Catalyst

Imagine you could make a copy of a loved one. A digital clone with a life of its own – their Avatar.

Professor Tim Flannery investigates how seaweed is helping to save the world - from growing the foods of the future, helping clean polluted water and even combating climate change.

Will we soon find evidence of alien life? Scientists are currently in the throes of an unprecedented search for ET - and an answer to this long-pondered question may come sooner than you think.

A group of world-renowned scientists are on a quest to uncover the secrets of the most significant day in our planet's history: the day that killed the dinosaurs.

Dr Nikki Stamp takes us into the amazing world of our hearts -- revealing how they function, how we can look after them and shows us the latest science she uses to help fix them when they go wrong.

After a 20 year mission, space probe Cassini crashed into the surface of Saturn last week. Astronomer Associate Professor Alan Duffy was at Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking to bring you a blow-by-blow account of the action.

Catalyst looks at the fast-emerging world of self-driving vehicles on our roads. The dream of the driverless car has always felt like it belonged in the realm of science fiction.

The Great Barrier Reef as we know it - home to thousands of marine species - is dying. Can We Save the Reef? is the epic story of Australian & international scientists who are racing to understand our greatest natural wonder.

We all know exercise is good for us. But how many of us really know what kind of exercise we should be doing, how much of it we need, or how hard we should push ourselves?

Is your mood influencing your gastrointestinal health or is it the other way around? Can a nutritional intervention provide help to sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome where modern medicine has little to offer?

Gut Revolution seeks to sort the facts from the faeces in an observational series that follows two people with debilitating gut issues on their quest for better health. Garry has tried it all to lose weight, from the Biggest Loser to meal replacement shakes. And despite temporary victories, the kilos always pile back on. Are Garry's gut bacteria keeping him fat and can the Gut Revolution help him? Nutrition scientist Dr Joanna McMillan and her team of experts explore new and controversial science that suggests gut bacteria might just be affecting our appetites and moods.

For the past 35 years, twins have been some of the most carefully studied people in Australia. 75,000 twins have been revealing the secrets of how much we inherit from our parents and in what ways our experience shapes who we become. Researchers are trying to understand what determines their personalities, makes them succeed at a school or even live longer.

From the science of making choices to the solving power of algorithms, Mathematician Lily Serna looks at how the logic of mathematics can help you make better, smarter decisions.

A group of pioneering scientists take their robots into the world of agriculture to see if they can help Aussie farmers tackle some of their biggest challenges. Will they change the way we've been farming for generations?

The race to the moon is back. After a quiet half century since the last Apollo mission, Assoc Prof Alan Duffy takes us inside the new space race, where innovators and big dreamers are rewriting the book on space exploration.

Nutrition Scientist Dr Joanna McMillan takes on her most challenging case as she battles to help Victoria recover from debilitating anxiety & gut pains, using emerging science showing links between gut bacteria & the brain.

Lawrence Leung lives a busy life - he's an actor, comedian and a dad to a young daughter. He doesn't always get enough sleep and often wonders if he should be getting more. In this episode of Catalyst, Lawrence explores the latest science behind sleep to find out what he's missing out on - and if he needs it at all. Lawrence meets some of Australia's top sleep scientists as he asks: What is sleep for? When should I go to bed? What happens if I don't sleep? And, how can I sleep better? Along the way he discovers that it's during sleep that the brain chooses which memories to strengthen and which to lose; that extreme sleep deprivation negatively affects a whole range of body functions; and that he should be sleeping more like an elite athlete - and a koala.