Belinda Smith

Melbourne

Journalist at ABC Science

Journalist 🖊 @ABCScience 🎙 @RadioNational // Tell me a story: [email protected] // GPS art IG: animalpunruns // @[email protected]

Articles

Lab Notes: Why one man let deadly snakes bite him 200 times

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

Cobras, taipans, black mambas — Tim Friede's been intentionally bitten more than 200 times by some of the most venomous snakes on Earth. And he survived, mostly because years of self-injecting venom let him develop immunity to them. (Please do not try this yourself!)Now his blood's been used to make a broad-spectrum antivenom that researchers say may protect against nearly 20 deadly snakes. But this is not how antivenom is usually made.
Lab Notes: Where's my needle-free vaccine?

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

Hate getting needles? You're in good company — one in five people in Australia have needle fear. But this year, seasonal influenza's come at us earlier and harder than usual, and doctors are urging us to get vaccinated against the disease sooner rather than later. The US and UK have a flu vaccine that gets sprayed up the nose. So why don't we have it here, and what other vaccines-without-the-jab are being developed?
Lab Notes: Why did NASA spend a billion bucks on Lucy?

3 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

Somewhere out past Mars in the early hours of Easter Monday, a space probe called Lucy whizzed by an asteroid named Donaldjohanson. Lucy then sent back images showing Donaldjohanson is about five kilometres wide and shaped like a peanut. It's one of a handful of asteroids on Lucy's 12-year itinerary. So what does the billion-dollar mission hope to achieve? Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events.
Lab Notes: Why sprinting sensation Gout Gout is so fast

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

Gout Gout is fast becoming the face of Australian athletics, regularly clocking blisteringly quick times over 100- and 200-metre sprints. And he's only 17. Many think the best is yet to come. So what is it about Gout that makes him such an impressive sprinter at such a young age? Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science behind new discoveries and current events.
Lab Notes: How to decommission a nuclear power plant

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

We've been hearing a lot about a certain proposal to get nuclear power up and running in Australia, but little's been said about what happens when plants reach the end of their life. Decommissioning a single nuclear power plant can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take decades. So what's involved, and why is the process so long and expensive? Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events.
Lab Notes: Should we be putting pig parts in people?

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

Hearts, kidneys and now livers — over the past couple of years, surgeons have taken all these from gene-edited pigs and put them in people. But the history of taking bits from animals and putting them in humans — called xenotransplantation — stretches back centuries. So how did we get to the current cluster of pig organs in patients, and what are the ethical considerations as new clinical trials forge ahead?
Why have Saturn's rings disappeared from view?

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith

As far as planets go, they don't get much more iconic than Saturn: a huge golden ball encircled by gigantic rings. There's nothing else quite like it in the Solar System. Right now, it's hard to see Saturn in the sky. It appears close to the Sun, so only visible just before sunrise. Loading... But if you did manage to check out Saturn through a backyard telescope, you'd see a yellowish orb, perhaps a few moons — but no rings. It seems like they've vanished.
Lab Notes: Why have Saturn's rings 'vanished'?

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

As far as planets go, they don't get much more iconic than Saturn. A huge golden ball encircled by gigantic rings. But those distinctive rings — the very things that give Saturn its pizzazz — have seemingly disappeared. So what’s going on, and when will they be back? Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: [email protected] you or someone you know interested in the 2025 ABC Top 5 Science media residency program?
New Formula 1 rule introduces cooling systems to help drivers handle extreme heat

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith

The first race of the 2025 Formula 1 season saw McLaren's Lando Norris take victory at a wet and wild Australian Grand Prix on the weekend in Melbourne. But even in the relative cool of Sunday afternoon, drivers felt the heat. Formula 1 racing is awfully hot work at the best of times. From 2025, a new rule means Formula 1 cars must be fitted with a cooling system for races on days when the sport's governing body declares a heat hazard.
Lab Notes: The extreme conditions F1 drivers face in a race

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Belinda Smith |Fiona Pepper

They might be the epitome of cool, but Formula 1 race car drivers can get hot — really hot. An F1 cockpit can heat up to 60 degrees Celsius, and this affects cognition — the last thing you want when you're fanging around a track at 300kph. This year, a new rule was introduced to give F1 drivers a bit of relief from that heat … which is just one of the risks of F1 racing. Because we often hear about the performance of the cars in the race, but what about the humans behind the wheel?

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