Big Ideas

• Adapt or collapse — can we meet the moment of environmental peril

  Do humans really have what it takes to change our lives – our world – to arrest climate collapse?It might be the defining question we face as a society, and the panellists from this WOMADelaide Festival discussion are throwing everything they’ve got at this intractable issue, drawing on knowledge from the oldest continuing culture in the world and the fields of architecture, urban planning and of course, community organising to avoid collapse.   This episode was recorded live at the annual 2025 WOMADelaide festival, produced and presented as part of their Planet Talks program, held on the traditional lands of the Kuarna people. 

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• Kate McClymont on the complete insanity of investigative journalism

  Murderers, fraudsters, mobsters, dodgy doctors, and corrupt politicians. Kate McClymont has exposed all manner of shady characters, and lives to tell the tale. Here, she reveals some of the perils of investigative journalism over her career, and what she sees are the threats and promises for its future.The 2025 Brian Johns Lecture, in partnership with the Copyright Agency and Macquarie University, was recorded at the State Library of NSW on 1 May 2025.SpeakersKate McClymontChief investigative journalist, Sydney Morning HeraldAuthor, Dead Man Walking: The murky world of Michael McGurk and Ron Medich and He Who Must Be Obeid (with co-author Linton Besser)John Potts (host)Professor of Media, Macquarie University

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• The second coming of quantum – the next scientific revolution is here

  There are some leaps in science and technology that change everything. Scientists say we’re living through the second quantum revolution, so we're going deep into the quantum world with leaders at the forefront of this field. If you think quantum is all about computers think again – like how could this vast science help female athletes reach their peak?  Thanks to the World Science Festival for this talk “Welcome to the Second Quantum Revolution”. Speakers Belinda SmithABC Science host  Associate Professor Chris FerrieLecturer in quantum sciences at the University of Technology in SydneyDr. Clare MinahanAssociate Professor of Exercise and Sport at Griffith University Geoff PrydeChief Technical Director for PsiQuantumAssociate Professor Tim GouldInternational leader and researcher in the quantum theory of chemistry at Griffith University

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• The past is a foreign country — Santilla Chingaipe, Sita Sargeant, Steve Vizard with Natasha Mitchell

  When Santilla Chingaipe stumbled on the names of enslaved Africans who arrived on the First Fleet in 1788 she couldn't look away. For Steve Vizard, an argument with his adult kids lead him to the battlefields of Gallipoli. When Sita Sargeant threw a mattress in a car and drove around Australia, what hidden herstories did she unearth?At school, the history we learn is often incomplete, mythologised, or is riddled with silences and absences. But when you start looking, the ghosts of lives past start speaking.They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell live at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival. Explore more of the festival at mwf.com.au SpeakersSantilla ChingaipeZambian-Australian film-maker, historian, writerAuthor, Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped AustraliaSteve VizardPofessor, Monash University and University of AdelaideAuthor, Nation, Memory Myth: Gallipoli and the Australia ImaginationSita SargeantFounder of the history walking tour social enterprise She Shapes HistoryAuthor of She Shapes HistoryThanks to Veronica Sullivan, director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, for curating this event.

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• Can American democracy withstand the dark enlightenment?

  Knowledge lies at the heart of a healthy democracy, and its many custodians include libraries, universities, cultural institutions, and a free and independent media. So what happens when these institutions are intimidated, dismantled or destroyed, as is happening in America right now, under the government of President Donald Trump?This event was recorded at the University of Technology Sydney's Vice Chancellor's Democracy Forum on 14 May 2025.SpeakersSarah ChurchwellProfessor of American Literature and Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of LondonAuthor, The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and The Invention of The Great Gatsby, Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream, and The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America TellsDirector, Being Human festival and Living Literature event seriesJudge, Man Booker PrizeAnna Funder (host)Author, Wifedom, Stasiland and All That I AmLuminary and Ambassador, University of Technology SydneyRoy Green (host)Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor at University of Technology SydneyFormer Dean of the UTS Business SchoolChair of the UTS Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing HubFurther information:From Gatsby to Huck Finn — American literature in an age of polarisation  - Sarah Churchwell on Big Ideas, ABC Radio National 4 November 2024

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