Grave Matters

While some may assume that grief and terminal illness are the ultimate turn offs, the truth can be far more complicated. Sexual desire is fluid, and death and dying can impact our libidos and relationships in wild and unexpected ways.

Death is inevitable, the natural fate of all living things. Right? Well, not exactly. There’s a growing movement of anti-ageing scientists, longevity pioneers and immortality advocates (aka billionaires and tech bros) who are calling time on one of life’s two great certainties - and it ain’t taxes.

Is it possible to protect today’s teens from the evils of the world? Are high schools adequately preparing them for adulthood in the age of AI? In small-town Tennessee, one teacher is using cold case murders to educate students with staggering results.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were practising end of life care for thousands of years prior to colonisation. But with the loss of traditional practices in many communities, are mainstream palliative care services equipped to cater to the needs of Indigenous people? And what can we learn from Indigenous perspectives on dying?

From driving cars to drafting emails, retail therapy to disease diagnosis, artificial intelligence now permeates almost every aspect of our lives. But how is AI innovation affecting death and dying? Are we moving towards digital immortality, or does the onset of sentient AI sound the death knell for humankind?

Ever wondered who has to clean up after a murder? Or who to call about a relative’s hoarding? After 25 years of mopping up such messes, one forensic and trauma cleaner says she’s seen it all. And from prison cells to blood-soaked parks, she may be right.

You may see zombies and vampires as little more than cultural fodder for your horror-filled delight. But for centuries, undead creatures have been used to represent social anxieties, reflect political upheaval and reinforce burial rites. Anthony and Nadine meet a scholar who says the undead aren’t really monsters at all - they’re us. What can the walking corpse or the bloodsucking temptress tell us about ourselves and our relationship with death and the afterlife? And can zombies ever be hot?

Do we have a fundamental right to die? Should everyone have access to Voluntary Assisted Dying? Dr Philip Nitschke has been at the forefront of VAD advocacy and innovation for 30 years. He joins Anthony and Nadine to discuss the legal and ethical questions surrounding dying with dignity.

Members of the LGBTQI community face unique, often invisible challenges when it comes to ageing and dying. They are also creating new and joyful ways to celebrate and honour each other’s lives. One man is holding their hands through it all. Anthony and Nadine chat with LGBTQI advocate Russ Gluyas about death and dying in the Queer community.

Have you ever wondered what type of people donate their bodies to science? Or if body supply equals demand? Organ donation may be increasing but the numbers surrounding whole body donation remain vague. What happens to the bodies that do end up in labs? And what if there’s a shortage? One woman decided to find out.

Death — we all have to face it, but nobody wants to talk about it. Anthony Levin and Nadine J. Cohen are back to explore the unexpected, the eerie, and the deeply human sides of life’s final chapter. Grave Matters is the SBS podcast about death, dying, and the people helping us better understand what happens at the end of the road.

American broadcaster Diane Sawyer once said that a good journalist follows their curiosity like a cat. If the adage is true, then Ray Martin has nine lives. At age 79, and with five Gold Logies on the mantle, Ray has finally turned his attention to what he says is the best question there is: death. He joins us on this special bonus episode of Grave Matters to discuss his new series for SBS, Ray Martin: The Last Goodbye.

We're back with a special bonus episode to cap off the series. We’ve spent the season exploring the myriad ways we respond to people dying and what it means to have a good death. But what does this mean for our pets? It turns out losing a furry friend can be just as challenging as losing a human one.

You may know him as the singer songwriter behind worldwide hits including Catch My Disease and We’re All In This Together. But there’s more to Ben Lee than clever lyrics and catchy hooks. Why is he on a podcast about death and dying? Good question.

Would you live your life differently if you thought humanity was doomed? You don’t have to be a nihilist to wonder whether we can survive the climate crisis. We find hope where it seems there is none and examine the idea of dying well, together. We face facts with climate policy expert and communicator David Spratt, and get a virtual hug from psychotherapist Carolyn Baker.

We inherit many things from our families - heirlooms, habits, humour. But what about psychological wounds? In this episode, we discuss epigenetics, intergenerational trauma and how collective memory helps us work through catastrophic loss with Linda Thai, a therapist and former child refugee.

In this Golden Age of Innovation, we’re accustomed to making room for new technologies in daily life. But what about when we die? It turns out that breakthroughs like AI, empathic robots and ‘smart’ memorial plaques are disrupting the deathcare sector too, from how we support end-of-life to the way we memorialise. Dr Hannah Gould joins us to explain her research into DeathTech and new traditions and technologies of death rites.

You know how in TV crime shows, the police can always pinpoint a body’s exact time of death? Well, it seems we’ve been lied to. Forensic science hasn’t advanced quite far enough for such accuracy. But one facility in Sydney is working hard to change this. In this episode we meet Dr Maiken Ueland, Director of the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) - Australia's first facility to study the decomposition of human corpses.

How has coronavirus changed our experience and perceptions of dying? We look at some of the socio-political implications of the pandemic and whether it will have lasting impacts on how we mourn and dispose of the dead.

We introduced you to the concept of death doulas in the first episode of Grave Matters. But what do they actually do? We asked Sarah Tolmie, consummate death doula and possibly the nicest woman in the world, about the specifics of doula work.

Have you had a near-death experience? Was there a bright light? A shadowy figure? Did your life flash before your eyes? A terrifying near-death experience changed Mariam Ardati’s whole perspective and led her to her life’s great purpose - educating her community about the practicalities of death and dying as a death doula, funeral director and educator.

It’s no secret that burial and cremation are environmentally unsustainable. So how can we dispose of bodies in new, climate-friendly ways? Alternatives to burial and cremation that have a lower carbon footprint are disrupting the funeral industry all over the world. This episode explores natural organic reduction, aka human composting or terramation. It's an emerging, greener alternative to the “big two”.

Over thousands of years, cultures around the world have developed rituals to express and process grief. Research shows that these rituals are crucial to accepting loss. But what happens when established rituals and traditions fail to provide comfort or closure? We talk to clinical psychologist Dr Paul M. Martin and grief counsellor Rosemary Wanganeen about what to do when mourning traditions fail to satisfy us, and how we can create our own personal grief rituals.

Life as we know it is changing, and so too is death. From death doulas to death cafes, bespoke funerals, and human composting, Grave Matters is your crash course in the end-of-life revolution. In this first episode, hear a fireside chat with one Australian woman leading the field. Bec Lyons is an end-of-life doula, independent funeral director, death literacy educator and family-led death care advocate.

From death doulas to death cafes, bespoke family-led funerals, and climate-friendly cremation, there's a lot of disruption happening in the business of dying. But most of us are woefully unprepared to face one of life’s few certainties. Grave Matters is an SBS podcast about grief, death care and the people helping us better understand what happens at the end of the road.