Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

For generations, thanks to advances in sanitation, medicine, education and food security, we’ve seen each new wave of children outlive their parents. But that trajectory could be reversing. Chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity, once almost unheard of in children, are now becoming widespread. This isn’t about individual choices or parenting alone the broader system, from food environments to urban design, is setting up the next generation for poorer health and, potentially, shorter lives.

In a world where comfort is often just a click away, true resilience is about testing your limits and pushing yourself beyond what feels safe or easy. It’s facing harsh conditions head-on, adapting to uncertainty, and relying on your own strength and resourcefulness to keep going when everything is against you. This kind of grit reminds us that growth and survival come not from avoiding challenges, but from meeting them with determination and courage.

Did you have very strong opinions when you heard about the break-down of Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness' marriage?Perhaps you think you and Hamish Blake would hit it off if you grabbed a beer together?Or maybe you felt genuine grief... even cried.. when you heard about the death of Princess Diana or Shane Warne?How is it that we can feel such a bond to people we've never met?

Hook-ups, no strings attached, and one night stands: descriptions for casual sexual encounters imply zero obligations. But what happens when your expectations and your hook up's expectations are totally misaligned? 

Elon Musk says he wants to retrain his AI, Grok, to “rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge.” But who gets to decide what counts as truth? By deleting what he sees as “garbage,” there’s a big ethical risk of simply replacing one bias with another. So, is it ethical for one person or company to decide what stays, what goes, and what counts as fact? 

There’s nothing like the buzz of a packed stadium, cheering with thousands who want the same win.Now, new AFL tech is helping blind and low-vision fans tap into that experience.And in the future, stadium tech could bring the crowd and the action straight to your couch.

If you're over 55, would you say you're grumpy, slow, or stuck in the past? Probably not and yet, that’s still how too many advertisements choose to show older Aussies. Ad Standards gets thousands of complaints every year, and plenty of them call out ageist stereotypes.So what’s going on in the world of advertising?

In "My 2 Cents", we're asking those questions you'd rather not answer about money. What can we learn from how ABC finance guru Alan Kohler manages his money?

Giving birth at home used to be fringe but it's gaining popularity. Since 2019, delivering a baby at home under the supervision of a birthing specialist have doubled across Australia. So what's driving women to choose a homebirth? And what needs to be done to make it more accessible? 

June is National Cancer Survivor Month. It's a time to celebrate progress, resilience, and survival.But it's also a time to ask: how can we show up better? How can we talk about cancer in a way that doesn't feel awkward, avoidant, or afraid?