Big Ideas
ఛానెల్ వివరాలు
Big Ideas
Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.
ఇటీవలి ఎపిసోడ్లు
347 ఎపిసోడ్లు
Meet Australia’s next woman prime minister? Four changemakers here to WOW
Don't miss meeting these four resilient women creating the change they want to see in the world. At 20, Monique “Mermaid” Murphy’s had a catastrophic...
James Bond and Jason Bourne move over – a real spy talks about his workday
He jumped off a plane, exchanged the notorious briefcase on a park bench and got his identity blown by an asset under torture. Sounds like fiction? Bu...
Finding skeletons in the closet — the ethics of DNA testing in family history research
DNA testing has helped family history researchers fill in the blanks in their family trees. While that can be a good thing, it can also lead to unexpe...
Vested interests vs public interest? The relation of Australian governments with the fossil fuel industry
How has the fossil fuel industry wielded influence over Australian governments and their policies? What does it take to make ambitious change in the p...
We asked for workers and got people — life on the controversial visa putting food on your plate
A workforce we rarely hear about, lives in limbo, and stories from the coalface. From economic gains and cultural exchanges to exploitation and abscon...
When thinking together goes wrong — exploring the dark side of collaboration
At face value, collaboration sounds like a good thing: collaboration in the classroom, with colleagues, or between nations. But throughout history, co...
House security systems – who really benefits?
Your personal safety is big business, so much so that it’s given rise to “security capitalism”, a phenomenon where attempts to buy personal safety sha...
Helen Garner on the beauty and grandeur of footy
"Homeric struggle", a desperate night-ballet, an ethical training ground for boys and men. Aussie Rules is a multimillion-dollar industry, but at its...
Jem Bendell, the fake green fairytale, and how to survive civilisational collapse
We’re past the brink of civilisational collapse. And many environmentalists are pushing a “fake green fairytale”. Jem Bendell’s arguments have inspire...
Kara Swisher and Marc Fennell take on the Tech Bros
We know them as Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos, Gates, Jobs. But to Kara Swisher, they're Mark, Elon, Jeff, Bill, and Steve. She was once a Silicon Valley in...
The relationship between brain and machine
Imagine a world where your brain is enhanced through cutting-edge technologies and next-generation AI, blurring the lines between organic and digital...
On the art of music writing — with writers who rcok!
You've got half an hour with Lou Reed/ Nick Cave/ Courtney Love: what do you ask them? Three of Australia's best music writers share their craft, and...
Can storytellers change the world? Tim Winton and Rachel Perkins join Natasha Mitchell
Two of Australia’s most influential and legendary storytellers, author Tim Winton and filmmaker Rachel Perkins, join Natasha Mitchell at WOMADelaide’s...
History of populist rage in America
Populism is part of American political history. It has been and still is the dominant vocabulary of dissent.
But the current resurrection of au...
Meditation and mindfulness in the digital age
How many times have you checked your phone today? How many tabs are open in your web browser? Do you feel in control of your attention?
In the...
The secrets of wildlife documentaries
Satyajit Das presents a provocative examination of the use and abuse of images of wild animals, and how they shape our relationships with the natural...
The Knowledge Gene — an incredible story of the origins of human creativity
Prepare to have your mind blown with a sweeping saga that connects human evolution, brains, genes, art, music, creativity, knowledge, dyslexia, autism...
Sarah Churchwell asks — Will American democracy survive the Dark Enlightenment?
Historian Sarah Churchwell takes you on a gripping and confronting journey into America's recent past to explain its extraordinary present, starting w...
2025 Grammy winner Ruthie Foster talks about her life and music
After five nominations, Ruthie Foster has taken home the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album - affirming her status as an American mus...
Childless on purpose — the fertility crisis and the big decision
When you enter your childbearing years, it can feel like everyone from the treasurer, your mum, and probably your Instagram reels really wants you to...
Surfer Tim Baker and doctor Peter Goldsworthy on living well with cancer
Meet two men who will change the way you think about an experience most of us fear but will be touched by in some way. In Patting the Shark, surfing...
Understand your microbiome
Are fermented foods really good for us? Do antibiotics destroy our gut flora? And have you heard about poo transplants?
Our gut is teeming with...
Doctor Who at 60 — still as attractive as ever
Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change. It's been able to evolve and adapt more radica...
The role of spirituality and religion in mental health care
The connection between body and mind is well established. But mental health expert Daniel Fung also includes the soul in this 'ecosystem' that shapes...
A song for every feeling? Pub Choir's Astrid Jorgensen with Natasha Mitchell
From innocently conning controversial radio duo Kyle and Jackie O as a kid, time in a Zambian convent as a teen, to nearly becoming an air traffic con...
Victoria's new treaty with First Peoples — a turning point for Australia?
Australia now has its first treaty with this country's first peoples. After nearly a decade of formal consultation and negotiation, the Victorian Stat...
Pay attention — writer Emily Maguire finds promiscuous curiosity and cultural receptivity in the creative process
Humans are by nature creative, but how do we turn a spark of inspiration into something more tangible? Author Emily Maguire draws inspiration from som...
Can science keep dementia at bay and keep your brain sharper − for longer?
As we grow older, changes to our bodies and minds are inevitable. But what if science could help us age better? Our experts on Big Ideas uncover the l...
Acclaimed author Christos Tsiolkas on fence-sitting in a time of fracture
When acclaimed Australia author Christos Tsiolkas was invited to give the 2025 Ray Mathew Lecture at the National Library of Australia, he had in mind...
The stories we tell about cricket — with Paul Giles and Gideon Haigh
From The Don to Warny, the Gabba to the G, from its legacy of British colonialism, to the Asian powerhouse nations of today — cricket is not just a sp...
Judge Navi Pillay on the fight for human rights, justice and accountability
Born in apartheid South Africa, she became the country's first female high court judge. She sat on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and...
Musician Holly Rankin on why young Australians feel that politics isn't delivering for them
Young Australians are losing faith that our politics, our civic institutions and the mainstream media are working for them. Why is this? And how can o...
What are universities for today? The usefulness of "useless" knowledge
Are our universities facing an existential crisis by trying to be too many things? Places for learning, research, the production of new knowledge, the...
Jane Caro — why Australia is failing our school system
We often hear about "failing schools", but what if it is us, the Australian community, who are failing them? Public school advocate Jane Caro argues...
Coming Out and Inviting In — with Zoe Terakes, Nina Oyama, Mon Schafter, Atari Metcalf, Ji Wallace
Join ABC's Mon Schafter and four incredible speakers as they share honest, powerful stories about revealing their identities on their own terms. From...
Searching for convivencia — philosopher AC Grayling makes peace in the culture wars
If you're a feminist, or pro-civil or gay rights, does that make you "woke"? And if you're not, does that mean you should be cancelled, or abused onli...
The Sophia Club live philosophy — what are friends for?
Friends are different from family. We choose them and they choose us. Philosophers long wondered about what makes friendship such a distinctive relati...
Understanding China's history is crucial for Australia
To deal with China as a major trading partner, and also a national security threat requires understanding the history that made China what it is today...
Universities and other antidotes to authoritarianism
The United States has long been famous for its world leading universities. But in the face of research funding cuts, government attacks on free speech...
One day, everyone will have always been against this — Omar El Akkad and Peter Greste reckon with Western hypocrisy over Israel's war on Gaza
The Western world is supposed to stand for values like freedom, justice and human rights, a commitment to meet wrongdoing with consequence, guided by...