Life Matters

Block parties. Street libraries. Kerbside lemonade stands. These are the signs of a neighbourhood that's really alive. But often times, the tangle of red tape required to bring your street to life can get in the way. David Howie, whose decades-long Christmas block party is under threat due to new council rules, joins sociologist Peter Walters to discuss the real price of living in the village. 

Australians have long had a particularly creative penchant for swearing. We seem to take a strange sort of pride in our colourful language — we've even used it in tourism ads and public safety campaigns. Linguistics professor Kate Burridge and author Amanda Laugesen explore what's behind this cultural attachment to swear words.

It's that time of year again — the Black Friday sales are upon us. Last year Australians spent nearly $24 billion in that fortnight alone. But are we really saving anything? Consumer behaviour expert Paul Harrison explains how to tell whether a "sale" really is a bargain, or just clever marketing.

Decades ago, new mums often spent a week or more in hospital after birth, but these days most are home within days or even hours. The data shows there's been a steady decline in the length of postnatal hospital stays. And while that's not necessarily a problem, midwifery professor Hannah Dahlen and Maternity Consumer Network founder Alecia Staines say we need to ensure the care and support at home is up to scratch.You know the feeling — replaying the day’s conversations in the shower, replaying an ill-timed joke, or wishing you'd said more when it counted. Social psychologist Vanessa Bohns has written the book on how to know when to speak up, and when to just let it go.

Most of us have an old box of floppy disks, CDs or hard drives gathering dust somewhere, holding memories we can no longer actually access without significant effort. As the tech to read them becomes obsolete faster than we can keep up, digital media professor Melanie Swalwell explains how can you rescue your digital history before it’s lost for good. 

Everyone has secrets — from small omissions to things we’ve never told a soul, carrying them with us can feel heavier than actually sharing them. Michael Slepian, author of The Secret Life of Secrets, explains why secrets gnaw at us even when they’re not technically wrong, and what the research actually says about the risk of revealing them.

When Dad can no longer remember the route home, how do you convince him it's time to hand over the car keys? Aunties Kerri Sackille and Nelly Thomas give listener Ari some advice on supporting ageing parents clinging onto their independence.

For decades, the headlines told one story: a teenage tennis prodigy who fled war to play Wimbledon. The real story, hidden behind it, was years of fear and violence at the hands of her father. Now a Logie-winning commentator, Jelena Dokic has written a new book offering others the map she had to build for herself, from survival to a life fully her own.

Department store juggernaut David Jones is reportedly facing store closures, and even the risk of receivership, as online retail eats into profits. Yet new data shows foot traffic at shopping centres is actually up. So are malls a dying relic, or just evolving? Retail historian Matthew Bailey explains what's going on. 

England and Wales’s outgoing most senior judge has called for AI to play a bigger role in resolving civil disputes faster and cheaper. Resident Life Matters philosopher Patrick Stokes explores whether something as fundamentally human as justice can ever really be left to an algorithm.

In a world of texts, emails and voice notes, there's something almost romantic about an actual letter: the handwriting, the doodles in the margins, the thought poured into the paper. Self-described letter midwife Frish Brandt has spent years helping people write the letters that matter most. She shares the five essential letters of your life.

Nothing beats the smug satisfaction of garden-fresh produce, but research suggests about a fifth of Australian veggie gardens could be growing food in soil with unsafe lead levels. As spring planting kicks off, environmental scientist Cynthia Barlow and gourmet farmer Matthew Evans explain how you can check what’s lurking below the surface and work with it.

EV sales have more than doubled this year, outselling petrol and diesel cars outright in September, but a quarter of Australian drivers have nowhere to plug in at home. With a new EV hitting the road roughly every 100 seconds, ABC technology reporter James Purtill explores whether the government’s plan for more public chargers can keep pace.

After someone you love dies, the world doesn't stop — bills still need paying, kids still need picking up, and most of us go back to work after just two days of compassionate leave. Grief Australia CEO Christopher Hall and advocate Carla Lennox discuss what it takes to support someone grieving while they’re still showing up to work.

Dysmorphia is usually associated with our physical appearance — when what you see in the mirror doesn't reflect reality. So what happens when that feeling shows up in your wallet? Money dysmorphia is the idea that your bank balance doesn't match your financial mindset. Behavioural economist Phil Slade joins Tori Smith, who started her own family economy to model financial literacy for her children, to explore how we can start to see our finances more clearly.

The mid-life slump — you wake up one day and realise the life you've created is totally different to the one you'd imagined for yourself. You start dreaming about a career pivot, or picking up sticks to start fresh somewhere new. So what does it take to actually pull off a big mid-life change? Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones weighs in for Head and Heart.

Men’s affection for each other has traditionally come wrapped in nods, handshakes and ribbing rather than words, but Movember wants to change that this month. The organisation's global director of research Zac Seidler joins author Zachary Perez to explore what the culture of emotional reserve has cost men's health, and whether a hug could help. 

Once seen as a fringe pursuit, prepping for worst-case scenarios is going mainstream. But increasingly, the scenarios we're preparing for are a little less foreseeable — huge spikes in petrol prices due to war, or an AI-induced doomsday. So given the state of the world should we all be doomsday preppers? 

What do you say when you answer the phone? The humble "hello" may be on its way out, with younger generations ditching the standard greeting. Linguist Daniel Midgley explores the history of hello and why language evolves over time.

Anger can be a powerful emotion that drives us towards change, but it’s also the emotion we're most afraid of. It can tear us down as fast as it moves us to action. Men's behaviour change program founder David Nugent and psychology lecturer Liz Summerell explore what you can do when anger takes hold.

Aunties James Colley and Urvi Majumdar share their advice for listener Laila, who loves looking after her grandkids but is navigating some tension in the kitchen. 

The number of deaths on Australian roads has risen by 21.6 per cent since the national road safety strategy was introduced a few years ago. So if rules of the road have largely stayed the same, and the cars are smarter than ever, why aren't the numbers getting better? Researcher Teresa Senserrick and former driving school owner Ben Ward explain what's going on. 

Despite spending most of our time indoors, Australia has no national standard for indoor air quality. With experts calling for a national healthy air strategy, Air Club co-founder Bronwyn King and Burnet Institute's chief health officer Suman Majumdar explore why this invisible public health issue has been left unregulated for so long.

Recent data from the US suggests the casual drop-in is dying out. It revealed a huge decline in the number of people regularly hosting friends and family at home. So what's driving the decline, and what do we lose if spontaneous hospitality disappears for good?

Recent research from KPMG found the Australian economy could be boosted by $29 billion if businesses made it easier for older workers to stay in the workforce or come out of retirement. So if we're serious about harnessing the untapped potential of mature workers, what would it take? National Seniors CEO Chris Grice joins Carol Kulik from the Centre for Workplace Excellence and Kerry Forrest, who's still working well into her 60s, to investigate how we could better support older workers to stay.

In October alone, three new giant sculptures from Mildura to Windorah have been added to the map of Australia's big things. These oversized landmarks have become part of our cultural identity — a must-see stop on a road trip and an iconic emblem of regional country towns. Researcher Amy Clarke and artist Jobella Bennett explore why Australia is so big on big things. 

From time sheets to swipe cards, bosses have always found ways to keep tabs on staff. But these days it's AI counting your keystrokes. Legal experts are warning that AI-powered surveillance is outpacing the law, and calling for changes to the Fair Work Act. Lisa Leong weighs in on what this means for the workforce, and whether we should have more say on our own metrics.