Conversations

Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age

Duncan McNab on how Australian-born criminal Christopher Wilder became America's most wanted

Mountaineer Neill Johanson was trekking near Everest Base Camp when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the roof of the world

The story of an Austin-driving Australian maverick who died in mysterious circumstances

Donna Duggan fell in love with a Tanzanian man and together they built a safari company

Dominic Rowe is asking how common degenerative brain diseases begin (R)

When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside

Crime writer Candice Fox began exchanging letters with a serial killer on death row. Then he asked to meet her in person

An opportunity to further her education while serving time proved the making of Kerry (R)

John Birmingham on rebuilding his life after devastating loss, years after he wrote his 90s cult novel

Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it

Journalist Anton Enus grew up as the son of a professional wrestler, in apartheid-era South Africa

Historian Nick Brodie on how a 1928 adventure on the slopes of Australia's highest mountain went horribly wrong

Chemist and fire scene investigator Niamh Nic Daeid on doing science in the service of justice

Kate Legge traces the lives of pioneering naturalists Kate Cowle and Gustav Weindorfer in Tasmania's sublime wilderness

Sarah Smarsh on the idiosyncratic women who raised her in Kansas

Bob Doneley is one of the only Australian vets specialising in the health of budgerigars (R)

Doctor Munjed Al Muderis on returning to Iraq to operate on soldiers and civilians wounded in the war against ISIS

Thousands of citizens were housed in Melbourne's asylums during the 19th Century, and they received surprisingly humane treatment

How a former ballerina revolutionised Australia’s dance landscape

How Travis Saunders and his son Patch are helping rewrite the story of autism.

At five, Shane Jenek won his first talent quest. Sixteen years later he became Courtney Act, one of the world's most recognisable drag queens

When Kuranda Seyit was thrust into the public eye after 9/11, he unearthed a history which had to be told

Leigh Straw tells the story of Lillian Armfield, arch enemy of serial criminals Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh et al (R)

Sohaila Abdulali was seventeen when she was gang raped and forced to fight for her life

A songwriter's songwriter, John has turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years

Caro Llewellyn was in her 40s when she got a distressing diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis

Journalist David Sanger on how the internet became 'the perfect weapon'

Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner, playing the long game in her Swan Valley community

What is it like when home is a country that doesn't want you? Deepak Unnikrishnan's family story

Carly was born with facial difference, and says the rudeness of strangers has sometimes been more painful than the disability she's grown to embrace

Irishman John Connell was an acclaimed journalist when his life began to unravel

When Dorothy Hoddinott became Principal of Holroyd High School, she began a wave of change for her students

The rewards and challenges of working in orthopaedics

Chris Barns always knew he wanted to work with animals. Then he began his own sanctuary for orphaned baby kangaroos (R)

Award-winning novelist Ann Cleeves lived many lives before her career as an author took off (R)

When Joan Marie Larkin was given a guitar at the age of 13, she was on the path to becoming the Godmother of Punk

Historian Clare Wright on the true story of how Adelaide's Muriel Matters began to change the world

The life of 'Smithy' Australia's greatest aviator

Zenith Virago married at 17, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world

Growing up on the biggest council estate in Western Europe, Jeff Green dreamed of a life in Australia. Then he got his own chance to emigrate

Osher Gunsberg was living in Los Angeles when his mental health took a dramatic turn for the worse

Louisa Hope was seriously injured in the Sydney siege. From her hospital bed, she began a charity to help her nurses

Choir master Stephen Taberner was raised a Christadelphian, but in his adult life he celebrates the pleasure of music

In the 1980s, Lydia Pearson began a wildly successful fashion label with her best friend. In 2016, everything changed

Renowned biographer Jacqueline Kent recalls her volatile year of love with Kenneth Cook

Comedian Judith Lucy has been reflecting on what has gone right, and wrong in her relationships with men

Peter Venn built his first hovercraft in the early 1970s. By 1988 he had a fleet of them on the Brisbane River, and was giving joyrides to 140 000 World Expo visitors (R)

Hugh Mackay on how our neighbourhoods hold the key to the isolation felt by so many (R)

Lach McClymont mustered hundreds of wild cattle, untouched for decades, from a remote area of the Northern Territory