Sunday Extra - Full program podcast

With Israel days away from their first national election since the 2023 October 7 terrorist attacks, how will the hostage families vote? In Germany, the Bundestag held a heated debate on whether it should make a national apology to Namibia for crimes during its colonial era. The story of sickle cell anaemia, caused by a genetic mutation originating in sub-saharan Africa - is so interesting that Kevin Davies has written a biography of the disease. As the US midterms approach, social media misinformation campaigns are targeting voters, and they affect us in Australia, too.

Plus, the second Boyer Lecture by associate professor Louisa Lim, the Shot on Sh!t Film Festival dedicated to non-professional cameras, and on The Year That Made Me, star of Bollywood and Playschool, Nicholas Brown.

Will the new African Credit Rating Agency level the playing field for the world's poorest nations? What is next for Nepal after August's devastating floods? In the wake of the death of lab worker at a Russian anti-plague institute, should we be worried about lab leaks?

And ethical hacker Freakyclown shares lessons from his decades of experience robbing banks (legally). 

Plus on The Year That Made Me, defence lawyer turned playwright Suzie Miller on the year she didn't think she'd survive.

Raygun on her doco Breaking Badly, Dr Karl Deisseroth on winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine, and nonagenarian comic, Liz Hicklin on her play Sylvia Plath Stole My Boyfriend.

Plus, Papua's melting glaciers, the complexity of keeping time on the moon, and the story of vaudeville sensation Harry Burrell aka Platypus Man. 

And on The Year That Made Me, photojournalist Lorrie Graham reflects on her five decade career. 

As Nike's value plummets, is it's reputation heading in the same direction? What does it take to clear a war-ravaged country of landmines? And who was the real man behind the myth of Stephen Hawking. 

Plus Jeremy Dicker returns for Extra Intrigue, the cover-up of failed WWII rescue mission in Borneo, and a play that shares the stories of displaced children from Afghanistan and Syria.

And on The Year That Made Me, refugee, footballer, model, and NGO founder Dr Anyier Kuol.

Sunday Extra presents a mix of national and international affairs, analysis and investigation.

Indonesia’s ambitious free nutritious meals program is plagued by food poisoning, the inaugural Bangsamoro Parliamentary election and research revising Australia's pre-colonial population. 

Plus, the mind behind the Australian classic ‘Possum Magic’ Mem Fox,  Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Joby Warrick and Melanie Huang Buntine’s “love letter to the personal computer”. 

A deep dive into the newly expanded BRICS+ summit, the breakdown of the Indus Treaty, and the world's store of gold.

Also, the extraordinary life of Australia's first indigenous military officer, the mysterious world of Echidnas, and a French astrophysist making waves.

Then on The Year That Made Me, Australian author Sandy 'AJ' Mackinnon on a life full of spontaneous adventure.

Introducing Extra Intrigue a new monthly segment on the global affairs stories you might have missed. Plus, fast fashion giant Shein floats on the Hong Kong share market, the woman behind NASA's new telescope, and author Rosalie Ham on the Year that Made Me.

Syria's shifting fortunes, a new Australia-Japan defence pact, and the promise (or peril) of AI-powered democracy. 

Plus Andrew Upton, Lily Shearer, Jim Henson's imaginative legacy, and Danny Estrin's moving race against time to tell a story worth sharing.

Taiwan prepares for the predicted 2027 invasion by China, hunger stones in the dry river-beds of Europe remind us of the devastation of drought, medical hope from the Clinical Trial of the Year, and on The Year That Made Me, former cricket Bharat Sundaresan shares his love of cricket... and poetry.