Life Matters - Full program podcast

In an era where we have access to the technology, surgery and drugs to modify every aspect of our appearance, how can we build a relationship with our selves based on compassion and acceptance? Clinical psychologists Louise Adams and Zac Seidler explore the world of looksmaxxing and what's behind the human desire to feel attractive.
This week, Aunties Michelle Law and James Findlay share their advice for a listener with a doggy dilemma. How do you know when loyalty to a beloved pet is no longer enough? And what do you do when every option feels heartbreaking?

Ten years ago, Facebook updated its platform to introduce new ways to interact with posts you see in your feed. Alongside a range of smiley face emojis sat a one-click shortcut to the most powerful emotion of all: anger. In the years since, it seems our online appetite for anger has only grown, with algorithms amplifying 60-second rants and spicy hot takes. Ed Coper, author of Angertainment, and Cheek Media founder Hannah Ferguson unpack whether there is an alternative to the ragebait economy.
According to Beyond Blue, 1 in 2 Australians are facing burnout in the workplace. And we're so used to it we just accept this as a natural state of feeling awful all the time, feeling like there's never enough time to rest. Organisational psychologist Amantha Imber road tested strategies to fix her burnout without totally changing her life, with lessons for us all.
Plus this week we Ask Aristotle to unpack the ethics of whistleblowing.

Most of us make friends with people around our own age, and we bond over the things we're all navigating at the same stage of life. But there's something valuable in friendships that span generations, too. Reporter Alice Angeloni and her friend Clive share how they bonded after a chance meeting in a cafe, and researcher Ruth Peters explains the health benefits of intergenerational connections.
From pop culture milestones to forgotten parts of the city you love — there's a Facebook page for that. These pages are little pockets of nice in an online world that can get pretty ugly, but they're also performing a deeper function of documenting sub-cultures and histories that might not make it to a bricks and mortar museum.
Have you ever heard of the "thoughtload"? It's those work tasks you need to complete to do your job, but in reality become complete distractions and lead to time wasting. This Working Life's Lisa Leong helps you recognise your 'thoughtload' and process it so you can get the most out of your day.

Lawyer and educator Adair Donaldson is navigating a kind of grief that no parent should ever have to go through. Earlier this year, his son Oliver, the youngest of four boys, died suddenly. He was 19. In the midst of processing the enormity of this loss, he has been reflecting on what it means to be a good dad to boys, and turning these reflections into a series of letters — Dear Fathers of Sons.
The federal government has announced plans to claw back money for people who have fallen victim to small-scale scams, introducing an automatic reimbursement scheme for scam victims with verified losses up to $3,000. Could this help stop cyber criminals from taking off with your hard-earned cash?
In Head and Heart our resident psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones dives into the sticky question of whether it's ever ok to tell a friend they need therapy.

Australia's social media ban has been in place for six months — with mixed reports on its success. For teens managing to bypass the ban, they're still swimming in the same addictive stream of harmful content. But could we change the way these algorithms work, and make social media a better place for everyone? Consent campaigner Chanel Contos and AI tech reporter Cam Wilson explain what it would take to fix our feeds.
NASA is planning to build a home base for astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis program. It raises some big questions: are we any closer to a scenario where everyday humans are living somewhere other than Earth? And if we are, what would the ideal space city look like? Futurist Bridgette Engeler and Craig McCormack, who researches the possibilities of architecture in space, dive into the unknown.
If you're looking for inspiration on where to take your next hike, the internet is full of visually stunning recommendations. But some of the most beautiful treks can be seriously dangerous. So how do we encourage people to visit these pristine locations without obscuring the risks?