Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

17 months after the revolution that ended the 15 year rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League, Bangladesh goes to a general election on February 12.

Have you ever heard of water cremation? It sounds like a misnomer but it is an increasingly popular way of cremating the dead, which its proponents choose for it's gentle effect on their loved ones, and the environment.  The death industry in Australia mostly consists of funeral homes as we’ve known them, but business owners like Luke Cripps have begun to offer new options for grieving Australians...

This week's mystery caller is a common, aerobatic predator of small insects – the Welcome Swallow.

John Birmingham is perhaps best known for his documentation of the "horror and madness" of Australian share-house living in his 1994 book He Died With A Felafel In His Hand. His book Leviathan: An Unauthorised Biography of Sydney won the Australian National Prize for Non Fiction Award in 2002, and his (self-called) “airport novels” including The Axis of Time series are loved across the world. 1989...

A group of researchers have been (gently) scouring works of art and objects connected to the great Renaissance painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci in a search for his DNA. 

Tyree Barnette arrived in Australia in 2012 with rose-coloured glasses for the laid-back, multicultural, egalitarian nation. But he soon found that being African-American on stolen land was more complex than he could imagine. Guest: Tyree Barnette, author of Stolen Man on Stolen Land .

You know the jingle but do you know the story of the family behind Australia's iconic hardware retailer and sausage sizzle fundraiser?

Thailand will be heading into a snap general election on February 8. Will the reformist party leading the polls make it first across the finish line? And what are the issues resonating with Thailand's voters? Guest: Aim Sinpeng , Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics and International Relations at the University of Sydney

Amid escalating tension between the US and Iran, how does Iraq navigate the election of a new Prime Minister that will satisfy both sides? Guest: Dr Marsin Alshamary, assistant professor of political science at Boston College

The trial is likely to see CEOs including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg take the witness stand to testify about what they knew of the potential dangers of their platforms. 

Summer is the season for flies, and while some species may be an annoyance, flies also perform an import role in natural ecosystems. 

This week's mystery caller is common, widespread and definitely not a Magpie! – it's the Magpie-Lark.

L-FRESH The Lion is one of the luminaries of the vibrant cultural scene of Sydney’s western suburbs. Hip-hop artist, music producer, and creative director of the Conscious program at Campbelltown Arts Centre, which mentors and platforms the next generation of Western Sydney's hip-hop and RnB artists. Born and raised in South West Sydney into a Sikh family who migrated from Punjab, India, L-FRESH h...

When we think about the universe, how to we conceptualise numbers so large they are beyond our imagination? Mathematician Ian Le shares the mysteries of a vigintillion, a googolplex, and nameless numbers gigantic proportions.  Guest: Ian Le, Senior Lecturer at ANU’s Mathematical Sciences Institute

One of the people in the running — literally and figuratively — for this year's Young Australian of the Year award is Nedd Brockmann. In 2022, Nedd was a 23-year-old sparkie from Forbes who decided to run across the continent to raise money for people experiencing homelessness. He started in Perth and was greeted by thousands at Bondi Beach 46 days later, having raised over $2 million for homeless...

Each 25th of January marks the night of the Burns Supper, celebrated in Scotland and across the globe to honour the birthday, life and legacy of Scotland's National Bard, Robert Burns.  Professor of Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow Pauline Mackay joins us to discuss all things Burns, and the evolving international celebration of the Burns Supper.  Are you holding a Burns Supper th...

In 2022, investigative journalist Charlotte Grieve was sued for defamation by renowned surgeon Dr Munjed al Muderis, a celebrity doctor from Iraq who came to Australia as a refugee and went on to become a specialist in a novel area of orthopedic surgery called osseointegration.

As Australians continue to reel from the grief of the Bondi Massacre an important questions emerge: When do begin to memorialise the site? Who gets a say in the memorial process? How do we, as Australians, create a memorial to help us heal? Dr Rosemary Hollow shares her thoughts, based on the memorial processes of Port Arthur and the Bali Bombings Guest: Dr Rosemary Hollow, Former Adjunct Associat...

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