Advertise on podcast: The Solutionists, with Mark Scott

How scared are you of sharks?  Almost everyone will answer with: very. That includes people living smack bang in the middle of the US, nowhere near an ocean. This fear has changed the way we interact with the ocean, and scientists worry that we might be making the water more dangerous for humans by accident.  Scientists Chris Pepin-Neff and Vanessa Pirotta explain how our fear of sharks has been bolstered by culture, and share the research showing that some of our protective methods are actually putting us in greater danger. +++ The Solutionists is podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram. This conversation is originally from a live public talks event, presented by Sydney Ideas – the University of Sydney’s flagship public talks program. You can hear the full hour-long version of this public conversation here.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re at the crossroads of uncertainty and innovation. From global warming to tech addiction, huge demographic shifts and geopolitical tensions – it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But some incredible people are putting their minds toward solving the most pressing issues of our time. They’re working to make our world a better place to call home. Join Mark Scott, the Vice Chancellor and President at the University of Sydney, and get ready to meet the people making change happen. The Solutionists. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We always thought that when the robots arrived, they’d be cold and calculating like The Terminator... But they’re mostly charming and inaccurate. We also thought they’d do away with the drudgery of our most boring work... But it’s writing songs and sonnets instead. Or is it? At a Sydney Ideas live talk hosted at the Opera House, Sophie Gee, Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter tell a combined history of writing and AI, exploring the uniquely human pains and processes that have always been needed to create masterpieces of art. They detail how AI ‘writes,’ as well as what happens mentally and emotionally when we employ AI in our own writing. Sophie Gee is an author, a Professor in the English department at Princeton University, and the co-host of The Secret Life of Books podcast.   Sandra Peter is Director of Sydney Executive Plus and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Business School. Kai is Professor of Information Technology and Organisation at the University of Sydney and Director of Sydney Executive Plus. You can watch the full live talk here. Click the names to listen to full Solutionists interviews with Sophie Gee and Sandra Peter. +++ The Solutionists is podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram. This conversation is originally from a live public talks event, presented by Sydney Ideas – the University of Sydney’s flagship public talks program. You can hear the full hour-long version of this public conversation here. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your phone knows how many steps you’ve taken today, how long you’ve been outside, how much social interaction you’ve had... It can be scary, but what if it could be the path to a better way of managing mental health? Rates of anxiety and depression continue to rise, but even if we could double the workforce of mental health professionals, we still wouldn’t keep up. Dr Frank Iorfino says it’s time to use big data to our own advantage. He calls it ‘ambient mental health care’ - it’s a way of leveraging all that data collection already happening in the background so we can better understand ourselves and our mental health. Frank explains why the current approach to mental health care needs to change, and outlines how ambient mental health care is already being used today. +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Society feels more divided than ever. We seem to be talking about this all the time, but it’s exactly these discussions that are pulling us further apart. Professor Betina Szkudlarek says it’s worse than differences of opinion. Today, people are less likely than ever to even hear out someone who’s different to them in some way. So what do we do? Betina points to refugee employment as a case study – and you’ll hear from Karyna, a Ukrainian refugee who now manages a restuarant in Sydney. Businesses are now some of our most trusted institutions, and they’re the place you’re likely to experience the most diversity on a daily basis. Betina explains what we can learn from businesses who are committed to building a more cohesive society, and shares tips on how you can contribute at work, too. +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you want a robot to look after you in your later years? What if it treated you like a child? That’s exactly what’s happening to some older people subject to an influx of high-tech solutions to a struggling aged care system in Australia. Our population is ageing and staff are burning out, so tech companies are trying to enter the space with their own 'fixes.’ But what if these technologies are just solutions looking for a problem? Associate Professor Barbara Barbosa Neves is a sociologist of technology who says this is all too common. When older people are excluded from tech design, the technology simply doesn’t work for them. It might be difficult to use, but it can also have adverse effects, like furthering stereotypes and deepening loneliness. She explains how inclusive design – as well looking at the bigger picture – can make a real difference. +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humans are constantly getting better at fighting cancer. Our understanding of the suite of diseases is more robust, our technology is more advanced, and our public health systems are more efficient. But cancer epidemiologist Professor Karen Canfell says Australia will still see more and more incidences of cancer over time.   But Australia’s also on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer, the fourth-most common cancer in women. Karen says that our fight against cervical cancer can teach us how to beat other diseases, too. Crucially, it can also teach us how to help our closest neighbours: cervical cancer is low on Australia’s list of most deadly cancers, and yet it’s at the top of the list in Papua New Guinea.  Karen explains why Australia’s leading the world in this space, and how that gives us a responsibility and opportunity to help improve public health worldwide.   +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our growing population has a huge number of impacts, but the simplest and most pressing is that we have more mouths to feed than ever before. At the same time, though, climate change is threatening farmland worldwide. That means crops like wheat, which account for 20% of daily calories consumed worldwide, are plateauing. Enter: Richard Trethowan and the Plant Breeding Institute. Richard and his team are working on something called hybrid wheat, which will be more robust and productive than the regular plant. They’re trying to make food that’s healthier, easier to grow, and that will feed more people. Richard explains why we’ve never been able to make hybrid wheat before, why it’s so crucial to the future of our planet, and how over a century of forward-thinking research has laid the foundation for the work he’s doing today. +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Greg Neely says pain is a good thing. This might worry you when you find out he’s studying some of the deadliest snakes on the planet, but it’s all about trying to understand pain as a mechanism – and Greg’s long-term goal is to address chronic pain, which afflicts more than one billion people. After studying infectious disease at the start of his career, Greg’s been obsessed with pain as the body’s first immune response, but pain is poorly understood. So, he’s seeking out animals that cause severe pain with their venoms to learn how our bodies respond. Along the way, he’s also finding cheap and accessible solutions to snake bites, and investigating old potatoes... +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Sladjana Rstic, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re told to eat better, sleep more, train our bodies and our brains — all in the name of ageing well.   But how much of that advice is actually backed by science? How might we all live – and stay – well, for longer, at any stage of life? And how much of ageing is really up to us?  Researcher Gilbert Knaggs, neuroscientist Eleanor Drummond, and clinician Olivier Piguet join together to demystify the science from the pseudoscience and bring fresh insights and evidence, unlocking our understanding of healthy brain ageing.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This conversation is originally from a live public talks event, presented by Sydney Ideas – the University of Sydney’s flagship public talks program. You can hear the full hour-long version of this public conversation here.  Hear our episode with nutrition and longevity expert Luigi Fontana here. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the cure everyone’s waiting for already exists — but patients can’t access it?  With AI transforming medicine, breakthroughs are no longer science fiction. They’re happening now. But innovation alone isn’t enough. So how do discoveries escape the lab to reach patients?   Leading researchers Michael Bowen, Victoria Cogger and Chenyu Tim Wang share their medical moonshots in novel therapeutics and nanomedicines, and how they’re expediting the process from discovery to delivery.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This conversation is originally from a live public talks event, presented by Sydney Ideas – the University of Sydney’s flagship public talks program. You can hear the full hour-long version of this public conversation here.  Listen to Michael Bowen’s previous episode of The Solutionists about America’s opioid crisis here.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has more homes per adult than at any point in our history. So why is our housing crisis worse than ever?  Professor Nicole Gurran’s been studying housing for 15 years, and she says the solutions to Australia's housing crisis are obvious – it’s the execution that’s failing, and most Australians are being distracted by media and politicians.  Nicole explains why "cutting red tape" won't solve the problem, why  more than a million Australian households are living in housing stress, and what happened when government funding for social housing fell off a cliff in the mid-90s.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the simple act of tapping your card could put your identity at risk?  Every day, we trust encryption to protect our money, data, and digital lives. But quantum computers are advancing fast, and soon they could crack today’s security in seconds, making our current “digital locks” obsolete.  So how do we protect ourselves in a quantum world?  On this episode of The Solutionists, host Mark Scott explores the race to reinvent cybersecurity for the quantum age.  He speaks with leading mathematician Nalini Joshi, 2025 NSW Scientist of the Year, who’s bringing together some of the world’s brightest minds to develop new forms of encryption powerful enough to withstand quantum computing. She explains why maths is central to our digital future, and how mathematical thinking can unlock entirely new possibilities.  Plus, PhD researcher Prachi takes us inside a quantum control lab for a rare glimpse of a quantum computer in action.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"I can't just grab my keys and leave the house. I have to make sure I have something with me in case my glucose levels go too low. I have to make sure that I have spare insulin pump consumables. There's lots of parts of having type one diabetes that isn't just what we eat."  Michelle's lived with type 1 diabetes for 31 years. She has to plan everything: what she eats, when she drives, whether she can try new foods. Sophie, diagnosed as a teenager, spent years hiding her condition, injecting herself in secret in her school bathrooms.  For the millions living with type 1 diabetes, insulin is lifesaving. But it's also relentless. Multiple daily injections, or a pump worn 24/7, and constant vigilance of everything from how you exercise to how hot it is on a given day.   Professor Victoria Cogger is working on something scientists long thought impossible: smart insulin delivered orally as a single daily pill.  Victoria explains how oral delivery could make insulin management much easier, what's made oral delivery so difficult thus far, and what exactly makes this new pill ‘smart.’  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Walk down the cereal aisle. Pick up a box of cereal. The front says "real nourishment" and shows a 4.5-star health rating. Flip it over. It's 25% sugar, packed with emulsifiers, flavors, and protein isolates – it’s full of ingredients you probably can’t even pronounce if you’ve ever heard of them before.  Welcome to Australia's national diet: ultra-processed.  Associate Professor Phillip Baker is the co-lead of a major Lancet series on ultra processed foods, one of the biggest global health challenges of our time.   He says over half of what Australians eat is now ultra processed, and our diet is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and mental health problems.  Phil explains why these foods are why these foods are so ubiquitous now, examines what they’re doing to our health, how policy needs to change to protect real food, and how individuals can fight back with their forks.  +++  The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky.  This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.  This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.