Big Ideas

What is it really like to be an astronaut? How do you even become one? What happens when an argument breaks out on the International Space Station? And why are big fashion brands clamouring to design for space? As NASA prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in 50 years, we hear from a panel of superstar astronauts about life in space.
This astronauts' forum was recorded at Sydney Science Festival on 2 October 2025, presented by Sydney's Powerhouse Museum.
Speakers
Katherine Bennell-Pegg Director Space Technology, Australian Space Agency, 2026 Australian of the Year
Joseph Acaba NASA's chief astronaut, member of NASA Artemis Mission
Koichi Wakata Chief technology officer, Asia-Pacific region, Axiom Space, first Japanese commander of the International Space Station
Tibor Kapu Astronaut, mechanical engineer, mission specialist for Axiom Mission 4
Rae Johnston (host) Science and technology journalist, presenter, Download This Show ABC Radio National

Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker is a fierce advocate for intellectual and academic freedom — and one of the world’s most prominent and provocative thinkers about human language, the mind, and how societies work. He joins Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with an 800-strong Melbourne audience to discuss his latest book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage. Steven Pinker doesn’t shy away from controversy — amidst the Trump administration's attacks on his own university he recently penned a NYT piece titled Harvard Derangement Syndrome — challenging the cancellation, character assassination and censorship of scholars who investigate controversial ideas.
This event and Steven Pinker's Australian tour was organised by Thinkable.Events
This event and Steven Pinker's Australian tour was organised by Thinkable.Events
Speaker
Steven PinkerJohnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard UniversityCo-founder, Council on Academic Freedom at HarvardAuthor of 13 books includingWhen Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage (2025).The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.The Language Instinct.Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress .Rationality: What It Is, Why it Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters.

In its second term, the Albanese Government enjoys a large majority in parliament and an opposition in disarray. But faced with a fragmented, fractious electorate, ever more entrenched inequality at home and volatility abroad, and with an emphasis on a stable and moderate governing style, is this government making the most of its political advantages? Does Labor still have the courage to take on the good fight?
This event was recorded at the Hawke Centre at the University of Adelaide on 4 December 2025.
Speakers
Sean Kelly Journalist, columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, author, Quarterly Essay 100 — The Good Fight: What does Labor stand for? And The Game: A portrait of Scott Morrison
Misha Ketchell (host) Editor-in-Chief, The Conversation

Liberalism is one of the most influential — and contested — political philosophies of the modern age. But what does it actually mean in contemporary Australia? Is it a philosophy of individual freedom and limited government? A cultural attitude toward diversity and change? Or has it become something else entirely? A panel of practitioners and philosophers, current politicians and historical scholars explores liberalism as a set of political and cultural ideas, as a practical governing philosophy and as the ideological foundation of one of Australia's major political parties.
Presented at the Malcolm Fraser Symposium by the Trinity College, University of Melbourne.
Speakers
David KempFormer minister for education in the Howard government, author of The Land of Dreams, a history of liberal and democratic ideas in Australia
Sarah HendersonLiberal Senator for Victoria; former Shadow Minister for Education and Communications
Alexandre LefebvreProfessor of politics and philosophy, University of Sydney. Author of the book Liberalism as a Way of Life
James PatersonLiberal Senator for Victoria and Shadow Minister for Finance, Government Services and the Public Service

Humanity is facing an existential risk posed by unchecked tech and AI. But what if these technologies were used, not to increase the wealth and power of individuals, but to shape a better future — for everyone.
Rutger Bregman's fourth BBC Reith Lecture, Fighting for Humanity in the Age of the Machine, was recorded with a live audience at Standford University in the United States, and first aired on the BBC on 16 December 2025.
Speakers
Rutger Bregman Historian, author, Humankind: a hopeful history, Utopia for Realists (and how we can get there), and Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, 2025 BBC Reith Lecturer
Anita Anand (host) BBC Radio 4 journalist, co-presenter (with William Dalrymple) of Empire: World History podcast, and author, The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence, Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary and more