Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moon

Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moon

Since we first broadcast this episode in February, much has happened space wise; there was the NASA Artemis mission bringing a lunar colony closer to reality, Jeff Bezo’s rocket launch that exploded, Space X became the biggest IPO in history and Elon Musk reached beyond the skies as the world’s first trillionaire. But as tech billionaires compete for NASA contracts, from Elon Musk's SpaceX to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origins, can we trust corporations to act on humanity's behalf . Hamish Macdonald and Jonathan Webb (Lab Notes [https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lab-notes]) speak to rockstar physicist Professor Brian Cox, about who owns space, and why tech billionaires are not the bad guys, but not the good guys either.

What does Trump actually want from Iran?

Back in February despite uprisings, sanctions and the ongoing conflict with Israel negotiations were underway between the US and Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Those negotiations saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushing to Washington to influence any potential deal. Two weeks later Israel and US made their first military strikes. A vital question at the time was: how does Iran sit within the wider region? And what deal did the US really want?  Today, despite ongoing negotiations for peace deal between Iran and the US those questions still stand. Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald are joined in studio by Vali Nasr, who advised the US State Department on Iran during the Obama era to talk about why Trump fell for his own saviour narrative, and how October 7 is still reshaping the region.

Was Epstein running a Russian spy operation?

A Russian spy? Secret kompromat? The latest Epstein file drop, the most comprehensive since the notorious sex offender's death, has us questioning everything.

Is the Middle East caught in an unstoppable 'escalation trap' of all-out war?

It was just a few weeks into the Israel and the  US military operations against Iran.  Iran had retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israeli territory; there were civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure on both sides.   But for all the bravado and swagger of the US and Israel might the Iranians survive this or has the US and Israel's military campaign against Iran spiralled into a perpetual war beyond anyone's control? This is Global Roaming looking back to the beginnings of a  deadly conflict.

What's left to explore? The secrets of space unlocked Part 2.

In part two of our conversation with one of the world’s most respected living explorers, Terry Garcia, we take you to space.The ethics, exploration, archaeology and who should act as the guardians of space exploration. Is there a risk of exploitation by tech barons? Should the rules for ocean exploration be adapted for space? Terry Garcia helps us unlock the secrets of our planet beyond.Guest: Terry Garcia, President of Exploration Ventures and former Executive Vice President and Chief Science and Exploration Officer of the National Geographic Society and Deputy Administrator of NOAABook:  The Future of Exploration [https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/The-Future-of-Exploration/Terry-Garcia/9781647229177]