Big Ideas

The planet's hotter than it has ever been. July was the Earth's hottest month ever recorded since records began. And the consequences of this warming is increasingly becoming too hard to bear — particularly among those who don't have access to climate control.

So what happens to our bodies in times of heat extremes? And what will happen when these extremes become the new 'normal'? It's something the veteran environmental reporter Jeff Goodell explores in his new book Heat: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.

The Bots have landed. Meet the artist bot. The designer bot. The actor bot. The screenwriter bot.  Paul McCartney says AI was used to produce a new Beatles song using demo tape recording by the late John Lennon. But in Hollywood, screen-writers and actors are striking over their work being used to train up A.I tools — or — their roles being devalued, even replaced by A.I. Authors are suing OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, for using their books to train up the chatbot without permission or payment. What does the rise and rise of AI mean for art, its authorship, value, and its central role in what it means to be human? Six whip-smart thinkers join Natasha Mitchell to provoke.

It's possibly the greatest ever example of artistic censorship in Australian history. Police have requested hip hop to be taken off online streaming platforms, stopped bands from performing in Australia, and amended visa regulations so local hip hop artists can't perform overseas. Their claim is that hip hop is inciting violent and criminal behaviour. But it's an old debate that first emerged in the birthplace of hip hop more than two decades ago. Osman Faruqi shines a light on parallels to the hip hop wars of 1990s America, the role of police bias and profiling, and concerns for free speech more broadly.

Throughout human history, infectious viruses have moved between animals and humans without much fanfare. These are known as Zoonotic diseases.

But every so often, they set off a chain reaction that can't be contained, like the bubonic plague, or COVID-19.

But the collective experience of COVID has given the world many lessons about what to — and what not to do — the next time there's a Zoonotic leap. So what are those lessons, and is humanity able to not repeat the same mistakes?

Australia is a majority migrant nation. Increasingly, that migration skews more Asian than European, with more than 50 per cent of the population either born overseas or having a parent who was.

This includes the lauded Australian writer Alice Pung, whose Chinese-Cambodian parents fled the Khmer Rouge. But it's a story replicated across many generations of Australian families, including that of the Matildas' captain Sam Kerr, whose father was born in Kolkata.

But abroad, the contemporary story of Asian Australia is lesser-known. The stereotypes of Australia being an outpost of the Anglosphere still lingers, despite generations of Asian-Australian life. So how is this story best told?

Two teams of heavy-hitters debate the fate of human creativity in a world of artificial intelligence. In a Big Ideas first, two A.I debaters are taking to the stage, and with strong opinions! Are the bots coming for Boticelli and the Bronte Sisters? Will humans be thrown in the dustbin of civilisation as our artistic expression is usurped by silicon? Or, will the bots help you unleash your creative potential like never before?

Dame Jacinda Ardern's rise to the top wasn't down to destiny. In fact, the first job she wanted was to be a clown. Then she tried (and failed) in a Lord of the Rings audition to be a hobbit. 

But what would come later would be a bigger role that would eclipse any of her prior attempts at a life on screen. After an unexpected election victory in 2017, she became the world's youngest female leader (and a global media sensation). 

For many, Jacinda's story channels what people in New Zealand know as Mana Wāhine -- a Māori phrase that refers to women of strength. It's something that was explored in a recent panel where women across the arts, sport and politics came together to reflect on their journeys, and the responsibilities that emerge once you're at the top.

Geopolitics and climate change now have immediate consequences for national and international security interests across the Arctic and Antarctic. The world's polar regions are contested and strategically central to geopolitical rivalry. At the same time, rapid political, social, and environmental change presents unprecedented challenges for governance, environmental protection, and maritime operations in the regions.

Why did an earless lizard make politicians take to the podium? (And could it have heard them anyway?). What makes a pygmy possum randy?  (The nose knows).  Why are Africa’s sacred cows so vital? (More than a meaty issue). Genetics to the rescue with hopeful stories and science from three trailblazing women. Join Natasha Mitchell at the Melbourne Museum for the 2023 International Congress of Genetics. 

What gives you the ick? Though of course, that is inherently subjective. What may be someone's ick could be someone's kink. Jesse Bering is a psychologist specialising in evolutionary psychology and human behaviour whose work has tried to understand what lies beneath 'normal'.

In this talk from Vivid 2023, Jesse explores the complex dynamics between repulsion and attraction, and how sexual 'deviance' has evolved over time.