Sci_Burst can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, no matter your level of expertise. We’re here to make science accessible in a fun way, spark further discussions about all things STEM, and grow a community of people happy to be nerdy about science in pop culture.
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Welcome to a teaser for our upcoming third season of Sci_Burst! Here we introduce your Sci_Burst podcast hosts, tease our next season’s theme, hint towards some of our upcoming episodes, and even drop a big exciting piece of news. It’s Season 3 and we’re trying something completely different: video!
Whether you like to listen, watch, or somewhere in-between – we’ve got the podcast for you and this time we’re going SolarPunk.
Join us as we start this sustainable, punk, and community podcast with a teaser of all that’s to come.
S3 Episode 1: Solarpunk Systems
What are solarpunk systems and can they help us toward a more positive future? Join Ella and Isabel in the first episode of this Solarpunk season of Sci_Burst!
This episode is for you if: you’re new to Solarpunk / you like Solarpunk and want to explore it more / you’re interested in positive stories / you want to imagine a sustainable and attainable future / you see wider connections in the world around you / you LOVE fiction (particularly sci-fi and speculative fiction)
S3 Episode 2: The Punk of Solarpunk
Loved the Superman (2025) movie and looking for more #punk hope? 👩🎤 You’ve come to the right place! Listen to this episode to learn all about the punk of #solarpunk, where it came from, and how it differs (in a very good way!) from other -punk genres like #cyberpunk and #steampunk 😎🤙 Kindness and optimism, with a dash of #sustainability, are officially IN!☀️🫶💛
S3 Episode 3: Science, Community, and Third Places
This is a very special episode of Sci_Burst – our first ever live recording!!!
Press play to learn about third places, the science and hope of community, and accessible futures.
Thanks to our live audience, videographer, and Woden Library staff for making this such a cosy and special recording xx. This project is supported by Inspiring Australia ACT and the ACT Government. Our equipment for this live recording was also made possible by YWCA Canberra.
S3 Episode 4: Greenwashing
What happens when companies lie about their sustainability or pretend to be solarpunk? 🤥 Enter, the deceptive act of greenwashing 🤢⚠️⚠️ Press play to learn where the phrase comes from, why companies might do it, and how countries and communities are already combatting it to make the world a little more solarpunk!
S3 Episode 5: Is Pokémon Solarpunk?
Just in time for the release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, we bring you a sequel Pokémon episode – with a twist! This time we ask the question: is the Pokémon universe truly solarpunk??? 👀👀👀
Press play to hear about the solarpunk elements of Pokémon (including sustainability, clean energy, and harmonious human-nature relationships ♻️🌱⚡️), the not so solarpunk elements of Pokémon (including capitalist💰 and colonialist mechanics), and the future potential of the franchise 🔴⚪️👾
S3 E6: Solarpunk at Night
Happy silly season! This December we’re exploring what a solarpunk community looks like when the sun goes down, and the delightful subgenre that is ~lunarpunk~ 🌃🌙💜. We touch on human-nature relationships after dark 🦉, solarpunk technologies at nighttime (think bioluminescence, decolonial space travel 🛰️🍄), and also what evening culture and festivals could look like in a solarpunk/lunarpunk future 🎊🎃
S3 Episode 7: Ochrepunk with Matthew Ngamurarri Heffernan
Happy New Year friends! To kick off 2026, we bring you a fantastic episode on Indigenous Futurisms, optimism in First Nations storytelling, and 🧡Ochrepunk🧡 with our very special guest, Matthew Ngamurarri Heffernan 🖤💛❤️
Matt is a Luritja man, software developer, board member, creative technologist, playwright, poet, and PhD student at The Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics 💻✍️🎭 He is a developer at Indigemoji – a sticker set of 90 emojis representing life, culture and language of Arrernte Country in Central Australia – and creator of The Robot Dog, an intercultural sci-fi play about identity and technology in the future 🤖🐕
Press play for a yarn about Matt’s work on ‘The Jedda Test’ (inspired by the famous Bechdel Test, and centred around Indigenous representations in media) and ‘Ochrepunk’, his play The Robot Dog, and the interconnections with Solarpunk ☀️
More soon!
In the meantime… check out the brand-new Sci_Burst website!
