Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Yes, polar and grizzly bears can breed, and their offspring are called pizzly or grolar bears.  But what does science have to say about these odd hybrids? Are they the future of adaptation in a changing climate or could they accelerate the demise of the polar bear? Guest: Andrew Derocher , Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Alberta in Edmonton Canada, and author of ‘ Polar Bears: A...

Meet North Korean Seongmin Lee who defected to the West and he now smuggles USB sticks containing Korean soap operas into North Korea. Intrepid investigative journalist Sean Williams tells the story of his trip to meet the self-proclaimed ‘ King of Bougainville’. On The Year That Made Me we revisit our interview with Matilda’s Media Manager, Ann Odong, as she shares her story and her love of footb...

Author and broadcaster Tim Ross reveals some of the Australian designs you have never heard of. Sally Gould take us behind the scenes of life as a new paramedic - and her tips for staying sane and Mary Bosworth takes us behind the scenes of a UK deportation facility. All revealed on Sunday Extra's summer special.

Historian Ann Curthoys takes us on Paul Robeson's tour of Australia back in 1960. What happened to the platypus called Winston Churchill that was sent by boat to the UK in the middle of the 2nd World War. And don't miss a moving Year That Made Me with photographer Julian Kingma. All on Sunday Extra this week.

Bagpipes have a long history that doesn't all take place in Scotland. How much truth is there in the CIA's use of George Orwell's book Animal Farm. And why has the Algerian Nutella-like spread El Morjene been banned in Europe? Find out on Sunday Extra.

2005 was a big year for Marcus Zusak and Gill Hicks. For Markus Zusak his best seller The Book Thief was published. For Gill Hicks, 2005 was the year she survived the terrorist bombing of the London Underground. Both events changed their lives. We also investigate the rise of the Banh Mi and Hi Viz in Australia.

Project Monarch is a crowd-sourcing initiative that uses Bluetooth tracking technology to help scientists and butterfly enthusiasts monitor individual monarch butterflies in real time. The butterflies are tracked through an app as they migrate from North America to central Mexico. Guest: Jennifer Thieme, Senior Science Manager at Monarch Joint Venture

Toowoomba's pink-haired, motorbike-riding priest has overcome huge challenges on the road to becoming Reverend Harley.

Andrew "The Annihilator" Ngai  is an actuary by day, but he has just returned from Las Vegas where he was competing in the Microsoft Excel World Championships. He has already won the title three times, but will he win again?  Guest: Andrew Ngai, Actuary and Excel World Champion

This week's tweeter is the Sahul Sunbird - and we also accepted its former name of Olive-backed Sunbird. It's the only Sunbird found in Australia - pale yellow below and dusky brown above. And like its relatives, its equipped with a long downcurved bill, which is great for plucking insects or collecting nectar! And the winner is: 

When an Airbus A320 made a dramatic altitude drop recently, Airbus grounded more than 6,000 planes to fix a software error that made aircraft computers vulnerable to cosmic radiation. So how exactly does radiation from deep space affect technology on earth, and should we be concerned? Guest: Michael Wheatland , cosmic astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at University of Sydney

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees came to Australia in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Many of them are now facing their fourth Christmas in Australia and are conflicted about where they now call home. Svitlana and her son Max have made a new life in Adelaide where Max is attending university when he is not training to represent Australia in Canoe Sprint. Guests: Svitlana and Maksym Gandziuk Click...

100 word including guest & book

Evan Ratcliff's podcast Shell Game has returned for a second season that rivals the first for it's unsettling but comic exploration of AI. This time Evan creates the a one-human start-up run largely by AI agents. Guest: Evan Ratliff, tech journalist and creator of the podcast Shell Game , and the one-human startup HurumoAI . Season 1 of Shell Game is available on the ABC Listen App.

On August 14th 2003, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1500, establishing the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq, at the request of the Iraqi government. After 22 years, that mission is set to end on the 31st of December, and will leave behind a very different nation. 

It feels like compassion is dwindling in the current political climate. Can compassion be mobilised again? Or is the age of humanitarianism over? Michael Barnett is in Australia for the Annual Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture at the University of Queensland Guest: Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University

Katrina Watts left for Japan with the intention of staying two years. 25 years later she was still embedded in Japan, not only in language and culture but also as a popular commentator, on tv and in the stadium, for Japanese Sumo. 1990 was the year that she made the transition from a sumo fan to a prized member of the sumo community.  Guest: Katrina Watts, Executive Board Member of the Internation...

This week's mystery caller is Australia's only cuckoo that builds its own nest – the Pheasant Coucal.

The sheep dog is part of Australia's farming identity. But as good dogs become more expensive and pressure mounts on farmers, could they be replaced by cheaper robodogs? Ian Sinclair is working on a research project based at the University of the Sunshine Coast and thinks that robodogs have a real future on Australian sheep farms. Guest: Ian SInclair, Senior Innovation and AI Analyst at the Univer...

MTV was a groundbreaking media experiment when it first launched in the US in 1981.  The first channel to show 24-hour a day music videos, it was expanded to Australia and Europe in 1987. Now, many of the global channels are set to close as part of what is described as a cost-cutting exercise.

A coded puzzle embedded in a sculpture outside the CIA headquarters has been stumping cryptologists for more than 30 years until, in the lead-up to the puzzle's solution being sold at auction this year, two journalists stumbled on an answer that had been hidden in plain sight.  Guest: John Schwartz, former New York Times journalist and Professor of Practice at the UT Austin School of Journalism an...

The citizens of Iran’s capital Tehran are facing a dire situation: the government is warning that people may soon be forced to evacuate the city because it is about to run out of water. On November 19th, the President Masoud Peseshkian described the need to move as “not a choice but a necessity”. 

Victoria has followed Queensland in legislating tough new "adult crime, adult time" laws. In Victoria the new laws mean that a fourteen year old can be given a life sentence for crimes such as home invasion. And in Queensland 113,000 people have signed a petition to give people greater powers to defend themselves from home invasion. But is home invasion on the rise in Australia and will these new...

Australian performance artist Stelarc has pushed the boundaries of the human body for the last 50 years, suspending himself by hooks, wiring his muscles to the internet, even adding a prosthetic ear to his arm. On The Year That Made me he traces his experimental foundations back to a visit to Japan in 1970. Guest: Stelarc , Performance Artist.

The National Assistance Card is a tool that is increasingly being used by people with invisible disabilities to communicate their needs, particularly during emergency situations.