Citizen Science Show

What's really in the air over Darwin, and why wasn't anyone measuring it?In this episode, Dani talks with Dr Louise Woodward, a Darwin paediatrician and founder of CHANT (Community Healthy Air Northern Territory), Australia's first community-led air quality monitoring project. Louise explains how a Senate inquiry into a major gas industry expansion in Darwin Harbour revealed the Northern Territory wasn't monitoring for toxic chemicals like benzene at all, and how her community responded by crowdfunding over $130,000 to buy their own mobile air monitor.The conversation covers the real health risks of living near gas processing facilities, why "natural gas" isn't the safe, clean option it's marketed as, and how CHANT's advocacy has already led to formal prosecution over misreported emissions, plus what Louise sees as reason for real hope in the twilight of the fossil fuel era.More Informationhttps://www.healthyairnt.au/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591465550473https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-05/nt-epa-prosecutes-gas-company-inpex/106998434If 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the Australian landscape trying to tell us, and are we actually listening?In this episode, host John Marsh sits down with regenerative farmer Martin Royds of Jillamatong, near Braidwood, NSW, to explore a philosophy built over four decades: reading weeds, soil and water as feedback rather than problems to be sprayed away.Martin shares how a simple handful of urea outperforms a toxic, decades-old herbicide, why his nutrient-dense grass-finished beef was once rejected by a supermarket for having the "wrong" coloured fat, and the remarkable story of senior fast food executives travelling from the United States to see his water-positive farming system firsthand.The conversation ranges from Indigenous knowledge and the hidden marketing history behind "grain-fed" beef, to Sydney's multi-billion-dollar water infrastructure debate, and closes with Martin's simple advice for anyone, farmer or city dweller, wanting to reconnect with the living systems around them.More InformationJillamatong:https://jillamatong.com.au/Soils for Life interview:https://soilsforlife.org.au/the-jillamatong-story/Australian Museum Interview:https://australian.museum/learn/climate-change/climate-solutions/future-now-makers/green-solutions/The Mulloon Institute:https://mullooninstitute.org/2019/11/06/braidwoods-secret-water-supply-waiting-in-weir/Soils for Life PODCAST:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/making-decisions-in-the-dry-with-martin-royds/id1582582411?i=1000709860943The Land Article:https://www.theland.com.au/story/9179532/drought-resilience-lessons-from-aussie-farmers/Charlie Arnott Podcast Episode:https://charliearnott.com.au/s2-e3-martin-royd/ABC:https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2010-09-21/braidwood-farmer-looks-to-diversification/6195980Landcare:https://landcarensw.org.au/landcarers-holistic-management-approach-is-paying-dividends-during-drought/Matters Journal:https://mattersjournal.com/stories/regenerative-agricultureQPRC ‘Region’:https://region.com.au/braidwoods-secret-water-supply-waiting-in-weir/335126/ 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's National Science Week, and Dani welcomes back a familiar face: Dr Jessie Oliver, Technical Manager of SciStarter Australia, the local home for finding and sharing citizen science projects across the country.Jessie walks through what's currently on the platform, from backyard biodiversity spotting on iNaturalist to hyperlocal air-quality monitoring in Tasmania, and explains why physics-based projects remain rare while health and technology projects are on the rise.She also opens up about her background in tech design research, why so many people feel discouraged by "unfriendly" citizen science apps, and why that's rarely their fault. Plus: how project organisers, big or small, can get their own citizen science projects listed on SciStarter Australia, and why Jessie is personally offering to help anyone who gets stuck.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 Information https://www.scistarteraustralia.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's National Science Week, and this episode is all about physics and the people bringing it to life across Australia.Dani sits down with Associate Professor Dr Karen Livesey, Chair of the NSW branch of the Australian Institute of Physics and a 2023 Marie Curie Lecturer, to talk about the AIP's first-ever stall at the Hunter Science Festival, the 2026 Marie Curie Lecture Series touring the country with astrophysicist Dr Karelle Siellez, and the surprising careers a physics degree can lead to.Karen also shares her "secret mission" to find physics hiding in the everyday world, from rainbows to nanomagnets, and reveals her other secret life running Ghost Fungus Tours, where quantum mechanics meets glowing mushrooms in the bush.Catch the AIP at the Hunter Science Festival on Sunday 23 August at Newcastle Museum, and the Marie Curie Lecture live in Newcastle on Friday 21 August.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 Information https://www.aip.org.au/Women-in-Physics-Lecture-TourIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are an estimated **3,000* shipwrecks still undiscovered on Australia's ocean floor and up to 300 of them could be sitting in a single 3km stretch off Newcastle, NSW.In this episode, host Sarah sits down with Dr James Hunter, Manager of Maritime Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum, for a deep dive into the science, history and heartbreak of shipwreck discovery. James takes us from a candle that survived 136 years inside a Civil War submarine, to the commercial salvage operation that gutted the war grave of HMAS Perth, to his own long-held theory that a centuries-old Spanish or Portuguese wreck may still be hiding in the Torres Strait.Along the way, James explains how everyday divers, boaters and beachgoers are already helping professional archaeologists find, monitor and protect these underwater time capsules and exactly what to do if you ever stumble across one yourself.In This Episode • How maritime archaeologists search for wrecks in shallow and deep water• the identification of Captain Cook's HMB Endeavour• the extraordinary preservation of the H.L. Hunley submarine• why human interference is more destructive than nature• treating wrecks as gravesites• the rise of 3D photogrammetry• how to get trained as a citizen maritime archaeologist• and the undiscovered wreck James hopes someone finds next.More Informationhttps://www.citizen-science-reisen.de/en/marine-archaeologyhttps://www.aima-underwater.org.au/shop/category/courseshttps://www.sunken.media/https://www.girtsd.org/BooksCitizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagementedited by Della A. Scott-Ireton, Jennifer E. Jones, Jason T. RauppIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the thing we most need to conserve isn't a place, but darkness itself?In this episode, Sarah speaks with Grant Salmond, Education and Astronomy Manager at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, about how the small Queensland town of Winton became one of only eight internationally accredited Dark Sky places in Australia.Grant explains how a plague of insects led to a town-wide lighting overhaul, how the Gondwana Stars Observatory links the fossil record to the night sky, and how the First Nations "Dark Emu" constellation has guided seasonal knowledge for tens of thousands of years.Along the way: citizen science through Globe at Night, an opera performed beneath the stars, and a simple lightbulb swap that could help bring the stars back to your own backyard.More InformationDark sky international - https://darksky.org/https://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/https://www.winton.qld.gov.au/Community/Dark-Sky-Communityhttps://globeatnight.org/https://australasiandarkskyalliance.org/https://www.scienceweek.net.au/https://darksky.org/what-we-do/events/dark-sky-week/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This July, Australia goes on a fungi hunt. In this episode, Dani sits down with Dr Michael Priest, president of Fungimap, to explore the hidden kingdom beneath our feet.With an estimated 50,000 fungal species across Australia, and only 10% of them named. Michael explains why the Great Aussie Fungi Hunt needs citizen scientists more than ever.From mycorrhizal partnerships and the "wood wide web" to introduced species threatening native fungi and the truffle-dependent diet of the potoroo, this conversation is a crash course in why fungi matter and how anyone with a phone camera can help map them.Tune in to learn how to get involved, what to photograph, and why you really shouldn't eat what you find.More Informationhttps://fungimap.org.au/https://www.facebook.com/fungimapIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of Earth’s species have gone extinct, but their stories are still being uncovered, sometimes by everyday people.In this episode, host Sarah sits down with Sabrina Ricci of the I Know Dino podcast to explore how citizen scientists keep rewriting the dinosaur record.From “Teen Rex,” a juvenile T. rex found by a hiking family in North Dakota, to the recent scientific resolution of the Nanotyrannus debate, Sabrina shares the discoveries reshaping paleontology right now.They also dig into mummified Edmontosaurus fossils revealing soft tissue crests and hooves, what Earth’s five mass extinctions can teach us about today’s biodiversity crisis, and where listeners, including here in Australia, can join real fossil digs themselves.Plus: why future civilizations might think chickens ruled the world.More Informationhttps://iknowdino.com/dinosaur-museums/ (Dinosaur museums near you)https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#66 (What Earth looked like at different points in time)https://www.morphosource.org/ (Check out Dinosaur fossils in 3D)https://paleobiodb.org/navigator/ (To learn about specific fossils)https://www.ualberta.ca/en/admissions-programs/online-courses/dino101/index.html (To get an introduction to dinosaurs)https://www.patreon.com/cw/iknowdino (To join the I Know Dino Patreon and support some awesome creators)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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could the mosquitoes in your backyard be helping stop the next outbreak?In this episode, Dani sits down with medical entomologist Brian Montgomery and mosquito genomics expert Dr Gordana Rašić to talk about Zika Mozzie Seeker, a ten-year citizen science project that’s helped keep south east Queensland free of Zika and dengue-carrying mosquitoes.They dig into how genome mapping is turning backyard egg collections into powerful tools for predicting mosquito invasions, the new Mozzie SHIELDS project linking ports, schools and communities, and why “zero” might be the most exciting number in public health.Mosquito Image Credit: Sam Dickinsonhttps://inaturalist.ala.org.au/people/dickinsonsgMore Informationhttps://www.metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/about-us/get-involved/zika-mozzie-seeker-citizen-science-projecthttps://www.qimrb.edu.au/mozzieshieldsIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a number of shark bites on Australian beaches, the calls for a cull are growing louder. But does killing sharks actually make us safer?Marine ecologist Dr Jessica Meeuwig (UWA) joins Sarah Han-de-Beaux to separate fact from fear with the data:Why Hawaii's 1950s cull of over 5,000 sharks did nothing to reduce bites.Why Western Australia's $1.3 million drumline program caught zero white sharks.Why “shark numbers are exploding” is biologically impossible.Jessica unpacks the real ecological role sharks play, from protecting coral reefs to keeping seagrass beds intact, and lays out the evidence-based alternatives actually proven to reduce risk: drones, citizen science spotter programs, deterrent technology and serious investment in research.A clear-eyed, compassionate, and urgently needed conversation for anyone who loves the ocean.More Informationhttp://www.meeuwig.org/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bMn7RuW3Qchttps://sharkspotters.org.za/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Qhttps://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/wolf.htmhttps://www.aims.gov.au/information-centre/news-and-stories/sharks-increase-reef-resilience? https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/conl.12185If 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A leopard shark in a Dubai aquarium gave birth without ever meeting a male. That moment of virgin birth, parthenogenesis, kicked off a remarkable career for Dr David Robinson, now owner of Sundive in Byron Bay and a researcher of leopard sharks at the world-renowned Julian Rocks.In this episode, David takes us from curating Dubai's first aquarium to rehabilitating over 1,800 sea turtles, discovering one of the world's largest whale shark aggregations off Qatar (thanks to a sick turtle named Pearl), and finally landing, almost by accident, in one of the only places on Earth where leopard sharks still gather in healthy numbers.We talk genetic curiosities, record-breaking turtle migrations, shark mating behaviour caught on camera for the first time, and why citizen scientists with cameras are doing some of the most important work in marine research today.More Informationhttps://www.sundive.com.au/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/120106-virgin-birth-shark-dubai-sciencehttps://www.sharkbook.ai/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a weatherman trades the studio for the bush? In this episode, Dani talks with Graham Creed – former ABC weather presenter and author of The Weatherman Goes Bush – about a life shaped by science, community, and a deep love of the natural world.Graham shares the journey from watching Cyclone Tracy on the news as a nine-year-old in Melbourne, to twenty-one years as a broadcast meteorologist, to a tree change on a flower farm near Stroud, NSW. He talks proteas, platypus, and the unexpected flourishing of native bees after Varroa wiped out his thirteen honeybee hives.But this episode is as much about community as it is about the land. Graham co-founded the Stroud Community River Care Group, working to restore Mill Creek in the Karuah River catchment – pulling invasive weeds, replanting riparian vegetation, detecting platypus with environmental DNA, and building an indigenous history walk in a town celebrating its 200th European anniversary.He also takes us inside the world of weather modelling – from AI tools that predicted the 2025 Taree floods days ahead of every other model, to a CSIRO/Bureau of Meteorology tool that can tell you what your local climate will feel like in 90 years. And in a town that broke a 135-year rainfall record in 2025 before swinging straight into drought, those tools feel more urgent than ever.This is a story about observation, adaptation, and finding hope in the people quietly doing good work that rarely makes the news.More Informationhttps://www.grahamcreed.com.au/aboutIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney's iconic White's seahorse is in trouble. Habitat loss has pushed this endemic species, found nowhere else on Earth onto Australia's endangered list.But at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, marine scientist Mitch Brennan and his team are fighting back with one of the most charming solutions in conservation: the seahorse hotel.In this episode, Mitch explains how these metal reef structures work, why male seahorses give birth, and how a three-pronged strategy of captive breeding, artificial habitat, and natural restoration is giving White's seahorses a fighting chance in Sydney Harbour.He also shares how school kids are designing their own hotels, complete with rope disco balls, and how you can contribute sightings from your next dive to help monitor these incredible animals.If you've ever wanted to check in to a seahorse hotel, this is the episode for you.Get InvoledSydney Seahorse Project: https://sims.org.au/research/flagship-programs/the-gamay-initiative/project2-4-5/Project Humble School Group: https://projecthumble.com.au/Hong Kong Seahorse Project: https://www.lcf.gov.hk/filemanager/content/conservation/RE-2024-07-ENG.pdfHandfish Project: https://handfish.org.au/NSW DPIRD logging: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/species-protection/report-a-threatened-species-formIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if you could save a plant from extinction and have it flowering in your garden within eighteen months? In this episode, Dani sits down with Helen Howard, horticulturist and nursery manager at the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens in NSW, to explore the remarkable world of plant grafting.With over thirty years of experience and a career that spans Ireland, England, and across Australia, Helen has dedicated herself to grafting Australian native plants from grevilleas and brachychitons to rare species teetering on the edge of disappearance. She explains how grafting works, why it matters for conservation, and how backyard gardeners can try it themselves.Along the way, we hear about Frankenstein trees, the mummy graft technique, near-extinct grevilleas brought back from the brink, and why hygiene is the one thing every grafter must never skip.If you've ever wondered why native plants can be so expensive, why grafted citrus fruits grow so much better, or what it takes to actually save a species — this episode is for you.🌷 Find Helen and the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens🪷 Search "Botanic Gardens Heatherbrae"🌼 Grafting workshops run every two months, limited to 6 participants.More Informationhttps://www.huntergardens.org.au/https://www.facebook.com/helen.howard.108152https://austplants.com.au/https://anpsa.org.au/study_group/grevillea-study-group/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it actually take to save a whale? Not the twenty-second clip you see on the news — the full story, from the Sunday afternoon phone call through to the night run home in the dark, 22 kilometres south of where you started.In this episode of the Citizen Science Show, host Sarah Han-de-Beaux sits down with Adam and Amelie from Forster Dive Centre on the NSW mid coast — a couple who have turned their dive shop into a community conservation hub, and who spend their days off responding to marine rescues, removing hooks from Grey Nurse Sharks, and teaching people that the ocean is worth protecting because they finally understand what's in it.Amelie brings a marine biology background and a gift for translating science into something anyone can feel. Adam brings deep local knowledge, a boat, and a willingness to spend seven and a half hours on the water on Father's Day.Together they share the full behind-the-scenes stories of:🐋 The entangled humpback whale whose pod tail-slapped to show them where the line was and who breached at sunset after she was freed🐋 The juvenile humpback stranded in the Wallis Lake system in just 60cm of water, which made the New York Times and needed two separate rescue operations over three days🦈 Ten Grey Nurse Sharks rescued from fishing hooks over a single weekend🤿 The 'Diving with Challenges' program and the diver who taught them that underwater, there is only one languagePlus: their top three tips for citizen scientists, their hopes for their kids' ocean, and the local motto that says it all. There's no hurry in Tuncurry.🐬 To report a marine animal in distress: contact ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia)🦈 To contribute to shark citizen science: Spot-A-Shark🤿 To dive with Adam and Amelie: Forster Dive Centre, NSW mid coastMore Informationhttps://www.orrca.org.au/https://seaworldfoundation.com.au/https://spotashark.com/https://ladyelliot.com.au/sustainability/project-manta/https://www.forsterdivecentre.com.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was practically born in a nest. At just 22 years old, Ziggy Gow-Webb has spent his entire life surrounded by birds of prey at Raptor Refuge in Kettering, Tasmania — the facility his father, Craig Webb, built from the ground up over 26 years.In this special short episode of the Citizen Science Show, host Dani Lloyd-Prichard sits down with Ziggy to hear his story: what it's like to grow up among eagles and owls, how raptors develop individual personalities, and what it feels like when a wild bird finally decides to trust you.Ziggy also opens up about the refuge's 30–40% rehabilitation success rate, the reality of loss in wildlife care, and how every setback only strengthens his drive to return more birds to the wild.And as a bonus, Ziggy reveals he's been living a double life. After just three months of posting social media videos about his daily work with raptors, he was approached to appear on The Floor Australia (Channel 9), a high-pressure game show where his expert category was nocturnal animals. Did he make it to the grand final? You'll have to tune in to find out.This episode pairs beautifully with Episode #170, featuring Craig Webbn, the father behind the refuge, and together they tell a remarkable story of a family devoted to protecting Tasmania's most powerful birds.🦅 To support Raptor Refuge: become a member or book a private tour at raptorrefuge.com.au📞 Report a dead or injured raptor anywhere in Tasmania: 1800 RAPTOR📱 Follow Ziggy's raptor videos on social media and keep an eye out for him on The Floor Australia, Channel 9.More Informationhttps://raptorrefuge.com.au/https://www.facebook.com/raptorrefugehttps://www.youtube.com/c/RaptorRefugehttps://www.instagram.com/raptor_refuge/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to rescue, rehabilitate, and release Tasmania's most powerful birds of prey for 27 years, with no government support?In this episode of the Citizen Science Show, host Dani Lloyd-Prichard sits down with Craig Webb, founder of Raptor Refuge in Kettering, Tasmania, and recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia. Craig shares the unlikely story of how a backpacking trip up the west coast of Australia, a joey named Nigel, and a fortuitous few years working with a remote outback vet set him on a path to building one of the world's most remarkable raptor conservation facilities.We hear about the four threatened raptor species Craig works with, the silent crisis of eagle electrocutions on power lines, and the global lessons he's brought back from South Africa's Endangered Wildlife Trust.Craig also tells the extraordinary story of Cupid, a Wedge-tailed eagle found with a crossbow arrow through its leg, whose five-week rescue and Valentine's Day release captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.And he shares a secret. The birds in the display area at Raptor Refuge who are too injured to ever be released. They don't know they are doing something remarkable. But Craig does.If you've ever looked up at a soaring eagle and felt something shift inside you, this episode is for you.🦅 To support Raptor Refuge: become a member, book a tour, or stay at Eagle Ridge Retreat.📞 Report a dead or injured raptor anywhere in Tasmania: 1800 RAPTOR📱 Follow Cupid's story and more on the Raptor Refuge Facebook and Instagram pages.More Informationhttps://raptorrefuge.com.au/https://www.facebook.com/raptorrefugehttps://www.youtube.com/c/RaptorRefugehttps://www.instagram.com/raptor_refuge/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They cool our streets, shelter our wildlife, boost our property values, and quietly keep us sane. So why are we cutting them down for $500?Dr. Greg Moore has spent nearly six decades championing urban trees — as a researcher, as principal of Melbourne's Burnley College, and as one of Australia's most respected voices in arboriculture. In this episode, he makes the case that trees aren't a nice-to-have. They are essential infrastructure. And we are losing them at a rate we will deeply regret.From the 3-30-300 rule to love letters written to Melbourne street trees, from cockatoo citizen science to the surprising power of a significant trees register with zero legal force — Greg covers it all with the calm authority of someone who has been right about this for a very long time.Plus: a simple way to measure your neighbourhood's canopy cover using nothing but your eyes and a clear day at noon.Because the trees around you are worth far more than you think. And so is your voice in protecting them.More Informationhttps://treenet.org/https://www.trees.org.au/https://www.isa-arbor.com/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A two-week holiday. A chance dive. A career that would take her from the reefs of Thailand to the laboratories of Sydney — and back underwater again.Dr. Jen Matthews is a coral scientist on a mission: to understand, feed, and defend reef ecosystems at a time when they need it most. In this episode, she takes us from the unexpected coral frontier emerging in Sydney Harbour, to the Great Barrier Reef where her team is raising baby corals in children's paddling pools, to the cutting edge of reef health science — which, it turns out, involves sniffing coral flatulence.We also explore how you can contribute, whether you're a seasoned diver or someone who's never left the shallows.Because the future of our reefs isn't just in the hands of scientists. It's in yours too.More Information https://sydneycoralproject.com/https://www.uts.edu.au/research/centres/climate-change-cluster/our-research/future-reefsIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For more than three decades, Graeme Sawyer has been one of the Northern Territory’s most recognisable voices in citizen science and environmental education.A former Lord Mayor of Darwin and founder of Frogwatch NT, Graeme has spent much of his life connecting people — especially children — with the wildlife of the Top End. But alongside the wonder of frogs, wetlands and night walks has come another story: the slow devastation caused by invasive cane toads.Building Frogwatch Through Citizen ScienceGraeme’s path into frog conservation began while developing one of Australia’s earliest multimedia wildlife databases alongside colleague Ian Morris.The project was initially designed for schools and Indigenous communities, helping children identify native animals through photographs and recordings. What emerged was something much larger.“We didn’t know much about frogs or their distribution or anything else in the NT at that point in time,” Graeme said.Frogwatch NT soon evolved into a community-driven citizen science initiative aimed at documenting frog populations and monitoring the spread of chytrid fungus, a deadly amphibian disease threatening frogs globally.The program quickly demonstrated the power of community observation.One evening, university student Jeanne Young arrived at a Frogwatch session carrying a recording of an unidentified frog call. Days later, the group tracked the sound to the Howard River floodplains and discovered what would become the Howard River Toadlet (Uperoleia daviesae), a species previously unknown to science.For Graeme, the discovery reinforced the importance of public participation in environmental research.“It showed me again the value of citizen science — getting the eyes and ears of people tuned into their local environments,” he said.More Informationhttps://watergum.org/tadpoletrapping/https://biodiversitywatch.org.au/?action=main.default&mobile=falsehttps://www.facebook.com/frogwatch.nthaustraliaIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At just fifteen years old, Spencer Hitchen has become one of Australia’s most recognisable young conservation voices — not through political slogans or social media trends, but through patient observation, powerful photography, and an unwavering commitment to protecting nature.From the Wallum woodlands of Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Spencer has transformed a childhood fascination with glossy black cockatoos into a global conservation movement. Along the way, he has launched World Stand Up For Nature Day, contributed to campaigns influencing environmental protections, produced award-winning wildlife photography, and inspired thousands of young people to reconnect with the natural world.But for Spencer, the journey began with a single bird.Falling in Love with the GlossiesSpencer was only six years old when he first joined a local environment group and met a conservationist known as “Glossy Bob”, who had spent more than two decades observing glossy black cockatoos in the Noosa region.Together, they would visit a local waterhole where the cockatoos gathered each evening.Spencer quickly became captivated by the birds — their calls, their behaviours, and the fragile ecosystem that sustained them.“I just fell in love with them,” Spencer said.More Informationhttps://www.instagram.com/savesunriseglossies/https://www.savesunriseglossies.com.au/https://www.facebook.com/savesunriseglossiesIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scientists map the ocean’s most critical shark and ray habitats in a race against extinctionMarine conservationists around the world are racing to identify the ocean habitats most critical to the survival of sharks and rays before it is too late.At the centre of that effort is the Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) project, a global initiative led through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group. The project aims to pinpoint the breeding grounds, feeding hotspots and migration corridors essential to sustaining shark, ray and chimaera populations worldwide.For Dr Rima Jabado, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group, the project represents a major shift in marine conservation thinking.“It’s not just about protecting the species anymore,” Rima said. “It’s about identifying the places in the ocean that are most important for those species to survive.”Joining Rima on the Citizen Science Show podcast was marine scientist Dr Asia Armstrong, whose work in spatial ecology and threatened species conservation has made her a key contributor to the project.Together, the pair described an ambitious global effort built not only on science, but also on the observations of ordinary ocean users.More Informationhttps://sharkrayareas.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A pioneering team blends science, technology and community action to protect one of the world’s most threatened animal groups—amid growing pressure from development.In the forests of New South Wales, a quiet crisis is unfolding—one that scientists say is pushing some of Australia’s most unique frog species to the brink. At the centre of the response is a team of researchers working across laboratories, wetlands and digital platforms, united under an initiative known as the Amphibian ICU.Led by Dr Kaya Klop-Toker, Dr Rose Upton and Dr Alex Callen, the Integrated Conservation Unit is taking an ambitious, multi-disciplinary approach to halt amphibian decline—combining ecological restoration, reproductive science and citizen engagement in what they describe as a “One Plan” strategy for species recovery.More Informationhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/312367045929495/https://www.facebook.com/AussieArkhttps://www.wildlifesydney.com.au/Email the Ministerhttps://protectljtf.good.do/protectthelittlejohnstreefrog/email-the-minister/Littlejohn's Tree Frog Photo Credit: Krishna Pavan KomanduriIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Life That Grew Into TreesFor Mark Cashmore, a career in arboriculture was not a lifelong plan but a gradual evolution. After years of varied work—including teaching English overseas—he discovered tree climbing through weekend work. What began as a practical skill quickly revealed itself as an entry point into a complex and deeply engaging field.Arboriculture is far more than cutting and pruning. It encompasses the long-term care, planning and management of trees, particularly in urban environments. From establishing healthy young trees to shaping entire urban forests, the discipline blends physical skill with ecological understanding.“It’s an astonishing industry,” Mark reflects. “Every tree is different, every day is different.”More Informationhttps://proofsafe.com.au/https://www.treetec.net.au/https://naturetrackers.au/projects/where-where-wedgie/To learn more about Hollow Watch Australia - Citizen Science initiativehttps://proofsafe.com.au/pages/nest_boxes_and_hollowsIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A grassroots vision beneath the wavesIn a quiet corner of Sydney’s coastline, a chain links more than just concrete anchors—it connects community, conservation, and curiosity. Beneath the surface of Gordon’s Bay lies one of Australia’s most distinctive citizen-led marine projects: an underwater nature trail built not by institutions, but by passionate divers.For Sam Baxter, the ocean has long been a place of fascination. Originally from the UK, Sam’s move to Australia was driven in part by the promise of clearer, warmer waters. After a career in IT, retirement opened the door to deeper involvement in diving and marine conservation.Alongside him is John Rowe, whose connection to the water stretches back to childhood. From snorkelling in a country-town pool to discovering the writings of early diving pioneers, John’s lifelong passion would eventually anchor one of Sydney’s most enduring marine initiatives.More Informationhttps://www.gordonsbayscubadiving.com/https://www.facebook.com/GordonsBaySCUBADivingClubhttps://www.instagram.com/gordonsbayscuba/https://www.youtube.com/@GordonsBay-GBSDChttps://www.sydneydivewreck.com.au/https://www.facebook.com/SydneyDiveWreckIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A National Push for ParticipationAs April unfolds, Australians are being called to step outside, look closer, and contribute to something far bigger than themselves. Citizen Science Month, a global initiative encouraging public involvement in scientific research, is gaining momentum locally—with an ambitious national goal of 100,000 recorded “acts of science.”For Dr Jessie Oliver, Technical Manager at SciStarter Australia, the mission is both simple and transformative: make science accessible to everyone.“An act of science can be contributing to any citizen science project,” Jessie explains. “And the sky’s the limit in terms of what those projects look like.”From logging bird sightings to analysing medical data online, participation can take many forms—united by a shared purpose of advancing knowledge through collective effort.More Informationhttps://www.scistarteraustralia.au/https://www.scistarteraustralia.au/post/citizen-science-month-2026https://www.zooniverse.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tension between humans and the wild extends far beyond landscapes, reaching into culture, psychology, and identity. What begins as a discussion about large carnivores evolves into a broader reflection on how humanity chooses to coexist with nature.Jonny Hanson's interest in large carnivores began in childhood, particularly with big cats. Over time, that fascination expanded into a deeper engagement with conservation and, ultimately, the human systems that shape environmental outcomes. He emphasises that conservation is not solely a biological issue. The challenges facing nature are driven by human behaviour, and therefore, the solutions must also come from within human society.More Information- Jonny Hanson Website: https://jonnyhanson.com/- Coexisting with carnivores TedX Talks: https://youtu.be/2FCUumWaTBo?si=x5KaifdmhJOYUw2n- Young people research update: RU168.pdf- Book chapter preview playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQN5xAQ3b01d40TJNJLjef61y1y2Qx5t4&si=7qmO7UaB8h2w56cNLynx Photo Credit: Julia Moning: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/people/birdingjuliaIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Enigma of the Great Spider CrabAustralia’s great spider crab is hard to miss. With a leg span reaching up to a metre, these arthropods gather in extraordinary numbers along the seafloor. Each winter, tens of thousands converge in Port Phillip Bay in a phenomenon that has featured in global documentaries. Yet, as Elodie Camprasse discovered, scientific understanding of the species is surprisingly thin. “We know almost nothing,” she explains.What researchers do know is tied to a vulnerable moment in the crab’s life cycle. Like all arthropods, spider crabs must shed their hard shells to grow. During this moulting phase, they are soft and exposed—easy targets for predators. 4The mass gatherings are believed to offer safety in numbers. Beyond that, much remains uncertain: How often do they moult? Where do they come from? Why do they choose specific locations?More Informationhttps://www.inaturalist.org/projects/spider-crab-watchhttps://dro.deakin.edu.au/articles/report/Giant_spider_crab_ecological_assessment_in_Port_Phillip_Bay/23306219?file=41091581If 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2008, the scientific community believed there was only one species of manta ray. That assumption quickly shifted when new research identified a second species, and more recently, a third. These are not small or hidden creatures—they are enormous animals, some stretching up to seven meters across—yet for years they remained largely misunderstood.One of the most powerful tools used to study them is deceptively simple. Each manta ray has a unique pattern on its belly, much like a fingerprint. These markings allow researchers to identify individuals from photographs, many of which are submitted by members of the public. A single image can reveal where a manta ray has been seen before, how often it returns, whether it is reproducing, and even provide insights into its lifespan. This form of citizen science has become central to the work.Asia Armstrong has spent years studying manta rays, yet they continue to surprise her in ways that feel both humbling and urgent. Her path into this work was not predetermined. Although she had always been drawn to the ocean, it was a single dive nearly two decades ago that changed everything. Encountering a manta ray for the first time left her captivated, and what struck her even more was how little was known about them. That realization led her back to university and eventually to Project Manta, where she has spent over a decade working to close those knowledge gaps.More Informationhttps://www.unisc.edu.au/project-mantahttps://ladyelliot.com.au/sustainability/project-manta/https://sharkrayareas.org/https://www.iucnredlist.org/https://www.cbd.int/gbf/targetsIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bron Powell has spent years paddling through the winding channels of the Macquarie Marshes, drawn again and again to the raw wildness of the wetlands. The turning point came during the floods between 2020 and 2022, when the Marshes burst into life. What had always been a special place suddenly became extraordinary. Guiding a group of birdwatchers through the flooded landscape, Bron watched birdlife fill every corner of the water. One moment that stayed with her was a great crested grebe gliding past with a chick riding on its back while another chick struggled to keep up behind, pulled along in the parent’s wake because it had grown too big to fit on board. Scenes like that convinced Bron she wanted to bring more people into the Marshes by kayak.More Informationhttps://www.facebook.com/MarshesToursIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt West has spent much of his life wading through the cold mountain streams of northeast Victoria in search of a frog few Australians will ever encounter. The spotted tree frog, Litoria spenceri, is small enough to sit on a thumb, yet its survival has become one of the most complex conservation challenges in the country.The spotted tree frog inhabits granite boulder streams stretching from Lake Eildon in Victoria to Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, breeding in fast-flowing waterways between 300 and 1,100 metres elevation. Males grow to about 35 millimetres, females to 50. Their colouring ranges from bright green with gold flecks to mottled brown. In stable environments they can live for well over a decade. Stability, however, has become increasingly rare.Photography Credit: Michael Williams. It's a Wildlife.More Informationhttps://wildresearch.com.au/https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/768810-matt-westhttps://www.zoo.org.au/https://australiantroutfoundation.com.au/https://www.nativefish.asn.au/https://taungurung.com.au/https://www.ddac.net.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pascal van Erp has spent years descending into waters most people will never see, uncovering a hidden layer of destruction far removed from the image of pristine marine environments. Beneath the surface, he regularly encounters lost fishing gear—nets, lines, and cages that continue to trap and kill marine life long after they have been abandoned. This reality led him to establish Ghost Diving, an organisation that has grown into a global network of seventeen chapters and more than five hundred volunteer divers.The organisation’s expansion has never been forced. Instead, technical diving teams from around the world approach Ghost Diving, motivated to apply their advanced skills to environmental work. This organic growth has led to strong chapters in countries such as Korea, Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands. Other regions, including Australia, remain without a chapter simply because no local team has yet stepped forward.The work itself demands a high level of expertise. Pascal emphasises that removing ghost nets is both complex and dangerous, requiring divers trained in deep diving, decompression, and managing multiple tasks simultaneously. In these operations, diving must become second nature so that the focus can remain entirely on the removal of hazardous debris.More Informationhttps://www.ghostdiving.org/https://www.ghostdiving.org/our-mission/https://www.ghostdiving.org/chapters/global/https://www.ghostdiving.org/chapters/https://www.ghostdiving.org/partners/https://www.ghostdiving.shop/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eight years ago, Jason Iggleden was working as a builder, swinging tools and searching for something that would make him want to jump out of bed each morning. He still works in construction today, but back then he was looking for a shift in direction. Almost on impulse, he bought a drone and decided to create an app. There was no detailed business plan, just a desire to build something meaningful and help people along the way. That decision would end up reshaping his life.He launched what became known as the Drone Shark app. It was expensive to develop and eventually too costly to maintain, and it is no longer available in the App Store. In the early days, Jason flew drones each morning with a couple of his carpenters, trying to capture footage for the app. Progress was slow until someone suggested Instagram. He barely knew what the platform was at the time. Once he began posting there, momentum built quickly. Audiences connected with the footage, his live commentary evolved naturally, and a global community began forming around his aerial view of Bondi.What started as simple ocean filming soon became something more detailed. Jason began noticing individual animals and recurring behaviours. He gave them names—Alex the seal, Homer the hammerhead, Nelly the grey nurse shark with scoliosis, Sunny the sunfish, and Dolly the dolphins. Naming them helped audiences form emotional connections. Instead of seeing an anonymous shark, viewers saw a character. That shift, Jason believes, encourages people to care.More Informationhttps://www.youtube.com/@DroneSharkApphttps://www.facebook.com/dronesharkapp/https://www.instagram.com/stories/dronesharkapp/https://www.mdpi.com/about/journalshttps://sarahhatherley.com/portfolio_page/shark-bait-teaser/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gary Taylor has always felt most at home in the bush. Long before native bees became his focus, he was a child wandering through scrub and creek beds, watching everything that moved. His father shaped that way of seeing. He spoke about trees, spiders and insects as if they were old friends. Nothing was to be squashed or dismissed. Every creature simply wanted to get back to its companions. That quiet respect settled into Gary early and never left.In a patch of bush he calls his bee paradise, Gary noticed a large male Stenotritus with a reddish tuft at the end of its abdomen. Australia’s Stenotritidae are found nowhere else in the world, and with only a small number of known species, the difference stood out. After sharing photographs with Dr Megan Halcroft, he was connected with entomologist Terry Houston. The following season, specimens were collected and subjected to months of detailed measurement and description. The result was confirmation of a new species: Stenotritus taylori. Having an Australian native bee named in his honour remains one of Gary’s proudest achievements.More Informationhttps://ausemade.com.au/blog/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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Nerida Wilson has dedicated much of her career to understanding some of Australia’s most unusual marine life. As manager of Seadragon Search, she has brought together genetics, photography and citizen science to reveal new insights into one of the country’s most iconic underwater species.Although seadragons are displayed in aquariums around the world, they are found only in Australian waters. Nerida’s research even led to the extraordinary discovery of a new species, the ruby seadragon. The first evidence did not come from a diver’s sighting but from an unusual string of DNA letters that failed to align with known species. That anomaly proved to represent an entirely new seadragon.Seadragon Search emerged from genetic fieldwork. While collecting small tissue samples, Nerida and her team photographed each animal to ensure they did not resample the same individual. They realised that every seadragon carries unique markings. Weedy seadragons can be identified by their spot patterns, while leafy seadragons display distinctive bars and stripes. Today, artificial intelligence helps narrow down possible matches, but a human reviewer makes the final confirmation.More Informationhttps://seadragonsearch.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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each spring, Bron Powell returns to a vast inland wetland in north-west New South Wales, drawn by reeds taller than a person, restless bird colonies and the quiet pulse of water spreading across flat country. The Macquarie Marshes have become both her workplace and her teacher, a place where kayaking and conservation meet in practical and purposeful ways.Bron first discovered the Marshes nineteen years ago after moving from the Blue Mountains to Dubbo. She had only vaguely heard of them. With almost no public access, she could glimpse little more than reeds from the roadside, yet even that partial view was enough to spark something deeper. She had always considered herself an environmentalist. Once kayaking entered her life, the connection felt inevitable. Through volunteering and later working with National Parks, she began exploring further, building knowledge season by season until guiding others through the wetlands became the natural next step.The site was Ramsar-listed in 1986 for its international importance. In flood years, tens of thousands of Straw-necked Ibis nest shoulder to shoulder in extraordinary colonies. Spoonbills, egrets and herons join them. Migratory birds arrive from as far as Russia and Japan, while nomadic Australian species track water across the continent. Even outside major floods, Magpie Geese and Brolga breed here when conditions allow. It is a system that expands and contracts with rainfall, usually retaining a semi-permanent watery core, though the 2017 to 2019 drought pushed it to the brink.More Informationhttps://www.macquariemarsheskayaktours.com.au/https://www.nature.org.au/https://healthyriversdubbo.com/https://www.flow-mer.org.au/area-pages/macquarie-river-and-marshesIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two hundred years ago, South Australia’s coastline was edged not just by sandy beaches and rocky headlands, but by vast shellfish reefs stretching for thousands of kilometres. In South Australia alone, native oyster beds extended roughly 1,500 kilometres. Nationally, they spanned an estimated 8,000 kilometres—almost twice the length of the Great Barrier Reef. Today, less than one percent of those ecosystems remain intact.Manny Katz is working to bring them back.Manny serves as Director of EYRE Lab, an environmental charity focused on restoration ecology, and he runs a dive shop in Whyalla. Through tourism, diving, and the Reef Ramble podcast, he connects communities with marine science. At the centre of his work is a commitment to rebuilding reefs that once filtered the sea, sheltered marine life, and stabilised coastlines.More Informationhttps://www.eyrelab.org/https://www.facebook.com/eyrelabIf 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The green parrot is endemic to Norfolk Island, found nowhere else on Earth. It is a medium sized member of the Cyanoramphus group, with vivid green plumage and a red patch across its forehead. Two years ago, surveys estimated around eight hundred birds. That number dropped to six hundred the following year and now sits at roughly two hundred. Even more alarming, recent years have seen no successful nesting.One species particularly close to Abi’s heart is the Norfolk Island Green Parrot. She lived on Norfolk Island about a decade ago while serving as Natural Resource Manager in the national park. The island sits in the South Pacific between Australia and New Zealand and is home to around fifteen hundred residents deeply connected to their environment.Abi Smith has spent twenty five years working to protect Australia’s most threatened wildlife, and she remains steadfast in her belief that extinction is not inevitable. As founder and CEO of the Threatened Species Conservancy, her focus is clear: turn science into action and ensure no species is left behind.More Informationhttps://www.tsconservancy.org/https://proofsafe.com.au/https://www.facebook.com/ThreatenedSpeciesConservancyhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/threatened-species-conservancy-inc/https://www.instagram.com/threatenedspeciesconservancy/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a comment 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeremy Day began his career by moving from boat to boat, taking on dive work wherever he could, long before he envisioned specialising in sea urchins. Working as a diver skipper eventually led him to James Cook University in Townsville, where he completed his undergraduate degree and assisted researchers on the Great Barrier Reef. Early involvement in Crown of Thorns Starfish control programs prompted a question that would shape his scientific thinking: what distinguishes managing a native species from attempting to eradicate it? That distinction continues to inform his research on sea urchins today.Much of Jeremy’s recent work has focused on understanding what these urchins actually consume. For years, they have been portrayed primarily as kelp-destroying herbivores. By combining gut content analysis with stable isotope techniques using carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, he and his colleagues have examined both short-term and longer-term feeding patterns. Their findings show that Longspined Sea Urchins are true omnivores. They consume brown macroalgae when available, but also feed on invertebrates such as mussels and sponges, along with particulate organic matter drifting through the water column. Even in barrens, where macroalgae is scarce, they continue to feed and reproduce.More Informationhttps://www.instagram.com/urchin_ramsey/https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/https://www.redmap.org.au/https://reeflifesurvey.com/https://www.urgdiveclub.org.au/https://www.sarahdives.com/https://spotashark.com/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a comment 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saving birds was never supposed to be Mick Roderick’s career, but somewhere between university ecology fieldwork and friendly arguments over bird field guides, birdwatching stopped being a pastime and became an identity. Mick did not grow up as a birder. His family were bushwalkers, and birds were simply part of the landscape. It wasn’t until studying ecology at university that he began paying closer attention, and before long birding shifted from a social activity into something much deeper. Over time it became both his profession and his obsession, an unusual pairing that has worked remarkably well.Mick now works as the Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator at BirdLife Australia, an organisation that has been protecting Australian birds for more than 125 years. Based in the Hunter region of New South Wales, he is also deeply involved with the Hunter Bird Observers Club, where long-term citizen science has played a crucial role in understanding population trends. For nearly three decades, volunteers have conducted monthly shorebird surveys in the Hunter Estuary, creating a dataset of immense value. Those records reveal an uncomfortable truth: migratory shorebirds, including the eastern curlew, continue to decline despite decades of monitoring and effort.More Informationhttps://birdlife.org.au/https://www.hboc.org.au/https://www.twitchathon.com.au/https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/Image Attribution Mick Roderick (Robert Virtue) ABCIf you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a comment 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: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.