Short & Curly

The Ancient Romans were a bloodthirsty lot. As entertainment, they headed down to the local arena, to watch people and animals fight to the death. Today this would be illegal in many parts of the world. But the Roman Empire was a long time ago, and maybe they didn't know any better. So were the Romans wrong in how they lived their lives and can we judge them for it?

This season is a special collaboration between the ABC Audio Studios and WNYC Studios in New York City.

Hosts: Carl Smith and Shumita Basu

Series Producer: Kyla Slaven

Executive Producers: Emily Botein and Ian Walker

Producer: Amy Pearl

Sound Engineers: Isaac Jones, Hamish Camilleri, Jolen Camilleri

Production Support: Sarah Sandbach and Brigit Berger

Elephants are extremely intelligent and highly social creatures who traditionally live in large family herds. But their traditional natural world isn't perfect. In the wild, they face many dangers, including from humans. An elephant living in a zoo has a very different life, a much safer one. But they must live a life controlled by humans and cope without the support of their social herd. So, are zoos a good place for elephants? Would a 'wild' life necessarily be a longer, safer or better life? And, how do we even know what counts as a 'good life' if you are an elephant?

This season is a special collaboration between the ABC Audio Studios and WNYC Studios in New York City.

Hosts: Carl Smith and Shumita Basu

Series Producer: Kyla Slaven

Executive Producers: Emily Botein and Ian Walker

Producer: Amy Pearl

Sound Engineers: Isaac Jones, Hamish Camilleri, Jolen Camilleri

Production Support: Sarah Sandbach and Brigit Berger

Making friends and keeping friends can be hard. Sometimes you like someone a lot and then one of you changes and your friendship ends. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle thought friendship was one of the most important things in life and he came up with three main types of friendships. This show lets you think about what kind of friends you have and why.

This season is a special collaboration between the ABC Audio Studios and WNYC Studios in New York City.

Hosts: Carl Smith and Shumita Basu

Series Producer: Kyla Slaven

Executive Producers: Emily Botein and Ian Walker

Producer: Amy Pearl

Sound Engineers: Isaac Jones, Hamish Camilleri, Jolen Camilleri

Production Support: Sarah Sandbach and Brigit Berger

An out-of-control train is heading straight for a group of people who don’t know they are about to be hit.  You, as the driver, have some life and death decisions to make.  What will you do?  Hop on for a journey into one of the world’s most famous thought experiments.

Kids dob to parents and teachers for all kinds of reasons.  It often feels bad when someone tells on you.

The Ancient Romans were a bloodthirsty lot. As entertainment they headed down to the local arena, to watch people and animals fight to the death.

Elephants are extremely intelligent and highly social creatures who traditionally live in large family herds.  But their traditional natural world isn't perfect.

Making friends and keeping friends can be hard. Sometimes you like someone a lot and then one of you changes and your friendship ends.

While Molly stays at home to fight crime and breed endangered lizards, Carl packs his toothbrush and some clean underwear for Short & Curly’s big adventure to New York City.

Australia is on the war path, pledging to kill two million feral cats by 2020. They felines are biologically the same creatures as the kitties people have as pets at home, but most were born in the wild. Feral cats are said to be responsible for millions of native animals and birds being killed each year and their numbers are skyrocketing. So, a big program to cull cats is underway. Is it okay to take some lives to protect many others? And what about the poor cats? Is it their fault humans brought them here, then let them loose in the environment?

Producer: Kyla Slaven

Executive Producer: Ian Walker

Guest: Gregory Andrews, Threatened Species Commissioner Department of Environment and Energy, Australian Government

Brains Trust: Oliver, Hugh, Lily, Polly, Georgie, and Paddy from Millthorpe Public School, NSW