Kylie Moore-Gilbert spent two years inside the Iranian prison system, secretly communicating with fellow women prisoners while she waited for news from Australia

Suzie Miller with stories from her free range St Kilda childhood, her drama-filled life as a lawyer, and the inspiration behind her play Prima Facie

Forensic scientist Dr Xanthe Mallett on her work analysing skeletal remains, investigating cases of wrongful conviction and studying the decomposition of the human body (CW: contains references to death and crime)

 Xanthe is a forensic anthropologist, criminologist and author who works with police to analyse skeletal remains.

Xanthe worked for years at Scotland's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification in Dundee, and presented her research in facial identification to the FBI in Quantico.

She also looks at cases of wrongful conviction, including mothers falsely accused of killing their children, with specific reference to the wrongful convictions of Lindy Chamberlain and Kathleen Folbigg.

Currently Xanthe spends some of her working life at a taphonomy facility outside Sydney studying the details of human bodily decomposition.

Further information

Learn more about the Forensic Taphonomy facility run by UTS

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Tanya Latty is an insect scientist with a quirky taste in pets, and a keen eye for detail. But it's the lessons from her brainless pet slime mould that she's most fascinated about.

Scientist, Tanya Latty, studies the behaviour of ants and bees. She's particularly interested in their ability to work effectively as a team to achieve a common goal.

But her pet project is focused on a creature that defies classification.

Slime moulds are neither plants nor animals. They can move, but they don't have legs or wings.

They appear to make complex decisions, often motivated by the promise of food. Yet they don't have a stomach or a brain.

Despite slime moulds' unique biology, Tanya was struck by their apparent intelligence and by similarities in their patterns of behaviour to ants and bees.

Tanya believes the knowledge gained from studying the behaviour of slime moulds and insects could help to solve complex organisational problems in the human world.

Further information

For more information on Dr Latty’s research head to the Invertebrate behaviour and ecology lab website.

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Lee Berger, the National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones, has found remarkable things underground. His discoveries are revolutionising what we understand about our own origins

Dr Christina Zdenek wants to change our minds about Australia’s deadly snakes, not just because their venom holds healing secrets

Dr Nerida Wilson spends a lot of her time getting acquainted with the mysterious creatures lurking in the dark depths of the sea

Scientists continue to discover the rarer and rarer objects which make up our universe. Why are we so obsessed with the particles around us?

Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost. Anh is an academic and community volunteer. She grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family.

Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe.

But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war. In the early 1980s, her parents planned a daring escape.

Under the noses of the regime, they secretly constructed a boat which they hoped would take them to the Philippines.

They intended to bring 40 people with them, but on the day of departure 101 people crowded on board, before the boat sailed into a once-in-a-century storm on the South China Sea.

Years later, Anh found film footage of their rescue, at a moment when almost all hope was lost.

After their rescue, her family made it to a refugee camp in the Philippines, then to America, where Anh grew up to attend some of the world's most prestigious universities before she became an academic herself.

Further information

The rescue of 101 Boat was filmed for Medecins du Monde

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Professor Toby Walsh is a world leader in AI research. He asks questions like, 'can we train machines to be fair?' and 'how do we resist the spread of lethal autonomous weapons?' His job is making sure the future of AI is for better, not worse.

Artificial intelligence has become an essential part of our lives — it helps us to navigate and communicate, and is responsible for incredibly accurate medical technology.

AI is also responsible for lethal autonomous weapons.

It can be used to influence what we buy and how we vote.

Professor Toby Walsh is one of the world's leading researchers in AI.

His research is concerned with how to ensure our future use of AI is for the good of humanity.

Further information

Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI is published by Black Inc

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.