Avian influenza viruses have infected bird populations around the globe long before humans were aware of them in the 19th Century. In 2021, a new strand of bird flu known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) infected many birds across most of the world. Currently the virus has still not reached Australia, but the threat still looms large especially amongst seabirds.

4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Simon Gorta, a conservation ecologist and PHD candidate from the University of New South Wales Sydney to discuss this Avian Influenza strand, seabirds in general and particularly the species involved in the spread.

99% Accurate detection of underground nuclear tests is now possible, now what? - Every so often we hear of some ‘rogue’ countries conducting nuclear tests…
How easy is it to hide atomic testing? How does seismic detection methods filter out earthquakes for example? If you detect a nuclear test, then what?

4ZZZ's Eliot Rifkin chatted about refined techniques in underground nuclear test detection with Dr Mark Hoggard from Australia National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences.

Australia has a long history of producing many successful artists and bands topping charts locally and internationally. New research shows since the year 2000, the Australian music charts have increasingly been dominated by American and British artists, sparking concerns for our local industry.

So why are our local artists falling behind and what could be done to reinvigorate the music industry?

In search of potential answers for these questions 4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Tim Kelly, Program Director at the Australian Institute of Music and PhD Candidate at University of Technology Sydney to learn more.

It’s that time of year again, that prelude to Spring… magpie swooping season. Do you really understand these birds and how to live with them and mitigate swooping?
4ZZZ's Eliot Rifkin chatted about magpies with Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in animal behaviour from the University of New England, as well as an author of some best selling books.

With storm season upon us, itʻs a good time to review flash flooding safety tips - whether at home or in the car.
Do you know how to protect yourself from hail or how to place sandbags? How do you manage an unexpected flood, what precautions can you take, where do you get sandbags and how do you place and fill them?
4ZZZʻs Eliot Rifkin had a discussion with State Emergency Services (SES) Director Brian Cox about safety precautions as well as year round SES free training.

4ZZZ’s Mic Smith discusses 'The 2025 Great Toad Bust' with Kelsi Taylor, the Invasive Species Manager at Watergum. Mic also chatted with ecologist, author and invasive species expert Tim Low about toads and the broad critical threat of more recent other invasive species.

For several decades, disputes and conflicts between West Papua and Indonesia have been ongoing. The indigenous West Papuans believe their nation’s sovereignty was illegally taken by Indonesia post colonialism. As tensions persist, many questions remain such as what is currently going on inside West Papua and the actions being taken by domestic and international parties.

4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Benny Wenda, Chairman and President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to learn more about the current happenings as well as the political history shaping the situation.

Here in Queensland we often hear about the steady advance of the introduced cane toad, however we don’t hear much about our native frogs. Many of us have experienced the surprise of our common green tree frog under a toilet seat… are they thriving or at risk?
There are over 250 known Australian frog species, how are they responding to a changing environment? Which frogs are at risk and how can we help?
4ZZZ's Eliot Rifkin chatted about the FrogID Project with Dr Jodi Rowley the Lead Scientist of Australian Museum's National Citizen Science project - "FrogID".

Have you ever wondered about past libraries throughout global history, which have been destroyed either by accident or malicious intent, and in turn losing valuable knowledge transcribed on books and texts?

Well, today the physical libraries are not the only knowledge centres at risk of losing valuable human records in understanding the world we live in. Our digital history via the internet could be facing a black hole of being lost forever. Recently the Internet Archive experienced a cyber attack from hackers... sparking fears on the potential worst case scenario.

So why is this happening? And what are we doing to protect our past? To discuss the importance of digital archives, 4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Professor George Buchanan, Deputy Dean of Research at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University's School of Computing Technologies to learn more about the cyberattack as well as digital preservation currently happening for the future.

Recycling has become commonplace, the yellow and red recycling bins are part of our daily lives. However do you know the journey of your waste? Does it go to landfill or is it re-purposed? How does compost fit in and what can you easily do to be more efficient with our resources.

Avian influenza viruses have infected bird populations around the globe long before humans were aware of them in the 19th Century. In 2021, a new strand of bird flu known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) infected many birds across most of the world. Currently the virus has still not reached Australia, but the threat still looms large especially amongst seabirds.

4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Simon Gorta, a conservation ecologist and PHD candidate from the University of New South Wales Sydney to discuss this Avian Influenza strand, seabirds in general and particularly the species involved in the spread.