Background Briefing

Because of extraordinary events in Cairo, Background Briefing this Sunday will be a live-to-air program,

Alleged leaker Bradley Manning is having his day in court and Foreign Minister Bob Carr says Julian Assange is “no concern of ours”.  In 2011 Wendy Carlisle investigated how this spy thriller all began.

January is the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia to which anyone can contribute and which anyone can edit. But there are problems, and difficulties, such as systemic bias, vandalism, and misuse by some governments. Also, this week, stories from Afghanistan.

Professor of Management Science and Engineering, Robert Sutton of the Stanford School of Business is a prolific author and speaker on boss and employee relationships. Hear what he thinks makes a good boss, and how the psychology of how bad bosses and bad employees can be managed. From the Commonwealth Club of California.

A clinical psychiatry professor in San Francisco General Hospital discusses the dangers, ethics, frailties and very difficult, sensitive decisions a psychiatrist working on the front line of mental health must deal with. The speaker is Professor Paul R Linde, MD.

The law here is that cyclists must wear helmets, but in Europe it is not mandatory, and yet it's much safer to cycle. Some say helmets make cycling more dangerous and others that they actually cause brain injury and the law should be repealed. The debate makes climate change look like a walk in the park.

Megan Stack has won numerous prizes for her front line reporting on many wars, and her observations and experiences form the basis of a book and discussion. Here she concentrates on the hostilities between the West and the Muslim world, but also the complex dynamics within each of those worlds during war. From the Byron Bay Writers Festival. Photograph: Sergei L. Loiko

Transport, banking, food production, social networking, global supply chains, the world economy - would all grind to a halt if the satellite system failed. It's a fragile system, but also the best place from which to see how fragile the earth is. Australia lags behind. Reporter, Ian Townsend.

Primary school kitchen gardens, behavioural economics and frugal innovation, they're all important elements in a complex strategy to improve heart health and reduce the obesity epidemic. (From a public forum at the St Vincent's Institute in Melbourne.)

There are more islands for sale today than at any other time in recorded history. But the dream of an island paradise is often a myth. Rather than idyllic, they are frequently the settings for border conflict, prisons and broken dreams. The reality of island living is much more like hard work. Reporter, Ian Townsend.