The Arid Zone – How Life Works in the Australian Outback

Podcast: Talking Science · Stavros kinnas

Opublikowano: 2026-09-17

Roughly seventy per cent of Australia is arid or semi-arid, yet the outback is far from empty: it runs on a distinctive boom-and-bust rhythm built around unpredictable rain. This episode explores why the continent is so dry, the water-saving adaptations of plants like spinifex and mulga and animals from kangaroos to burrowing frogs, and the role of fire, feral species and tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal land management in shaping this landscape. You'll come away understanding why Australia's interior is so dry and why its soils are so old and nutrient-poor, how boom-and-bust ecology works...