Across our major cities our skylines are full of shiny tall buildings without a hint of nature in sight. 

There's research underway now to change all of that with a push towards greening our capitals, using existing parks and gardens as living laboratories.

Dr Amy Hahs, is an ecologist from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria involved in that project. 

Pic: abc.net.au
Producer: James Brandis

Greening our concrete jungles

The Feminist Writers Festival will bring together feminist writers and readers to connect and strengthen the diverse writing communities that exist around Australia. 

Stephanie Convery is a writer and sponsorship manager for the FWF.

Pic: supplied 
Producer: James Brandis 

Australia's first Feminist Writers Festival

ABC TV's Gruen Transfer panelist Russel Howcroft has a deep and unashamed love of advertising which started at a young age when he was encouraged by his father to enter the industry. 

The Executive General Manager of TEN Network and chairman of Think TV shares an intimate letter from his 21 year old self. 

Pic: James Brandis
Producer: James Brandis

Note from my 21 year old self: Russel Howcroft

Berry Liberman is one half of the couple that founded Small Giants and she's disrupting the way we think about business, driving profit with purpose.

Pic: supplied
Producer: James Brandis



Profit with purpose

Environmental scientist Steve Phillips runs the Waterside Metal Art Studio and Supplies in Melbourne's Footscray, teaching the traditional skills of blacksmithing. 

Pic: Serpil Senelmis
Producer: James Brandis

Modern day blacksmiths

When Kate Berry's 9 year old daughter was bullied at school for eating a homemade lunch she launched the Lunch Lady blog, now a quarterly magazine. 

Pic: supplied
Producer: James Brandis

Lunch Lady

New Zealand film directors David Farrier and Dylan Reeve spent two years making a film on the bizarre sub-culture of  'Competitive Endurance Tickling' which took them down a scary wormhole. 

Pic: James Brandis
Producer: James Brandis

The dark side of tickling

From next year, Finland will be the first country in the world to launch a universal basic income, giving every citizen an unconditional basic income to meet their living costs. Should Australia follow suit?  

Dr Mark Liddiard is a  Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Curtin University in Western Australia and explains the pros and cons. 

Pic: abc.net.au
Producer: James Brandis

What would a basic universal income mean?

Helpmann Award winning actor and star of ABC TV's Laid, Alison Bell, shares a delightful letter from her 21 year old self. 

Alison Bell will be joining a stellar cast for, The Beast, including Tobie Truslove and the play's author Eddie Perfect.  It starts in Sydney at the end of July before moving on to Melbourne at the end of August and then Brisbane in September. 

Pic: Claudette Werden
Producer: James Brandis

Note from my 21 year old self: Alison Bell

Adam Spencer takes Serpil on a journey through time (AKA talking about history) to explain why Fermat's Last Theorem is the book that changed his life.

Adam Spencer's Time Machine

Sophie Gilliat from The Dinner Ladies tells Serpil how to get the best out of your Christmas leftovers and reveals just how long you can keep something in the freezer for (spoiler alert: it's a long time!).

Sophie Gilliat

Sometime presenter @ABCAustralia, Snr Producer w/@PatsKarvelas Ex EP @GreenJ & @triplej w/@JohnSafran. #ANZAC reporter. Bilingual Turk Delight. Views my own #callmeserpie

Serpil Senelmis

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