Here in Brisbane, a lot of us are aware of the battle to keep fire ants at bay. Perhaps some of us had an encounter with them or even had them invade their property.

However, are you aware of another unwanted ant invading Queensland… the Yellow Crazy Ant?
What’s being done to mitigate Yellow Crazy Ants from entering our lifestyle?

4ZZZ’s Eliot Rifkin and Toni Pankaluic chatted with Dr Cecilia Villacorta-Rath about how TropWATER scientists are tracking one of the world’s most invasive ants moving into our waterways using eDNA.

Wastewater has been monitored to track invasive ant species via eDNA, birth control residues and drug remnants…

Recently, a coordinated international study over the last 3 years has been conducted to monitor new psychoactive substances flying-under-the-radar used recreationally. AND… over a dozen new drugs have been discovered!

How is… or can this data be used?

4ZZZ’s Eliot Rifkin & Toni Pankaluic chatted with Dr Richard Bade from UQ's Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences about his study on monitoring wastewater for new psychoactive drugs and its implications.

New legislation has been passed by the Queensland government putting a limit on the frequency that landlords can raise rent on tenants.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a cap to rental price will increase to one per year as opposed to every six-months to combat rental price pressures. The limit will apply beginning from 1 July 2023 to new and existing tenants.

To understand what implications this legislation will have for those in the rental market, The Wire’s Toni Pankaluic spoke with Penny Carr (CEO of Tenants Queensland) as well as Lloyd Edge (Founder and Managing Director of Aus Property Professionals).

Ever wondered if animals could talk. We’ve all heard birds chirp away at each other and wondered just what are they are talking about. Or heard a dog bark or a cat meow and thought ‘Are they saying something’? Well it turns out they are! But you just didn’t understand.

4ZZZ reporter Anita Diamond spoke with Professor Karen Bakker of the University of British Columbia and a fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study on how scientists are using A.I to talk to animals.

4ZZZ Journalists Stephanie Felesina and Joshua McIntosh investigate the state of crocodile management in Queensland. Stephanie Felesina speaks to State Member for Traeger and Leader of Katter's Australian Party about his calls for culling and the introduction of a new statutory body. Joshua McIntosh speaks with Dr Matthew Brien, Queensland Regional Director of Northern Parks and Forests, about the Government's approach.

Smartphone cameras and YouTube have captured a lot of previously unseen animal behaviour and it seems people are more accepting of animals intelligence, however how much further do we need to go in our understanding?

4ZZZʻs Eliot Rifkin chatted about animal problem solving with researcher Misha Rowell from James Cook Universityʻs College of Science and Engineering.

Humans create our architectural and various other designs with our ‘own’ species in mind.

While most of us are now environmentally conscious of the biodiversity balance, when might we begin to consider designing our buildings and cities with a ‘More-than-human’ design and consider other species… benefitting all forms of life?

4ZZZ’s Eliot Rifkin and Toni Pankaluic chatted with Stanislav Roudavski from the ‘Deep Design Lab’ at the University of Melbourne about the ‘More-than-human’ architectural design movement.

In the North-side suburb of Stafford, locals have been lobbying against the redevelopment of their community bowls club beginning from late last year. The site has been largely unmaintained since 2017, and the new renovation plan is expected to bring in 76 poker machines, which has drawn further attention from locals, as well as politicians and the Office for Liquor and Gaming.

In recent years, noise pollution impacting Brisbane community members has been a key aspect of political promises, community forums, and more recently public outcry.

With all our reliance on computer technology, do we need to consult space weather to know when solar flares may affect us? Are we sitting ducks?

The processes underlying sun spots, solar flares and the structure of the sun’s magnetic field are still poorly understood even today.

4ZZZ’s Eliot Rifkin chatted about our sun with Dr Alina Catalina-Donea an Astrophysicist on how solar flares affect us.

Here in Brisbane, a lot of us are aware of the battle to keep fire ants at bay. Perhaps some of us had an encounter with them or even had them invade their property.

However, are you aware of another unwanted ant invading Queensland… the Yellow Crazy Ant?
What’s being done to mitigate Yellow Crazy Ants from entering our lifestyle?

4ZZZ’s Eliot Rifkin and Toni Pankaluic chatted with Dr Cecilia Villacorta-Rath about how TropWATER scientists are tracking one of the world’s most invasive ants moving into our waterways using eDNA.