Big Ideas

The objectification of women and sexualisation of their bodies is nothing new. But the proliferation of sexually charged images online, like the sexualised selfie, has taken things to another level. How concerned should we be?

Imaging not knowing whether you can pay the next electricity bill, cutting down on food to make it last or not being able to buy your child a birthday present.

That’s the reality of living in poverty.

Journalist Rick Morton talks about growing up poor in Australia and he provides a condemning account of the class system in this country

Ageing gets a bad wrap in our youth obsessed society but Ashton Applewhite says we're saddled with outdated ideas. Our attitudes to growing older come from a time when lifespans were so much shorter. She promotes positive ageing and campaigns against age discrimination.

Many young Australians are experiencing 'eco-anxiety': a sense of dread caused by, as they see it, an unfolding, climate change induced, ecological catastrophe. How are they overcoming it? Paul Barclay speaks to 4 young Australians between the ages of 17 and 25.

This substance relieves pain but costs law enforcement billions of dollars. Opium in all its forms is both celebrated and demonized and we can trace its use and abuse from the Neolithic era to the present day.

Politics and sex scandals are not a good mix. Many politicians have stumbled and fallen over a secret affair. But when are these scandals of public interest - and when is reporting them just gossip?

And (about 30 minutes into the program): Romance novels can change the world – maybe even better than other literature because due to a shorter publishing processes it can react quicker to political and cultural shifts.

We live in a democracy in which we all have a chance to vote.

But does voting mean that the views of the majority are truly represented when it can be shown - mathematically - that all voting systems have flaws? 

Maths proves that elections can never be truly fair and how easy it is for someone to win who no one really liked and who no one wanted to come first. Be it in elections or the Eurovision Song Contest.

Advances in genomics were predicted to lead to a new era of personalised medicine, by utilising individual genetic information. Genomics is currently being employed to improve diagnosis of difficult to diagnose conditions. But will it realise its full potential? What are the ethical quandaries?

In a complex and challenging world, how durable is the international role of the US?

While there were many setbacks between the fall of Soviet communism and the opening years of the Trump administration, from Rwanda to 9/11 and Iraq to Syria, Tim Lynch demonstrates that the US remained the world's dominant power.

Recent US foreign politics hasn't changed that much compared to the Cold War era.

Would music created by robots move you just the same as a piece composed by your favourite song writer?

Machines are already making art - paintings and songs.

But does this music have the same quality as works created by humans?