Are you a good listener? Unfortunately, not many of us can answer that with a convinced ‘yes’. And that’s even though listening is at the core of every relationship. Losing the ability to listen has profound social, psychological, and neuroscientific impacts. But the good news is: You can learn how to do it – quite easily in fact.

Coal, oil and gas currently drive most of our electricity generation, manufacturing and transport systems. If we’re to achieve zero emissions then green alternatives are vital. And we need green energy at scale. Solar panels on your roof will only go part of the way to producing enough electricity . This discussion, from the World Science Festival, tackles the challenge of making the transition to green energy.

The pandemic has opened a window of opportunity for us to "build back better", and create a healthy, sustainable and equitable future, according to public health expert, Dr Sandro Demaio. He says we have a once-in-a-lifetime shot at achieving "health for all". Sandro joins Cassandra Goldie and Professor Sharon Friel for a discussion about health equity.

What is truth? How has it evolved? And what is its impact anyway? Evolutionary science shows that subtle social manipulation of fellow group members was a key driver of intelligence in the human lineage. And even animals use trickery to their advantage. Big Ideas looks at why we lie and why deception is so widespread in modern public discourse.

After Covid do we need to invest more in the not-for-profit sector which has demonstrated its vital role in keeping communities together? And a financial journalist puts her anthropology training to good use as she maps the tribal norms which shape how teams operate in different workplaces.

Stop playing around and start playing seriously. Our deep drive to play has shaped our cultures and our philosophies, our working lives, and our civilizations since we first started playing. AND – women’s soccer in Australia. Fighting for more equality on and off the field, women's football is a story of community, endurance and success. A celebration of the sport and The Matildas.

Journalist, Simon Akam, investigates the failures of the British Army, including alleged war crimes, in his provocative book, The Changing of the Guard. He examines what has gone wrong with the British Army since 9/11, how it has changed, and what it has learnt from unsuccessful campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Modern parents juggle work and home and try to meet high expectations about each child reaching their potential. Two parenting experts talk about the particular demands of raising teenage girls and raising boys with a healthy masculinity. And is striving for personal happiness a worthwhile goal or does trying to be happy all the time create more anxiety?

International negotiations on climate change and biodiversity often put the scientific case behind economic and political interests. So, people increasingly turn to the courts to get justice for the environment. What makes those court cases successful? And what does a new form of environmental justice that connects nature with economic and social rights looks like? The new way of getting just rights for nature is to fall back on the very old legal tradition of Chthonic law.

How do different societies decide who is on the top, and who is at the bottom , of the social hierarchy? African American journalist Isabel Wilkerson compares the racial ideology of America’s deep South with Nazi Germany and the caste system in India. And indigenous musician Jessie Lloyd talks about her quest to collect and preserve the songs written by the indigenous Australians moved off country to live on Christian missions, government reserves or on the outskirts of country towns.