Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Victoria has followed Queensland in legislating tough new "adult crime, adult time" laws. In Victoria the new laws mean that a fourteen year old can be given a life sentence for crimes such as home invasion. And in Queensland 113,000 people have signed a petition to give people greater powers to defend themselves from home invasion. But is home invasion on the rise in Australia and will these new laws work to reduce the incidence of these crimes? Guest : Alex Simpson, Associate Professor of Criminology, Macquarie University

The citizens of Iran’s capital Tehran are facing a dire situation: the government is warning that people may soon be forced to evacuate the city because it is about to run out of water. On November 19th, the President Masoud Peseshkian described the need to move as “not a choice but a necessity”. 

A coded puzzle embedded in a sculpture outside the CIA headquarters has been stumping cryptologists for more than 30 years until, in the lead-up to the puzzle's solution being sold at auction this year, two journalists stumbled on an answer that had been hidden in plain sight.  Guest: John Schwartz, former New York Times journalist and Professor of Practice at the UT Austin School of Journalism and Media, University of Texas

MTV was a groundbreaking media experiment when it first launched in the US in 1981.  The first channel to show 24-hour a day music videos, it was expanded to Australia and Europe in 1987. Now, many of the global channels are set to close as part of what is described as a cost-cutting exercise.

The sheep dog is part of Australia's farming identity. But as good dogs become more expensive and pressure mounts on farmers, could they be replaced by cheaper robodogs? Andrew Sinclair is working on a research project based at the University of the Sunshine Coast and thinks that robodogs have a real future on Australian sheep farms. Guest: Ian SInclair,Senior Innovation and AI Analyst at the University of Sunshine Coast 

This week's mystery caller is Australia's only cuckoo that builds its own nest – the Pheasant Coucal.

Katrina Watts left for Japan with the intention of staying two years. 25 years later she was still embedded in Japan, not only in language and culture but also as a popular commentator, on tv and in the stadium, for Japanese Sumo. 1990 was the year that she made the transition from a sumo fan to a prized member of the sumo community.  Guest: Katrina Watts, Executive Board Member of the International Sumo Federation and Past President of the Australian Sumo Federation.

It feels like compassion is dwindling in the current political climate. Can compassion be mobilised again? Or is the age of humanitarianism over? Michael Barnett is in Australia for the Annual Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture at the University of Queensland Guest: Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University

The 2025 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, has aligned herself closely with the Trump administration on the issue of regime change in Venezuela. 

The 1st December is World AIDS Day and 2025 has proven to be a very challenging year globally for those working in HIV prevention and treatment. When George Bush introduced the US Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 2003 it was a gamer changer. Millions of people - particularly in Africa gained access to both HIV treatment and prevention drugs. Now access to this program is limited to HIV positive pregnant women.   Guest: Dr Beatriz Grindsztejn, President International AIDS Society

As interest in the possibilities of neurotechnology accelerates, there are growing concerns that some of the downsides are being overlooked. Particularly the issue of what happens to patients if the company that produces their device stops producing component parts, or servicing their technology, or goes out of business altogether.

Yet another adaption of Frankenstein emerges from Netflix this month, the latest in over 100 years of screen adaptations. But in 1818, when Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was first released, was the concept of reanimation considered science fiction or potential science fact?  Guest: Kathryn Harkup, author of Making the Monster: The Science of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The African Grey is a very clever parrot whose capacity to mimic has made them stars on social media. But has the increased demand for them threatened their survival in the wild? And should wild birds born to fly be sold as pets especially when they often outlive their owners? Guest: Rene Ebersole, investigative reporter and co-founder of of the non-profit journalism organisation Wildlife Investigative Reporters & Editors (WIRES). Her article in Rolling Stone can be found here.

The National Assistance Card is a tool that is increasingly being used by people with invisible disabilities to communicate their needs, particularly during emergency situations. 

Australian performance artist Stelarc has pushed the boundaries of the human body for the last 50 years, suspending himself by hooks, wiring his muscles to the internet, even adding a prosthetic ear to his arm. On The Year That Made me he traces his experimental foundations back to a visit to Japan in 1970. Guest: Stelarc, Performance Artist.

A new investigation from the consortium behind the Panama Papers reveals how some cryptocurrency exchanges profit from money laundering, scams, theft and other crimes.

The 1990s saw huge increases in the numbers of children with peanut and other food allergies. Almost 10 years ago the guidelines were changed and parents were encouraged to introduce peanuts and eggs in the first year as research had show this would actually reduce the incidence of food allergies. Have the new guidelines made a difference for Australia - the allergy capital of the world?  Guest: Associate Professor Jennifer Koplin, University of Queensland

Big business, tech and even universities are using maths to enrich their own pockets. Maths Professor Noah Giansiracusa shows us how we can take back the algorithms and beat the top end at their own game. Guest: Professor Noah Giansiracusa, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bentley University, and author of Robin Hood Maths: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life.

This week's mystery caller is plainly coloured but sings with an easily recognised voice – the Pallid Cuckoo.

Anna Iltnere felt the pull of the sea when she moved from Riga - the capital of Lativia - to her new home looking out on the Baltic Sea. She started collecting books about the sea to try and find the words to describe that pull that many others had felt before. She accidentally became a sea librarian as people from around the world sent her books about the sea. Guest: Anna Iltnere, sea librarian Click here for the Sea Library Website