Life Matters

Most of the best things in life start as a risk — changing careers, moving cities, building a dream. But data suggests we're not taking these chances as much as we used to. Even owning your own home can come with "golden handcuffs", tying people to one place, one job, and one version of their life. ABC business journalist Daniel Ziffer and author Jodi Wilson explore how to get yourself unstuck.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Alice Springs School of the Air, the first of its kind in the world. While times and technology have changed since 1951, it remains a lifeline for kids in the bush. Principal Kerrie Russell, online learning platform founder Martin Dougiamas and parent advocate Amber Driver reflect on the legacy of Australia's largest virtual classroom.

The Federal Court recently found Coles intentionally misled customers with its infamous "down down" discounts. So what role do discounts play in marketing and what does this mean for upcoming cases against other businesses?

Thousands of spectators at a purpose-built complex in Las Vegas are about to watch something that's never happened before. The Enhanced Games will see 40 athletes attempting to break human records by pumping their bodies full of performance-enhancing drugs. Powerlifting coach Gus Cooke and researchers Matthew Dunn and Adam Karg examine how the Games could change sport and science as we know it.

Imagine being caught in a cycle where every 29 days, you transform into an angry, weepy, out-of-control mess. Then suddenly, it passes. This is how author Emma Hardy describes living with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. She joins psychiatrist Jayashri Kulkarni to explain the complex reality of living with PMDD.

Twenty-three species of dinosaur have been discovered in Australia and 70 per cent of those were found by the public. Palaeontologist Sally Hurst explains what you should do if you find a fossil.

Recent research suggests social anxiety is on the rise. Beyond the usual feelings around making awkward small talk, many people are struggling to socialise at work, meet new friends or even leave their own house. Psychologist Sahra O'Doherty explains why more of us are experiencing social anxiety and what you can do about it.

When you're parenting small children, sleep can feel like a battleground. So when one person takes a night off, how late is too late to stay out? Aunties Amy Middleton and Joe Sullivan,  weigh in on a sensitive debate, and share some advice on navigating sleep envy and resentment.

Among the major changes slated for the NDIS, funding for "social and community participation" looks likely to be significantly reduced. These programs help people stay connected, build confidence and independence, and participate in daily life. Social researcher and NDIS participant Katie Butler and Megan Spindler-Smith from People With Disability Australia explain how these changes could affect people day-to-day.

With features that are designed for safety, connected cars have been described as a "privacy nightmare on wheels". These vehicles transmit data continuously — tracking location, monitoring calls, recording your voice and even capturing images from inside and outside your car. So how much data is being collected and what are the rules around it?

A new survey has found 1 in 4 doctors believe it will one day be possible to preserve a person's brain and revive their body at a later date. But just because we can, does that mean we should? What would that mean for our sense of humanity?

Not all friendships are for life, and there are plenty of reasons people drift apart. Sometimes distance makes it harder to catch up, or life just pulls you in different directions. But what happens when it's money driving a wedge between mates? Writer Cate Gilpin, comedian Matt Okine and psychologist Rachel Samson explore the friendship wealth gap and how to make peace with it.

The majority of people who stand between you and all manner of natural disasters are highly trained and totally unpaid. It's one thing to sign up as a volunteer to make friends and learn new skills, but many volunteers put their own lives on the line to save others. So how sustainable is a critical system that relies so heavily on unpaid labour, and should they be paid for the work they do?

Less than 4 per cent of the statues in Australia depict women from our history. It reveals a lot about who we remember, and how they're immortalised. Our collective memory is shaped by historians' personal values, ideals and beliefs as much as it is by historical events themselves. So historian and guide Sita Sargeant took it upon herself to reshape this history to tell stories of the women we forgot. 

Shaun Micallef has never understood the appeal of gambling, but he's something of an outlier. Australians are among the biggest punters in the world, and we lose billions each year. He explains why he decided to investigate our national obsession in a new documentary series, and what can be done to protect future generations from falling prey to voracious betting companies.

It's notoriously hard to hold the attention of teenage boys. But when Andy Griffiths stumbled across a novella in his school library about a man who wakes up as an insect, it sparked something wonderful. That reading experience would set him on the path to becoming an award-winning children's author with a penchant for the ridiculous. 

Parenting styles are a bit like fashion — norms are continually challenged, evolving and ultimately judged. Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones joins Life Matters for Head and Heart to unpack "beta parenting", the latest trend describing a more relaxed, "good enough" approach to child-rearing.

Since, COVID, there's been a 39 per cent increase in the number of people sleeping rough. When housed residents see this in their local parks, they call council to report it. But of all the levels of government, it's this local layer that it is least equipped to respond. Sunshine Coast mayor Rosanna Natoli and researcher Andrew Clarke explain how local councils are addressing the issue.

There are more than 6,300 cemeteries across the country, but space is at a premium, with many already at capacity. In some cases, the mourners visiting these sacred places are dying out too. So could we find a better way to use these public spaces dedicated to grief, giving them back to the living, while maintaining respect for the dead?

There was a time when the word "peptide" was reserved for conversations between chemists, but now it's a wellness supplement gaining momentum. It's prompted experts to call for stronger regulation, with concerns that young people are particularly at risk.

Whether you feel self-conscious about your body, or have trouble with performance anxiety, most of us experience sexual hang-ups at some point or another. Sex and relationships therapist Georgia Grace talks through where these anxieties come from, and how normalising conversations about our hang-ups can help us work through them to prioritise pleasure.

Family photo albums can hold immense sentimental value, documenting a shared history and keeping memories of relatives long since passed alive for future generations. But when the family parts ways, who decides where those memories go?

A Grattan Institute report indicates that over one million Australians a year are delaying or skipping specialist health care because they can't afford it. Specialists do vital work, and they're highly trained. But uncapped fees means costs can keep growing and people can't keep up. What can be done to balance the scales and what is the reality for the specialists?

New research has outlined the urgent need to better equip the people who become our de facto therapists — the beauticians, hairdressers, nail techs —with the tools to do this heavy emotional labour.

If you're married, did you keep your own surname or take the name of your betrothed? It's a highly gendered and changing social norm, so what does our surname actually say about us? 

The government has laid out the federal budget for the next year, and there's a theme: intergenerational fairness. We know the scales are not tipped in favour of young people, but can we re-balance the scales without pitting older people against younger people, and acknowledge that not all older people are rich? Patricial Sparrow from Council on the Ageing unpacks the budget for over 50s. 

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice about dating, what would you tell them? When Dee Salmin sat down to write a book on everything she'd learned about love, it was her teenage self she had in mind. But it struck a chord with women who'd grown up in an era before "going boy sober" or "raising the bar" were trending topics. 

Would you be up for a sing-along session with your colleagues, in the name of collaboration? Research shows music can be a powerful tool in promoting connection and group identity. Melissa Forbes and Emma Dean share what happened when they brought together a group of carers to investigate the benefits of music in the workplace.