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Big Ideas

Big Ideas

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Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.

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Top 10 Big Ideas Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Big Ideas episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Big Ideas for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Big Ideas episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Big Ideas - The future of life on earth
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09/06/22 • 0 min

Do cosmic catastrophes pose the greatest threat to the ongoing survival of biological life on earth? Or is the danger far closer and more imminent than we might like to imagine?

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Big Ideas - The making of Australian history
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09/28/22 • 0 min

How is history made, and who gets left out?

History tells us where we came from, what happened along the way, and who we have become – our national identity.

But history is the product of the cultural values and beliefs of the time in which it was written.Who gets to shape these shifting narratives? And why has history so often excluded and silenced First Nations Australians?

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Big Ideas - Restraining police restraint
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08/12/21 • 54 min

Deaths in custody are a recurring tragedy for many countries, including Australia, the United States and in the United Kingdom. Victims are disproportionately black. They often die after being restrained during a mental health crisis, or while intoxicated. In the UK, barrister Leslie Thomas blames institutional racism for such deaths, and the lack of convictions that follow. We’ll also hear from other experts on how to stop this devastation.

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Big Ideas - Environmental activism in Bali and China
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09/15/22 • 0 min

Green activists in our region are putting pressure on governments to act. In Bali there's a community campaign to reduce and recycle plastics and in China, non-government organizations are working to increase environmental action despite tight government control of their activities .

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Between the 1950s and 1980s an estimated 200,000 children were adopted by families in America, Europe and Australia. Adoptees are now seeking to connect with their place of birth and to understand the reasons why so many were sent abroad.

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Big Ideas - Covid and womens leadership
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03/23/21 • 54 min

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Big Ideas - Recycling and sustainable fashion
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01/20/22 • 54 min

We can recycle to put materials to new uses not just to replace the original product. We hear how textiles and plastics are repurposed to make building tiles and how the fashion industry is trying to reduce, reuse and recycle. Mass produced clothes currently contribute enormous amounts to landfill and generate pollution in the manufacturing process.
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Democracies in retreat, attacks on science, border disputes, death and destruction. It can feel like we are living in unprecedented times - but here's the thing: world history has a habit of repeating itself. So what lessons does history teach us about this moment in which we find ourselves? Do we humans learn anything from the past, or are we destined to repeat the same mistakes?

This event was recorded at Adelaide Writers' Week on 5 May 2025.

Speakers

Orlando FigesHistorian of Russia and EuropeEmeritus Professor of History at the University of LondonAuthor, The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia and many more

Bettany HughesClassical historian, writer, broadcasterAuthor, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Venus and Aphrodite: history of a goddess and many morePresenter, Bettany Hughes' Lost Worlds: The Nabataeans (SBS)

Matthew LongoPolitical scientistAuthor, The Politics of Borders: Sovereignty, Security, and the Citizen after 9/11, The Picnic: A dream of freedom and the collapse of the Iron Curtain (Winner of the 2024 Orwell Prize for political writing)Assistant Professor of Political Science, Leiden University (The Netherlands)

Dava SobelScience writer and historianAuthor, Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Elements of Marie Curie and many more

Annabelle Quince (host)Host, Rear Vision, ABC Radio National

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Big Ideas - The science of happiness
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12/14/23 • 54 min

Harvard University has been running the world's longest study into happiness. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has been running since 1938, and in that time of researchers have observed how Americans experience and understand happiness, and how that's changed over time. In an address for the UNSW Centre for Ideas, the study's fourth director, Robert Waldinger, reveals the study's largest findings, and how technology — and changes in society — have inflected the interpretation of the study's data.

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Big Ideas - The role of witness anonymity
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08/05/21 • 54 min

Witnesses giving evidence in court and during inquests from behind a screen and under pseudonym names. Sometimes there are highly sensitive investigative techniques involved, or undercover assets who could be put at risk. But Law Professor Leslie Thomas says it’s too often simply to spare state agents from embarrassment. And that’s not a good enough reason for the families and a treat to open justice.
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FAQ

How many episodes does Big Ideas have?

Big Ideas currently has 1145 episodes available.

What topics does Big Ideas cover?

The podcast is about News, Society & Culture, Podcasts and Politics.

What is the most popular episode on Big Ideas?

The episode title 'The making of Australian history' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Big Ideas?

The average episode length on Big Ideas is 53 minutes.

How often are episodes of Big Ideas released?

Episodes of Big Ideas are typically released every day.

When was the first episode of Big Ideas?

The first episode of Big Ideas was released on Nov 18, 2019.

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