Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Anna Iltnere felt the pull of the sea when she moved from Riga - the capital of Lativia - to her new home looking out on the Baltic Sea. She started collecting books about the sea to try and find the words to describe that pull that many others had felt before. She accidentally became a sea librarian as people from around the world sent her books about the sea. Guest: Anna Iltnere, sea librarian C...

Big business, tech and even universities are using maths to enrich their own pockets. Maths Professor Noah Giansiracusa shows us how we can take back the algorithms and beat the top end at their own game. Guest: Professor Noah Giansiracusa, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bentley University , and author of Robin Hood Maths: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life .

The 1990s saw huge increases in the numbers of children with peanut and other food allergies. Almost 10 years ago the guidelines were changed and parents were encouraged to introduce peanuts and eggs in the first year as research had show this would actually reduce the incidence of food allergies. Have the new guidelines made a difference for Australia - the allergy capital of the world?  Guest: A...

Claire Lehmann is the founder and proprietor of the online magazine Quillette which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. What is the secret to the survival of Quillette in the current media landscape. Guest: Claire Lehmann, founder and proprieter of Quillette

When Róisín  Heneghan and her firm, Heneghan Peng Architects entered a competition to design a new museum just 2kms from the Pyramids of Giza, they knew they needed to create a design that only complimented the ancient landscape, but deeply engaged with it too.  20 years later, their vision has finally been realised, with the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo this month. Róisín Henegha...

The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia for her role in the deaths of more than 1400 people during protests last year. Bangladesh has requested her extradition from India where she has been living in exile. Guest: Zulkarnain Saer Khan is an investigative journalist who has reported extensively on corruption in Bangladesh.

A new investigation from the consortium behind the Panama Papers reveals how some cryptocurrency exchanges profit from money laundering, scams, theft and other crimes.

This week's mystery caller spreads south down the east coast in the warmer months – the Australian Rufous Fantail.

It is the most important thing we all possess, yet many of our body’s parts and processes are a mystery: why does blood have types? How do hormones work? And what do tonsils actually do? Brisbane university lecturers Dr Matt Barton and Dr Mike Todorovic have been diligently breaking down complex bodily processes and parts of the human anatomy via a hugely popular YouTube channel and podcast called...

Future Nostalgia is a project from the University of Cambridge Library, taking on the archiving of Britain's floppy disks, from the lectures of Stephen Hawkings, to the writings of Neil Kinnock. Although there are many challenges accessing and reading the archaic data technology, for project lead, Dr. Leontien Talboom, that's what makes it so fun.  Guest: Dr. Leontien Talboom , Technical Analyst w...

In 1986 an explosive Radio National investigation revealed that hundreds of Nazi collaborators and war criminals had settled in Australia after the Second World War.

In the last 18 months there have been moves to ban greyhound racing in New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and Tasmania. What are the tipping points that make the industry no longer politically and financially viable? Guest: Dr Mia Cobb, Animal Welfare Scientist, University of Melbourne Veterinary School

Cop30 is underway in Brazil and for the first time the theme Information Integrity is part of the COP agenda. Climate disinformation is increasing exponentially with the rise of AI and social media refusing to monitor the integrity of information on their platforms. So what are the ramifications for climate action and how will COP30 address this new climate threat?  Guest: Chris Cooper, Climate Di...

This week's mystery caller is a colourful inhabitant of windswept coastal habitats – the Rock Parrot.

After a disaster, before reconstruction can begin, survivors invariably face a huge and often toxic problem: debris and in particular rubble. Mobile Crisis Construction is an Australian charity that has developed technology that uses rubble to quickly produce new building materials to repair damaged buildings.

In an age of distraction we are losing a surprisingly important skill - daydreaming.  According to Professor Hannes Leroy, productive daydreaming is not only essential for innovation, but for problem-solving everyday issues and when we don't make space for it, we are losing the ability to find resolutions and solutions in our lives.  Guest: Hannes Leroy, Director of the  Erasmus Centre for Leaders...

The winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Science this year was Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska from  the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at QUT. Lidia has done pioneering research into the air we breathe to safeguard public health and our environment, inlcuding during the COVID 19 pandemic. Now she wants to mandate air quality indoors. Guest: Distinguished Professor Lidia Moraw...

“A giant of the Labor Party and a remarkable Australian” - that’s how Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remembered former ALP powerbroker and federal Cabinet Minister Graham Richardson, who died at the age of 76.

On 9 November 1975, Australia’s Governor General, Sir John Kerr, rang the Chief Justice of the High Court, Sir Garfield Barwick, and asked him for a meeting to discuss his intention to dismiss Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

This month it's the Shoemaker Frog.  It’s one of the many frog species that gets its common name from the sound of its call - with the call reminiscent of a shoe-maker tapping nails into the sole of a shoe! Thanks to the team at the Australian Museum's Frog Id project run by Dr Jodi Rowley

Kari Byron's time as a co-host on Mythbusters formed the core of her passion for science, but in the years since then she has turned that passion into a calling. She is now an advocate for fostering a love of STEM to younger generations, through her media company, EXPLR and the National STEM Festival which she founded and is expanding from the US to the rest of the world.  Guest: Kari Byron , form...

A new mockumentary from Netflix, 1670 , looks back on the absurdities of an obscure era of history - the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, which lasted from 1569 to 1795. Central European history expert, Darius Von Guttner Sporzynski shares the nuances of the historical comedy, and the universal truths it satirises.  Guest: Professor Darius von Güttner Sporzyński, Professor of History at Australian...

It's being marketed as Sunlight On-Demand. American startup Reflect Orbital is proposing a 2026 launch date for it's test satellite, which will a carry giant mirror into orbit capable of reflecting the sun's rays back to earth. But astronomers aren't convinced that the plan can work, and they have many concerns as to the side effects of these giant satellites if they did.  Guest: Michael Brown, As...