The iconic Ningaloo Reef is experiencing a widespread coral bleaching event, believed to be caused by an ongoing marine heatwave along the Western Australian coast.

Coral bleaching occurs when polyps that make up the colony become stressed, generally due to increased temperatures.

We spoke with Dr James Gilmour from the Australian Institute for Marine Science, who has over twenty years of experience with corals and coral bleaching. You'll also hear from Paul Gamblin from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, who is calling on the WA government to take urgent action to protect the reef.

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Ash sits down with alternative Aussie singer songwriter Adam Newling. The two chat about the music industry, the importance of musical connections, as well as Adam's upcoming album Love Takes Care, and his previous album, Dorothy's Painted Portraits.

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Following the decision by the Queensland Government to restrict access to hormone therapy for gender diverse individuals under the age of 18, thousands of people across the country came together for a national day of action on the 8th of February.

Ben and Ash spoke with a number of people at the local rally in Armidale about their thoughts, and what words of advice they have for young trans people and their parents.

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Bush Heritage Australia has been working to protect environmentally significant habitats along the Murray-Darling Basin, ensuring their preservation and protection.

Thanks to Bush Heritage Austraila's recent acquisition of the property Nil Desperandum, they'll be able to better manage places like the Yantabulla Swamp, which is a nationally significant wetland in the region.

We spoke to Bridget Roberts, an ecologist with Bush Heritage Australia, on her role in the project.

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Ash sits down with Yuwaalaraay man and Narran Lake Nature Reserve Aboriginal Joint Management Chairperson, Jason Wilson, and Jabirr Jabirr man and CSIRO indigenous scientist Max Fabila to discuss the ways in which CSIRO is using cultural knowledge to deepen their understanding of drought resilience."

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Tune's resident agricultural report, Goodness, sits down with Cass Donaldson, an agriculture student at UNE.

Together they go over Cass's experience in soil science and her time competing in the Soil Judging competition in 2024, run by Soil Science Australia.

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University of New England researcher Dr Lou Streeting and her team has hatched over 600 endangered Bell’s Turtles as part of an ongoing conservation effort to save the species. TuneFM’s Ash Taylor caught up with Dr Streeting in the lab to learn more about these turtles, and how the project has evolved.

All turtles were handled under scientific direction, following all ethics guidelines as stipulated by UNE. This conservation project is a collaboration between the University of New England and Local Land Services, supported by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust.

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Note: this episode does contain discussion of some mature topics.

Ever heard a word and gone 'what the hell does that mean?' Well, you're not alone. New words are created pretty regularly, particularly on the internet, but they don't all make it into mainstream speech.

We caught up with UNE's Dr Sally Dixon, who teaches linguistics, to chat about some of 2024's words of the year, including 'rawdog', 'enshittification' and 'colesworth.'

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