Background Briefing

New technologies, travel and TV have profound implications for the Catholic church in Latin America. Gay rights, human rights, and women's rights - even abortion - are confronting centuries of Catholic thinking and the clergy is slowly being pushed out of politics. Reporter Stephen Crittenden

A few months ago the US share market plunged l000 points in a few minutes, and trillions were traded both up and down. What caused it, and can it happen again. Tiny high frequency computer algorithms - or algos - roam the markets, buying and selling in a parallel universe more or less uncontrolled by anyone. Did they go feral, or was it the fat finger of a coked out trader? In September US regulat...

Marsupial-loving reporter Ian Walker grew up wanting a pet like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Could encouraging more native mammals as pets be a canny new 'anti-extinction strategy'...or a future disaster to be cleaned up by the RSPCA? What happens when we apply market forces to the concept of extinction? The results may surprise you.

This week Background Briefing is not in the usual form. Instead we have Fran Kelly and Paul Barclay hosting a two hour post election program from 8 am till l0 am. Paul and Fran will be joined by a panel of analysts, commentators and candidates to decipher and dissect the election results.

When scientists - who believe passionately in independence, in pure research, and in sharing information - are asked to conform to business plans and commercial-in-confidence clauses, there are bound to be tensions. The CSIRO is going through massive culture change: less pure science, more social science, and industry can wag the tail. Reporter Ian Townsend

Economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz talks about the policy mistakes that led to the GFC and the lessons to be drawn from it. The key question is: what will fill the gap in total demand left by the bursting of the bubble? A Centenary Oration from the University of Queensland. Photo by Jeremy Patton.

The Labor government is about to switch on the first leg of its National Broadband Network - super-fast internet that promises to revolutionise Australia's business and social landscape. But if the Coalition wins the election, the NBN will be scrapped - the 43 billion dollar dream that never was. So is Australia's most expensive infrastructure project worth it? Reporter Di Martin

As the world's available farming land shrinks in the face of population growth, climate change and soil degradation, Australia's vast tracts of land are going to be increasingly important for global food security. Overseas players are already buying up Australian agricultural resources and interest is growing. There are economic benefits but is the sell-off in Australia's long term interests? Repo...

Despite the built-in appeal process, Australia's criminal justice system still produces wrongful convictions based on flawed evidence. There are calls for a new review body, independent of the judiciary, to help identify miscarriages of justice. Henry Keogh's conviction for murder is being put forward as a case in point. Reporter: Hagar Cohen

These are the colliding trends that confront India, China and much of the developing world. How do you meet the expectations of hundreds of millions of people currently without electricity, as well as reducing carbon emissions?

As we watch the worst environmental disaster in US history unfold, it's worth comparing with our own gusher in the Timor Sea last year. The Montara well leaked uncontrollably for over 70 days before it exploded in a fireball incinerating the rig. With the findings of a Commission of Inquiry into the Montara spill still locked down by the Gillard government, will we ever know the true environmental...

Businesses and advertisers can already access enormous amounts of personal data on social media sites, from where you live to what you like. The next step is sentiment analysis, where online conversations are mined for words and thoughts, for a commercial advantage. Is this ethical, and could computers really sift sarcasm from enthusiasm? Reporter, Shevonne Hunt.

Beneath the rich farming soils of the Darling Downs there's a gaseous gold mine. Mobile drilling rigs dot the landscape as energy companies rush to secure the next big export contracts - for natural gas. It's cheaper and cleaner than oil and looks set to supersede coal for making electricity. But farmers fear it will contaminate an even more valuable resource - water. Reporter, Ian Townsend.

Primary school kitchen gardens, behavioural economics and frugal innovation, they're all important elements in a complex strategy to improve heart health and reduce the obesity epidemic. (From a public forum at the St Vincent's Institute in Melbourne.)

From Hollywood to Harvard, rock'n'roll to rap, American soft power is well understood. But what about Confucianism, or the Peking Opera, Bhangra music and Bollywood? They are part of the soft power emanating from the East, from the emerging superpowers, China and India. Reporter, Philip Dodd of the BBC. (Image of Xi'an treasures at the China Pavillion, Shanghai Expo)

Bunnings, Greenpeace, Ikea and the US Congress are part of an unlikely coalition pushing for a ban on illegally logged timber. An Australian DNA test may solve the problem of enforcement but the Rudd government is yet to impose a ban it promised three years ago. Reporter, Stephen Crittenden.

The National Farmers Federation says another 20,000 pickers are needed to harvest Australia's crops. Growers complain of fruit rotting on the ground. Backpackers and others are heading to farms on the promise of abundant work, only to find the promises are often empty and it costs them more in rent than they can earn. Reporter, Brendan King.

Generational change and the power of social media has dramatically altered notions of privacy and as personal data files expand, our lives are going public by default. Will our data footprints strip us bare, or set us free? Reporter, Ian Townsend

From the rural backblocks of northern Tasmania, the story of a deadly asbestos legacy, a company promising to open the books on the past, and an ambitious proposal to rid the island of a killer product. Reporter, Di Martin

Former High Court justice Michael Kirby talks about former prime minister Gough Whitlam's foreign policy initiatives. The greatest legacy, Kirby says, has been the impact of Whitlam's emphasis on international law. Photograph by Sally Tsoutas, University of Western Sydney

UK soccer fans are angry because the game is now a toy for sugar daddies, oligarchs, oil sheiks and media magnates or treated as just a business. Is the game a public good or a commodity? There's rebellion in the air that mirrors tensions in society. Reporter, Chris Bullock.

There's a public inquiry into food labelling, and it opens a Pandora's box of very complex issues. Prawns from China can be labelled 'Made in Australia'! Consumers want more and better labelling, but the food industry wants even fewer rules. And global free trade laws mean truth in content could get worse. Reporter Stephen Crittenden.

Marsupial-loving reporter Ian Walker grew up wanting a pet like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Could encouraging more native mammals as pets be a canny new 'anti-extinction strategy'...or a future disaster to be cleaned up by the RSPCA? What happens when we apply market forces to the concept of extinction? The results may surprise you.

Transport, banking, food production, social networking, global supply chains, the world economy - would all grind to a halt if the satellite system failed. It's a fragile system, but also the best place from which to see how fragile the earth is. Australia lags behind. Reporter, Ian Townsend.

A clinical psychiatry professor in San Francisco General Hospital discusses the dangers, ethics, frailties and very difficult, sensitive decisions a psychiatrist working on the front line of mental health must deal with. The speaker is Professor Paul R Linde, MD.