RN Presents (ABC listen)

Even big diseases start small.

The man who died on Somerton Beach in 1948 went to great lengths to disguise his identity. But he couldn't hide the clues on his body — his peculiar ears, teeth and calves. His DNA. Modern science sheds new light on this decades-old mystery.

Derek Abbott has spent decades trying to identify the man found dead on Somerton Beach. If his theory is correct, he's married to the unknown man's great granddaughter. But to prove it, he needs the Somerton Man's DNA.

A torn piece of paper from a book of Persian poetry leads to the discovery of an elusive young nurse. What was her relationship to the dead man on Somerton Beach? Does she hold the key to cracking the case?

150 years ago thousands of young men were taken from the Pacific Islands. Today the scars are still being felt.

Why some prisoners of war were happiest in Singapore.

Was Changi a POW heaven or a death-camp hell? The camp’s reputation has worsened in the years since the Second World War, but the truth lies somewhere in between.

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Why don't we talk about class directly? We recognise it when its rendered through language, dress and cultural taste. And a lot of our best comedy, drama and writing is about class. We revisit that rich cultural landscape, and hear how we talk in code about class.

Inequality has been growing in Australia for three and a half decades. It’s reinforcing class divisions and affecting our health, where we live, our levels of education and employment prospects. It's also prising generations apart. Why is this happening?  And why is social mobility not what it was?

Part two of Class Act looks at how we got here. The history of class in Australia, and how it has been shaped by immigration and structural changes to the economy.

The idea that Australia is a classless society is widely held and very appealing. It’s just not true. Class exists — it’s determined by economic, social and cultural capital — and it has a big impact on our lives but we don’t talk about it. In this four part series, we’re going to do just that.

Could breakthroughs in DNA technology and forensic genealogy identify Adelaide's Somerton Man? And is it time to finally dig him up?

Alex's bible classes started taking over his life — then he discovered who was really running them. Emma's mum went from crystals to a clique that believes in aliens and past lives. And Tim and his dad fell into QAnon together, but what happened when one wanted to leave? We find out how cults and conspiracy theories can isolate you from your family, friends, even flatmates. And we hear what it's like to lose a loved one to a dangerous belief system.

On June 9, 2019, Hong Kong convulses, as a million people march on the streets in protest against a proposed extradition law. The King had used his misshapen calligraphy to speak of dispossession, and now his descendants are doing the same. Millions of colourful post-it notes cover the city, protesting the end of Hong Kong's autonomy and rule of law. Art is everywhere, serving as a tool of protest and a record of defiance.

With thanks to Thomas DGX YHL for use of the song Glory to Hong Kong

The King's calligraphy once covered Hong Kong, but now it has all but disappeared. Louisa searches for traces of the King, and for any truth to his claims of dominion over Kowloon. In this quest, she goes to the heart of his kingdom — Kwun Tong is an area full of high-rise factories, churning out t-shirts and souvenirs. There she discovers the first of the King's courtiers; and begins to understand that the search for the king is the search for Hong Kong itself.

The decision to get cosmetic enhancement is complicated. It could be triggered by childhood bullying, influenced by social media, or stem from a belief that you’re not good enough.The beauty industry encourages you to tie your self-identity to your appearance. It promises to empower you.In the final episode of Face Value, we delve further into why so many people are driven to change the way they look. Who are they doing it for? And do cosmetic procedures make people happier or more confident?

For the longest time, Western beauty has been celebrated. The desire and pressure to look more 'Western' has led to skin whitening products, nose jobs and double eyelid surgery. But the tide is turning. Celebrities like the Kardashians are leaning into an ethnically ambiguous aesthetic.

Is this cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation? What do people of colour, who've often been racially vilified for their appearance, have to say about others cherry-picking their features?

COVID-19 has changed the way we do things. We're relying on video platforms to work and to connect. And it turns out that seeing our faces on-screen everyday has triggered more people to seek cosmetic enhancement than ever before. Couple that with the constant stream of impossibly beautiful — and heavily edited — people on social media, and you have the perfect storm to create appearance insecurity. Where is all this leading us to?

Ataturk never said his famous words and Bert Facey wasn’t there for the landing. Gallipoli stripped bare.

One of the most famous and best-loved Australian accounts of the Gallipoli landing is a fabrication. The most quoted quote was never actually said. What else do we believe about Gallipoli that is untrue?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Anyone could be discharged from the Australian armed forces for gay sexual behaviour in Vietnam. And since nobody wanted to fight the Vietnam War – and gay men were excused national service — there must have been no gay people on Australian military bases in Vietnam, right? Wrong.

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

A great general — but was he really the greatest?

General Monash, the only Jew to command an army in the First World War, has been described in Australia as an outsider who won the war. But how much of an outsider was Monash, and how much of the war did Australia win? And did Monash write his own story?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

By some estimates, 15 per cent of Americans believe in QAnon, the conspiracy movement connected to the storming of the US Capitol in January this year. QAnon can be all-consuming, ending relationships and splitting families. So what's it like to climb back out of its embrace?

Despite all the gridlock on Australia's climate policy, there are moves towards a decarbonised economy. The exit from coal is gathering pace in the finance and insurance sectors. On the technology front, cheaper renewables are driving new green hydrogen projects that could make Australia an energy super power. And there's the kids - the Climate Strike generation will soon be voting and they want action. Perhaps there's a chance we can really change.

It’s been over three decades since most of us first heard about global warming. Meanwhile, the 20 hottest years on record have all occurred in the last quarter century. We’re had heatwaves, storms, drought and bushfires on an unprecedented scale. Why has it been so hard to agree and take action on climate change? How can we rise to meet the challenge?

What it is about us, all of us, that makes climate change hard to get our heads around and even harder to do something about? We talk to people who understand that climate change is a real danger and people who don’t. And we hear from researchers looking at why we are the way we are.

He called himself the King of Kowloon and, for almost half a century, he used his misshapen Chinese characters to wage a calligraphic campaign claiming his dominion over Hong Kong. Journalist Louisa Lim follows the trail of a man who was first known as a crank, then an artist, then a most unlikely icon.

What do you believe? There’s some very weird stuff out there. From fringe ideas to full-blown conspiracy theories, we dive into the rabbit hole to find out why it’s so human to fall for them. We hear what motivates those who spread misinformation and what is it like for the families when someone they love goes all in on a cult. We meet people who got out of QAnon and learn how to immunise against false information. 

Cosmetic enhancement comes with plenty of risks. Botched surgeries, safety breaches, and in the worst-case scenario, fatal results. They've been reported for decades. Horror stories aside, chasing your aesthetic ideal is no easy task. Beneath every Insta-perfect photograph is a tonne of time, energy and money that's often glossed over. And that's not to mention the pain and prolonged recovery that can come with invasive procedures.

Why are so many people willingly submitting themselves to putting this much effort into how they look?

The King of Kowloon is an old man now; lying frail in a hospital bed. Outside, on the streets, there is trouble. A protest at the demolition of Queen's Pier, then another at a street famous for printing wedding cards. Popular anger coalesces around the destruction of physical sites, then shifts into a battle about ideas and values. Hong Kongers begin to discover their legacy of resistance.

With thanks to South China Morning Post and Associated Press for use of news footage

There's more to our climate politics than the circus of losing a succession of Prime Ministers. Export earnings, donations, access, revolving doors between politics and industry mean that both sides of politics are close to the fossil fuel sector. In our tight Parliament, mining regions have become crucially important. And actions like the recent Stop Adani Convoy have only deepened climate change divisions.

Disease is spreading in the wake of a natural disaster on the Caribbean nation of Haiti — and everyone thinks they know where it's coming from… (Spoiler: They don't).

A junior doctor uncovers a mystery that rewrites the story of a famous epidemic — and we learn the troubling origins of 'patient zero' as a concept.

A six-year old boy in Papua New Guinea wakes up one day and is suddenly unable to stand by himself. Less than a year later, children in three other Asia Pacific nations are experiencing the same alarming symptoms. A disease that was eradicated from these countries is back -- and it appears to be spreading.

In 1789, a disease tore through Aboriginal communities around Sydney Cove, or Warrane, leaving dead bodies floating in the harbour, and scattered along the shorelines. Some think that this outbreak was a fire that was deliberately lit.

A sleepy suburb in Brisbane is the scene of a gruesome disease outbreak, where the streets literally run with blood.

Three transplant patients die within a week of each other and alarm bells start ringing.

You’re a doctor faced with a dilemma: your patient isn’t responding to treatment. In fact, they’re getting worse. You run through a list of what might be wrong, but nothing seems to fit. And then suddenly — whatever is wrong appears to be spreading. It’s a race against time, and a medical mystery that only a seasoned disease detective can solve.

This is the big one. The history we’re living. From Melbourne to Munich, Lombardy to Wuhan and all the way back again: this episode is about what happened when we faced those first coronavirus cases. Where things went well, where they didn’t — and whether there’s anything we could have done to stop it.

Muslim Malaysians often have complex and tangled views about polygamy. Their feelings and beliefs aren’t always mirrored by their actions.  What role does pragmatism play? What role does faith play?

In this final episode of The King of Kowloon, Hong Kong is being remade at warp speed. In this national security era, its politicians have been jailed and its citizens are moving overseas into exile. Yet even in this new age, there is a resurgence in interest — and attention — in that eccentric old icon, the King of Kowloon, who still has lessons for Hong Kongers.

With thanks to TED for the use of "Kacey Wang: The Art of Protest"

The Cold War is often referred to as the 'War of Words'. Meet the people who tore down the Iron Curtain from within the Soviet Union through protest and dissent. Hear the stories of a Romanian radio repairman and his buried typewriter and the Polish scientist who swam for freedom.

The cosmetic enhancement industry is booming. Injectables and surgical procedures promise age-defying beauty. But they come with real risks. From anti-wrinkle injections and fillers, to nose jobs and Brazilian Butt Lifts, why are so many people choosing to enhance their appearance?

In 2000, Hong Kong has been under Chinese rule for three years. At first glance, it seems that not much has changed. The King's star continues to rise — no longer seen as a dishevelled old crank, he is an artist, a fashion muse, a star of TV advertisements. The King is now a commodity — loved by everyone. Except for those that matter most to him.

How much power does the Federal Government have to protect Australians from international threats?

It might surprise you to learn that until 1997, a man could go to jail for up to 21 years for having sex with another man in Australia.

The High Court showdown over religious freedom that could help you understand how schools are funded to this day.

In the second part of the long running and divisive case known as the Hindmarsh Island bridge affair, the battle heads inside the High Court.

Ever wondered how the term "secret women's business" entered the Australian lexicon? It's part of a bitter legal battle over land, culture and history in South Australia.

An extra episode in the series about High Court cases which have changed Australia. Series producer Jane Lee unpicks the origins and uses of Section 51(26) of the Australian Constitution, which gives the Federal Parliament the power to make special laws for a particular race of people.

Expectation and competition are pushing young South Koreans to give up on marriage and kids.

The fossil fuel industries ignored their own research as far back as the 1960s and then denied climate change was going on. We hear how a small group of think tanks and a compliant media pushed our buttons, undermined the science, and turned it into a controversy.

The island of Poruma is a shrinking tropical paradise — battered by king tides and eaten by coastal erosion. Meet the locals fighting for survival, in more ways than one.

Climate change is lapping at the shores of Poruma, a tropical island in Australia’s Torres Strait. It’s a dot in the Pacific Ocean — just two kilometres long and 300 metres wide — that sits halfway between the northern tip of Australia and the south of Papua New Guinea.

This tiny landmass, also known as Coconut Island, is becoming smaller. King tides are battering its beaches, and coastal erosion is eating the island at both ends.

Moving isn’t an option for the locals. As First Nations people, they have a deep spiritual connection with the land and sea, and, for many, fishing is their source of income.

Global warming isn’t the only threat.

Christianity came to the Torres Strait in the late 1800s and it’s been embraced by Islanders. But when the locals of Poruma gained this faith, they lost parts of their culture and language. As former councillor Aunty Nora Pearson explains, ‘Christianity trimmed us’. Today, the island’s native tongue Kulkalgaw Ya is critically endangered.  

Fuelled by their Christian faith, and inspired by their ancestors’ stories of survival, the people of Poruma are ready to fight. Meet the locals battling to save their land, their language and their cultural traditions – before it’s too late.

Hear more fascinating programs in the Shifting Cultures series, a co-production between the BBC World Service and ABC RN.

The most familiar story of the Cold War is that of the superpower rivalry between the US and the USSR—two armed camps, teetering on the precipice of nuclear war. Find out how the standoff played out, whether America really won the Cold War and why personalities matter in politics.

How did a committed communist become an accidentally revolutionary Soviet leader? Take a closer look at the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and discover how his approach to economic and political reform opened up a Pandora's box of free speech and criticism. Find out how Gorbachev earned himself a seat at the negotiating table with the West and learn why he was no longer willing to hold on to empire by force

The industries and organisations that get what they want from government. In part two we stay in Canberra and look at the lobbyists, the industries and organisations most effective at getting what they want from the government. We also look at the revolving door between politicians and lobbyists.

Union membership is a fraction of what it was but people power is finding a voice through new platforms and movements.

The different power players in each state. All six states are led by Premiers and have cabinets — they're the same. But they're also different. In part three, we look at the industries, groups and people who have power in each state, including mining peak bodies, radio shock-jocks, the AFL and poker machine operators.

In post-war Adelaide, there's a feeling of optimism and relief in the air, but it's mixed with paranoia about the changing world order. And in this mix, on a summer day on Somerton Beach, a man's body is discovered.

Did mateship really sustain Australian POWs of the Japanese any more than it helped — for example — the Dutch to endure the horrors of the Thai-Burma Railway? And why is there a bridge on the River Kwai today when there was no bridge in the Second World War?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

More power is concentrated inside Canberra’s Parliamentary Triangle than anywhere else. The Constitution doesn’t mention the Prime Minister but that office is where the power is. We look at how Prime Ministerial power has changed in the 21st Century. And, over the same time period, another part of the Canberra landscape has gained a huge range of powers: the security agencies. 

Did young women really hand out white feathers to young men who didn’t enlist in the services during the First World War? It sounds like a myth, but there are lost limbs and lost lives to attest that the white feathers were real. A relative of a prominent Australian historian joined up when he received a white feather and returned from the front with only one leg.

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

In January 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker declared that the Berlin Wall would still be standing in 50 or even 100 years. By November that same year the Wall was down and the Cold War was over. 1989 was a year that no-one saw coming. Head back to 1989 and learn about the luck that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.

Why do people spread information that isn't true on social media? Especially when they know that's what they're doing?

Equality is for ugly losers. Feminism is cancer. #submissivehousewife. Welcome to the world of tradwives, a movement with two distinct subcultures: one wholesome, one harmful. For many, it's about cooking from scratch, caring for children, and getting back to nature. But there's also an insidious side.

Scrolling #tradwife on social media exposes a loose thread in an otherwise tightly knit image of happy family life. Pull the thread, and ugly things reveal themselves

As Hong Kong hurtles towards the transition from British colony to Chinese territory, the king becomes an unlikely celebrity artist. Governor Chris Patten prepares to hand back Hong Kong to the Chinese, and as talks between the global powers take place, the people of Hong Kong are consigned to be spectators, powerless over their own future. Louisa continues her quest to discover the truth behind the king's claims of dominion, and meets a man who might provide some answers.

With thanks to Getty for use of news footage.

If everyone was against the Vietnam War, how come Australian forces spent 10 years fighting in Southeast Asia? Why have the supporters of the Vietnam commitment been forgotten? And why do we believe returned men were abused?

Perhaps we should ask Rambo.

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Why do we commemorate an event that probably didn’t happen?

Did the Japanese really plan to invade Australia in 1942? What does it mean that we have come to commemorate a battle that many historians argue never actually happened? And whatever happened to the Rats of Tobruk?

Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin

She told women they'd been objectified, stereotyped, sold a middle-class myth of romance and marriage and that another, better, life could be had. The Female Eunuch by the Australian feminist Germaine Greer was published in 1970 and became a blockbuster feminist text. 

Greer's defiant and controversial thinking reframed relationships between women and men, but 55 years on, how does it speak to present day feminist thinking?

This is the final in our series The Books That Changed Us, about influential books of the 20th century.

Guests:Michelle Arrow — Professor, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University. Author of a number of books including The Seventies: The Personal, The Political and the Making of Modern Australia. 

Anthea Taylor — Associate Professor Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney. Her forthcoming book is Germaine Greer, Celebrity Feminism and the Archive. 

Kathy Lette — Australian born, England based author of many novels including Puberty Blues which she wrote at 17 in 1979. Her latest novel is The Revenge Club. 

John Hersey's Hiroshima revealed the true horror of the 1945 nuclear bombing of Japan. Following the lives of six ordinary people from the moment of impact, the American journalist brought home the reality of the destruction and suffering caused by the atomic bombings. 

First published in The New Yorker Magazine in 1946 it soon came out as a standalone book and became a bestseller. Some have argued that it lead to the beginning of the disarmament and counter-proliferation movement.

This is the third title in the series, The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsLesley Blume — author of Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

MG Sheftall — Professor of modern Japanese cultural history and communication at the Faculty of Informatics of Shizuoka University, author of Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses.

Tilman Ruff — Board member, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Nobel Peace Prize 1985); Founding international and Australian Chair, co-founder, Australian Committee member, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN, Nobel Peace Prize 2017); Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne 

Championed by business tycoon Warren Buffett, utilised by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and exploited by the murderous cult leader, Charles Manson, the self help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is almost 90 and has sold many millions of copies since 1936. 

It was a surprise bestseller when it was first published in depression era United States to a readership hungry for advice for making it big in corporate America. It spawned a self-help industry and built its advice on the principle of smiling and sincerity. But is it really selling a form of manipulation?

It's the second title in the series, Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsJoe Hart — CEO, Dale Carnegie training

Adam Ferrier — behavioural psychologist and founder of creative agency, Thinkerbell. He's the author of The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour and Stop Listening to the Customer: Try Hearing Your Brand InsteadGeorge Mladenov — lawyer and political staffer, he's best known for being a two time contestant on the reality TV show, Survivor. His book is How to Win Friends and Manipulate People. 

The extraordinary story of a lowly-paid public servant who launched an environmental conservation movement and became an unlikely 1960s pop culture icon.

Using a combination of lyrical writing and fact driven journalism, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1963 it alerted the world to the dangers of the overuse of the pesticide DDT. The book was embraced by the burgeoning environmental movement and rejected by vested interests. It's still considered a benchmark in environmental writing today.

This is the fourth episode of The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsMichael E Mann — Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. Author of The New Climate War and Our Fragile Moment.

Elizabeth Kolbert — journalist and Pulitzer prize winning author for The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural history. Her latest book is H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.

Mark Madison —  Chief Historian, US Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud introduced us to the concepts of the unconscious, hidden desires and repressed sexuality and is the first in our new series, The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

The series begins with a book that was published at the dawn of the 20th century and is coming up to its 125th anniversary. Today it's influence it everywhere and can be seen in psychology, art, literature and cinema. 

GuestsJamieson Webster — a New York based clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst and is a faculty member of the New School for Social Research. Her latest book is Disorganization and Sex and her forthcoming title is On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe. 

Mark Polizzotti — an author, translator, editor-in-chief at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is the recipient of a 2016 American Academy of Arts and Letters award for literature. His book is Why Surrealism Matters. 

Daniela Finzi — Research Director, Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna