Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

The 70s, 80s and 90s were the decades that built Australian rock music, and launched the careers of our nation's rock and roll royalty.  But behind the scenes, working hard to make sure you didn't even know they were there, were the roadies. They started early, worked late, and spent life on the road for months at a stretch. It was an all-encompassing career that left little time to build a life o...

It's not too long ago that you probably watched your first video on YouTube. The platform is only 21 years old but has made a huge impact on our cultural landscape and Australian creators are being recognised for their contribution. Last week the National Film and Sound Archive announced 10 Australian creators were being inducted into the archive as a part of a Creator Capsule. But with so much co...

Romance fiction is often dismissed as a guilty pleasure, and if you're not an avid reader of the genre, you might assume it doesn't get much deeper than Mills and Boon or Twilight.

According to a new report from Screen Australia, 78 per cent of Australians have played a video game in the past six months.  Around half of them say games play a significant role in their lives, whether they're playing just to have fun, to pass the time, or to connect with others and explore stories on a deeper level.  Games development is one of the fastest-growing industries of Australia's scre...

Death, as they say, is a fact of life. But have you thought about how you'd like yours to go?  We don't all get the choice, but considering how you'd like to prepare for a good death (should you get the chance) can be worthwhile.  Thinking about the practical and physical elements of death, all the way to the more existential and spiritual questions, can give you a sense of peace and control. It c...

This week, the Aunties weigh in on matters of the heart, advising a listener who's been harbouring a secret crush on a close friend.  After a platonic weekend away, Mikey realised he'd left behind a notebook where he'd been scribing private thoughts about his true feelings.  Is it time to 'fess up to his friend, or can he retrieve the diary before they discover what's inside?

Waking during the night, struggling to fall asleep, or finding yourself wide awake at 3am can become more common in midlife.  You might accept it as part of getting older, but sleep problems in midlife are worth paying attention to. A Finnish study has found that people over 50 with severely disrupted sleep had a shorter working life expectancy. So, what gets in the way of a good night's sleep as...

Home ownership remains out of reach for a huge swathe of Australians, which means in turn, more people are renting long-term. So what could we do to make life as a renter a bit closer to the great Australian dream? The Australian Council of Trade Unions has taken its wishlist to the government, it's proposing increased investment in public housing but also some stronger rights for tenants, includi...

Love it or hate it, the reality is we all whinge at some point in our lives.  It is a part of human behaviour and can be a way to connect with others and build a sense of shared commonality and experience. But when does whinging go too far?

Artificial intelligence tools are transforming the way we work. They're also transforming how we get hired for a job in the first place. More than 60 per cent of Australian employers say they're using AI "significantly" or "extensively" in recruitment. It might be to write job ads, screen and shortlist applicants, or even to interview candidates. So how do you get hired if a robot is reading your...

It's estimated around 1 in 7 Australian mothers will experience postnatal depression in the year after giving birth, and 1 in 5 will experience postnatal anxiety.  While we've come a long way in reducing the stigma around seeking help, advocates say there are still gaps in accessing that support, especially in more complex scenarios.  So how well do we really understand the needs of parents in the...

In 1926, the car industrialist Henry Ford announced his factories would be moving to a five-day working week with two consecutive days off for workers. It marked the birth of the weekend as we know it (though in Australia the five-day working week wasn't legislated until 1947). Weekends have been a cornerstone of our lives, carving out time to relax, play and be with our loved ones. But is the pre...

When Susan Delcour finished chemotherapy for breast cancer a few weeks ago, she expected to feel relieved. But she also felt unexpectedly lost without the routine of appointments and regular check-ins with her medical team. "No-one really tells you about the anxiety of finishing chemo," she wrote on social media — and quickly discovered there were many other cancer survivors who felt the same. Nea...

Sometimes in life all you need is someone to show you the pathway to get where you want to be. For the next generation of budding scientists, that guidance is being shared through the ancient practice of putting pen to paper.  A program called STEMpals is pairing up students in grade five and six with professionals in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries. Over 5,000 lett...

The Fair Work Commission has introduced new minimum standards to improve pay for food delivery workers engaged in the gig economy. It's been a long time coming — since apps like Uber and Deliveroo arrived in Australia, there have been widespread concerns about the lack of workplace protections for these independent contractors. But it's not just the people delivering your takeaway or driving you h...

A Queensland council that previously came under fire for evicting rough sleepers from makeshift campsites has announced it will turn a local park into a dedicated space for people experiencing homelessness.  Though not directly responsible for homelessness services, two-thirds of Australian councils now consider homelessness a significant or acute issue in their local area, according to University...

It's not too long ago that buying something meant handing over cash, or at least a physical card.  But one company is looking to take digital payment a step further, introducing an option that allows you to make a purchase not with your device — but your face. Paying "with a smile" is a fair way off being commonplace in Australia, and it would be an opt-in service. However, facial recognition beco...

Ever since the Duolingo owl became a TikTok sensation, it seems like every organisation — from corporate brands to your state police department — wants to act like a cool, hip person on the internet.  Whether they're getting into friendly social media beef, or sending seemingly personalised emails straight to your inbox, brands are talking like they really know us.  So does this actually generate...

What's better — becoming a grandmother or winning a gold Logie? Star of the screen and stage Lynne McGranger has only been a nanna for six weeks, but it's a role she's been hoping to land her whole life.

If you experience long-term chronic pain, or you are close with anyone who does, you know how terribly draining and difficult that experience is. Coping with pain at that level and duration steals our energy, sense of self, mental health, even our incomes. It's a pervasive condition, and the solution can be evasive, sometimes causing us to wonder whether it's all in our heads. Understanding how pa...

This week the Aunties have some advice for listener Lorraine, who's about to downsize from the long-term family home into an apartment. But much to Lorraine's dismay, the grown-up kids have no interest in storing the boxes of sentimental keepsakes she's held onto for all these years.  So who decides what's worth keeping, and which pieces of family history can go?

How much do you know about your family history? Have you pored through the archives, dug up old photos, and trawled through births, deaths and marriages records to piece together your family's past? Or maybe, like comedian, actor and writer Luke McGregor, you know very little about your ancestry at all. In the new season of Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey on SBS, Luke McGregor pulled on a kilt, gu...

We all have a set of moral principles we try to live by, but sometimes other factors get in the way that can challenge those ideals.  This week we heard the story of a pilot who gave up their 40-year aviation career due to concerns about the impact on the climate.  It's a big step to take a moral stand in alignment with your virtues — but can you ever live a wholly ethical life?

Canberra's beloved bus shelters have just been added to the ACT Heritage Registry.  Designed back in the 1970s, and once described as "concrete monstrosities", they weren't always adored.  So what does it take for an ordinary, perhaps even ugly, piece of public infrastructure to become a symbol of a city?

University of Melbourne research has outlined the urgent need to better equip the people who become our de facto therapists — the beauticians, hairdressers, nail techs — with the tools to respond to what we tell them. Because the casual conversation in the salon chair can get heavy out of nowhere, and when the scissors, shampoo and blow dryers are packed away, the salon workers are left holding al...