Short & Curly

Let's say you can hook your brain up to a machine that feels 100 per cent real and offers you the kind of life you've always wanted. You could climb one of the world's tallest mountains, get yourself some great friends, and even program in some challenges to keep it interesting. The catch is this perfect world isn't real… It's a simulation. Molly thinks it sounds cool, but isn't sure about leaving...

Kids have to live by the rules of the society they are born into but don't get a say on what those rules are. Unfair, right? Decisions made by governments today affect kids' futures but we don't let them near the ballot box. Are children wise enough or informed enough to make big decisions about government? Short & Curly mounts our own political debate with surprising results. Guest Amara is a...

Many cultures believe it's good luck if a bird poos on your head, like what happened to Carl (eww!). Others say it's bad luck if you break a mirror. For centuries, humans have tried to understand things like right and wrong, fair and unfair. So, how much does luck play in your life, in good or bad ways? And how might understanding luck make us think differently about the world? Producer: Kyla Slav...

What would you do if you had the power of invisibility? Would you sneak around, spy on people, commit crimes, pull practical jokes, or find out what other people really think about you? The military is putting tonnes of money and effort into trying to make things invisible, but don't hold your breath. We introduce a new superhero, Invisibilia, to help us explore some really big questions. How woul...

Lollies are a colourful and magical and very sweet part of many children’s lives. But can you say no when faced with a bowl of jelly beans or sour worms or other types of candy? With so much concern nowadays about the amount of sugar in our diets, this show looks at self control and what we should do if people don’t have any.

Walked into any traffic lights lately as you stare manically at a screen? Maybe you’re one of the millions of people playing Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game which sends its players out into the streets to catch weird little imaginary creatures. Is it an annoying disruption of public spaces? And, because it’s cleverly designed so you never want to stop playing, we ask: Are you playing the ga...

Images of movie stars and pop singers are everywhere we look – album covers, concert posters, t-shirts, Instagram feeds and other social media. Photos and videos are a big part of how famous people present themselves. But, how honest and accurate are they? Do they look anything like they do in real life… and should they? When do small changes to an image turn it into a lie? And does it even matter...

For professional fire and rescue workers, it’s not all sirens, cool trucks and running red lights. They often have to make really hard and terrible decisions in moments of heat, smoke and danger. Their job is to be there to help on the worst day of your life. So, if you were a firefighter, who would you save first?

We’re often told we have a special responsibility to our brothers and sisters just because they are family. But, do we really? And what kind of duty is it?  What if you found out the annoying new kid at school was your long lost brother or sister?  Would you feel any differently about them? And, if you really didn’t like them, is it somehow worse to kill a sibling than to kill anyone else? Yep, so...

He is wise and old and learned and kind, but the Principal of Hogwarts is not perfect.  He deceives, he holds back really important information about issues of life and death, and is willing to sacrifice Harry Potter for the good of the many, leading him (as Professor Snape says) “like a pig to slaughter”.  So, is Dumbledore an ethical person?  How flawed are we allowed to be and still be counted...

There are 1,000 people currently shortlisted for the trip of a lifetime, from which they will never return!  They want to be the first stage in the human habitation of the red planet.  But do humans have a right to inhabit other planets, and which humans specifically?  Would colonizing Mars be a chance to create a better world from scratch, or will it become an environmental and ethical nightmare?...

Kind lies. White lies. Little lies. We take a trip to the fun park to look at all sorts of lies we tell for all sorts of reasons. Like what if your parent asks you to pretend to be younger than you are to get a cheaper entry fee? What’s the right thing to do? Amidst the rides and games, junk food and excitement, we explore a few stories about lying, a subject which has divided some of the greatest...

In the 1950s, a group of young boys took part in a now famous experiment to find out how easy it would be to turn two groups of children into enemies. The boys didn’t know they were in a scientific study, and many later regretted the things they did to each other. Is the knowledge we might get from such an experiment worth the pain it might cause to get it?

Unless you’re a vegetarian, there are some animals you probably eat regularly.  But how would you cope if your next dinner was some stir-fried dog?  Why is it okay to eat a baby cow (veal) or sheep (lamb) and not a cute little puppy?  Are our ideas about eating animals a bit of a mess?  And does this matter?

When you dive into the pool at the school swimming carnival, how fair is the race? You might all start swimming at the same time, but what things give you an unfair advantage over other competitors? You might have access to great coaches, great equipment and great healthy food. Are these good things fair or not? We are joined by Liz Ellis, the three time world champion former captain of the Austra...

Back in 2011, an Australian teenager was filmed being punched again and again in the school playground by a bully. What made the video go viral was what happened next. The bullying victim lifted up the bully and threw him to the ground, hard. Was that a kind of justice? Our guests are Onor, Izzy and Alex from Theatre Bugs in Adelaide.

They share most of our DNA and many of our social skills, and in some experiments, chimpanzees outperform human children. So why do we put chimpanzees in zoos and children in schools? Is the line between humans and other animals a little more blurred that you'd think? Our guest Lou Grossfeldt is a zoo keeper with over twenty years on the job. She works with primates at Mogo Zoo and even has a tatt...

Not all stealing is about taking someone's physical property. If a comedian comes up with a joke, you see it on YouTube and then start telling all your friends, is that stealing? If you take a small sound or beat from a song you love and then use it in a whole new piece of music you've created, is that stealing? Our guest, Urthboy, is one Australia’s best known hip hop artists and is also part of...

By the time today's 7-12 year olds get their driver's license, robotic cars will become more common. They will be programmed to make snap decisions when something goes wrong on the road, but can we trust them? And, as robots around us become more and more sophisticated and human-like, how can we be sure what they tell us is real? Our guest Gerard Waldron doesn't think his granddaughter will ever n...