Imagine a global network of sensor stations, ready to detect even the smallest nuclear weapons test. This network is in fact a reality. As we learned in our last episode, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation’s monitoring network is up, running, and ready for the Treaty to enter into force. One of the most important of those stations is located in Australia's remote Northern Territory – the Warramunga Seismic and Infrasound Facility – and it's directed by Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić, Head of Geophysics at the Australian National University.

In this episode, Professor Tkalčić joins our host, A/Prof Liz Williams, to talk about what seismology actually is – how waves generated by earthquakes, storms, and even whale calls can be used to see inside the earth – and how the extraordinary silence of the Australian outback makes it one ...