The Radio National Hour

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025.First, we might look back on 2025 as the year of Artificial Intelligence and this year’s winner of the Turing Prize Dr Richard Sutton, says we have nothing to fear.Also, this year marked 50 years since the release of Picnic at Hanging Rock, we spoke to celebrated Australian director Peter Weir.And, the incomparable David Sedaris joins me to talk about his audience with the Pope at the Vatican. 

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025.First, a year ago today NASA got closer to the sun than we've ever been before, you’ll hear from the project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe mission.Also, Irish writer Colm Tóibín on the fear of missing out... And, piano virtuoso Andrea Lam was just 13 years old when she debuted with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra but this year she found a very different sort of fame, with the ABC’s hit series The Piano. 

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025.Today, how medical researchers and practitioners have been blind to differences of sex and gender with deadly consequences.Plus, Saul Griffith’s electrifying “how-to guide“ for your life and home. And the bold plan to resurrect the railway linking the Islamic holy city of Medina to the oldest capital city in the world, Damascus.

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025.Today, an ethical dilemma, should we eliminate a species of mosquito to save people from malaria? Guy Pearce talks about filming his indie film Inside in, yes, you guessed it, an actual Victorian prison. And we reflect on the extraordinary legacy of Virginia Giuffre who took on the rich and powerful to expose the crimes of paedophile Jeffery Epstein. 

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025.Today, it’s cyclone season in Australia which means millions of us are - hopefully -ready to batten down the hatches at short notice. But how do scientists and engineers figure out how to build stronger shelters … at the Cyclone Testing Station of course. Also ahead … the problem with political pragmatism … Richard Dennis spoke to Michael Rowland about his essay Dead Centre, How Political Pragmatism Is Killing Us.And the man behind a thousand Time Magazine covers.