A leopard shark in a Dubai aquarium gave birth without ever meeting a male. That moment of virgin birth, parthenogenesis, kicked off a remarkable career for Dr David Robinson, now owner of Sundive in Byron Bay and a researcher of leopard sharks at the world-renowned Julian Rocks.

In this episode, David takes us from curating Dubai's first aquarium to rehabilitating over 1,800 sea turtles, discovering one of the world's largest whale shark aggregations off Qatar (thanks to a sick turtle named Pearl), and finally landing, almost by accident, in one of the only places on Earth where leopard sharks still gather in healthy numbers.

We talk genetic curiosities, record-breaking turtle migrations, shark mating behaviour caught on camera for the first time, and why citizen scientists with cameras are doing some of the most important work in marine research today.

More Information

https://www.sundive.com.au/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/120106-virgin-birth-shark-dubai-science

https://www.sharkbook.ai/

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We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com

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What happens when a weatherman trades the studio for the bush? In this episode, Dani talks with Graham Creed – former ABC weather presenter and author of The Weatherman Goes Bush – about a life shaped by science, community, and a deep love of the natural world.

Graham shares the journey from watching Cyclone Tracy on the news as a nine-year-old in Melbourne, to twenty-one years as a broadcast meteorologist, to a tree change on a flower farm near Stroud, NSW. He talks proteas, platypus, and the unexpected flourishing of native bees after Varroa wiped out his thirteen honeybee hives.

But this episode is as much about community as it is about the land. Graham co-founded the Stroud Community River Care Group, working to restore Mill Creek in the Karuah River catchment – pulling invasive weeds, replanting riparian vegetation, detecting platypus with environmental DNA, and building an indigenous history walk in a town celebrating its 200th European anniversary.

He also takes us inside the world of weather modelling – from AI tools that predicted the 2025 Taree floods days ahead of every other model, to a CSIRO/Bureau of Meteorology tool that can tell you what your local climate will feel like in 90 years. And in a town that broke a 135-year rainfall record in 2025 before swinging straight into drought, those tools feel more urgent than ever.

This is a story about observation, adaptation, and finding hope in the people quietly doing good work that rarely makes the news.

More Information

https://www.grahamcreed.com.au/about

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney's iconic White's seahorse is in trouble. Habitat loss has pushed this endemic species, found nowhere else on Earth onto Australia's endangered list.

But at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, marine scientist Mitch Brennan and his team are fighting back with one of the most charming solutions in conservation: the seahorse hotel.

In this episode, Mitch explains how these metal reef structures work, why male seahorses give birth, and how a three-pronged strategy of captive breeding, artificial habitat, and natural restoration is giving White's seahorses a fighting chance in Sydney Harbour.

He also shares how school kids are designing their own hotels, complete with rope disco balls, and how you can contribute sightings from your next dive to help monitor these incredible animals.

If you've ever wanted to check in to a seahorse hotel, this is the episode for you.

Get Involed

Sydney Seahorse Project: https://sims.org.au/research/flagship-programs/the-gamay-initiative/project2-4-5/

Project Humble School Group: https://projecthumble.com.au/

Hong Kong Seahorse Project: https://www.lcf.gov.hk/filemanager/content/conservation/RE-2024-07-ENG.pdf

Handfish Project: https://handfish.org.au/

NSW DPIRD logging: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/species-protection/report-a-threatened-species-form

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: info@citizenscienceshow.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.