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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.

Big Ideas

Marie Curie is arguably the most famous scientist in history, for her breakthroughs in the field of radioactivity. But Curie also redefined what was possible for women in science, inspiring generations to follow her.

Dava Sobel's 2025 For Future Reference Lecture A woman's word (about science) was recorded at the State Library of Victoria.

Speakers

Dava SobelAuthor, The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science and many more

Belinda Smith (host)

Award-winning science journalist, Host, Labnotes, ABC Radio National

The remarkable life of Marie Curie and the women scientists she inspired — with Dava Sobel

It's Team Wellness Warriors versus Team Medical Miracles. Hear the arguments and you decide! The wellness industry is booming. It's worth billions and its influencers are all over social media spruiking miracle pills and mystery remedies, crystal healing and cancer cures. Some are even steaming their vaginas (hellooooo Gywneth Paltrow!). Have they done the research that mainstream medicine refuses to? Is your doctor really the best person to help you be the healthiest you can be? Or ... are many wellness influencers shysters and swindlers, selling hoax cures, making unproven claims, and putting your bank balance and your health at serious risk? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell from the stage of the 2025 World Science Festival Brisbane for an hilarious hour of science and comedy. Laughing is good for your health, that's for sure.

Speakers

TEAM WELLNESS WARRIORSDr Joel Gilmore Clean energy expert, physicist, and science communicatorAssociate professor, Griffith University

Dr Lily BentleyMarine biologistUniversity of Queensland

Ting LimStand-up comic and star of ABC TV's Fisk

TEAM MEDICAL MIRACLESStacey Thomson aka TV's Ranger StaceyHost of the former long-running TV show Totally Wild

Dr Mike TodorovichMedical educator and host of the Dr Matt and Dr Mike Youtube channelAssociate Professor of Medicine, Bond University

Steven OliverComedian, poet, playwright, cabaret performer, and star of ABC TV's Black Comedy

Thanks to event producers Jane O'Hara, Dr Rob Bell, and the whole World Science Festival Brisbane team.

Wellness influencers will outlive us all! The Science Smackdown Debate at World Science Festival Brisbane

The American essayist, philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said that all life is an experiment, and the more experiments you make, the better. So can experimenting with your career, your health, where you live or who you love, improve your life, by helping you to make better decisions?

This event Test and learn: living an experimental life was recorded at the University of Sydney's Raising the Bar night.

Speakers

May Samali - Founder and CEO of the Human Leadership Lab

How to live an experimental life

Their closest relative is the elephant; they eat about 60 kg of sea grass per day; and there are only three dugongs in captivity in the world. One in the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. Big Ideas deep dives into the mysterious world of dugongs — with fascinating stories and surprising insights.

Presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane in the Queensland Museum.

Big Ideas — Turning a third of our oceans into marine parks. A good idea?

Speakers

Dr Janet LanyonWorld authority on dugongs, Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland

Dr Merrick EkinsCollection Manager of Sessile Marine Invertebrates at the Queensland Museum

Brooke WitherbySea World Marine Education Officer

Michael Balk (host)Actor, and television & radio presenter

Further Information

Sea World Dugong Population Research

The Sea World Rescue Team: call on 07 5588 2222 (9:00am to 5:00pm) or 07 5588 2177 (After Hours)

Dugong Pig at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium

Dugongs — up close and personal

In your daily life you use more material than you think: metals, stones, wood, ceramics – the list goes on. We have sufficient resources to support growth, but not enough to support greed. A circular economy could support a more sustainable resource management. 

Presented by Planet Ark's Australian Circular Economy Hub (ACE Hub)

Speaker

Janez PotočnikCo-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel, former EU Commissioner for responsible for Science and Research and for Environment

Dr Nicole Garofano (host)Head of Circular Economy Development for Planet Ark

Further information

Report: Global resource outlook 2024

Do you know the size of your material footprint?

If you knew the world as we know it was on the verge of collapse, would that change the way you live your life? Author, activist and podcaster Sarah Wilson has found many reasons to believe our post-industrial civilisation is nearing its end. So how does she live with this confronting reality?

This conversation was recorded at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival. To explore more Melbourne Writers Festival talks, visit mwf.com.au.

Speakers

Sarah Wilson - Author, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful and This One Wild and Precious Life: A Hopeful Path Forward in a Fractured World

Carody Culver (host) - Editor, Griffith Review

Further information:

Read the Collapse Book on Sarah's Substack This is Precious

Sarah Wilson reckons with our civilisational collapse

Foreign spies attempt to infiltrate media organisations, break into restricted laboratories, target public servants on sites such as LinkedIn, approach academics at conferences … the list goes on. On Big Ideas, you have the rare opportunity to hear Mike Burgess give an unfiltered look at the threats of espionage and reveal for the first time the true costs it has on the Australian economy.

Counting and Countering the Cost of Espionage, the 26th annual Hawke Lecture presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, University of South Australia.

Speaker

Mike Burgess Director-General of Security, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) 

Further information

Why national security and intelligence is women’s work Big Ideas, 22 October 2022

Mike Burgess — Espionage is a growing and costly threat to Australia

For the ﬁrst time in human history, we have the scientific know-how to vaccinate against most of the infectious diseases that killed our ancestors. But an explosion of pseudoscience and disinformation makes people hesitate to accept the shot. And so once contained diseases like measles is on the rise again. Hear why we have to act now, or risk losing centuries of gains that vaccines have brought to the world.

Presented at Gleebooks

Speakers

Raina MacIntyreProfessor of Global Biosecurity at UNSW and an NHMRC Research FellowAuthor of Vaccine Nation: Science, reason and the threat to 200 years of progress

Dr Norman Swan (host)Host of Radio National's The Health Report and co-host of What's That Rash

Plummeting vaccination rates threaten public health

The decline of the mainstream media has forced many outlets to try new things to keep audiences engaged and informed. So what works, and what is the industry's future?

The ABC's 2025 Andrew Olle Lecture was recorded in Sydney on Friday 25 July 2025.

Speakers

Geraldine Doogue - Host (with Hamish Macdonald), Global Roaming, ABC Radio National

Not drowning waving, a modern media tale — with Geraldine Doogue

Australia is a multicultural country, but up until recently, when you turned on the telly, you wouldn't know it. So what role has TV played in Australia's diverse communities, on screen, behind the scenes and in the living rooms across this country, over the past 70 years?

This event was recorded at Sydney's Gleebooks on Friday 11 July 2025.

Speakers

Kate Darian-SmithProfessorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

Kyle HarveyCulture and media and social change historian

Sukhmani KhoranaAssociate Professor in the School of Arts and Media at University of NSW

Sue TurnbullSenior Professor of Communication and Media, University of Wollongong

Pearl Tan (host)Discipline Lead in Directing, Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS)

Further information:

Season two of Heartbreak High makes diversity feel 'banal'. This is its strength - article by Sukhmani Khorana

From Con the Fruiterer to East West 101 — the changing face of Australian TV

Australia faces many big challenges, but is our democracy up to the job of solving these, or are we experiencing a decision deadlock?

One process that could help governments meet the moment is known as citizen jury or assembly, where a cross section of ordinary people deliberate together over a thorny policy issue, then provide advice.

How do these work, are they effective, and should they play a more central role in Australia's democracy?

The session, The Place for Citizens Assemblies in Australia — where do they best fit? was recorded at Policy without Politics conference, hosted by Citizen Assemblies for South Australia, at the Woodville Town Hall in Adelaide on 14 June 2025.

Speakers

Jay WeatherillDirector of Democracy, McKinnonFormer South Australian Premier (2011 to 2018)

Simon BirminghamFormer South Australian Liberal Senator (2007 to 2025)

Emma FletcherCo-CEO, Democracy Co

Elizabeth Farrelly (host)Writer, columnist, critic, academic, broadcasterFormer councillor, City of SydneyDirector, Better Cities InitiativeAuthor, Bubberland; the Dangers of Happiness and Killing Sydney; the fight for a city's soul

Can citizen juries put the people back in democracy?

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