Our Ultramarine series continues with Patrick Noble from Sea Life Australia and  the Sydney Aquarium. Patrick discusses his involvement with saving the white seahorse, also known as the Sydney seahorse. 

In this Ultramarine podcast, we dive into the crucial issue of ocean pollution and explore real-world solutions.

Let’s Science It Out hosts David Boldeman and Steven Boldeman are joined by Tom Batrouney and Ashley Hayes, two passionate advocates for marine conservation.

In this episode, we uncover:
🔹 The impact of plastic waste and microplastics on Sydney Harbour and marine ecosystems.
🔹 How Seabin technology is helping clean up our waterways and collect crucial data.
🔹 The role of businesses, government, and individuals in tackling ocean pollution.
🔹 Practical steps you can take to help reduce plastic waste and protect our oceans.

When your neighbour is struggling, the community rallies around them – even if that neighbour is a fish. Keely Jobe’s small Tasmanian town shares its shores with the endangered red handfish. By telling the story of her involvement in local conservation efforts, Jobe considers how the community and scientists are both vital to saving at-risk species.

As part of the Ultramarine project we are republishing some paid content for free. This long read was originally published in issue 101 of Cosmos print magazine, in December 2023. You can read more amazing long reads if you subscribe now.

The village of Pang Pang is like many in Vanuatu. A dozen or so traditional houses, covered in native natangura palm leaves lay nestled between tall coconut palms and mango trees. Led for the first time by Indigenous archaeologists, a dig team at Pang Pang is tapping into the Pacific’s ancient past. Prianka Srinivasan was there to witness something special.

As part of the Ultramarine project we are republishing some paid content for free. This story was originally published in issue 100 of Cosmos print magazine, in September 2023. You can read more amazing long reads if you subscribe now.

Compact and easily overlooked, bar-tailed godwits make the longest known nonstop flight of any animal on Earth. Drew Rooke reports on the research that led to the amazing feat’s discovery – and that is changing much of our understanding of the science of these epic crossings. Narrated by Renee Garvin. 

As part of the Ultramarine project we are republishing some paid content for free. This story was originally published in issue 99 of Cosmos print magazine, in July 2023. You can read more amazing long reads if you subscribe now.

In a remote archipelago off Australia’s Top End, scientists and Indigenous rangers are collaborating to gather knowledge about the region’s large marine animals, which are thought to be in decline. Story and photography by DAVID HANCOCK, narrated by HANNAH HARMS.

As part of the Ultramarine project we are diving into our archives and republishing some paid content for free. This audio content was created from a story originally published in issue 97 of Cosmos print magazine, in December 2022. You can read more amazing long reads if you subscribe now.

In the September 2022 Cosmos print magazine, Kate Evans looked at how the nautilus’s lineage made it through all five of Earth’s previous mass extinctions and asked can it survive the Anthropocene.

The article has been read by Renee Garvin and published for free as part of our Ultramarine project, which is funded by Mindaroo Foundation. 

Ian Connellan and Gail McCallum talk to Jason Flesher, the Director of Discovery Operations for Scenic, about his experiences in Antarctica.   

Australia’s farmers and agricultural industries are at the front line when it comes to dealing with the impacts of climate change. Agriculture also contributes 14% of the country’s emissions.

The recently established Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre (ZNE-Ag CRC) aims to help the agriculture industry transition to net zero by 2040 by bringing academic knowledge and agriculture experience together. 

In this episode of Cosmos Country, hosts Glenn Morrison and Jamie Seidel speak with Dr Deb Cousins and Professor Matthew Morell from the ZNE-Ag CRC’s Establishment Committee about the role of the CRC, the challenges facing our farmers and the integrated systems approach needed to make the transition.

The Science Detectives are on another case. 

This week, Olivia Henry wants to know why animals come in so many different colours and patterns. The detectives talk to Devi Stuart-Fox, a professor of evolution and ecology at the University of Melbourne, to find out. 

This episode was hosted and produced by Imma Perfetto and edited by Andrew Wyrill.

For more science news, visit cosmosmagazine.com and follow us on Instagram @cosmosmagazine

Love the show? Let us know by rating and leaving a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Regional communities looking for ways to diversify income and employment under climate change often turn to tourism. Recently, the Australian Tourism Commission created a data hub to help. It shows the value of Australian tourism by region; and the scale of incomes and number of people in the industry to be staggering.

The Cosmos Country podcast speaks with two people involved in tourism about how events can contribute to a diversified economy. Archaeologist Dr James Hunter is curator of Naval Heritage and Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum. He recently highlighted the wreck called The South Australia, just offshore in Victor Harbour. Despite its size and importance to the history of South Australia, the wreck was only discovered less than a decade ago. Hunter is also exploring the southern SA coast in search of shipwrecks offshore of Robe.

And Carolyn Grant is Director of Engagement at the Ocean Lovers Festival in Sydney, a blend of ideas, arts and music.

They spoke to Cosmos Country’s podcast hosts Glenn Morrison and Marie Low.

It doesn’t rain at the South Pole. Why not? Will global warming change that?
This question from a Cosmos reader was a task for The Science Detectives.

Cosmos journalism intern Tyler Fisher was asked to investigate, to find out what’s going on.

We learn in school that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But we also know the Sun doesn’t stay in the same part of the sky the whole year round – it’s higher at some points and lower at others. So what’s going on?

What about the Moon? How does its path change across the sky?

On the latest episode of Science Detectives, a new podcast series from Cosmos, Ellen Phiddian gazes at the sky to figure out how its two biggest hits change their appearance. She’s joined by Mary Adam, an astronomy educator from the Adelaide Planetarium at the University of South Australia.

Series one ep: 14
When coral reefs disappear more is lost than animals and evonomic benefits. Dr Tommy Fellowes at the USyd’s School of Geosciences Geocoastal Research Group talkas to Cosmos Country reporter Glenn Morrison.

Cosmos Science regional reporters Jamie Seidel and Glenn Morrison find out how quolls were transported across the country  to help re-wild an arid reserve in outback WA.

At the beginning of 2023, scientists made a surprise finding.

The pygmy right whale, which is the smallest of the baleen whales, didn’t move far from waters in the Southern Ocean. It’s surprising because long-distance migration is a behaviour practised by most other baleen whales.

Knowledge of this enigmatic species, which is a filter-feeder using baleen to sift tasty but tiny marine life from seawater, is slowly, but surely, on the rise.

But is this baleen like having a set of teeth? Or is it something altogether separate? Do whales even have teeth to chow down on prey that is so small?

On the latest episode of Science Detectives, a new podcast series from Cosmos, Matthew Ward Agius goes diving into what baleen is, whether whales have (or need) teeth, and how much food a whale really needs with whale researchers Dr Adelaide Dedden and Dr Catherine Kemper.

If marine microbes are Earth's unsung heroes, year 12 student Emelia is singing their praises. 

They produce 50% of our oxygen, are a crucial part of the food pyramid and they can even help us understand the ancient world. 

In this episode of Podcast Next Gen, join Emelia as she unpacks marine microbes in all their fabulous forms.

Podcast Next Gen is a collaboration between Cosmos Magazine and the National Youth Science Forum. The reporters are year 12 students from across Australia – the next generation of scientists, science journalists and podcasters.

These ‘shortcast’ episodes have been written and recorded by the students, giving them the opportunity to work with real science journalists and editors to make their science concept come to life.

Science can answer most of life’s big and little questions – but you don’t always have scientist on hand to explain their reasoning. Now you do, with a new Cosmos Science Detectives podcast finding the experts and interrogating them to help answer your burning inquiries.

The crack Cosmos team of newsroom science journalists will leave no stone unturned. They’ll open a case file; find evidence and witnesses; and give you the detail you need to close a case of “uncertainty.”

In this episode, they explain why mangroves are thought to be important.