Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Nepal's week of upheavel

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A relative state of calm has returned to Kathmandu with the swearing in of Nepal's new interim Prime Minister, Sushila Karki. The new leader takes he...

Hatching the mystery of why birds sing

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Grainne Cleary is a wildlife ecologist who is one of Australia's most enthusiastic bird lovers. But in writing her new book 'Why Birds Sing', she ...

The foreign judges still presiding in Hong Kong courts

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation recently released a report calling on all foreign judges in the territory to resign.

Cooking for Seamus

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“Cooking for Seamus” is a TV cooking project funded by Screen Australia.The uniqueness of this show comes from the fact that Seamus, the judge of...

The Year that Made Me: Peter Shmigel, 2022

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Shmigel's story began in New York City where he grew up steeped in the culture of his Ukrainian refugee parents. His life has since included st...

Croak of the Month - Sept 2025

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the Ornate Burrowing Frog! As their name implies, these frogs spend much of their life, particularly in dry times and during the day, buried ...

The science of saving Antarctica

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Antarctica is at the frontline of witnessing the effects of climate change and Dr Chen Zhao is one of the lead researchers mapping how the Antarctic ...

Yeah-Nah: Can AI understand Aussie sarcasm?

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, are usually trained on Standard American English. But with all the dialects of English that exist outside...

The history of the 'Like' button

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People on the internet love to like, in fact clicks on 'Like' buttons "now add up to over 160 billion per day - roughly equivalent to every person o...

When fatherhood is a calling

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Arne Rubinstein has spent more than 30 years helping parents and teenagers through the complex transition into adulthood through his Rites of Pas...

FOI law to be strengthened, but for who?

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week Federal Attorney General Michelle Rowland introduced the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill to Federal Parliament. The Centre for Publi...

Winston the World War 2 diplomacy platypus

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1943, Australian Attorney-General Doc Evatt sent UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill... a platypus. Why? For diplomacy, of course!When it inevita...

The Year That Made Me: 2018, Kate Marvel

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Kate Marvel was named by Time Magazine one of 15 Women Leading the Fight Against Climate Change in 2019. She was described as someone who “cuts...

A good dance battle is better than therapy

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Brisbane is about getting ready for the dance battle of the year, when Brisbane Festival hosts the 7th year of the sequin-infested, hairspray-recomme...

Tweet of the Week: 31 August 2025

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is found dry woodland across the south of Australia – the Yellow-plumed Honeyeater.

What the sovereign citizen movement tell us about Australia

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Experts say we’ve seen a mainstreaming of once-fringe conspiracy beliefs, fuelled in part by the pandemic and amplified by social media.So what do ...

Unravelling the secrets of a Viking-Age treasure hoard

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A hoard of treasure found in the lowlands of Scotland has re-written what historians know about the Viking-age in Britain. Containing silver and gold...

Kumanjayi Walker, Zachary Rolfe and the power of race in Australia

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Smuggling USB drives into North Korea

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Flash drives for Freedom is a long-running initiative by the Human Rights Foundation which has smuggled 140,000 donated USB drives, SD cards and micr...

Controversial new hunting rules for NSW

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 'Right to Hunt' is at the centre of a controversial new bill being debated in NSW parliament at the moment. Introduced by the Shooters, Fishers a...

What's wrong with the world map?

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The most common map of the world is one that was created in the 16th century known as the Mercator projection. Now the African Union has joined a cam...

Tweet of the week 24 August 2025

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week the Tweet is the Pilotbird.It's chocolate-brown in colour, and it measures about 18 centimetres. And although it's a secretive bird, that b...

The Year that Made Me: Josh Szeps, 2010

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Podcaster and broadcaster Josh Szeps has made a career out of making uncomfortable conversations comfortable. He has worked in America on programs li...

The man who killed Pluto

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was on the 24th August 2006, that the International Astronomical Union changed the definition of planet which meant that Pluto lost its status as ...

Working less for better productivity

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Working 4 days a week on the same salary might seem like an unrealistic dream, but years of trials by businesses world wide show that reducing work h...

The role of the CIA in getting George Orwell's books behind the iron curtain.

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

George Orwell wrote the book Animal Farm during WW2 as he tried to come to terms with his disappointment in the harsh reality of life in the Soviet U...

ICC sets precedent on crimes against LGBTQI+ Afghans

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The International Criminal Court set an important precedent in international law last month when it included in the arrest warrants issued for member...

India's Kashmir Book Ban

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

100 word including guest & book

Tweet of the week 12 October 2025

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

Not just scream queens: the women who shaped horror cinema

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The vast contributions of women to horror film is explored in a new documentary titled 1000 Women in Horror. Far from just being scream queens, women...

The Year that Made Me: Julian Kingma, 2017

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Julian Kingma's photo essay book, The Power of Choice, shows the vulnerable, personal and surprisingly beautiful journey of terminally ill people, th...

The colourful language of book cursing

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Books have always aroused strong emotions in people. So much so that book owners throughout history have written curses in the front of the book to d...

Tweet of the week - August 17, 2025

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller likes wet forest along the east coast – the Russet-tailed Thrush.

Tweet of the week - 14 September, 2025

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's colourful mystery caller has a fondness for tall trees along rivers – the Regent Parrot.

Kirli Saunders - connecting to the past and future through poetry

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kirli Saunder is a Gunai woman from East Gippsland Victoria who’s written nine books including the poetry collections, Kindred, and Returning  a...

Is the Australian National Dictionary doomed?

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Australian National University is being criticised for the decision to disestablish the Australian National Dictionary Centre, which since 1988 ...

What's coming up in the ABS Census in 2026?

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ABS described the Census testing process in a statement released this week, testing of potential changes to the content of the Census has been u...

Putin met Trump on the former Russian territory of Alaska

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alaska has been the location of some big negotiations in the past. Back in 1867, the Russians sold the territory to America for 7.2 million dollars, ...

Indonesia celebrates 80 years of independence

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 August 1945, Indonesian nationalist leaders Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesia’s independence, formally ending 350 years of Dutch...

Tweet of the week 30 November, 2025

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is a highly secretive inhabitant of arid grassland – the Night Parrot.

Tweet of the week, 8 February 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is cloaked in sparkling, iridescent blue-black plumage – the Spangled Drongo.

Tweet of the week, 8 March 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is a tiny, but colourful, nectivore found across the south of the country – the Purple-crowned Lorikeet.

Tweet of the week, 15 March 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: Bret McKenzie, 1999

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bret McKenzie is part of the world-conquering New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.  And if that wasn't enough, his song written for the...

Tweet of the week 10 August 2025

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller skulks in dense cover near mudflats and marshes all over mainland Australia – the colourful Buff-banded Rail.

How global polarisation is effecting the Anglican church

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Right Reverend Susan Bell is the 12th Bishop of Niagara in Canada and is in Australia to give the Barry Marshall Memorial Lecture at the Universi...

Everything you never wanted to know about the bagpipes

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While the bagpipes are the national instrument of Scotland, how global is their history? The first written account of someone playing the bagpipes wa...

Should the SRY test be used to determine gender in sport?

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Women competing at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September will have to undergo an SRY gene test before competing. But the professor ...

Who is responsible for eradicating modern slavery?

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australian Uyghurs are taking Kmart to court, in a bid to determine whether Kmart engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct around the use of force...

Kenneth Roth reflects on a career fighting for human rights

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For almost twenty years under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch carried out investigations in 100 countries to uncover and expose hu...

Croak of the Month - 3 August 2025

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: John Simpson (2024)

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How personal tragedy drove John Simpson to establish a foundation that aims to better connect urban and rural Australia. GUEST: John Simpson AM Dep...

Everyday objects that changed our lives

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The socks that fell up not down, Stackhats and the kitchen knives that were always sharp.Those are just a few examples from what is a quintessential ...

Marie Curie lectures to focus on quantum physics

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

2025 is UNESCO's International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and so the annual Marie Curie lecture series is being given by two women who ha...

The challenges of getting a degree when you are blind

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Santiago Velasquez Hurtado has just graduated with a degree in electrical engineering at QUT and he is only the second blind person in the southern h...

Is Australia losing the war on smoking?

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The sale of illicit tobacco in Australia is rampant, with high tobacco prices fuelling demand for cheaper cigarettes.More than a decade after Austral...

Celebrating the 25th Garma Festival

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 25th Garma Festival is a much bigger event than the first Yolgnu community meeting  back in 1999. It has now become a huge event, with arts and ...

Remember the children of Hiroshima in new peace memorial

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hiroshima and Nagasaki will mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb this August. Among the hundreds of thousands who died in the...

Tweet of the week 27 July 2025

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's tweeter is the Brown Falcon.It's a medium-sized bird of prey, measuring about 40- to 50-centimetres. And, like its close relatives, femal...

The Year that Made Me: Peter de Waal, 1957

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Peter de Waal arrived in Australia in 1957 from the Netherlands as a young man uncertain about his sexuality. Within ten years he had found his life ...

Open House Melbourne

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a city wide Open House in Melbourne this weekend.Churches, banks, numerous private houses and public buildings - even an Egyptian style mau...

Are emoji a new language?

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you favour a thumbs up, a laughing face, or a smiling poop, chances are you’ve used an emoji.There’s currently 3790 different emojis sit...

Lowering the vote to 16 can improve democracy, research shows

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The United Kingdom has just announced that it will be lowering the voting age to 16 for all future elections. But the UK is not the first country to ...

Questions about the Salt Path

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

100 word including guest & book

The romance scam evidence rejected in Donna Nelson's Appeal

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Western Australian woman, Donna Nelson was in Japanese court this week, appealing her 6 year sentence for drug smuggling. Romance scam expert, Monica...

No end in sight to toxic algal bloom

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a microscopic single cell organism, known by the scientific name Karenia Mikimotoi.And right now this micro-algae is wreaking havoc on a large s...

The Year that Made Me: Yael Stone; 2020

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Actor Yael Stone had finally secured a  Green Card - that ticket to the American dream that gives outsiders the legal right to live and work in the ...

The ethical considerations of killing mosquitos

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malaria killed an estimated 600,000 people globally in 2023 and 94% of those deaths were in Africa. Advances in genome editing means that it may now ...

National Excel Champions

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How good are you at Microsoft Excel? Not as good as the young people in a new documentary called Spreadsheet Champions. Having its Australian Premier...

Planning for the robotic future that's already here

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While city streets teeming with robots might feel like a scene from a sci-fi movie, service robots are already commonplace in the public spaces of ci...

An $8 million Mars rock and the science behind it

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sotheby's sold a meteorite from Mars for US$5.3 million last Wednesday to an undisclosed buyer. Sotheby's claims is the largest Martian meteorite in ...

Inmate awarded PHD for prison garden design

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It is hard enough to complete a PHD, but imagine doing it without access to libraries or the Internet. One inmate from the maximum security Macquarie...

Tasmania Votes

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tasmanians are going back to the polls, after a successful no-confidence motion was made against the Premier Jeremy Rockliff.The snap poll comes just...

Paul and Eslanda Robeson ABC Interview from 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Audio from the ABC Archives of Bob Moore interviewing Paul Eslanda Robeson, during their 1960 Australian visit. 

Paul and Eslanda Robeson ABC Interview from 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Audio from the ABC Archives of Bob Moore interviewing Paul Eslanda Robeson, during their 1960 Australian visit. 

The Year that Made Me: Blak Douglas, 1999

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Blak Douglas has spent his artistic career painting bold and graphic artworks infused with political commentary of the realities of First Nation expe...

Tweet of the week 13 July 2025

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is small of stature but sings energetically with a powerful voice – the Inland Thornbill.

Backstage on Paul Robeson's tour to Australia in 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Paul Robeson toured Australia in 1960, it was not only a concert tour, but also a political tour. Paul Robeson was a hero to the political left ...

Perth opera singer wins prestigious award in Montréal

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fleuranne Brockway is the first Australian singer to win the Montreal International Musical Competition in its 23 year history. She faced singers fro...

Is there an epidemic of adult diagnoses of ADHD?

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is there really the problem with ADHD over-diagnosis? GPs are now licensed in multiple states to prescribe ADHD medication, while shortages of those...

USA Africa summit confirms the future is trade not aid

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal have in common? They were all invited to the USA-Africa Summit hosted by President Tru...

Rethinking Australia's Security Strategy

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Former Director of War Studies for the Australian Army, Albert Palazzo, shares his vision for a radical rethink of Australia's National Security str...

Tweet of the week 6 July 2025

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller could be a beneficiary of unusually wet conditions on the east coast – the nectar-loving Regent Honeyeater.

The Year that Made Me: Gill Hicks, 2005

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gill Hicks was the last survivor to be pulled from the wreckage of a bomb blast, when 4 bombs went off in a co-ordinated attack across London on July...

What can we learn from an axolotl's special powers of regeneration

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Axolotls are the gold medallists when it comes to limb regeneration. Researchers from Northeastern University have discovered not only how an axolotl...

Mr Squiggle: The Man from the Moon

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before Bluey, before B1 and B2, even before Play School, there was Mr Squiggle. The puppet man from the moon with a pencil for a nose was a fixture ...

Broken: Australia's university system crumbles

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australian university sector is in crisis, with headlines repeatedly warning of job cuts, declining enrolments and concerns over the cuts to face-to-...

New CEO of Plan International - Reena Ghelani

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Reena Ghelani has been working in humanitarian aid for over 25 years crossing the globe supporting communities in crisis. Born in Uganda, but raised ...

Mohamad Mahathir turns 100

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On the 10th July, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamad Mahathir turns 100. He remains in excellent health and continues to work long days ta...

Ukraine withdraws from landmine treaty

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More than ONE million lives have been lost on both sides of the war in Ukraine,  since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.Throughout the conflict,...

What happened to the Wagner group?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two years ago, the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered 25,000 of his troops to march towards Moscow. 24 hours later they were ordered to stand ...

The Year that Made Me: Christopher Thé, 2019

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When a friend asked pastry chef Christopher Thé to make them a wedding cake and to "go wild" he didn't realise that in a few years his strawberry wa...

The hazlenut spread dispute that angered France's Algerian community

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last European summer, a hazelnut spread from Algeria took France by storm. The sweet white spread called El Mordjene became the darling of tik-tok in...

Croak of the Month - June 2025

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the Moaning Tree Frog! Heleioporus eyrei has an unmistakable call, but the frog itself is nearly indistinguishable from related species in So...

Tattoo Stories

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From sailors, to bikies, to hipsters – the history of the tattoo industry in Australia can be traced back to the convict era.What began as somethin...

Reframing the history of Zambian women

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Objects that tell the lost history of women's stories in Zambia are at the heart of a new exhibition Frame, part of the virtual Women's History Museu...

The Iphone turns 18

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Launched amid much fanfare back in 2007, Apple's iconic Iphone changed the way we communicated, listened to music and searched the web.But 18 years o...

Is the US-Australia alliance at a crossroad?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's longstanding ties to the United States, have rarely been tested.But some uncertainty has crept into the strategic and diplomatic framewor...

Tweet of the Week 22 June 2025

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is common in inland towns, scrub and woodland – the Yellow-throated Miner. 

The Year that Made Me: Rodney Croome (1994)

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rodney Croome was among a group of people arrested at Hobart’s Salamanca Market back in 1988, for defying a ban on a stall, set up to collect signa...