Open House With Stephen O'doherty

Charlie Duke, 10th astronaut to walk on the Moon, speaks to Sheridan Voysey House about his experiences in space, and his Christian faith.

John Smith, legendary Australian minister, commentator, activist and founder of the God’s Squad Motorcycle Club has died after a long battle with cancer.

People are more likely to believe a true or false claim if it is paired with a photograph, a researcher from The Australian National University (ANU) has found. Dr Eryn Newman, from the ANU Research School of Psychology, has been finding out how people find truth in a fake-news era.

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) are one of the busiest airlines in the world. A Christian registered charity they go where others, quite literally, fear to tread. Ian McDougall from MAF Australia Group told Open House about the incredible work the organisation do in remote an isolated locations in Australia and around the world. 

Do you feel like you are barely holding on? Let the golden thread of God's presence be the calm on the other side of chaos. It could be that He is weaving a brilliant new beginning in the middle of your mess. Darlene Zschech spoke on Open House about her new book, 'The Golden Thread - Experiencing God's presence in every season of life."

Listen: Kevin Andrews in conversation with Stephen O’Doherty. A parliamentary inquiry has recommended that more be done to deter organ trafficking in Australia …

Oxygen is expensive and a scarce resource for health facilities in the developing world. By training staff in identifying the sick children who need oxygen the most, a Melbourne doctor has helped Nigerian hospitals halve the number of children dying from pneumonia. Paediatrician Hamish Graham, spoke to Open House about the award he has been given for his work and his vision to see oxygen available to every child in the world who needs it. 

120 of the world’s best soil, health and agricultural scientists met recently in Sydney at a Global Soil Security conference. The scientists looked at how we can secure our soil for the centuries ahead while still feeding the billions of people on the planet. Professor Cristine Morgan, Professor of Soil Science, Texas A&M University was our guest on Open House.

Professor Tormey, from the University of Sydney, is an expert on European politics and populism. On Open House, he took us through the troubles facing French President, Emmanuel Macron, the bitter EU - UK divorce and why voters believe the empty promises of populist politicians. We even managed to get his opinion on happenings in Canberra, confirming for Professor Tormey just why he doesn't follow Australian politics. 

The songs of Blue Whales are changing and that is not good news. Scientists think the change is yet another sign of the impact of climate change on our environment. Researcher Dr Emmannelle Leroy explains why on Open House.

Adoption raises many sensitivities and concerns but it's time to talk about it. There are changes coming to adoption law in New South Wales and  moves to make state laws more consistent across Australia.  Two of Anglicare NSW's most experienced staff, Liz Byrne and Sue Madden, talked us through the current thinking on adoption and some touching personal insights into what it means for a child to have a family they know they will be with forever. 

After getting hit by a huge dust storm Open House got to wondering where all that soil actually came from. Emeritus Academic in soil science from ANU, Dr Richard Green told us it is another sign the drought is very serious. 

A national risk assessment has suggested platypus declines of up to 30% across its range since European settlement, with localised declines and extinctions increasingly reported. “We have great concerns about the future survival of this unique species,” says project leader Professor Richard Kingsford.

Professor Susan Rutland, Emeritus Professor of Religion from the University of Sydney spoke on Open House about her research on SRE. She says SRE is an import mechanism for children to find their identity and that to remove religion is to weaken multiculturalism in Australia.

Caritas Australia ended the year on a high note with a win for civil society and Australian democracy. They have proved that 'sometimes the good guys win' with the success of a campaign they spearheaded to change the provisions of a government bill. 

Listen: Dr Marcus Carter in conversation with Stephen O'Doherty.  An expert in gaming research warns that the 'loot boxes' in popular games are …

War is a difficult topic. As Christians, are we bound to participate in war? Is there such a thing as a just war? Does God encourage us to wage war? Indeed, can we claim He is on our …

Hold on to your hats! From next year there will be a metric makeover and the kilo will be defined by a number derived from Planck's Constant. So how can a number define mass? It is, as they say, complicated. Science communicator, Petr Lebedev ran Open House through the change.

Caritas Australia has released the State of the Environment for Oceania 2018 Report, Waters of life, Oceans of Mercy. The report contains dozens of first-person accounts and stories relating to the impact of climate change on communities from Papua New Guinea and Kiribati to Tonga, Samoa and the Carteret Islands.

We think of globalisation as something that came about fairly recently but a new book argues that it has been going on for generations having first started with the great gold rushes of the 19th century that saw millions of people move around the world hoping to make their fortune as new gold fields were discovered around the world.