Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

William Tullett says we're losing our knack for using our noses to help us navigate life. And he should know —  he's an olfactory historian who has dedicated his career to understanding how this oft-overlooked sense has shaped not only our day-to-day lives, but human history. He argues we could learn a lot from stopping not just to smell the roses, but even the grislier scents too. 

Among readers, there are two main camps: the completionists, who'll battle through every boring chapter even if they're absolutely hating it, and those who DNF (do not finish). The DNFers argue life is just too short to waste time on a book that doesn't spark joy.  But it can be much harder to walk away from a goal that's taken years of effort, or feels intrinsically tied to your identity. Enduran...

Every day at least 150 people are hospitalised experiencing a heart attack. And research suggests that if you're a woman in one of those hospital beds, you're likely to experience roadblocks getting timely treatment. Thanks to a complex web of cultural and clinical blind spots, there's a gender gap in heart attack health care — researchers estimate that 20 per cent of heart attack deaths in women...

The NSW government recently announced it will be implementing screen time caps in public school classrooms from 2028.  It follows weeks of conversations in which federal education minister Jason Clare suggested students might need a "digital detox". But in the digital world we live in, what is the balance of screens and pen and paper learning?

Madonna. Martha Stewart. Miley Cyrus. What do they all have in common? They've all attempted a celebrity rebrand.  Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn, AKA Raygun has recently launched a rebrand of her own.  After her kangaroo-hopping routine at the Tokyo Olympics was widely criticised online, she's sharing her side of the story in a tell-all Netflix doco — a tactic out of the celebrity playbook....

When the phone is buzzing in your pocket and you answer it, what do you say? There are reports that the humble "hello" is dying, with a UK study showing that 40 per cent of 18-24 year olds agree answering the phone without any greeting is acceptable. How does language change over time and what could be the future of greetings be?

When Graeme Base set out to create his second children's picture book, an English language illustrated alphabet didn't sound like a winning idea. But the three-year labour of love went on to sell more than 5 million copies worldwide, and set him up for a successful career as an illustrator and author that has spanned decades.  As Animalia celebrates its 40th anniversary, Graeme Base reflects on th...

Can you ever truly make someone else happy? You could spend years searching for the answer to this existential question, but perhaps all it takes is some perspective from a fictional 12-year-old. As part of Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown, Life Matters has invited prominent Australians to share their favourite Australian children's book.  For Hugh Van Cuylenburg, the first book...

When Cate Gilpin discovered her school's Parents & Citizens Association (P&C) was fundraising thousands of dollars for classroom literacy resources, she couldn't understand why it wasn't coming out of government funds. Research shows her school is not an isolated case. P&Cs are being forced to scale up their revenue-raising activities to cover what many consider to be essentials — like...

When you've been training for a half marathon for months, but your best friend all of a sudden wants to run the race together, who wins when friendship complicates the competition?  This week the Aunties share their advice with listener Ellie, who's torn over whether to slow down her pace and run alongside her friend, or stick to her goals and leave them in the dust.

If you've gone to see a counsellor or psychologist, you might be wrestling with tough questions: am I in the right relationship? Is my work right for me? How do I cope with my dysfunctional family?  We don't usually ask more abstract questions like: what's the meaning of life? Can I ever truly know another person? Or, how do I make peace with the fact that everyone I love will die?  But for father...

Australians could soon be given the right to ask large companies to destroy their personal information. The "right to be forgotten" is one of the changes being proposed by the federal government to strengthen Australia's privacy laws. A separate Children's Online Privacy Code comes into effect later this year.  For Victorian parent Niels Wouters, the changes can't come soon enough. He's spent the...

Many kids dream of becoming an explorer when they grow up, but Tim Jarvis is one of the rare few that turned that into reality.  He has travelled to the most extreme corners of the world and is most well known for his recreation of Sir Douglas Mawson's survival journey across Antarctica and Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition of 1916. Tim has dedicated his life to exploring and protecting the envir...

Ethics has been part of our national curriculum for over a decade, but it's not often a topic that's covered in its own dedicated classroom.  Researchers in Queensland are calling for a more structured approach, arguing that formal ethics education can make a real difference to students in the long-term. So how should we be teaching our young people about morals, critical reasoning, and judging ri...

Children's books are often among the most worn out and beloved volumes on our shelves — they're stories we could recite with our eyes closed, that conjure special memories from years gone by. As part of Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown, Life Matters has invited a few special guests to share their favourite Australian children's book.  For author Liane Moriarty, the secret to a g...

The European summer has seen one of the worst fire seasons in modern history with over 600,000 hectares burnt. With a Super El Niño event expected, what will an Australian summer look like? Disaster preparedness is already underway across the country, and community-building can play a key role in ensuring everyone is ready for what could be a tough bushfire season.

You can't go anywhere online without being pressured to optimise your life in some way. Want to improve your appearance? Try #looksmaxxing Want to boost your chance of getting pregnant? #fertilitymaxxing Or maybe your gut needs #fibremaxxing? This pressure to optimise every aspect of life is not only changing us as individuals, it's also having a flattening effect on art, culture and design.

Whether you're looking for a brogue, a boot, or a ballet flat, chances are that you'll have to try on a few pairs of shoes before you find the one that feels right.  A recent study from RMIT University found 72 per cent of women were wearing shoe sizes that didn't match the actual length of their feet. Researchers say inconsistent sizing systems that don't always give customers accurate measuremen...

If it feels like you're seeing more supermarket-owned brands on the shelf, you're right. In the past financial year, Coles' private label sales increased by over 6 per cent, while Woolworths increased by 5.5 per cent, and there are more own-brand expansions on the way. What does this growth in private label products mean for shoppers, and for smaller businesses vying for a spot on the shelf?

We're already nine months into the year, so you might be looking at your goals and new year's resolutions and thinking they need a spring clean.  The year started strong, you got through winter, but now you're feeling a bit tired and the end of the year seems still so far away. So if you are feeling like you've hit a bit of a September slump, how do you motivate yourself to push through?

In years gone by, psychedelics like MDMA and psylocibin were seen as experimental party drugs. But that narrative has shifted.  Now, there are all sorts of claims about the potential uses of psychedelic drug treatments for conditions like depression and PTSD. Investigative journalist Rich Haridy has been watching this previously taboo field come out of the shadows and into mainstream culture in re...

Is there a beach, river, lake or farm dam that you love taking a dip in — rain, hail or shine?  Wild swimming has been growing in popularity since the pandemic, especially amongst older women. UK data shows the number of people open water swimming has doubled since 2016. Women make up three quarters of wild swimmers, and the majority of those are over 40. So, what is it about swimming, surfing and...

Second-hand stores specialising in high-end products are popping up all over Australia, along with an explosion in the populariuty of online re-selling platforms like Depop and Vinted.  At the same time, the standard op-shopping experience is becoming supersized too, with the US giant Savers expanding its footprint in Australia. So where does this leave the small charity shops that rely on donatio...

Have you ever walked through the doors of a venue and immediately felt at home? New research indicates that the identity of a venue can play just a big a part of getting you there as transport, safety and cost considerations. Having a sense of belonging associated with a venue can create return visitors and more expenditure from punters. So, how do you create the identity of a place, and what part...

If your mum raised you in the thick of diet culture, you’ve probably had some body image lessons to unpick from that era. And when you have to play more of an active role in helping mum manage her health as she ages, you know you can always ask aunty to help navigate this tricky terrain.