All Episodes
Big Ideas — 248 episodes · page 1 of 3
The ethics of transhumanism
AI, art, and staying human - is creativity at a crossroad? Evelyn Araluen, Steve Tolz, Kirra Pendergast
China's one-child policy and a true tale of abduction, adoption and separated twins
Amitav Ghosh and Luke Kemp on learning from collapsed empires
Students and teachers are already using it — but should AI be in the classroom? With Eddie Woo and Leslie Loble
You Must Take Part in Revolution — journalist Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao
Bones, CSI, X-Files step aside — here come the real forensic scientists
George Megalogenis on the three shocks reshaping Australian politics
The legacy of Jane Goodall —from chimp whisperer to changing how science understands primates
The future of ageing — what will growing old be like in 2076?
Can we change the future by reimagining it?
Lyse Doucet —The history of Kabul’s finest hotel tells the history of a nation
It's an ancient Hindu poem, so why does The Ramayana still resonate?
Why literary giants like Margaret Atwood, Nobel laureate Han Kang and Amitav Ghosh wrote books that will never be read in their lifetime
When you trust social media influencers more than your GP — what can only go wrong?
Alice Pung's Unpolished Gem and her conversations with the teenagers who've studied it
ABC National Forum — migration and the kind of country Australia wants to be
Buying and Selling the Poor at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas — Rick Morton, Mark Considine, Emily Roy with Natasha Mitchell
Helen Garner reflects on five decades of writing — an ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown special
Why Diego Bonetto wants you to eat weeds
Feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem with Natasha Mitchell and guests on travels that transformed them
Are kid's books too moralistic, worthy, or 'woke'? Andy Griffiths, Hilary Rogers, Tamuz Ellazam for Radio National's Top 100 Books
Inside the life of Elizabeth II with royal biographer Robert Hardman
Tech activist Cory Doctorow says the internet's been enshittified. So is it too late to save it?
John Brack once painted his children. Now his adult daughter tells her story of life with the famous artist
Roman Krznaric on why the history of human solidarity offers us radical hope, even now
Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones and why all great music is a threat
Stephanie Alexander with Adam Liaw on 30 years of The Cook's Companion
Mick Herron, Suzie Miller and Benjamin Law on great adaptations — from the page to the stage to the screen, and back again
Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Kerry O'Brien on the perfect storm destroying our politics — with Richard Flanagan
Why Oz Harvest's Ronni Kahn wants you to join the "Order of the Teaspoon" to end food insecurity and waste
Protecting Australia’s native plants
Indigenous speculative fiction takes on the apocalypse — with Canadian sci-fi Indiginerd Chelsea Vowel
Blast off! Exploring our solar system and beyond
Too Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making
What makes television? 100 years of tumultuous change
CENSORED! CANCELLED! BOYCOTT! The future of artistic freedom and democracy in Australia
Forget The Odyssey. Yann Martel, Nikita Gill, Zoe Terakes have their own mythical retellings
Africa in a shifting world order — can digital technology achieve what aid never could?
How policy decisions today can hurt your kids in the future — are we even trying to get it right?
The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?
Australian war history — the past, present and future of remembrance. With Professor Peter Stanley
What Pacific peoples know about climate justice — and Australia still needs to learn
Gay rights pioneer Dennis Altman on five decades of activism, writing and social change
Why didn't anyone tell me Australian history was ACTUALLY interesting!? Sita Sargeant, Santilla Chingaipe, Jacinta Mackay, Harini Rangarajan
What does 'being a man' look like — today?
Could the 21st century be the greatest age of exploration in the history of humankind? Ocean explorer Terry Garcia thinks so
On how fear destroys your relationships — and why love can heal fear
Angertainment — is it too late to escape the rage bait machine, and why are its roots ancient and evolutionary? With Ed Coper
Globalisation and geopolitics – the forces that will make or break Asia
Calling out wrongdoing can come at a cost — here's how Australia can strengthen its whistleblowing laws
Ex-chief scientist Alan Finkel's three laws of Artificial Intelligence
Could you be a hope punk? Jack Toohey on rebellious hope and why better things are possible
Fear, healing and finding calm – how the ocean can change you
Is education policy damaging our democracy?
These Palestinians and Israelis are talking to each other − determined to make peace real in Gaza
8 Million Ways to Happiness with Hiroko Yoda — what we can all learn about life, love, and loss from Japan’s flexible spirituality
What is the role of the writer in troubled times? Tony Birch with Michael Williams on the ethical imagination
If a river is declared a legal “person” — can it talk, remember, feel?
Is the cosmos unravelling? With theoretical physicist Tony Padilla
A song for every feeling? Pub Choir founder Astrid Jorgensen has a big story to tell (REPEAT)
The gambling industry is targeting your children - how, why and what can be done?
David Marr on preaching to the converted
The God we made — safeguarding humanity in the age of AI
The art of forgiveness and why it's not what you think it is — with Rachael Coopes and Natasha Mitchell
Whose recipe is it anyway? A nourishing conversation about food and culture
Errol Flynn — discover the dark secrets of the Australian Hollywood star
The future of democracy? With Jon Sopel, Nick Bryant and Rosalind Dixon
The future of TRUTH — Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, philosopher A.C Grayling, journalist Barbara Demick, AI scientist Toby Walsh
Can Art, artists and activists save Australia’s famous multicultural experiment?
Pride or shame? Searching for the story of Australia — with Tony Abbott, Mark McKenna and Sally Warhaft
Zoe Daniel with Thom Woodroofe on winning middle Australia in the climate wars
Duty to warn — when challenging power becomes personal, and why journalists Cheng Lei and Charlotte Grieve didn't give up
Trump, Xi, Putin and what's next for the world? Former White House insider Thomas Wright with the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen
Sperm shortages, shady Facebook groups, and other intimate stories of modern donor conception
How can we design our way out of Australia's housing crisis? With Anthony Burke and Tim Ross
Dark Emu's Bruce Pascoe and astrophysicist Ray Norris — can Aboriginal astronomy unite humanity under one big sky?
Hard-won progress in women's rights is dismantled — and it threatens global security
Medical misogyny — how the health system overlooks women's pain and how it's finally adapting
When Turnbull met Trump — and what it means for today’s changing world order
The untold Titanic story of Evelyn with Lisa Wilkinson
What can Plato teach us about democracy today?
Could self-driving cars & other innovations end the tyranny of distance in regional Australia?
Love for your neighbour: how to cultivate radical empathy in a disenchanted world
What makes Putin tick — and how will his iron-fist rule of Russia end? Natasha Mitchell with guests
Is nuclear war a real threat again? Ex-NATO and Atomic Energy Agency officials weigh in at Harvard
How to date from a position of power, with Bad Dates of Melbourne creator Alita Brydon and Nelly Thomas
How to live and die well — with Marieke Hardy, Hannah Gould and Antonia Pont
Wounded narcissist, visionary, team player, a mother's love? The alchemy of good (and bad) political leadership
Why jailed Jimmy Lai's plight is a warning for press freedom and us all, everywhere
Can you trust AI in the news? UK's Ian Dunt and guests on deepfakes, dodgy headlines and more
Why working-class kid turned millionaire banker Gary Stevenson wants you to join the fight against economic inequality
Dear Prime Minister Albanese: Where are all the BIG IDEAS?
US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III on why corporate Australia shouldn't be shy of 'DEI'
Do Royal Commissions really work (and are they worth the money)? Betty King KC, Jack Rush KC, Jon Faine
Was Malcolm Fraser a conservative warrior or a closet progressive?
"Here I am, here we are" Jewish Australian women reflect on the rupture of October 7 2023
Resistance — Yanis Varoufakis with Helen Vatsikopoulos on the people who fought back against fascism
Immunotherapy trailblazer Georgina Long on the hidden ingredients in cancer medicine