Citizen Science Show

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/

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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.

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 Information
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/monitoring-and-assessments/pmn/

East Coast Algae Website
https://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/eastcoastalgaebio/home?authuser=0

The Microlage Project website
https://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/eastcoastalgaebio/the-microalgae-project?authuser=0

Steph's photography site
https://sites.google.com/ecabiosystems.com/srm/images?authuser=0

Citizen science initiatives

OzGreen' MacroMuster
https://www.ozgreen.org/macromuster

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.

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 Information
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/science-data/sounds-ocean-environmental-and-anthropogenic
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/06/05/whale-song-crunched-for-minke-conservation1.html

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.

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 Information
https://www.ausmap.org/
https://www.implasticfree.com/
https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/
https://www.unep.org/inc-plastic-pollution

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.

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 Information
https://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 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.