Episode

Diane Purcell on how algae grows on you

Podcast
What The Duck?!
Published
Feb 13, 2026
Duration seconds
1545
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/what-the-duck/ireland-algae-earth-mars/106292158
Audio
https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/h9/Z/aa.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/what-the-duck-4814167/episodes/diane-purcell-on-how-algae-grows-on-you
Markdown
/podcast/what-the-duck-4814167/diane-purcell-on-how-algae-grows-on-you.md

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Summary

From the rolling hills of country Ireland to rolling waves beneath her boat docked in Hobart, Dr Diane Purcell has explored the most extreme places algae survive. She's also explored the prospect of its survival away from Earth when she worked at NASA studying extremophiles. Some of Diane's earliest research was looking at algae behaviour when it's kind of sleep deprived, and algae that will eat so much it will literally explode! She's also dealt with the ebb and flow of research work by moving to Darwin and working as a high school science teacher. Featuring: Dr Diane Purcell, Project Manager of the Remediation Section, Science and Technical Branch, at the Environment Protection Authority Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer Rebecca McLaren, Producer Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people. Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.