Natasha Mitchell
Verified
Host, BIG IDEAS. Host/founder, Science Friction (2017-23) & All in the Mind (2002-12).Host, Life Matters(2012-16) @RadioNational Ex @WFSJ VP, @KSJatMIT. Punk.
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Articles by Natasha Mitchell
Program: Rupture — Niki Savva and Waleed Aly on how our politics is being transformed
From the rise of One Nation at home, to surprising election results abroad, recent events suggest that people feel that politics as usual is no longer delivering for them. So what exactly is it that are they reaching for? This conversation Political Rupture: Identity, Equality and Opportunity was recorded at the Canberra Writers Festival on 17 October 2026.
Program: The end of neoliberalism? A guide to Trumpian world-making
Is there method in Donald Trump's madness? His plans for Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, Greenland — even Canada. His disdain for global institutions and democratic processes. His preference for traditional values. What is the logic behind "Trumpian world making", and how is it reshaping the globe? This event was recorded at the Ultimo Institute at the University of Technology Sydney on 14 October 2026.
Program: Does fuel reduction burning make us safer?
The fire season is changing across Australia, becoming hotter, drier and longer. The evidence about the best ways to protect lives, property, and the environment is changing too. While fuel reduction burning has become a vital tool in the arsenal for land managers in every state and territory, some are now questioning whether we are doing it right - or whether we should be doing it all. The Burning Conversation was recorded at the Royal Society of Victoria on 21 September 2026.
Program: In 2046 women run the world — what's changed?
The year is 2046. After 2026, a whole lot changed in the world Citizens started to vote women into power in parliaments everywhere What happened next? Four Far North Queensland leaders are leaping into a tardis to hurtle twenty years into the future Jump in, if you want the world to be different, this could be the ride of your life. Join Natasha Mitchell and guests in Cairns on Yidinji Country at the 2026 WOW (Women of the World) Festival.
Program: The stigma of obesity and what it means for your healthcare
Has your doctor ever told you to go on a diet? Does that conversation put you off going to them in the first place, even if you need treatment for something not related to your weight? Has being in a larger body ever meant you can't access surgery or IVF? Some are pushing for a weight-inclusive approach to healthcare, which de-centres obesity, and focuses on 'health-at-every-size'. But what does that really mean, and why does it matter?
Program: Gut health: Is the food on your plate quietly rewriting your brain chemistry?
Scientists are uncovering the surprising power of the trillions of microbes living inside you and how they can shape your mood, your thinking, even your sense of self. How might the health of your gut change the course of serious mental illness? This a deep dive into the mind-body connection offers a glimpse of where the future of mental and physical health might be headed. Healthy microbiome. Happy brain? was presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane.
Program: Wrapped? Or Warped? How the internet changed music criticism
Tastemakers, culture shapers, gatekeepers and record-keepers. Once, a musician’s success could live or die on the opinions of its reviewers. Monthly music magazines like Rolling Stone and NME were gospel, and critics played a central role in the music ecosystem. Now, artists have a direct line to their fans via social media, personal playlists are shaped by algorithms and it can take a brave critic to take on evangelical fan bases like the Swifties or the Beyhives.
Program: What stops you from becoming homeless? 2026 Australian Homelessness Conference with Natasha Mitchell and guests
What will stop you slipping into homelessness? In a cost-of-living crisis, it's getting harder to keep a secure roof over your head. And did you know that 14% of people accessing specialist homelessness services in Australia are unaccompanied children? That's thousands of children, homeless, alone. A conversation about what kind of community we want to create together, and how to prevent a crisis before it comes.
Program: Clive Myrie on what Africa taught a foreign correspondent about our common humanity
He's covered wars, elections and everything in between. But what happens when a hardened foreign correspondent goes looking for a lighter travel story - and comes home changed? Hear what his road trip to Africa taught him about our shared humanity. This talk was provided by the York Festival of Ideas. The Festival is led by the University of York, UK.
Program: Bringing Brett Whiteley's studio back to life — with Wendy Whiteley
A rundown t-shirt factory in Sydney's Surry Hills became the studio and home where Australian artist Brett Whiteley would spend the final years of his life. Now an art gallery, the building has recently reopened after an extensive two-year restoration, with a new exhibition celebrating Whiteley's life and legacy, Coming Home, featuring his artworks and personal items.
Program: The ethics of transhumanism
Every day, science and technology are being used to enhance the abilities of human beings — helping people hear, walk, see, think and more. But at the extreme end, transhumanism has become an obsession of the rich and powerful: Vladmir Putin wants to live forever, Elon Musk wants to merge your brain with AI, while eugenics has also become popular again. So what are the ethics of transhumanism? Where do we draw the line?
Program: AI, art, and staying human - is creativity at a crossroad? Evelyn Araluen, Steve Tolz, Kirra Pendergast
In a world where AI rules, what will it mean to be creative? First Nations poet and author Evelyn Araluen (The Rot, Dropbear) is already self-censoring because of AI theft. The characters in Steve Tolz's new novel A Rising of the Lights find weird ways to sabotage the robots amongst them. Digital safety expert and educator Kirra Pendergast is seeing AI reshape childhood - for better or worse - with an important warning for parents, carers, and educators.
Program: China's one-child policy and a true tale of abduction, adoption and separated twins
In just 32 years, more than 160,000 children were adopted internationally under China's One-Child Policy. About half were sent to the United States — almost all of them were girls. Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick's latest book tells the story of twin sisters who were separated as toddlers, with one adopted by a family in Texas, while the other stayed with her birth family in rural China, and what happened next.
Program: Amitav Ghosh and Luke Kemp on learning from collapsed empires
From the fall of Rome to the climate crisis unfolding right now, history shows up a common pattern for how empires rise and fall. And two important factors are humans’ relationship with the natural world, as well as the unequal distribution of power and wealth. What can the wreckage of past civilisations teach us about avoiding our own? This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks.
Program: Students and teachers are already using it — but should AI be in the classroom? With Eddie Woo and Leslie Loble
Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping education and learning in Australian schools, with 80 per cent of students and two thirds of teachers now using AI tools. So how can we take advantage of the technology, and avoid the risks? This event was recorded at the University of Technology Sydney on 17 June 2026.
Program: You Must Take Part in Revolution — journalist Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao
If authoritarianism was pressing in, what personal choices would you make to resist? Foreign correspondent Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao have collaborated on the gobsmacking new graphic novel You Must Take Part in Revolution. It's set in a dystopian near future. A proto-fascist USA is at war with the full-throttled techno-surveillance state of China, with Taiwan wedged in the middle. Three young characters confront questions of loyalty, legacy, and courage.
Program: Bones, CSI, X-Files step aside — here come the real forensic scientists
Forensics has gripped pop culture for decades. But what’s the reality of this job? From the crime scene to the laboratory, our expert panel examines the evidence, explains the science and reveals how the truth gets uncovered. In the real world, by people who do this work for a living. Forensics: The Science of Blood, Body Bags and Biohazards was presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane. The UQ Impact Series is presented in partnership with The University of Queensland.
Program: George Megalogenis on the three shocks reshaping Australian politics
From the blue-collar man, to the professional woman. From the multigenerational Australian born citizen, to a predominantly migrant nation. From the inner city, to the suburbs, the regional centres to the bush. Australia has changed. But have our politicians? This event was recorded at the Hawke Centre at Adelaide University on 20 August 2026.
Program: The legacy of Jane Goodall —from chimp whisperer to changing how science understands primates
Jane Goodall’s radical ideas that animals have individual personalities, relationships and even emotions reshaped how we understand primates. It also sparked fierce ethical debates that are still playing out today: Do great apes have rights? What responsibilities do researchers carry when studying minds so much like our own? Jan Goodall wasn't just a trailblazing scientist. She became one of the most influential conservationists of the last century and created the foundation of modern primatology.
Program: Why literary giants like Margaret Atwood, Nobel laureate Han Kang and Amitav Ghosh wrote books that will never be read in their lifetime
The Future Library is filled with unpublished books written for readers yet to be born. Every year a new literary work is commissioned to be held in trust in a special room in the National Library of Norway. And in a forest just outside Oslo, 1,000 Spruce are growing - waiting until 2114 to fulfil their role: To be pulped and transform these unseen words into print.
Program: Health Report presents Science Friction: the trials and tribulations of experimental drug trials
The Health Report would like to give you a taste of another great podcast from here at RN. Science Friction with Natasha Mitchell looks at the intersect of science and society, and recently the show dived into the murky waters of experimental drug trials. It can feel like Russian roulette, when people turn to new experimental options for fatal diseases. You can subscribe to the Science Friction podcast, hear it on the ABC listen app, or on RN – Fridays 1130am or Sunday 1pm.
Program: The brutal politics of a virus that won't go away
Putin's war on drugs is fuelling an AIDS crisis, while in Uganda HIV positive people are being criminalised. Political ideology, prejudice and AIDS. It's a deadly mix. 20 million HIV+ people still aren't on drugs that will save their lives. Are human rights abuses to blame? Natasha Mitchell reports. Natasha Mitchell travelled to the AIDS2016 on a press fellowship co-hosted by the United Nations Foundation, Friends of the Global Fund Europe, and Pacific Friends of the Global Fund.
Program: Insurance industry stuck in 'dark ages', say mental health advocates
Doctor shopping. Delaying vital medical care. Digging into your private records, When it comes to your mental health, are insurers playing fair? Natasha Mitchell investigates. Natasha Mitchell: 17-year-old Ella Ingram was beyond excited about her upcoming school trip to New York. Everything was booked, she was ready and raring to go. But then a dark cloud descended. One she'd never experienced before. That dark cloud was major depression. She felt this deep sense of disconnection and despair.
Program: Buying and Selling the Poor at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas — Rick Morton, Mark Considine, Emily Roy with Natasha Mitchell
Being poor has become big business in Australia, but not for people who need work. Billions spent. Millions of profits. But who's getting them? Why do unemployment and poverty continue to be stigmatised? And does the legacy of the Robodebt scandal live on? The Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research concluded in a new excoriating report Who’s rorting who?
Program: Helen Garner reflects on five decades of writing — an ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown special
Helen Garner is one of Australia's most significant and renowned writers, known for her precise and observational writing style, disarming honesty and piercing curiosity about her fellow human beings. Here, she reflects on a lifetime of writing, from her groundbreaking 1977 debut Monkey Grip, to her work in the courtroom covering some of Australia's most shocking crimes, to her keen observations of daily life in her collections of letters and diaries.
Program: Why Diego Bonetto wants you to eat weeds
Foraging and eating wild food is nothing new in Australia. First Nations people have done it for over 50,000 years. Even your grandparents often still used to search for eatable weeds, mushrooms and nuts at the edge of their fields and in the woods. This knowledge is lost today. But attitudes to weeds have also changed. We don’t see weeds as a valuable resource anymore, only as a pest to get rid of. Is it time to change that and to rediscover the traditional knowledge of foraging?
Program: Feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem with Natasha Mitchell and guests on travels that transformed them
Trailblazing feminist, political activist, journalist, and founder of Ms Magazine Gloria Steinem died this week at age 92 after a big life changing lives. In her memoir My Life on the Road she recounted how taking to the road fundamentally changed her understanding of the world and who she could be.
Program: Are kid's books too moralistic, worthy, or 'woke'? Andy Griffiths, Hilary Rogers, Tamuz Ellazam for Radio National's Top 100 Books
Blockbuster Australian children's authors Andy Griffiths (The Treehouse series), Hilary Rogers aka Maddy Mara (Dragon Girls) and bookseller Tamuz Ellazam join Natasha Mitchell to share the iconic kid's books they'll be voting for in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books (vote now!) — and weigh in on current controversies in kid's literature. Have children's books become too moralistic, too obsessed with teaching kids how to behave, or with imparting Very Important Messages?
Program: Inside the life of Elizabeth II with royal biographer Robert Hardman
From the drama of her private world to the diplomacy of her position as queen. From the woman her family knew to the public figure the world saw. With unique access to royal family members, senior staff, and advisers Robert Hardman explores the parallel lives of Elizabeth as daughter, wife, mother and sovereign.
Program: Tech activist Cory Doctorow says the internet's been enshittified. So is it too late to save it?
Leading tech critic Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe the slow decay of the digital platforms most of us are now forced to rely upon to operate in the modern world. He says the tech giants have become "too big to fail, too big to jail and therefore, too big to care". So why and how did the internet get bad, and is it too late for people, countries and governments to reclaim technology as a force for humanity and the common good?
Program: John Brack once painted his children. Now his adult daughter tells her story of life with the famous artist
She's the little girl in some of her father's most famous paintings, but life as the eldest child of artists John Brack and Helen Maudsley wasn't always easy. Clara Brack explores her childhood — and her parents' complex lives and relationship — in her new book The Secret Landscapes on not pleasing your mother, which took her 20 years to write. This event was recorded at the Willy Lit Fest on 13 June 2026.
Program: Roman Krznaric on why the history of human solidarity offers us radical hope, even now
Philosopher Roman Krznaric, author of History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity, The Good Ancestor, and founder of the Empathy Museum has been looking backwards to help us all find a way forward. What he discovered in the global history of human solidarity and social movements was a wellspring of brilliant solutions to current challenges — democracy, fossil fuels, hyper-consumerism, water, AI, racism, even rage bait on social media, and more.
Program: Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones and why all great music is a threat
From their earliest days as blues-obsessed kids living in freezing squalor, to the first taste of fame and the day they landed in the US and went stratospheric — and all the grit, glamour and gore in between. There are myriad revisions to the conventional narrative which underscore just how in control of their narrative the band has been up to now. But Bob Spitz got unique access to the group's friends and family.
Program: Stephanie Alexander with Adam Liaw on 30 years of The Cook's Companion
Since 1996, The Cook's Companion has been a bible for Australian kitchens, a reliable friend who can tell you how to boil an egg, bake some bread, roast a chook, whip up a lemon delicious pudding — and much, much more. What is it about this book that's made it such an enduring go-to for household cooks for generations? This event was recorded live at the Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks on 21 May 2026. Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.
Program: Mick Herron, Suzie Miller and Benjamin Law on great adaptations — from the page to the stage to the screen, and back again
When a book becomes a hit TV series, or a play becomes a Hollywood film, what makes it a great adaptation? Suzie Miller's award-winning play Prima Facie has just become a Hollywood film starring Cynthia Erivo, while the sixth season of television's Slow Horses, based on Mick Herron's bestselling spy novels, starts next month. Meet the creators of these international smash hits as they take you behind the scenes, into the writers' rooms, and inside their creative minds.
Program: Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Interesting idea, or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at theBeaker Street Festival: where science meets art.Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. France just struck down a push for the same. Are adults immune to all the harms of these platforms? Should OVER-16s be banned too!?
Program: Kerry O'Brien on the perfect storm destroying our politics — with Richard Flanagan
For decades, ABC journalist and TV presenter Kerry O'Brien made a career of asking the hard questions. Now, in the face of what he calls "the perfect storm" wreaking havoc on our democracies, he's got some answers about how we got here, and how we can fix it. The 2026 Thea Astley Address was recorded at the Byron Writers Festival on Saturday 15 August 2026.
Program: Why Oz Harvest's Ronni Kahn wants you to join the "Order of the Teaspoon" to end food insecurity and waste
It's estimated that one in three Australian households have experienced food insecurity. At the same time, one third of all food produced in Australia gets thrown out. For more than two decades, Ronni Kahn has been fighting to end both as head of food rescue charity OzHarvest. She argues these ongoing dual challenges show a failure of imagination and of will. The 2026 Kenneth Myer Lecture was recorded at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on 4 August and in Melbourne on 6 August.
Program: Protecting Australia’s native plants
Australia is home to some 25,000 plant species. And nine out of 10 Australian plants occur nowhere else on Earth. But many are under threat. So why does that matter? This National Science Week, we meet a plant ecologist with a message. This conversation was recorded at the Lyrebird Festival in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
Program: Indigenous speculative fiction takes on the apocalypse — with Canadian sci-fi Indiginerd Chelsea Vowel
Dystopia or utopia? How do you imagine the future? In films and books, the future is often filled with alien invasions, nuclear war or the zombie apocalypse. But a movement of Indigenous storytellers is reshaping traditional science fiction tropes based on their own storytelling cultures and experiences. This event was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026.
Program: Blast off! Exploring our solar system and beyond
We're going extraterrestrial with a panel of super star space scientists who are exploring the solar system and beyond. Will they find life out there? Which is the universe's best planet? And what's Matt Damon got to do with it? Incredible tales from Mars, Jupiter, and more. This event was recorded at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 29 March 2026.
Program: Too Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making
Think about the person whose politics you find most baffling, or most infuriating. Now imagine you must make a decision together. Actually negotiate, project forward, find common ground. That's democracy. And it turns out our brains aren't especially well-built for it. In an era shaped by inequality, environmental crisis and the decline of democratic institutions understanding how we make political decisions might be one of the most urgent questions we face.
Program: What makes television? 100 years of tumultuous change
This year marks 100 years of broadcast television. Over its lifetime, TV has endured and adapted to tumultuous changes in technology, government policy, culture and media consumption habits. And yet, while its future remains uncertain, for now, it endures. This is the incredible true story of television. This keynote address was recorded at RMIT University's 100 Years of Broadcast TV Symposium: The impact and future of broadcast TV in Australia.
Program: CENSORED! CANCELLED! BOYCOTT! The future of artistic freedom and democracy in Australia
How free should artists be to make risky work, to provoke, to get political? Who gets to decide if a work of art is deemed too risky, too dangerous, too difficult? Cancellations. Censorship. Controversy. Political pressure. Mass boycotts. The collapse of festivals. The Australian arts community has seen it all recently, in part triggered by the devastation in the Middle East. But is there more going on too?
Program: Forget The Odyssey. These authors have their own mythical retellings — with Yann Martel, Nikita Gill and Zoe Terakes
Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office smash retelling of the Greek epic The Odyssey suggests, these stories will never die. Join three superstar writers with their own mythical retellings to explore why these stories endure and how they have been re-imagined over time. The event Mythical Retellings was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026.
Program: Forget The Odyssey. Yann Martel, Nikita Gill, Zoe Terakes have their own mythical retellings
Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office smash retelling of the Greek epic The Odyssey suggests, these stories will never die. Join three superstar writers with their own mythical retellings to explore why these stories endure and how they have been re-imagined over time. The event Mythical Retellings was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026.
Program: Africa in a shifting world order — can digital technology achieve what aid never could?
As the great powers renegotiate their alliances and priorities, Africa is reshaping its future. From the promise of digital economies and homegrown innovation to the complex legacies of foreign aid, debt and dependency — this is a conversation about power, possibility, and the remaking of a continent on its own terms. What needs to change in policy, in investment, in the stories we tell for Africa's ambitions to be fully realised?
Program: How policy decisions today can hurt your kids in the future — are we even trying to get it right?
The decisions being made right now, in parliament, in budget lock-ups, in policy debates, will shape the lives of your kids and their kids. Think: Climate. Housing. Aged care. AI. But in many cases, those decisions are being deferred. There's a name for it: policrastination. The habit of delaying what we know needs doing because the short-term political incentives reward inaction, even when the long-term costs are clear. What would it actually take to govern for the long term?
Program: The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?
Meet the tenacious Papua New Guineans who won't give up on holding Australian mining giants to account, despite the enormous personal toll of doing so. Emmanuel Peni is fighting to protect the world's "second Amazon"- the pristine Sepik River. Theonila Roka Matbob won the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize for campaigning against the toxic legacy of Rio Tinto's Panguna copper-gold mine.
Program: Australian war history — the past, present and future of remembrance. With Professor Peter Stanley
As Australian society evolves, should our culture of war commemoration change too? From the Frontier Wars, to foreign wars experienced by migrant Australians, to the threat of Australia's involvement in future conflict, war means many different things to different people. So how can Australia's war commemorations be more inclusive, confront the truths of our past, and stay relevant to future generations?
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