Your biology’s been hacked. Your naturally evolved appetite would allow you to eat exactly the right amount of food every day, except that most of us live in highly industrialised food environments today. Two of nutrition’s most productive scientists explain how we ended up here, and how you can eat healthier in an imbalanced food environment. ~~~ Why don’t animals need calorie trackers? Baboons don’t know the difference between fats and carbs, don’t follow a keto diet and don’t track what they ...
May 20, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Loneliness is becoming more common, and it’s making us sick. But why? Professor Melody Ding studies loneliness from a public health perspective, and she wants us to design communities where everyone has access to a flourishing social life. ~~~ There have never been more people living on the planet than now. And yet loneliness has become a major health concern worldwide – it’s serious enough that the World Health Organisation has declared it a public health concern. Professor Melody Ding examines...
May 06, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 5
What makes a childhood good? Every parent wants their kids to be safe, and for their childhoods to set them up for a productive and fulfilling adulthood. But what about the childhood itself? How do we make sure every child in Australia gets to truly be a kid? Universal childcare might be the answer... ~~~ Do you ever wish you could be a kid again? Remember the freedom of childhood – no job, no responsibilities, no worries... if you were lucky. In the lucky country, every child should have the op...
Apr 22, 2025•29 min•Season 4Ep. 4
The widespread problem of substance abuse has plagued humans throughout history. It robs potential, ruins lives. Yet nothing we’ve tried has ever solved addiction. Professor Michael Bowen wants to change this. He went looking for a solution not in the human body, but in the brain. And what he’s found could change the way we treat addiction forever. ~~~ Addiction – substance abuse – is a wicked problem in our modern era. It robs potential, ruins lives. Yet it isn’t a new problem. Over and over ag...
Apr 08, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Social media connects us to friends and family, and gives us an unprecedented window to the wider world. But how much do we really know about how social media, and the barons who run these platforms, shape our views and our communities? Former newspaper editor and current Meta advisor Alan Rusbridger sheds light on the question of whether social media is strengthening democracy – or strangling it. Social media is now an inextricable part of our lives. It provides many social goods: connection to...
Mar 25, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 2
It’s in the name, sure... But is AI really ‘intelligent’? Does it ‘think’? What do you know about how these tools were made, who owns them now, and who determines the way they work? How can you turn AI to best advantage in business and personal spheres? Now that AI’s on the tip of everyone’s tongues and offered as a service by almost every company you encounter, it’s time to examine your own relationship with the technology. Dr Sandra Peter wants to make technology work for people. Through her r...
Mar 11, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 1
THE SOLUTIONISTS SUMMER THROWBACK: Heatwaves are an invisible killer, and they’re becoming more common. With another scorching summer already upon us, you need to know how to keep you and your family cool when temperatures soar. In this episode, originally published in 2023, heat expert Ollie Jay gives you a tour of his groundbreaking thermal ergonomics lab and teaches you how to stay safe during a heatwave. Ollie explains how extreme heat affects the human body and shares easy, cost-effective w...
Dec 17, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Who gets to tell the story of Australia? This is the question always at the forefront of Michael Dagostino’s mind. Michael’s the Director of Museums and Cultural Engagement at the University of Sydney, meaning he oversees its famous Chau Chak Wing museum. The museum houses tens of thousands of objects, all of which tell a story. But how does an object tell a story? And how does the way we collect and house them affect that story? Michael shares how art offered him a sense of place and identity a...
Dec 10, 2024•27 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Where do your values come from? What do you care about, and why? If you're one of the growing number of non-religious people in Australia, you might find this question pretty hard to answer... Politics and philosophy professor Alexandre Lefebvre says that if this sounds like you, you might be living by a philosophy you didn't even know you had. Alex believes liberalism could be the source of your very soul. It isn't just about politics - it's actually the hidden operating system running in the b...
Nov 26, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Why’s it so hard to be healthy? Why does everyone recommend a Mediterranean diet? Is diet or exercise more important? Is intermittent fasting actually useful? When the entire world’s collective knowledge is at your fingertips, why’s it still so difficult to answer the kinds of questions we’ve been asking for millennia? Nutrition and longevity expert Luigi Fontana says it’s because nutrition isn’t as simple as we’d like to think. Food is complex; it’s deeply tied to our emotions, our health and o...
Nov 12, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Why doesn’t anyone seem to trust journalists anymore? Or politicians? Or anyone, really? Are we all becoming paranoid, or has our trust been broken by those we lent it to? Lenore Taylor’s the editor-in-chief of The Guardian Australia and the host of the Guardian’s Full Story podcast . Lenore jokes that journos have always been about as trusted as used car salesmen, but she’s worried facts don’t mean what they used to anymore. Lenore takes you back to the moment she noticed facts were losing thei...
Oct 29, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 5
There’s no one else on the planet just like you. So why do you take the same medicine as everyone else when you get sick? Professor David James is an expert is obesity and diabetes, and he says the current medical system isn’t good enough. But as researchers and clinicians learn more about how our genetics work, a better path is beginning to clear. David explains how your genetics and environment interact with one another and influence your health, and what this means for the future of medicine....
Oct 15, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Deanna D’Alessandro is the director of the University of Sydney’s Net Zero Institute ... So why does she want it dissolved? “In 2051, my goodness, I hope we do not need the Net Zero Institute,” she says. “We should have solved this problem by then.” So what needs to happen in the meantime? Deanna shares the personal connection to the planet that sparked her passion for climate science, and explains how and why the Net Zero Institute pulls together the work of physicists, chemists, lawyers, busin...
Oct 01, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 3
“When I say what I do for a living, most women have a story,” says Rae Cooper. “Women have a way of being able to understand what it is pretty easily. I think men find it a little bit more... academic.” Rae Cooper is Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations at the University of Sydney. She says Australia hasn’t come nearly far enough in the fight for gender equality at work, and there’s a few reasons why. You’ll also hear how professionals Penny and Glen juggle their careers and famili...
Sep 17, 2024•27 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Why do you live where you live? If you’re lucky, it’s by choice. Maybe you love the solitude and sprawling nature of the bush. Maybe you can’t get enough of the coffee, cuisine and culture that makes your dense inner-city neighbourhood special. Many of us don’t get to choose, though. People are forced into tiny living spaces as their cities grow in population, while others are pushed to the outskirts when gentrification prices them out of their homes. As our global population grows and the clima...
Sep 03, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 1
If you’re concerned about eating disorders or body image issues, whether you need support for yourself or someone you care about, you can call the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673. Picture something that absolutely terrifies you. Now, imagine you’re forced to confront it multiple times a day – and nobody understands why it makes you feel distressed. Dr Sarah Maguire , the director of the InsideOut Institute , says this is the reality many people with an eating disorder face at meal times. “Y...
May 28, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 6
As the climate changes and populations boom, water supplies are under increasing pressure. The idea of drinking water that was once swirling down your toilet bowl or kitchen sink may make you feel squeamish, but it could hold the key to future water security. University of Sydney Professor Stuart Khan explains the promise of purified recycled water, and how it can future-proof water supplies in a thirsty nation prone to drought. “There is the opportunity to start thinking more about a circular e...
May 14, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 5
When Sophie Gee’s husband was suddenly rushed to hospital, her life was plunged into uncertainty. Amid the chaos, she discovered a surprising source of strength: her study of classic literature, and in particular, the works of Jane Austen. Sophie, who was Associate Chair of the English Department at Princeton until she came to the University of Sydney as a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, says stories have made her more resilient. “Literature teaches us how to be uncertain, how to tolerate discomfort, ...
Apr 30, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 4
“If you’re going to have a breakdown, try not to have it in a top secret secure naval dockyard.” You might know Alastair Campbell as the formidable former press secretary of British prime minister Tony Blair and co-host of popular podcast The Rest is Politics . But back in 1996, when Alastair was a high-flying tabloid journalist, his mind suddenly unravelled. “I was hearing voices and seeing things that weren’t there.” Alastair thought his breakdown would spell the end of both his marriage and h...
Apr 21, 2024•44 min•Season 2Ep. 3
If you had a clone of yourself, what would you want it to do? Professor Danny Liu pictures a classroom in the not-too-distant future where teachers work alongside AI ‘clones’ to help their students learn. “It’s not about replacing them as teachers. It’s about empowering them and making them more effective.” The role of artificial intelligence in education has been hotly debated, with concerns about cheating creating headlines. But what if we could harness regenerative AI to transform education f...
Apr 02, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 2
If you go into your backyard right now, you’ll be able to find a species of insect that is new to science. Tanya Latty guarantees it – even if you live in the inner city. Tanya has loved creepy crawlies since she was little, and is now an entomologist at the University of Sydney. “You would be surprised how many things we don't know. There are all sorts of critters, most of which are probably unidentified.” But around the world, insects are in trouble. “We’re almost certainly losing species fast...
Mar 19, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 1
After her son died of SIDS, Dr Carmel Harrington left her job as a lawyer to devote her career to finding answers. “You blame yourself. You must have missed something. How can such a catastrophic event occur without any sign or symptom?” Her groundbreaking research into SIDS opened up another mission: to wake society up to the critical importance of sleep. Carmel is the managing director of Sleep for Health . High-flying CEOs and even the Australian military are now turning to her expertise in a...
Dec 19, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Neonatologist Adrienne Gordon helps save the lives of tiny babies in intensive care. They constantly amaze her. Their unique personalities. How fast they learn. The way they can be so close to death and yet go on to thrive. Adrienne shares what parents need to know about the first 1,000 days, the critical period from conception to the age of two. “Some of the most important aspects of life are before you even arrive,” Adrienne says. The first 1,000 days lay the foundation for lifelong physical a...
Dec 05, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Andrew Scott was born in 1965. His identical twin died within the first few days of life. Decades later, Andrew looked through the stats, and got a surprise. "I found that the first year of life was the most common age of death in England at that time. Today, the most common age of death is 87,” he says. We’re all living longer, and in many countries, a baby born today could easily live to 100. Andrew is a world-leading expert on longevity, a Professor of Economics at London Business School , an...
Nov 21, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In the dark of night, through the mud and the monsoon rain, Richard Harris and a group of cave divers band together for a risky mission to rescue a group of boys from a flooded cave in Thailand. Her country split down the middle, Julia Gillard negotiates for 17 agonising days to win the support of crossbench politicians and become Australia’s first female prime minister. To achieve big and lasting change, people need to find a way to speak across lines of difference and work together for a commo...
Nov 07, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 3
“She started to explain to me about rhythms and melodies and harmonies and how they all fit together in a beautiful symmetry. And I said to her, ‘That is all mathematics.’” An infectious smile flashes across Eddie Woo’s face as he recalls meeting singer-songwriter Odette backstage at a TED Talk. She told him she didn’t like maths; he found a way to connect it to her world. “Mathematics is like music to the mind, in a way that music is like mathematics to the soul.” Eddie’s ability to connect peo...
Oct 24, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Picture the towering waves of a tsunami rolling in. The ground cracking open in an earthquake. Fiery red embers raining down during a bushfire. Heatwaves kill more people than all natural disasters combined – but because they’re not visually dramatic, we underestimate how dangerous they are. “On the day of a heatwave, it will look very much like it does today. The people dying during heat waves are doing so predominantly outside of the gaze of the public. They're dying at home, alone, isolated, ...
Oct 10, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 1
We’re at the crossroads of uncertainty and innovation. From global warming to tech addiction, huge demographic shifts and geopolitical tensions – it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But some incredible people are putting their minds toward solving the most pressing issues of our time. They’re working to make our world a better place to call home. Join Mark Scott, the Vice Chancellor and President at the University of Sydney, and get ready to meet the people making change happen. The Solutionists . Fo...
Oct 03, 2023•3 min
