub (HISH) and the City of Newcastle, supported by the Australian Government.https://newcastlemuseum.com.au/More Informationhttps://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/free-resources/https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/programs/https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/benjamin-newsome-nsw-2013/https://www.virtualexcursionsaustralia.com.au/events/inspiring-australia-training/https://www.facebook.com/fizzicseducationhttps://www.youtube.com/@fizzicseducationhttps://www.lakemac.com.au/Events-directory/Council-events/Maker-Con-26https://www.virtualexcursionsaustralia.com.au/events/scifest-2026/https://avachallenge.org/simple-seeds/https://stars-align.org/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

August 10, 202626 min

#193 Down the Rabbit Hole: How Steph Scott Is Turning Pond Scum Into Planetary Wonder

Two billion years ago, a microscopic organism invented photosynthesis and changed the fate of life on Earth.In this episode, we go micro with Steph Scott, founder of the East Coast Algae Group and a micro-documentary filmmaker who spends her days peering through a microscope at nearly 1,000x magnification.Steph unpacks the surprising world of microalgae, from beta-glucan compounds that could replace antibiotics in aquaculture, to the ancient partnership between algae and fungus that gave rise to every plant on land, to the citizen science platforms anyone can use to get involved.It's a journey into a universe most of us walk past every day without ever seeing.More Informationhttps://coastalscience.noaa.gov/monitoring-and-assessments/pmn/East Coast Algae Website https://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/eastcoastalgaebio/home?authuser=0The Microlage Project websitehttps://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/eastcoastalgaebio/the-microalgae-project?authuser=0Steph's photography sitehttps://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/srm/images?authuser=0Citizen science initiativesOzGreen' MacroMusterhttps://www.ozgreen.org/macromusterIf you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

August 3, 202618 min

#185 The Sound of a Whale You've Never Heard: How Oscar Mower Taught a Computer to Listen

At just 22, Oscar Mower built a machine learning model that can listen to raw ocean audio and pick out the call of a minke whale in real time, one of the most elusive and under-studied baleen whales in the world.In this episode, Oscar explains how he turned whale song into images a computer could learn to recognise, why minke whales have been so hard to track using traditional methods, and how the same technology could one day help prevent ship strikes, one of the leading causes of whale mortality worldwide.We also talk about the ongoing tension between abundant ocean audio data and the much scarcer resource of labelled data, why NOAA's open data repository made this project possible, and what a University of Sydney undergraduate research paper turned into: a tool with the potential to help map minke whale migration routes for the first time.More Informationhttps://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/science-data/sounds-ocean-environmental-and-anthropogenichttps://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/06/05/whale-song-crunched-for-minke-conservation1.htmlIf you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 27, 202636 min

#182 Tracking the Invisible Flood: Dr Scott Wilson on Microplastics and the Power of Citizen Science

Microplastics are everywhere, in our waterways, our food, and now, our bloodstreams, yet almost entirely invisible to the naked eye. In this episode, Sarah talks with toxicologist Dr Scott Wilson, research director of AUSMAP (the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project), about what plastic actually is, why "degradable" packaging is a greenwashing trap, and how bioaccumulation and biomagnification carry plastic particles up the food chain and into our bodies.Scott shares AUSMAP's citizen science model, which has trained over 1,300 volunteers to track microplastic pollution at hundreds of sites nationally, including some confronting news about Bondi Beach, and explains how that data is already shaping national policy and international treaty negotiations.It's a sobering picture, but one with a clear, hopeful message: everyday choices and community science really can drive change.More Informationhttps://www.ausmap.org/https://www.implasticfree.com/https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/https://www.unep.org/inc-plastic-pollutionIf you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 22, 202639 min

#192 Meet the Wombat Warriors: Inside Julie Old's Citizen Science Mission to Save Australia's Underrated Marsupial

Wombats might be Australia's most underrated marsupial, and Associate Professor Julie Old has spent over a decade making sure they get the attention they deserve.In this episode, Dani talks with Julie about founding WomSAT, the citizen science project that's logged more than 25,000 wombat sightings, burrows and scat records since 2015.They cover the devastating impact of sarcoptic mange, how everyday Australians can train to treat wild wombats, the real science behind those famous cube-shaped droppings, and why wombat burrows are both an ecological treasure and, occasionally, a farmer's headache.Plus: how you can become a wombat warrior yourself, and why World Wombat Day (22 October) deserves a spot on your calendar.More Informationhttps://womsat.org.au/womsat/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 20, 202638 min

#181 From Mars to Bushfires: Dr Eriita Jones Brings Planetary Science Back Down to Earth

This episode leaves Earth's oceans behind, almost.Planetary scientist Dr Eriita Jones from Curtin University joins Sarah to explore what it really takes for a planet to support life, from deep-sea hydrothermal vents to supercooled microbes floating in Earth's stratosphere.Eriita explains why Europa, Enceladus and Mars remain the solar system's most tantalising candidates for extraterrestrial oceans, shares the ethical questions she believes should come before any human mission to Mars, and reveals how her Mars-hunting techniques are now helping predict bushfires and floods right here at home.Plus: how accurate is *The Martian*, really, and how you can get involved in real space science through citizen projects like the Desert Fireball Network.More Informationhttps://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/impact-flash/https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/planet-hunters-tess/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 18, 202632 min

#187 Science in Your Swimmers: How Anita Kolni and Caz Grant Built Australia's Ocean Culture Movement

What started as one mum's idea to make ocean science fun has become Australia's leading celebration of the sea.In this episode, Sarah sits down with Anita Kolni and Caz Grant, founders of the Ocean Lovers Festival, to talk about building a platform that connects scientists, conservationists, artists and everyday ocean lovers, from a Trashion parade made of beach litter to a citizen science BioBlitz spanning the length of the Sydney coastline. They share the surprising discovery that even leading marine scientists weren't talking to each other, how the festival's Sydney Coast Hope Spot came to be with the support of Mission Blue's Sylvia Earle, and why hope, not fear, has become their guiding philosophy for ocean conservation.More Informationhttps://www.oceanloversfestival.com/http://washedup.us/https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sydney-coast-hope-spot-marine-bioblitz-march-2025If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 17, 202633 min

#186 Cardboard Teepees for Wildlife: How Dr Alex Carthey Is Rebuilding Shelter After the Fires

After the Black Summer megafires, wildlife ecologist Dr Alex Carthey saw a gap no one was filling: the critical weeks after a fire, when surviving animals have no cover and predators move in.In this episode, Dani talks with Alex about founding ReHabitat, a profit-for-purpose start-up making biodegradable cardboard shelter pods that give ground-dwelling animals somewhere to hide while the bush regrows.Alex walks us through the pyramid-shaped pod design, the surprising range of species turning up on camera traps (including a wallaby that ate one), the logistics of rapid post-fire deployment, and where citizen scientists and wildlife carers could fit into the response.She also shares ReHabitat's newest product, the Plant Pod, and the accelerator program that turned a lockdown-era idea into a growing Australian business.More Informationhttps://rehabitat.au/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 16, 202638 min

#177 From Dive Guide to Nikon Ambassador: Jake Wilton's Camera-Eye View of Nature

From dive guide to Nikon Ambassador: in this episode, Sarah reconnects with wildlife photographer Jake Wilton, whose lens has taken him from the grey nurse shark caves of Fish Rock, NSW, to the manta ray waters of Ningaloo, WA, and the rainforests of Far North Queensland.Jake shares the extraordinary story of freeing a hooked manta ray named Freckles, a rescue that made international news, and the rare cassowary foraging behaviour he was the first to photograph.Along the way, he opens up about what repeated encounters with intelligent wildlife have taught him, how his photography has contributed to real scientific research, and the citizen science projects any listener can join today.Jake also shares his biggest wish: permanent marine park protection for the reef that started it all.More Informationhttps://www.jakewiltonphoto.com/https://www.youtube.com/@jakewiltonphoto579If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 15, 202636 min

#191 Fifty Years of Mud, Sweat and Cheers: How One Volunteer Is Fighting to Save the Hunter's Shorebirds with Tom Clarke

For more than 40 years, Tom Clarke has been on the front line of shorebird conservation in the Hunter estuary, NSW. One of the most significant migratory shorebird habitats in the world.In this episode, Tom joins Dani to talk about decades of hands-on restoration work with the Hunter Bird Observers Club, the alarming decline in shorebird numbers over the past 20 years, and the mangrove-clearing program that's brought birds back to sites they'd long abandoned.Tom also shares how the club navigated early conflict with the fishing industry, the surprising conservation wins for threatened beach-nesting birds, and what volunteers are doing to prepare for the arrival of avian influenza on Australian shores.Plus, a look ahead to the Australasian Shorebird Conference, coming to Newcastle in September 2026.More Informationhttps://www.hboc.org.au/Far Eastern Curlew Photo Credit: Rod Warnock (2017)If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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