Kate Cole-Adams, Christine Bryden and others reflect on the mysteries of memory, consciousness and forgetting.

Daniel Browning, Alexis Wright and Yasmin Newman reflect on the role of water in shaping identity, memory and culture.

Yotam Ottolenghi, Adam Liaw and Wendy Harmer on our very contemporary obsession with food.

From cats on the internet to the animals who die en masse for our food we explore the world of fauna and our apathy, ambivalence and awe when we think about the world of animals.

George Megalogenis, Rita Panahi, Lauren Duca, Peter Mares and others explore the problem of population in a rapidly changing political, economic and environmental landscape.

Brit Bennett, Ben Law, Alice Pung and others reflect on the agony, excitement and melancholy that accompanies growing up.

Nick Xenophon, Alain de Botton, Kate Holden and Jenny Valentish on the highs and lows of addiction.

Gary Shteyngart, Matthew Mitcham, Michael Carr-Gregg and Susan Wyndham reflect on sadness, failure and what happens when the bleakness overwhelms.

Cory Doctorow, Adam Liaw, Kimba Griffith and others explore our idea of the future in a rapidly changing world.

Ben Pobjie, Tara Moss and Jon Ronson gaze bravely into the abyss.