Big Ideas

Why is the community so divided over action on climate change?

And what are the environmental cost of meat-eating pets?

Tensions between Iran and the US have yet again focused the world’s attention on this region.

The vision of enormous crowds that turned out for Soleimani’s funeral procession, contrasted with the small but vocal crowds in response to Tehran’s shooting down of Flight 752. But visions can be deceptive.

A panel of Iranian academics shows how difficult it can be to understand how Iranian society sees the actions of the Iranian and US governments and Iran’s place in the region and the world.

The long fight for women’s rights and equality is almost won. “It's starting to look like people who are not on side are simply out of step", says human rights activist Sally Armstrong.

Women all over the world are demanding a better, more equitable place with men. But men and women need to work together to achieve the final victory.

In the final CBC Massey lecture, Sally Armstrong looks to the future — one where women's skills are depended upon and their abilities are recognized.

Sally Armstrong argues the future depends on equality for women and girls. In her second CBC Massey Lecture, she discusses sex: the history of sex, sex for procreation, sex for pleasure, sex for business. Monogamy maybe the norm, but evolutionary biology suggests, in earlier times, things were more freewheeling. Over time, however, we’ve seen men exercise greater control over women and their bodies.

The 2019 CBC Massey Lectures examine the history of the struggle for gender equality. Lecturer, Sally Armstrong argues all of humanity benefits when women get an education. When they get better healthcare, everyone lives longer. She says a fundamental shift is taking place and “equality is closer than ever before”.

A scientific career is based on getting published in peer reviewed academic journals. But this pressure increases the risk for scientists to employ flexible analytic and selective reporting practices. The Open Science movement calls for transparency of not just research results, but also research methods. And it begins with examining of how and what we reward in scientific work.

In her final Boyer Lecture Rachel Perkins makes the case for a treaty process and we hear how indigenous communities are seeking to preserve and revitalize traditional languages.

Australia doesn’t have a treaty with its indigenous people. We’ve also been slow to acknowledge our history of violent dispossession. Indigenous film-maker Rachel Perkins looks at the Uluru Statement as the way to end the silence on the unfinished business of reconciliation. It calls for Voice, Treaty and Truth.

The fascinating backstories and controversies behind two architectural icons: the Sydney Opera House and the Parliament House.

New research shows that Homo Sapiens is a domesticated form of our species. And that’s the result of the invention of capital punishment. But how could our low aggressiveness evolve from repeated acts of violence?