Chas Licciardello, Sashi Perera and First Dog on the Moon - aka Andrew Marlton - join David Marr to survey the profound and the ridiculous from the year we've just had.

Journalist Susan Casey is one of a few souls on Earth who's ventured into the deepest reaches of the ocean, beyond 5000 metres below sea level. 

Trying to trace the history of a place as old as Cyprus is like trying to write the history of human civilisation itself, from the primordial swamp and the frothy sea that spewed forth the mythic goddess Aphrodite to the epic battle between the Greeks and the Turks. For English-Cyprian writer Alex Christofi, the task of writing the history of the island was both epic and personal. Guest: Alex Christofi, author of “Cypria - A Journey to the Heart of the Mediterranean” published by Bloomsbury. 

Mars captured humanity's imagination even when it was just a wandering red dot in the night sky. Over history it has been blamed for plagues, the home to invading Martians, and even a possible refuge when our own planet becomes uninhabitable. What can we still learn from the current explorations taking place there and with Trump and Musk in the Whitehouse, will humans set foot there one day soon?Guest: Dr Matthew Shindell, Curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and author of For the Love of Mars (University of Chicago Press)

After half a century, the Assad regime in Syria is suddenly over, but what comes next for this complex nation, its disparate warring groups, and their regional allies - remains unclear. Guest: Nanar Hawach, Crisis Group Senior Analyst, Syria 

Late Night Live's Bruce Shapiro reflects on a remarkable year in American politics, and looks ahead to a new year under a second Trump presidency. Guest: Bruce Shapiro, Contribution Editor with The Nation; Executive Director at the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University

As more and more people move from rural to urban areas, does there need to be more intervention in how nature is allowed to reclaim the villages of the world that have been abandoned? Research in Bulgaria indicates that sometimes humans helped maintain diversity.Guest: Tess McClure, Commissioning Editor, The Guardian

Until the 1960’s, children born of relationships between white fathers and black mothers in the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi were systematically kidnapped from their families, had their identities changed, and sent to live on Catholic missions. Many were sexually abused. Now in a landmark case, a Belgian court has agreed this was a crime against humanity. Guest: Nicolas Angelet, counsel for the Metis women at the Brussels Court of Appeal, attorney at the Brussels Bar, associate tenant of Doughty Street Chambers in London, and professor of international law at Ghent University and Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

Laura Tingle and Niki Savva look back on the political highs and lows of 2024, and the ramifications for the election in 2025.  Guests: Laura Tingle, Chief Political Correspondent, 7.30Niki Savva, author and columnist with the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch's traces the complex and contradictory origins of Christian moral attitudes to sex and sexuality, from 3000 years ago, to now. Guest: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Emeritus Professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, author of Lower than the Angels: A history of Sex and Christianity