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Jun 6, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Isabella Tropiano
People are drinking less alcohol, especially Millennials and Gen Z. And the drinks industry has noticed. Low-alc and no-alc drinks make up a tiny fraction of the market. But it’s growing at 7 percent a year. And, as more of us either moderate our drinking or stop altogether, the future for these drinks look bright. But the way they’re advertised, marketed and packaged makes them look very like alcoholic drinks and there’s some concern they may act as a gateway to alcohol.
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May 30, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Roi Huberman
TikTok, the phone app that sends a stream of viral videos to every user, is in trouble in the United States. The company must either change its Chinese ownership, or leave the American market. In response, TikTok is underlining its economic contribution, in Australia and elsewhere. So how much difference does it make?
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May 23, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Tegan Nicholls
As they say a “diamond is forever”. But does it matter if that diamond is grown in a lab or mined from the Earth? Especially if they both are chemically, physically, and optically identical. And given that cost of living pressures are colliding with consumers’ desire to not compromise on size or quality, more and more Australians can see the logic behind lab grown gems. In America, lab-grown may have peaked.
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May 9, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons
Australians have a sleeping problem. The most conservative estimates show one in 10 have a sleep disorder, which is having an impact on their safety, wellbeing and productivity. This ends up costing almost a $1 billion a week. And that’s not all. The total cost of inadequate sleep is thought to be as high as $75 billion a year. We’re not alone either. International research shows places like the US, the UK and Europe are facing similar problems, with similar costs.
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May 2, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Simon Branthwaite
You don’t need to be paying too much attention to be aware that economic growth matters. Growth is central to economics and it's the growth of the past 60 years that has delivered. We’ve seen a rise in prosperity, and developments in health and education. But the pursuit of growth has also had consequences. In his new book Growth: A Reckoning, Daniel Susskind explores the tension between the positives and negatives created by the pursuit of growth.
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Apr 25, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |John Jacobs
Research shows loneliness costs the Australian economy $2.7 billion per year or $1565 per person. The World Health Organisation has also declared loneliness to be a global health concern. And it’s estimated loneliness has an equivalent health impact on the body to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Before the pandemic older Australians were found to be the loneliest in the nation. But now the data now shows this has shifted and younger Australians are the feeling the effects of being alone and isolated.
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Apr 18, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons
The growth of cyber-crime is considered to be the biggest challenge facing Australian businesses. Collectively cyber-attacks cost the economy $42 billion dollars last year, with ransomware the most disruptive type of hack, costing $3 billion. So what is the government doing? And what can organisations do, both to lower their risk of attack, and if the hackers succeed in accessing their systems?
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Apr 11, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Roi Huberman
New research suggests that the increase in vaping across Australia will cost the health system an extra $180 million each year and that’s a conservative figure. Vaping has been framed as a way to stop smoking tobacco, however it can also be a gateway to taking it up. It’s estimated that 13 per cent of people who vape transition to cigarettes. The Australian government has called vapes a public health menace and introduced restrictive anti-vaping policies.
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Apr 4, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |John Jacobs
Twice a year most Australians are made to deliberately mess with our body clocks. When we go into daylight saving and when we come out. Many of us love the longer summer evenings. What we don’t love is the sleep adjustment that makes us feel tired, fuzzy and out of sorts. There are plenty of arguments about whether daylight saving is a good or bad thing. So in this episode we look at the costs and benefits and whether it’s time to rethink the concept.
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Mar 28, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Richard Aedy |Whitney Fitzsimmons |Bethany Stewart
As we head into Easter you may have noticed the price of your seasonal sweet treats like chocolate bunnies and eggs are a bit higher than last year. The main reason is the price of cocoa beans or actually, the price of cocoa futures. They’ve skyrocketed by more than 100% in 2024 alone and tripled over the past year. But why is that and will we be prepared to keep paying higher prices for the sweet stuff?
