Life Matters - Full program podcast

An estimated 2.43 million Australians between the ages of 35 and 70 are caring for a parent at least once a week, while juggling the day-to-day demands of life. While the sandwich generation is a sizeable group, almost half of them don't identify as a carer themselves. Advocate Melissa Reader and researcher Michelle O'Shea explain why the way we define caring is so important in providing the right kind of support.
As year 12 students across the country prepare for their HSC exams, the number sitting to complete senior level drama is dwindling. Since 2015, senior drama enrolments have fallen by 43 per cent. Drama Australia president Jo Raphael and researcher John Nicholas Saunders explore why it matters — and not just for the creative industry.
From today, the first genetically modified whole food to be grown and sold in Australia will start hitting shelves in Victoria. The industry regulator's latest consumer survey suggests about half of us are open to the idea of genetically modified foods. So will the purple tomato shift the mood?

From your beloved family dog to a bollard-bashing elephant seal, all creatures IRL and online can be man's best friend. But for all the beauty that relationship can bring it's not without its downsides or risk. So how can you invite animals into your life in a way that is beneficial for you, and them?
This week, the Aunties scale dilemma mountain with listener Anton, who's unsure about sharing his favourite hobby with the kid next door.

Since Dr Spock in the 1940s, parenting "experts" have had us convinced we're all one wrong move away from ruining our kids. Richard Glover's latest book digs into generations of parenting advice to ask what we actually need to worry about, and what we can finally let go of. He joins Maggie Dent to share the wisdom worth paying attention to.
A hot-pink shower chair has just scooped a Good Design Award for ditching the usual beige, boring look of mobility aids. So why have walking frames, wheelchairs and other accessibility products traditionally been so joyless? And could we find a way to design these items with function, aesthetics and affordability in mind?
In step with France's deep history of protest, students across the nation have been marching in the street for weeks, demanding better quality education. Closer to home, strikes and walkouts seem to be popping up more than ever. So how does that sense of identity form, and where does Australia actually sit on protest culture?

From the milk in your coffee to the phone in your pocket, so many things we use every day come off the back of a truck. But Australia is short around 28,000 truck drivers, and that number is forecast to grow. A new report from UNSW suggests women are an untapped talent pool. Researcher Catherine Deen and truck driver Kathy Graham discuss how to get more women behind the wheel. 
South Australian restaurants are about to find out if they've cracked the coveted Michelin Guide for the first time. But with New Zealand reportedly paying $6.3 million for the honour, is chasing those is actually worth it? Food and travel writer Ben Groundwater joins Adelaide-based chef Duncan Welgemoed to chew the fat.
We spend around 2,000 hours a year hunched at a screen, and it's leaving plenty of us with what's now been dubbed "tech neck". This Working Life host Lisa Leong explains what you can do to protect yourself at the desk.

Just weeks after launching a new memoir about her quest for wellness, comedian Judith Lucy received a sobering diagnosis: breast cancer. Now days away from a double mastectomy, she reflects on the wild treatments she's tried to fix her burnout — from ayahuasca to faecal transplants — and how she's grappling with the unexpected.
In a house where YouTube, audiobooks, e-readers and Netflix are all competing for attention, it's easy to panic that screens will bring about the demise of children's literacy. But the research suggests it's not as simple as "books good, screens bad". University of Melbourne's Sybil Nolan and Australia Reads CEO Anna Burkey explore how to raise a reader in a house full of screens.
After a year of soaring fuel prices and consecutive rate rises, it's hardly surprising to learn consumer confidence is at its lowest level since the 1990s. But what does that mean in a practical sense? Does measuring consumer confidence tell us anything real, or is it just a number we've all agreed to be anxious about? Consumer behaviour expert Paul Harrison weighs in.