Charles Bean was our first official war correspondent and devoted his life to telling the story of Australians in the first world war. Bean wrote and edited the official history and campaigned for a national war memorial.

Should we abolish prison?

Nov 7th, 2018 54m 6s

Is it time to change our attitude to crime and punishment and reconsider the effectiveness of prison?

Australian women who won the vote and inspired the world

Nov 6th, 2018 54m 7s

Before the Anzacs and Gallipoli another Australian campaign claimed the attention of the world. Australian women won the right to vote and then travelled to England to support their British sisters.

Stamping out stigma around mental illness

Nov 5th, 2018 59m 53s

Stigma surrounding complex mental illness deters people from seeking help and affects the outcome of treatment. How can we stamp it out?

2018 Andrew Olle Media Lecture

Nov 2nd, 2018 29m 29s

Walkley Award-winning sports journalist Caroline Wilson delivers the 2018 Andrew Olle Media Lecture.

Good evidence, bad politics

Nov 1st, 2018 53m 57s

How do experts in highly contentious fields, such as climate change and migration, cut through the noise to ensure that good evidence, not fake news, makes the headlines?

A scandalous empire

Oct 31st, 2018 53m 57s

Contemporary media is full of gossip and scandal. It says alot about our preoccupations and moral attitudes. In the same way colonial scandals give historians an inside view of colonial society and how the British empire worked.

US spy chief reveals his life in intelligence

Oct 30th, 2018 53m 57s

Retired spy chief James Clapper was the Director of National Intelligence under Obama. His memoir details the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, the fallout from the Edward Snowden leaks and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential electio

Lemn Sissay on the abuse he suffered in state care

Oct 29th, 2018 53m 57s

Poet, Lemn Sissay, was taken from his mother and spent 18 years in the state care system in the UK where he was physically, emotionally, and racially abused.

Where did language come from?

Oct 25th, 2018 53m 57s

Human evolution is a million-year story. Yet language only appeared in the last 100,000 years. Psychologist Michael Corballis believes that language evolution is far older and more complex. He describes the connections between language and thi

What we can learn from cats

Oct 24th, 2018 53m 57s

Let's celebrate cats on Big Ideas. And hear tales about courage, scarifying love, resilience and a strong spirit against the odds - and cats rescue us when life seems to be unbearably hard.

A property tax for affordable housing

Oct 23rd, 2018 53m 57s

Should home owners subsidize social housing with a property tax? Low income earners struggle with high rents while home owners benefit from low taxes and booming real estate markets. Revenue from a property tax could build affordable public ho

Men, masculinity and #metoo

Oct 22nd, 2018 53m 57s

What is "toxic masculinity" and do men need to rethink what it means to be masculine in an age of #metoo?

Boyers 4 Life Immortal

Oct 18th, 2018 53m 57s

Gene and cell therapy and the search for immortality and DNA revealing human evolution.

Boyer Lecture 3 Sins of the flesh

Oct 17th, 2018 53m 57s

The problem of scientific fraud and overblown claims for stem cells and DNA doping in elite sport.

Boyer Lecture 2: Gene Genie and the power over life

Oct 16th, 2018 58m 42s

We can now add and edit our genes, reinventing ourselves at the most basic level.

Boyer lecture 1: Back to the future of eugenics

Oct 15th, 2018 53m 56s

Improving a population through selective breeding - eugenics - was once a popular idea. Professor John Rasko examines, what we are to make of the new eugenics.

A one-way ticket to Mars

Oct 11th, 2018 53m 56s

Mars One is a private venture to establish a permanent settlement on the red planet. Australians have signed up to be on the first flight in 2031. The only catch is that it’s a one-way trip. There's no coming back..

Domestic violence and the law

Oct 10th, 2018 53m 56s

It’s a sad reality that Australia is in the grip of a domestic violence crisis. Although not all cases of domestic violence are reported, what is the experience of those victims who have engaged with the law?

A natural history of Europe

Oct 9th, 2018 53m 57s

Palaeontologist and conservationist, Tim Flannery, has been looking back over the past hundred million years of the flora and fauna of Europe.

Free speech and debate in civil society and on campus

Oct 8th, 2018 53m 57s

Former PM John Howard on threats to our core values and institutions and limits to free speech on campus

What is news?

Oct 4th, 2018 53m 56s

There is a growing need for people to understand the modern news and information landscape. What is news and what is public interest journalism? How to recognise manipulated and fabricated content?

Building trust in journalism

Oct 3rd, 2018 53m 56s

Who do you trust to deliver the news? Established media companies are struggling to compete with the proliferation of online news sites. Does serious journalism have a future?

Is it too soon to ditch fossil fuels?

Oct 2nd, 2018 53m 57s

While politicians weigh up climate change, scientists say we urgently need to act. Can we take years or decades to move away from fossil fuels or should we move immediately to renewable energy?