Are we really facing an attention crisis? Historian, Daniel Immerwahr, has his doubts. In fact, he says ours is an era of obsession as much as distraction and of zeal as much as indifference. Also, the paradox of certainty: we crave it, argues the University of Alberta's, Timothy Caulfield, even though it's so easy to fake.

Guests

Daniel Immerwahr — author and Professor of History, Northwestern University and a contributing writer at The New Yorker

Timothy Caulfield — author and Professor of law, University of Alberta

Professor Gloria Mark — data scientist and psychologist, Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine

Further information

Timothy Coulfield: The Certainty Illusion. What You Don't Know and Why It Matters

Daniel Immerwahr's article on Attention

They're cheaper and safer than their lithium counterparts, they're easier to scale-up, and they can hold power for much longer than conventional batteries, so why aren't flow batteries better known? The technology has been under development for decades, but enthusiasts now say they're finding their place in the sun. Also, why more and more cargo companies are turning to wind-power; and do developing countries need to rethink their approach to off-grid power.

Guests

Emeritus Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos — School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, University of New South Wales

Emily Mahoney — Researcher, Malapit Lab, Northwestern University (US)

Adjunct Associate Professor Jens Noack — Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland

Associate Prof Paul Munro — Associate Professor in Human Geography, The Environment and Society Group, University of New South Wales

Gavin Allwright — Secretary General, International Windship Association

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is opening-up its storeroom, turning the back end of the operation into a public resource. It's about attracting new patrons, but it's also about accountability, the Museum's managers have declared. Across the Western world museums are having to reexamine their mission and redefine the relationship they have with the public they're meant to serve. We explore why and how. We also look at the balance that's being struck between the physical artefact and its digital equivalent.

Guests

Tim Reeve — Deputy Director, Victorian and Albert Museum, London

Dan Hicks — Professor of Contemporary Archaeology, Oxford University

Karin de Wild — Assistant Professor in Contemporary Museum and Collection Studies, Leiden University (The Netherlands)

Kylie Message-Jones — Professor of Public Humanities, ANU Humanities Research Centre

A series of massive underground tombs for nuclear waste are currently under construction. They've taken decades to plan and build and they're designed to house the world's nuclear waste for millennia to come. So where are they being built? How safe will they be? And how to devise a toxic waste warning sign that will make sense to people living tens of thousands of years from now?

Also, the latest research on how climate change is beginning to impact on internal migration within countries.

Guests

Mark Piesing — a UK-based freelance journalist

Dr Shastra Deo — Nuclear semiotics expert and author, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland

Professor Raya Muttarak — Professor of Demography, University of Bologna (Italy)

Lisa — a climate-concerned resident of South-east Queensland

Further information

Mark Piesing's article: How to build a nuclear tomb to last millennia

Terms like "Gen Z", "Boomer" and "Millennial" are popular, but they have no basis in science. Demographers and social scientists are now pushing back. Generational labelling, they argue, is akin to Astrology and while politicians, journalists and media influencers find them irresistible, they actually promote pseudo-science, sew social division and can reinforce prejudicial stereotypes. So why are generational labels so popular?

Guests

Professor Bobby Duffy — Director of the Policy Institute, King's College London. Author of The Generation Myth.

Professor Philip Coen — Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland

Professor Crystal Abidin — digital anthropologist and ethnographer of vernacular internet cultures, Curtin University

Professor David Costanza — Professor of Commerce, University of Virginia

Further information

Philip Coen’s open letter to Pew Research Center on generation labels 

Pew Research Center's response

Why does Utopian thinking get such a bad rap? It’s often derided as delusional and dangerous. But what if that stereotype is designed to limit our imagination and choices? We hear often that people are tired of democracy and turned off by short-term political thinking. So, is it time to be much more adventurous and ambitious – dare we say utopian – in our imagining of the future?   

Guests

Professor William Paris – Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto 

Professor Barbara Prainsack – Professor for Comparative Policy Analysis, University of Vienna 

Professor Anna Abraham – Director of the Torrance Centre for Creativity and Talent Development 

Exploring new ideas, new approaches, new technologies — the edge of change.

Privatising public services like trains, hospitals or prisons — is a proven vote loser. But governments of both the left and right continue to privatise — when it suits them. And it suits them, it seems, when large sums of money are needed to pay down debt, or when a government seeks to off load risk and liability to the private sector. So, what conditions should be applied to ensure that privatisations truly serve the public interest and don't simply decrease competition?

Guests

Owen Hayford — Strategic legal and commercial adviser, Infralegal

Nino Bucci — Justice and Courts Reporter, The Guardian

Richard Denniss — economist and public policy commentator

Professor Graeme Samuel — Monash University Business School

Benjamin Goodair – Senior post-doctoral researcher, Oxford Universty 

Authoritarians rule through fear. We can clearly see that from China to the Middle East to eastern Europe. But why do we constantly overlook the way in which fear also shapes democratic societies? It's fueling populism and distorting our future focus. Then there's anger. It's inspired generations to man the barricades and right society's wrongs. But anger is increasingly becoming a driver of commerce. There's billions to be made in getting you riled up and keeping you that way. Fear fuels anger, and anger blinds you to recognise that your fear might be misguided. A truly vicious cycle.

Guests

Erika Ferszt – Owner, founder and lead-consultant, Scintillate Brand Consulting

Professor Jennifer Lerner – Public Policy, Management and Decision Science, Harvard University

Professor Robert Peckham – historian and Fellow at the Royal Historical Society, London

Margot Faraci – Global leadership expert

Further information

Robert Peckham – Fear: An Alternative History of the World 

Margot Faraci - Love Leadership Survey

Algorithmic feeds are meant to personalise our online experiences, but increasingly they're flattening our culture and fostering a dull conformity, according to best-selling author Kyle Chayka. And the influence they exert on our lives is increasingly physical not just digital. Also, data scientist Gloria Mark who has crunched the numbers on how our attention spans have fared over the past decade or so. If you can keep focused, you might find it fascinating.

Guests

Professor Gloria Mark – data scientist and psychologist, Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine

Kyle Chayka – author and contributing writer for The New Yorker

Further information

Gloria Mark - Attention Span: A Ground Breaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity 

Kyle Chayka – Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture