Q+A: Sept 23

Stan Grant hosts Q+A this week as some of Australia’s finest scientific minds ask “What Comes Next?”

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust scientists into the public eye and made many of them household names. How do we translate this upsurge of interest into the next generation of scientific superstars? Are our universities doing enough to foster world-class scientists and how do we turn ideas into tangible solutions and products?

The pandemic is changing the way scientists study and work. Will our brightest minds of the future spend less time in the lab and more time in front of quantum computers? What will the future look like? We’ll look at how artificial intelligence will shape our lives and ask, can robots help us tackle cyber-crime?

Australia will become only the second country in the world after the UK to receive technology from the United States to build nuclear-powered submarines. What do we know about the science behind this major security step? And after Christian Porter’s resignation from the Ministry, who will be Australia’s next Federal Science Minister?

And why on earth should we care about whale snot? Our panel will explain all!

Joining Stan Grant on the panel:
Brian Schmidt, Nobel laureate and Vice-Chancellor, ANU
Lidia Morawska, International Air Quality expert
Michael Biercuk, Quantum Physicist and innovator
Vanessa Pirotta, Wildlife scientist and science communicator
Toby Walsh, Artificial Intelligence expert

8:30pm Thursday on ABC.