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 Information
https://www.healthyairnt.au/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591465550473
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-05/nt-epa-prosecutes-gas-company-inpex/106998434

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Contact the Show
We 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.

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 Information

Jillamatong:
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=1000709860943

The 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/6195980

Landcare:
https://landcarensw.org.au/landcarers-holistic-management-approach-is-paying-dividends-during-drought/

Matters Journal:
https://mattersjournal.com/stories/regenerative-agriculture

QPRC ‘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 Show
We 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.

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 details
Hunter 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 Show
We 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.

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 details
Hunter 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-Tour

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 Show
We 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.

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 details
Hunter 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.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/fizzicseducation
https://www.youtube.com/@fizzicseducation
https://www.lakemac.com.au/Events-directory/Council-events/Maker-Con-26
https://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 Show
We 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.