Counterpoint

Are we living through an age of distraction and if we are what cause it? How to have a difficult conversation and how to make a decision.

When talking about African history why do we use the term precolonial? The limits of libertarianism and why men are so unhappy right now. We are electric, so are plants and animals.

Has the censorship of words gone too far? Cold blooded animals are in trouble, can a fruit fly save them? What was life like for medieval babies? Concrete built the world and now its slowly destroying it.

Does social media really rot your brain? Why is stopping the use of coal so difficult. Australian women scientists have had a rotten deal over the years and naming plants and animals after people, good idea or not?

What is optimistic nihilism and why is it all the rage? How do animals gain and keep power? Just how powerful is water and why are we rewilding invertebrates?

What should Indonesia do with the vast amount of nickel it produces every year? Why the Enlightenment still matters and the history of telling time. Plus would you consider serving an Australian brush turkey at Christmas lunch?

Just how difficult and dangerous is decolonisation? Is A.I. hysteria out of control and does Australia need a bigger merchant fleet? Plus the wonder that was Phar Lap.

Has Xi Jinping made a big mistake when it comes to women in China? A year out from the US election what matters to people in Japan and Australia? It's a very big mistake to not be doing more to protect giant sequoias and it's also a mistake to blame rats for the plague.

If you are taking the penalty kick in soccer which way would you go? What happens to your body after a year in space and just how dirty did operating theatres used to be? What's your idea of Utopia and who have you left out?

Why does a Dubai Sheikh want to take control of vast amounts of land across Africa, and how will 2000 rhinos be rewilded in the next 10 years? Why do our young people not feels safe and is it possible to have a moral change of heart?

Is China living in Russia's shadow? Can we compare the Gutenberg Bible to the first iPhone? Why did so many friendships fall apart in post communist Europe and why do we name things after people? Hello Mr Coronavirus, Lady Luck is with Hurricane Tammy right now.

The censorship bureaucracy is all around us, how do we break it down? Why are we so gloomy and what is going on in the captive lion industry in South Africa? Would we better off trying to learn other peoples perspective?

Who decides the circumstances behind cancelling someone? Why is America electing mostly old men. Energy transitions are difficult but we need to have one. What can we learn from past transitions? Plus tips on how to say no and mean it.

Does China have a youth unemployment problem? It does have a problem with Japan but is it real or a bit of a distraction? The world eats a lot of chickens but will eat it chicken grown in a lab? Bushfire season is upon us, will it be as devastating as the ones that have come before or might they be even worse?

Libya is cleaning up after an earthquake. Should countries who can afford it give more? What's it like to live in a city with no government? Should we still be going into space and how to make a decision when you have multiple options

If China sneezes will Australia really catch a cold? Incels in Australia are becoming a problem, what can be done? East-West cooperation during the Cold War by scientists and the incredible, not finished history of charisma.

Is the UN climate neutral? Have we lost the art of conversation with each other and it is adding to the political hate we are experiencing? How important are symbols during a war - just ask the Ukranian people about Bakhmut

Are we about to see less tanks and more drones in warfare? Should gun violence be treated as public heath issue? Is the Chinese century already over and is civility a sign of weakness? Are you in the exhausted majority or the loud minority?

An optimistic take on the inter-generational report, stem cells that can repair teeth naturally, young Chinese men braving jungles and bandits to enter the US – spies or desperate refugees? And embroidery tells the story of South Africa's domestic violence epidemic.

Argentina could be heading in a free market direction with a new and flamboyant potential leader, China’s haunting EV graveyards. How good design could make cities less lonely, and the UK’s new super sniffers.

Democracy is rapidly becoming an endangered concept in South East Asia. How one tagged tuna set science right and helped save the species. Why the anti-woke shouldn’t get too close to the religious right even when they appear to be in agreement, and good biodiversity news with the discovery of two tiny new mammals.

How the dream of geo-engineering weather, redirecting cyclones and creating rain could turn very nasty in the wrong hands, Indonesia gets tough about accepting our old plastic, Iran's lithium discovery and how it could affect the world economy and why we need more birds in our cities.

Europe has had a record breaking fire ravaged summer but is calling it global boiling unnecessarily alarming rhetoric? Depressed dogs may need psychiatric help just like humans. PNG is suddenly looking very attractive to the US as the superpower seeks strategic advantage in the Indo Pacific . AI is set to unimaginably change our lives – but could it also affect the way we are governed? And popping the question in style.

Megacities are a glamorous idea but would anyone want to actually live in one? Psychedelics back in vogue but this time it's not peace love and music but as a treatment for depression.

How the US secretly used women in combat in Afghanistan. 'Zombie' drug fentanyl lays waste to San Francisco. Critical Race theory dismissed as a 'pseudoscience', and why birds love our trash.

Were we actually traumatised by Covid? Dr Michael Scheeringa, author of The Trouble with Trauma says the expanding definition of trauma and PTSD is affecting the world of psychology and psychiatry. Also, Irish writer Aiden Hart takes us on a trip through the big things of history, an underground movement in Britain is helping save the beaver and the moon is moving away from Earth, but no need to stop writing songs about it yet.

Cancel culture is an echo of heresy, it is encouraging fundamentalist attitudes that threaten freedom of speech. Are there signs of a social revolution in North Korea? We should remember that AI for all its cleverness is still just a tool. Diaries are often the most important record of what was really happening in an era in history.

How is the Global South responding to the war in Ukraine and rising tensions between China and The U.S? Should you retract a paper even if the findings are correct? Do bushfires change peoples perceptions on climate change? Hmmm it depends and time for a bowl of hot home made soup.

What do we think of ourselves, our nation and the future? The 2023 Lowy Institute Poll knows all. Why are we talking through and over each other and not to each other. Cancelling people isn't new so how did it happen before and why was Stalin so good at it. Plus the terrible effect bushfires have on invertebrates.

Who is Xi Jinping? What was his childhood like and how much has it effected the man he has become? NATO Is moving into the Indo-Pacific, what does that mean? Nobody likes being duped and the fear of it can make us anxious, why?

What is the cost of dissent? Why are Indian trade practises holding the country back? Are we all reading news and opinions we agree with and have new niche markets made the polarisation of news even worse? Why did people in ancient Mesopotamia bury their dead under the floor?

Are we moving towards a new world order? What happened when China and Kenya built a railway and should we be naming plants and animals after people? Why do Canadian Jays throw their siblings out of the nest?

When it comes to social mobility what's more important class or race? Is A. I. really a scary beast? Instead of being woke how about being compassionate? The best fire management system in the world is right here in Northern Australian.

Tackling key social, economic and cultural issues in Australian life, challenging assumptions.

Just how effective can a new treaty on high seas conservation be? Is colonialism all bad and is irritation the song of anger? Plus Pygmy Possums and Bogong moths.

Russia is moving troops from the Chinese border to fight in Ukraine. What will Xi do? Focusing on yourself is all the rage but where does it leave the rule of law? Why the era of building dams is over and what's best a tractor or a drone?

Do trigger warnings do more harm than good? Why does South Korea want nuclear weapons? The remarkable story of Hope and what do birds and humans have in common?

Are there limits to Libertarianism? Are economic sanctions always bad and why are English Departments around the world in crisis. Plus nature repair markets.

Why can we visit Gallipoli site and why does Turkey take such good care it? Why has language become a battlefield in Ukraine and how do you define masculinity?

Is it time to end multilateral agreements and enter into minilateral ones? China is transforming from a factory to a market place, what does that mean. Cute authoritarianism is every where but it's not very cuddly.

Is social media really to blame for all of our ills? What happens to solar panels after they have stopped working and how to have a difficult conversation and still be heard and understood.

Can we compare Stalin and Putin and does AUKUS really matter? Why is Europe looking to Africa for fuel and some animals are back from the brink of extinction. How?

The looming demographic problem in China and corruption in Cambodia. Medieval baby care and the collapse of concrete.

Can China become a media superpower and can Australia and India become better mates? Is banning words and rewriting books really necessary? Can cold blooded survive in a warming world?

We should be using more not less energy to help mitigate the effects of climate change. What is disturbance ecology and how was it shaped by the nuclear tests of the 1940's on. The Japanese concept of hitozukuri, ie a 'made person' was used in their education policies. How did it go?

Who has the most power in Asia right now? Why are Putin and his cronies getting richer and richer? Why is it so hard to quit coal and the terrible experiences of women scientists in Australia have to go through if they want to work in their field.

Tackling key social, economic and cultural issues in Australian life, challenging assumptions.

Should we be preparing to fight wars that we can win? Why do people and countries crack up? What is Italian food really and what's happening at the North Head Sanctuary in Sydney?

Is Beijing in retreat? What are optimistic nihilists and what do they think of the world? Are you normal? There is no such thing. Bio-plastics were supposed to help but they don't, they make it worse.

Can right-wing terrorist funding be compared to whac-a -mole? Are people who glue themselves to artwork moral toddlers? Why do some seemingly successful farmers fail and what happens when a ship is caught shark finning illegally?