Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

As cases of bird flu in mammals surge, and central Africa experiences an outbreak of Mpox, a new report for the WHO says the lack of preparation has left the world vulnerable to a devastating new pandemic. 

Olivia went on Australia’s biggest show to find love. She came out as Australia's "most hated" reality TV star and lost almost everything.

Reporter Annika Blau investigates the making of a TV villain.

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

Srdja is the executive director of the Centre for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies which trains pro-democracy activists from all over the world. 

In 2000, he led the Serbian non-violent organisation Otpor! that helped overthrow President Slobodan Milošević.

Guest: Srdja Popovic, author of Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World.

How many people can say that they’ve called in the marines to help carry out their scientific research? 13 volunteer Marines from the Hellenic Armed Forces donned 3500-year-old armour and ran drills and simulated battles inspired by Homer’s Iliad, to solve a mystery that's been puzzling archaeologists for decades. 

The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986 is an event seared into the memory of people all over the world. In a new book,  Adam Higginbotham gives a compelling account of how, in his words, America’s “smartest minds … unwittingly sent seven men and women to their deaths.” One of those women, famously, was Christa McAuliffe who was supposed to become the first Teacher in Space. 

In the past two weeks a tit-for-tat balloon offensive has broken out on the Korean peninsula. Activists in the south are sending balloons with anti-Pyongyang messages, and the North is responding with balloons carrying garbage and animal faeces. 

 Healthy democracies need viable opposition parties, to hold governments to account and to offer alternative policy and intellectual positions. But opposition can also be a thankless task. New book, ‘The Art of Opposition’ studies Australian oppositions across all federal and state jurisdictions. 

It was the infamous Royal prank call that shattered lives. One woman took her own life; another is haunted to this day. Reporter Rachael Cusick investigates - how did a joke go so wrong?

Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz's new film 'Explanation for Everything' explores the cultural cracks in Hungarian society exacerbated by polarisation and nationalism.

He tells the story of a complicated teenage love triangle: Abel, a high school student hopelessly in love with his best friend Janka. But she has her own unrequited love with married history teacher Jakab, who has had previous confrontation with Abel's conservative father. The tensions of a polarisedsociety come unexpectedly to the surface when Abel’s history graduationexam turns into a national scandal.

Guest: Gábor Reisz, director of 'Explanation for Everything' (2024).