Big Ideas

By ABC listen

What's Big Ideas about?

Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.

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Big Ideas episodes:

04.23.2024
The future of health technology
Only 50 years ago, if you were 60 years old your chance of dying was the same as an 80-year-old's today. Thanks to progress in medical technology, you can live longer than ever before. Quantum technology and quantum screening, modelling...
04.22.2024
"It's personal" — field stories from the frontline of Australia's Ambassador for Gender Equality
Gender equality isn't just about equal pay, it's a health and safety issue. Women perceive safety very differently to men, and that's why they need a seat at the table when policies are being nutted out. Just a month after...
04.18.2024
Trees as an alternative crop — the future of forestry in Australia?
How valuable are trees as an alternative crop? And what's the role of agroforestry in the future of sustainable farming?
04.17.2024
The shark net controversy — hear the debate at Bondi's Ocean Lovers Festival
They use of shark nets to protect us from sharks is highly controversial. Do they work, what do they do to marine life, are there alternatives, and why are sharks so political? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2024 Ocean Lovers Festival for a robust...
04.16.2024
Life on Mars — and beyond
It's a question that has focused the minds of astronauts, scientists, space entrepreneurs and enthusiasts alike – is there, could there be, life on Mars? The race is on to find out, with NASA hoping to land astronauts there by...
04.15.2024
A heart-to-heart with Eric Bogle — his songs and his life
Folk legend Eric Bogle is opening up and talks about his life, his thoughts about death, friendship and love and why having a deeper message for writing songs is so much more important than money and fame. It's a rare...
04.11.2024
The war in Gaza, Palestinians, and Israelis – what can we learn from the past about the future?
What is the future of Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza strip and surrounding region? Can the past help us understand the tumultuous, horrifying present? And is a two-state solution a realistic response to the war in Gaza or not?...
04.10.2024
A mummified mystery! Sealed shut for decades then scientists opened this coffin lid
A wooden sarcophogas is sold in a Cairo market in the late 1800s, transported to Australia, and held in a University of Sydney collection. It remains closed for over a century. And then scientists opened its lid. What happened next?...
04.09.2024
Mary Beard — Empress of Rome
For decades, Mary Beard has forged her own path through the male dominated field of academia, from the ruins of Rome to the trenches of Twitter, to become "the world's most famous classicist".
04.08.2024
Michael Gawenda on Jewishness, the Australian Left, and the State of Israel
The best of talks, forums, debates, and festivals held in Australia and around the world.
04.04.2024
Cheng Lei, Sean Turnell and Kylie Moore-Gilbert on the ruthless practice of hostage diplomacy
What is the best response to hostage diplomacy? Pay the ransom? Sanction the responsible country, or individuals? Go public, or pursue quiet diplomacy? Can countries preserve bilateral relations, while at the same time advocating for the rights of their unlawfully...
04.03.2024
Ripples, resilience, and rivers – the politics of water
Water is life. Rivers give life. But water and the rivers it flows down are also heavily politicised, and at the heart of battles over who gets access to water, what's killing our rivers, and what happens when they kill...
04.02.2024
Forging a fire ready future
Australia’s bushfires are more intense, more frequent, and more costly. So how can we prepare for the inevitable – what proactive steps can communities take to protect themselves, and do we have the settings right?
04.01.2024
What makes a charity successful?
Many of you are involved in a charity: Handing out meals to homeless people, caring for surrendered animals in a shelter, organising soccer games to keep the youth in the neighbourhood on the straight and narrow. But are you sure...
03.28.2024
Julia Baird on how grace saves us from a dark world
Grace is a hard word to define, but in her latest book, author, journalist and broadcaster Julia Baird explores the concept, and how finding and nurturing it in each other – and ourselves - can help us through dark times.
03.27.2024
The Deficit Myth with Stephanie Kelton — what to ask when governments can't afford to fix things.
When governments say they can't afford to fix climate change or lift kids out of poverty are they speaking the truth? American economist Stephanie Kelton challenges economic orthodoxy in her book The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth...
03.26.2024
Bessel van der Kolk on The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, discusses his pioneering research into traumatic stress and its impact on our brains and bodies. Traumatised people experience incomprehensible anxiety, numbing and intolerable rage. Trauma affects their capacity...
03.25.2024
Why are young people more unhappy and worried?
Different generations agree that youth mental health is in decline, but disagree about the causes. We explore generational attitudes to the economic and social drivers of mental ill-health in young people.
03.21.2024
Are we all liberals at heart?
Liberalism isn't just a political philosophy but the basis of a truly meaningful life. That's the bold statement of philosopher Alexandre Lefebvre, author of the forthcoming book Liberalism As A Way of Life. Should individuals be free to pursue their own passions...
03.20.2024
Imagination and Mindset, and The Importance of Doubt (Boyer Lectures 3 and 4)
Quantum computing is all about physics, but for those looking to pioneer and revolutionise science, there are certain human qualities needed as well. That is the topic of these final two Boyer Lectures with a global leader in the field...
03.19.2024
The Atomic Revolution and the Quantum Promise (2023 Boyer Lectures 1 and 2)
Imagine a machine with more power than all the computers in the world combined. This is the promise of quantum computing. In these 2023 Boyer Lectures, Professor Michelle Simmons explains why building a machine that operates at the scale of...
03.18.2024
Trump vs Biden vs the world — what will it mean for Australia?
The US has claimed that it has “no greater ally than Australia”, but with the stability of its democracy in question, what are the risks, and the rewards, of waltzing in step with the world’s greatest superpower?
03.14.2024
I've Been to a Parallel World
Hear from four “many worlds travellers” who have visited parallel worlds to explore themes of Indigenous rights, disability, gender and the climate crisis, to show us that a different way is within reach.
03.13.2024
The education gap between rural and metropolitan Australia is costing us billions
Can you put a price tag on regional education? In fact, you can. The large difference in the quality of education between people who live in rural and regional Australia compared to those who live in the cities is costing...
03.12.2024
Solving the mysteries of the universe − with philosophy
From dark energy to the nature of time, some of the most baffling mysteries in cosmology point to a surprisingly complex answer: The idea that alternate layers of reality might exist beyond the reach of our current physics, and perhaps...
03.11.2024
How Russia’s war on Ukraine ends
Two years since Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the risks are as grave as ever, including the possibility of war spilling into Europe, and the nuclear threat. What next for the Ukraine war?
03.07.2024
Corruption at the crossroads in Australia
We hear from the nation's anti-corruption leaders, including NACC Deputy Commissioner Nicole Rose, about the state of corruption in Australia.
03.06.2024
Spending time with Laurie Anderson
Pioneering electronic musician and performer Laurie Anderson invites you contemplate the wonders of time. Time is one of the most impermanent forms of measurement that humans have invented to help manage our lives. We couldn't function without it. Do you...
03.05.2024
Finding your creativity with Holly Ringland
Best-selling author Holly Ringland says that everyone can be creative – yes, even you! Be it painting, cooking, knitting a jumper or writing a song. It's often self-doubt and the fear of criticism and judgement that's holding you back. The...
03.04.2024
Nature for people – how the natural world affects our health
Most of us know that exposure to nature is good for us, because we’ve experienced it ourselves. Doctors can even prescribe time in nature to patients, for the health benefits. But increasingly, we’re understanding – and measuring - just how...
02.25.2024
The Reith Lectures are unavailable as a podcast this week
Big Ideas is broadcasting the 2023 Reith Lectures this week. It is unable to provide a podcast of the lectures. The audio of the four lectures will be available on the Big Ideas website for a limited time. However, you...
02.22.2024
Swiftposium – the academics of Taylor Swift
Celebrities, and their fans, wield tremendous economic, cultural and political influence – and none more so than US pop superstar Taylor Swift. Academia is getting on board, with university courses now entirely dedicated to studying the icon. But celebrities and...
02.21.2024
Intuition — the science of knowing WHAT without knowing WHY
Have you ever followed your intuition, or been guided by a gut feeling? Is intuition real or imagined? Can it be learnt and harnessed for good in our lives? Neuroscientist and psychologist Joel Pearson wanted to find out. He joins...
02.20.2024
Uncivil society – polarisation and breakdown in our conversations
What has happened to civil debate and the reasonable exchange of competing ideas in public, to conversations that might lead to productive compromise, or simply agreeing to disagree? Has civil society always been so... uncivil?
02.19.2024
How to tell stories that change the course of history — from slavery abolition to gaming culture
There's nothing like an innocent story to rupture reality! Fiction is a literary seismograph for social conflict and stories can change minds. They have helped end slavery, and end discrimination. Hear the powerful story of how. Also, a gaming scholar...
02.15.2024
A queer love letter to libraries
Public libraries are for everyone, but last year, the LGBTIQA+ community became a target for exclusion by anti-queer campaigners, when drag story time events – designed to celebrate diversity and embrace rainbow families –were shut down or postponed due to...
02.14.2024
Be the change you want to see — Chanel Contos, Isabelle Reinecke, Semara Jose, Sarah Brown
Some things feel impossible to change without money and power. Meet four trailblazers didn't let that stop them. Fighting corporations. Stopping violence. Transforming talk on sex and consent. Helping men heal from childhood trauma. They join Natasha Mitchell and an...
02.13.2024
Nazanin Boniadi — fighting for women's rights in Iran
Women and girls in Iran continue to take to the streets and protest gender oppression and human rights abuses. And too often they risk their lives for this fight. Iranian-born human rights advocate Nazanin Boniadi has used her public profile...
02.12.2024
Caroline Polachek on the art of pop music
US singer, songwriter and producer Caroline Polachek is known as one of the most inventive pop musicians working in the industry today, pushing the boundaries of what the genre is, and what it means for the people who listen to...
02.08.2024
How to speak freely about topics no one wants to talk about
Speaking freely isn't only about Freedom of Speech legislation, it's equally about social norms, loving your family and courage. Authors Lea Ypi and Hayley Campbell discuss what's difficult to talk about. Death and what happens your body when you die....
02.07.2024
A new way to fix the hot mess of housing in remote Aboriginal Australia?
Housing is a hot mess in many remote Aboriginal communities, including Tennant Creek, and the rollercoaster of government policies and interventions hasn't helped the situation. What's on offer is often culturally unsafe, crowded, and a climate disaster. But housing is...
02.06.2024
Psychedelics – from magic to medicinal
Psychedelics were once the domain of hippies and cults, but these drugs have come long way from the ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’ countercultural philosophy of the 1960s and 70s. Nowadays, the field of psychedelic research is experiencing a...
02.05.2024
Gabriel Krauze on Who They Was — his wild life in crime and literature
Finishing your undergraduate assignments in English Literature in breaks between selling drugs … fighting and hurting people and committing crimes while discussing the finer nuances of human morality. Best-selling author Gabriel Krauze speaks openly about his life as a former...
02.01.2024
Does Australia need more tiger parents?
Tiger parents: do their methods raise happy and successful human beings, or burnt out, damaged therapy cases? In this hyper competitive age we live in, could their approach bring up a new generation of winners this country needs to get...
01.31.2024
When I grow up I want to be ... why we all need to reimagine aging.
From the moment we’re born, we all age. So why limit the possibilities? The latest Intergenerational Report describes Australia's ageing population as an economical and fiscal challenge ... a burden. Ageism is rife, but to age is to live. So what...
01.30.2024
Craig Foster on how Australia can pull its socks up on human rights
Craig Foster has a vision for the future: An Australia without racism, with equal access to food and representation and compassion for refugees. But it's 75 years since the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Craig...
01.29.2024
Escaping the Burrow — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 5)
In her fifth Massey lecture, Escaping the Burrow, self-described "feral intellectual" Astra Taylor explores how insecurity can also offer us a path to wisdom — individually and collectively. A vision of hope and possibility. For the CBC Massey lectures, the renowned filmmaker, writer,...
01.25.2024
Beyond human security — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 4)
An appeal for solidarity with species other than our own, in this fourth Massey lecture by renowned Canadian-American filmmaker, writer, political organiser, rock musician and self-described 'feral intellectual' Astra Taylor. We, Them, Us, our stories and actions are all intimately intertwined across...
01.24.2024
Consumed by Curiosity — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 3)
In her third provocative CBC Massey lecture, Canadian-American filmmaker, writer, political organiser, rock musician and self-described "feral intellectual" Astra Taylor argues our innate existential insecurity is vital to our curiosity, creativity, compassion, and capacity to care. Drawing on her own childhood, she...
01.23.2024
Barons or Commoners? — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 2)
We take certain fundamental rights for granted, but who got to define them and are they enough? You'll find solidarity in these stories of baroners and commoners from filmmaker, writer, political organiser, sometime rock musician and self-described 'feral intellectual' Astra Taylor. In...

What's Big Ideas about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Big Ideas episodes:

The future of health technology

"It's personal" — field stories from the frontline of Australia's Ambassador for Gender Equality

Trees as an alternative crop — the future of forestry in Australia?

The shark net controversy — hear the debate at Bondi's Ocean Lovers Festival

Life on Mars — and beyond

A heart-to-heart with Eric Bogle — his songs and his life

The war in Gaza, Palestinians, and Israelis – what can we learn from the past about the future?

A mummified mystery! Sealed shut for decades then scientists opened this coffin lid

Mary Beard — Empress of Rome

Michael Gawenda on Jewishness, the Australian Left, and the State of Israel

Cheng Lei, Sean Turnell and Kylie Moore-Gilbert on the ruthless practice of hostage diplomacy

Ripples, resilience, and rivers – the politics of water

Forging a fire ready future

What makes a charity successful?

Julia Baird on how grace saves us from a dark world

The Deficit Myth with Stephanie Kelton — what to ask when governments can't afford to fix things.

Bessel van der Kolk on The Body Keeps the Score

Why are young people more unhappy and worried?

Are we all liberals at heart?

Imagination and Mindset, and The Importance of Doubt (Boyer Lectures 3 and 4)

The Atomic Revolution and the Quantum Promise (2023 Boyer Lectures 1 and 2)

Trump vs Biden vs the world — what will it mean for Australia?

I've Been to a Parallel World

The education gap between rural and metropolitan Australia is costing us billions

Solving the mysteries of the universe − with philosophy

How Russia’s war on Ukraine ends

Corruption at the crossroads in Australia

Spending time with Laurie Anderson

Finding your creativity with Holly Ringland

Nature for people – how the natural world affects our health

The Reith Lectures are unavailable as a podcast this week

Swiftposium – the academics of Taylor Swift

Intuition — the science of knowing WHAT without knowing WHY

Uncivil society – polarisation and breakdown in our conversations

How to tell stories that change the course of history — from slavery abolition to gaming culture

A queer love letter to libraries

Be the change you want to see — Chanel Contos, Isabelle Reinecke, Semara Jose, Sarah Brown

Nazanin Boniadi — fighting for women's rights in Iran

Caroline Polachek on the art of pop music

How to speak freely about topics no one wants to talk about

A new way to fix the hot mess of housing in remote Aboriginal Australia?

Psychedelics – from magic to medicinal

Gabriel Krauze on Who They Was — his wild life in crime and literature

Does Australia need more tiger parents?

When I grow up I want to be ... why we all need to reimagine aging.

Craig Foster on how Australia can pull its socks up on human rights

Escaping the Burrow — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 5)

Beyond human security — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 4)

Consumed by Curiosity — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 3)

Barons or Commoners? — Astra Taylor on The Age of Insecurity (Massey Lecture 2)