The Solutionists, with Mark Scott

Australia has more homes per adult than at any point in our history. So why is our housing crisis worse than ever? 

Professor Nicole Gurran’s been studying housing for 15 years, and she says the solutions to Australia's housing crisis are obvious – it’s the execution that’s failing, and most Australians are being distracted by media and politicians. 

Nicole explains why "cutting red tape" won't sol...

What if the simple act of tapping your card could put your identity at risk? 

Every day, we trust encryption to protect our money, data, and digital lives. But quantum computers are advancing fast, and soon they could crack today’s security in seconds, making our current “digital locks” obsolete. 

So how do we protect ourselves in a quantum world? 

On this episode of The Solutionists, host...

"I can't just grab my keys and leave the house. I have to make sure I have something with me in case my glucose levels go too low. I have to make sure that I have spare insulin pump consumables. There's lots of parts of having type one diabetes that isn't just what we eat." 

Michelle's lived with type 1 diabetes for 31 years. She has to plan everything: what she eats, when she drives, whether she can try new foods. Sophie, dia...

Walk down the cereal aisle. Pick up a box of cereal. The front says "real nourishment" and shows a 4.5-star health rating. Flip it over. It's 25% sugar, packed with emulsifiers, flavors, and protein isolates – it’s full of ingredients you probably can’t even pronounce if you’ve ever heard of them before. 

Welcome to Australia's national diet: ultra-processed. 

Associate Professor Phillip Baker is t...

You probably think TB is a disease of the past. But that’s not because we’ve beat it. It’s because we’ve moved it elsewhere.

Every year, over 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis and it's concentrated where people are poorest, where overcrowding helps it spread, and where a six-month treatment course can mean losing your job, or even your social life. 

Professor Greg Fox is an infectious disease...

A new generation has become addicted to nicotine.  

Australia almost had smoking beaten. Thanks to decades of education, regulation and cultural change, smoking rates plummeted. And then: vaping.  

Lily started vaping at 17 and hasn't been able to stop. Social vaping quickly became a daily dependency, and now it affects every aspect of her life - from her health, sleep and appetite to her bank account. 

Pro...

Whether it’s watching your kids play their local club fixtures or gathering around the telly for the grand final, sport brings Australians together more than almost anything else. But there’s a hidden – and potentially deadly – cost. 

Lydia loves Aussie Rules football, but she was forced to retire from the sport before turning 30. After a series of head knocks, the risk of another is too high, and manag...

When Professor Jioji Ravulo speaks at conferences overseas, he knows one piece of information about his work will shock just about everyone. He tells them that in some parts of Australia, children as young as 10 years old can be charged as adults for particular crimes.

As predicted, jaws drop. 

Meanwhile, some politicians insist that Australia needs to be even tougher on youth crime, despite the evidence Jioji a...

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide – thankfully, we’re getting better at treating it, and more people than ever are surviving major events like heart attacks. But it’s a double-edged sword: with more people living for longer with cardiovascular disease, our hospital system is overburdened.  

Cardiologist Dr Clara Chow says this imbalance is only going to get worse, bec...

Our bodies have an innate ability to tell the time – it evolved so that we were inclined to rest when it was safe, and were keener on travelling or hunting and gathering when food was plentiful. The sun and our body’s ability to perceive its light kept our internal clocks ticking along consistently.  

But today, many of us spend most of our days indoors, and much of our nights in artificial light. We’ve ...

Growing food is one of our most fundamental human activities, and it’s the core puzzle underlying our societies. As more people are freed up from farm work, our societies grow and we need yet more food.  

Today, that tricky equation also includes robots. Australia faces a labour shortage in the agriculture sector for a variety of reasons, and the already razor-thin margins on many farms are only growing sharper. Ent...

Can you be friends with someone who doesn’t know you exist?

It’s a legitimate question for members of fandoms – groups of people brought together by a shared passion for an artist, sports team, celebrity or piece of media. At the centre of these groups is a parasocial relationship: a one-sided connection with a public figure. If you’ve heard the term before, it probably hasn’t been in a positive light....

Your biology’s been hacked.

Your naturally evolved appetite would allow you to eat exactly the right amount of food every day, except that most of us live in highly industrialised food environments today.

Two of nutrition’s most productive scientists explain how we ended up here, and how you can eat healthier in an imbalanced food environment.

~~~

Why don’t animals need calorie trackers?

Baboons don’t know t...

Loneliness is becoming more common, and it’s making us sick. But why? Professor Melody Ding studies loneliness from a public health perspective, and she wants us to design communities where everyone has access to a flourishing social life.

~~~

There have never been more people living on the planet than now. And yet loneliness has become a major health concern worldwide – it’s serious enough that the World Health O...

What makes a childhood good? Every parent wants their kids to be safe, and for their childhoods to set them up for a productive and fulfilling adulthood. But what about the childhood itself? How do we make sure every child in Australia gets to truly be a kid? Universal childcare might be the answer... 

~~~

Do you ever wish you could be a kid again?  

Remember the freedom of childhood – no job, no responsibiliti...

The widespread problem of substance abuse has plagued humans throughout history. It robs potential, ruins lives. Yet nothing we’ve tried has ever solved addiction. Professor Michael Bowen wants to change this. He went looking for a solution not in the human body, but in the brain. 

And what he’s found could change the way we treat addiction forever. 

~~~

Addiction – substance abuse – is a wicked pr...

Social media connects us to friends and family, and gives us an unprecedented window to the wider world. But how much do we really know about how social media, and the barons who run these platforms, shape our views and our communities? Former newspaper editor and current Meta advisor Alan Rusbridger sheds light on the question of whether social media is strengthening democracy – or strangling it. 

Social media is now an...

It’s in the name, sure... But is AI really ‘intelligent’? Does it ‘think’? What do you know about how these tools were made, who owns them now, and who determines the way they work? How can you turn AI to best advantage in business and personal spheres? 

Now that AI’s on the tip of everyone’s tongues and offered as a service by almost every company you encounter, it’s time to exa...

THE SOLUTIONISTS SUMMER THROWBACK: Heatwaves are an invisible killer, and they’re becoming more common.  

With another scorching summer already upon us, you need to know how to keep you and your family cool when temperatures soar. In this episode, originally published in 2023, heat expert Ollie Jay gives you a tour of his groundbreaking thermal ergonomics lab and teaches you how to stay safe during a heatwave.