Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

In 2025 alone Australians lost almost $18 million to scams delivered via text messages.  Come July 1, scammers face an extra hurdle to reaching your mobile — but that doesn't mean it's time to let your guard down.

The evidence around how much birth order affects personality traits or behaviour has been debated for decades, but one thing is fairly clear from the data: middle children are disappearing. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.48 babies per woman in 2024. We're flat out having second babies, let alone a third. So if middle children are no m...

If you look back at your life, what's the biggest swing you ever took? Was it publishing a novel, changing careers, or running a marathon? What about running 150 marathons, back to back, down the east coast of Australia, or the "tip to toe" as Erchana Murrary-Bartlett calls it. The competitive distance runner set herself this herculean challenge in 2022, and she's releasing a documentary about her...

Family gatherings can be barrels of fun, but it often requires layers of planning and logistics to coordinate schedules. So when everyone else is putting in the effort, is it fair to feel a little miffed with the one who can't make it? What if they're juggling life with a new baby? This week, the Aunties make a ruling on the relatives who go MIA.

We all have our own habitual behaviours that help us get through tricky moments or avoid stressful situations. But sometimes, what feels easier or more comfortable in the moment can hurt us long-term.  Freeing yourself from self-sabotage isn't easy, but identifying those behaviours and understanding what's behind them is a good place to start. 

Play School, Australia's longest-running children's television program, is celebrating a milestone birthday this year. It's Big Ted's diamond jubilee.  For decades, the show's beloved presenters have been singing, playing, telling stories and teaching generations of Australian children. So what's the secret to its success? 

Does seeing a couple on a bench sharing a kiss make your heart warm or does it make you blush and avert your eyes? Attitudes to public displays of affection — PDA — has changed fairly rapidly over the last century and could be in for another shift. Culturally it seems that Gen Z have some harsh opinions on PDA calling it 'cringe'.What does it mean going forward and how do these attitudes change ov...

A focus on regimented eating, rapid body changes and tracking weight are all signs of a potential eating disorder but also what you do during pregnancy. Research shows it is more common than you might think with 1 in 20 people experience an eating disorder during pregnancy. The signs can easily be missed by practitioners and experts are saying more should be done to bring awareness to the issue. I...

Dee Salmin has spent years as host of The Hook Up on triple j talking to people about their love lives and interviewing experts to understand the dynamics of modern dating. She's distilled all of that wisdom into a modern dating guide, It's Not Love Actually: How To Find The Life And Love You Deserve. But she says there was one stand-out writer on sexuality and feminism that totally blew her mind.

There are more than 250 Indigenous languages across Australia, carrying culture, history and knowledge through generations.  The vital work of preserving those languages is being carried out in communities around the country, and one major project has reached an important milestone.  The 50 Words Project began in 2019 with the aim of collecting audio recordings of 50 specific words in each languag...

So far, there are two confirmed cases of a new strain of bird flu on Australian shores.  While the headlines about H5N1 bird flu have largely focused on the poultry industry, this has the potential to inflict damage to Australian animals broadly, including your backyard chickens. The RSPCA estimates that Australians keep about 2 million domestic chickens, so how do you keep your hobby flock safe?

According to the latest statistics, men make up less than a third of Australian school teachers. In primary schools, the gender gap is even wider.  The proportion of male primary school teachers has declined 40 per cent since 1985, and some researchers are warning they could become virtually extinct in Australian schools by 2067.  When so many young boys are looking to online influencers to unders...

Social media has become a go-to source for skincare advice, but it can be hard to know what's credible and what's not. Researchers in Canada recently analysed some of TikTok's most popular sunscreen videos and found those that discouraged sunscreen use attracted higher engagement than those promoting it. Australia has strict guidelines around what brands and influencers can say about products like...

In 2025 the average wardrobe contained about 199 pieces of clothing, a figure that has more than quadrupled over the last 60 years.  So if we can agree that almost 200 items of clothing is probably too much for your average person, how many clothes are you allowed to own in a sustainable wardrobe? And is culling back the answer if you've already accumulated a few shelving units' worth of tees, jea...

For many people the experience of buying something online can be more important than the actual product itself.  This addiction has become so prevalent that websites have been created which allow users to browse products, add to cart and track the order without ever spending money or receiving anything. These 'dopamine sites' are popular in South Korea but what do they teach us about consumers and...

Real change can start with one afternoon of action, but if you want it to last, it requires people to showing up, keep organising, and keep working together. And building a movement often means finding common ground with people outside your usual circles. Kurt Iveson and Amanda Tattersall travelled the world looking at how large-scale movements are built and what it takes for very different people...

When we're feeling ill, most of us will do anything to get better.  With trust in medical institutions, it's never been easier to find alternative information online.  But when a loved one tells you they're experimenting with some fringe medical treatments that you find concerning, what do you do?

Around 26 million people worldwide have taken an at-home DNA test to discover their ancestry.  For some, there's simply a curiosity about the stories of their forbears. For others, it's a quest to understand themselves better.  So what's behind this yearning to connect with our past? And what does learning about those previous generations teach us about ourselves?

When it comes to grief, everyone processes things in their own way. But where do you draw the line between healthy, open conversations about death, and a totally insensitive remark? This week, the Aunties share their advice with a listener who's having a hard time understanding how one family member is dealing with their loved one's end of life.

Australia is increasingly a nation of non believers — in the 50 years from to 2021, the number of people claiming "no religion" rose from about 7 per cent to nearly 40 per cent. Yet other research suggests those identifying as "spiritual" is on the rise. So how do we find spirituality outside of religion? 

"It really bothers me when any kind of white supremacist people have tried to use my song, I've objected to that a few times now. True blue is just...your promise is your bond." John Williamson has spent his five-decade long career bringing our wide brown land to life in song. He's never shied away from speaking his mind, especially when his words are used for causes he stands against — whether it...

It's just a white lie — how much harm could it cause? Just to get through an awkward moment or even out of politeness.  But if you have to maintain that lie over time, when does it start to become unethical?

The ocean is central to daily life in coastal communities all over Australia.  So when the worst happens, as it did last week when a young woman was bitten by a shark in the middle of a sunny winter's day at Coogee Beach, it can make that deep blue water feel different. The same debates play out over which preventative measures were in place, or what could have been done to avoid danger, but often...

The first children born under Australia's legislated paid parental leave scheme turn 16 this year, and 2026 marks a major milestone for new parents. From July 1, they'll be eligible for a full six months of paid leave. The system has had significant benefits for new parents, but it's not spread evenly. Aussie dads have some of the lowest uptake of paid parental leave in the world.  But it's not ex...

Learning a few key phrases in Spanish or German — or wherever your destination was — used to be a right of passage when travelling overseas. However, now AI translators can do that for you almost instantly, and you can fairly confidently move around a foreign country without the language barrier. But there are so many cultural clues you can pick up by learning the language of the country you're in...