Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

The Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches, was a 15th century manual that was directly responsible for the trials and executions thousands of women across Europe for the crime of witchcraft.

Now the University of Melbourne’s Archives and Special Collections, has acquired a rare copy of the tome, bringing the witch trials of Europe to life for budding historians. 

Guest: Dr. Charlotte Millar, Senior lecturer in History at the University of Melbourne

Astrology's place in popular culture can be traced back to Linda Goodman, whose 1968 book Sun Signs was the first astrology book to make it onto the New York Times bestseller list, and who was paid an unprecedented $2.25 million advance for her 1978 book Love Signs. Despite her astronomical success, Linda fell into obscurity after a devastating personal tragedy. 

A long-time lover of Linda's work, writer and professor Courtney Ann LaFaive set out to rectify her reputation with a feminist biography. But the haziness of Linda's personal archive created unique challenges for her biographer, and opened up poignant reflections on grief.

Guest: Courtney Ann LaFaive, author of Follow The Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America's Forgotten Astrology Queen.

When the Australian Labor Party turned 100 in 1991, one of ways the centenary was marked was the publication of a commissioned history by Ross McMullin: “The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991” 

In 2026, McMullin has published a new edition, which he describes as telling “the story of Australia’s oldest and most resilient and significant political party through the people who shaped it.”

Guest: Ross McMullin, historian and author

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is not a registered political party but its name is a parody of, and a reference to the Chief Judge of India’s Supreme Court referring to some young people as cockroaches.  

Alice Pung is the daughter of ethnic Chinese Cambodian migrants who fled the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge for Melbourne in the 1980s. She wrote about the joys and struggles of growing up in a migrant community in her first memoir Unpolished Gem, which won the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards.

Alice went on to write five other books to much acclaim and her first novel Laurinda was adapted for the stage. She was awarded an Order of Australia medal for services to literature in 2022.

Guest: Alice Pung, writer-in-residence at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne, Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University and lawyer at the Fair Work Commission

'Rock star' classicist Mary Beard is back in the spotlight with a new book, Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old.' Reflecting on half a century spent teaching and studying the classics, the beloved British historian explains why revolutionaries, dictators and pop stars have all been transfixed by the ancient world. Mary also reveals how her own passion for classics was sparked by a close-up childhood encounter with a 4,000-year-old piece of Egyptian bread.

Guest: Mary Beard, Professor Emerita of Classics at Cambridge, Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement and trustee of the British Museum.

Mary Beard co-hosts the Instant Classics podcast with Charlotte Higgins.

Scientists have drawn up the first complete global map of the hidden fungal super-highway that runs beneath our feet. These mycorrhizal networks stretch an astonishing 110 quadrillion kilometres, which is about 1 billion times the distance of the Earth to the sun. Researchers estimate that the fungal super-highway moves around 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide into soils each year and plays a major role in supporting plants and regulating the climate.

Guest: Dr Justin Stewart, data scientist at the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)

In his new book, Angertainment, Ed Coper explores how online rage has grown into a cultural force offline, shaping politics, identity and influence. Coper argues that the fury flooding our feeds is not a reflection of human nature. It is the product of a purpose-built machine engineered to amplify division and monetise outrage. 

Guest: Ed Coper, political advisor, communications consultant and author

Laughing might seem uniquely human, but our closest relatives in the animal kingdom do it too. A groundbreaking new study has now compared the laughter of chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and humans. They were able to identify rhythmic similarities in laughter recordings which could shed light on how human speech evolved.

Guest: Dr Chiara De Gregorio, a primatologist at the University of Warwick and lead author of the study published in the June issue of Communications Biology.

The Moroccan rapper and filmmaker Mehdi El Youbi was arrested in Casablanca on Monday 13 July. Activists say El Youbi's arrest coincides with Moroccan authorities' intensifying repression of critical voices and the Gen Z protest movement. Omar Radi, an investigative journalist and human rights activist who was previously jailed in Morocco himself, describes El Youbi as "the most outspoken and politically direct Moroccan rapper."

Guest: Omar Radi, investigative journalist and human rights activist