Halfway To The Moon

We all know Australia is only the driest, flattest, no-volcano-having island continent on Earth, right? Turns out it's not that simple... or that boring. Join us for a quick journey into over 4.5 billion years of Australia's rocky history as we explore the coolest things about that wide, brown land.

In the icy wilderness of Svelbard, deep in the bowels of an imposing mountain, may lie the future of human­kind. It’s one of the world's most vital resources: seeds. This week we talk about what makes these little genetic reservoirs so important, what's happening in the world of agriculture and why we need a doomsday vault at all.

There's been some great disaster films, but why are so few about climate change given the scale of real-world disaster coming our way?  This week we look at the best climate disaster films, what they tell us about how climate change is processed through popular culture, and what that means for how we think about and understand climate change as a society.

The domesticated chicken may not be an arresting or exciting bird, but it's one of the few species found everywhere on this planet. But while humans have been raising chickens for thousands of years, there's one chicken that has really taken over the world: the chicken of tomorrow! We look into its hilarious beginnings and how the chicken of tomorrow may actually be the key to understanding our world today. 

This week, the podcast shoots into the atmosphere as we explore the world of space junk. Just above our heads is a tangled junkyard of old radioactive satellites and space shuttles, shooting round the earth at 24,000 km per hour and occasionally crashing to earth in spectacular fashion. We look at this junkyard in the stars as well as the incredible story of Operation Morning Light, the cold war's worst kept secret.

Wilderness holds a special place in our hearts, especially in Australia and the US. It seems eternal, unchanging, remote and beautiful. But did you know it's pretty recent concept? And that it was mostly a few dudes in America who made it happen? In this weeks episode we delve deep into the idea of wilderness, and see if we think it's a good way of thinking about nature or if there is, in fact, trouble with wilderness.

This week we take a wander through the crazy, unbelievable world of geoengineering, where scientists attempt to change the planet and all its systems at once. Is it science fact or science fiction?  We'll cover everything from how to stop a storm with cannons to how to bring about a nuclear winter and every dubious Plan B in between. It's super interesting, in a terrifying sort of way.

What can 28,000 friendly ducks tell us about our oceans? And what crazy thing did the sea captain see? This week, Lucy and Suzanne delve deep into the weird world of plastic in our oceans.

We all know plastic is a big problem, but why? What even is it? In Episode 2 of Halfway to the Moon Suzanne and Lucy will delve into the tragic history of plastic - which involves beetles, 19th century entrepreneurs with grand ambitions, and Coke and Pepsi (of course).

In our first episode, we tackle the biggest topic around as part of our quest to understand life in a time when human impact reaches every part of the globe and beyond. We ask if we're living in the age of humans, and who is Mr Anthropocene anyway? And while tackling the big questions, we throw major shade at terrible websites and limnologists in general.