This year is crunch time for determining whether it is still possible to save our planet. In 2020, all major conventions dealing with climate change and biodiversity will meet and decide on the emission levels ambitions that every nation must adopt. While leaving no doubt about the urgency of action on climate change, conservationist Aila Keta is optimistic. She sees very encouraging new initiatives coming out of the finance and the banking sector.

Fungi are the unsung heroes of recycling. They play a vital role in breaking down organic matter for plants to use. Now we've discovered fungi can clean up oil and plastic. And their root systems are being used to create alternatives to plastic, wood and bricks. Who knew the humble mushroom could be so versatile?

Trust is in short supply. Surveys have long indicated declining trust in institutions, and in political leaders. We are also suspicious of expertise, and of the experts who provide it. Faced with the threat of a pandemic, who can we trust?

It’s 250 years since the arrival of Captain James Cook. In maritime circles he’s celebrated as a great navigator and map-maker. But for First Nations people, Cook is the symbol of the European invasion which decimated their communities. So how should Cook be remembered today? Author Peter Fitzsimons and historian Professor John Maynard discuss the man and the myth.

Will personal freedom always give way to social control in China? Families have lived through a wave of revolutions in communist China and the legacy flows down the generations. Three authors talk about the cycle of openness and repression from the Cultural revolution to Tiananmen Square as individual freedoms are tolerated and then repressed to meet the goals of China's communist rulers.

How do you fancy a theory describing everything in the world and the whole universe? Physicists have been trying to find a universal theory for centuries. Progress has been made: BBC’s Jim Al-Khalili describes the three pillars of modern physics: quantum theory, relativity, and thermodynamics. But is physics any closer to finding the ONE theory that explains it all?

Malcolm Turnbull reflects on his time on politics, his achievements and the challenges he has faced during his time as 29th prime minister. In the past decade of climate and energy warfare in Australian federal politics, Malcolm Turnbull is the only leader to have lost his job over the issue twice. He talks with Annabelle Crabb about his new memoir A Bigger Picture.

For a long time she was misunderstood, erroneously known as the “last of her race”, and almost invariably depicted as tragic figure.  But there is so much more to indigenous Tasmanian woman, Truganini.

Despite encouraging signs of a slowdown in infection rates, we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic. The economic and social effects of Covid-19 will be far-reaching. On the other side of this pandemic will there be a new world order? How is the virus affecting the US-China relationship, South-East Asia and the global balance of power?  

It's been just 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. The implications of extreme weather and climate change are now being felt. Why have we done relatively little in response? Richard Aedy goes looking for answers in a four-part series on RN. Look for RN Presents in the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.

A victim of a horrific stabbing attack has woken up and remains in intensive care, days after being critically injured during the South Hedland shopping mall rampage in WA's Pilbara.

One of the year's strongest cold fronts is bearing down on Perth and the south-west of the state today, as residents are urged to secure their homes. and prepare for gale-force winds.

Blowflies could hold the key to managing the most damaging pest to Australian agriculture and the country's biodiversity.

WA has now posted six days in a row without a new case of COVID-19 after no new cases were recorded overnight, with 95 per cent of people who contracted the virus in the state now recovered.

A program to house homeless individuals in Perth hotels is abandoned after more than half the 20 people who were given accommodation at the start of the scheme chose to leave early.

The accused triple-murderer tells police "you gotta be joking" during previously unseen footage of his arrest at his Perth home back in 2016 for the Claremont serial killings.

Wildlife parks have a long road back to financial buoyancy after coronavirus restrictions stripped them of their sole source of income; visitors, and some operators are dipping into personal savings just to keep their animals fed.

A fierce cold front brings heavy rain and damaging winds across Perth and Western Australia's south-west, prompting hundreds of calls to emergency services and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

Campers on the north coast of Western Australia have had the "really rare" chance to walk next to a feeding whale shark estimated to be seven to 10 metres long.

Katie Elphick took this video of a seven to ten metre whale shark pursuing a school of bait fish close to a beach north of Broome in Western Australia.

Accused Claremont serial killer Bradley Edwards is at the centre of the longest and most expensive criminal trial in Western Australia's history and yesterday was the first time the public heard from him.

A source has told the ABC that a teenager found dead in a remote Pilbara town this morning had recently given birth.

Western Australia reports no new cases of COVID-19 overnight, marking a full week since its last positive test, with the Premier calling it an "amazing and incredible and terrific" result.

Bradley Edwards elects not to offer a detailed defence to three charges of murdering Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon — crimes that became known as the Claremont serial killings.

With hundreds of free activities and workshops, this curated project is a chance to learn new skills, battle boredom, and connect with like-minded people.

While China's demand for Australian rock lobster soars, less international flights causes product delivery to be capped.

Australia's mineral exploration industry has warned up to 600 full-time jobs are at "immediate risk" and potentially thousands more under threat as mining companies respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

A shire in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region is set to inject more than $150,000 into its economy by providing residents with "Narrogin Dollars".

Panic immediately set in at the sight of an injured Ellyse Perry limping from the field, but her limited role in the Australian T20 team might mean the side can cope better than expected, writes Geoff Lemon.

Perry was helped off the field after an off-balance throw in an attempted run-out.

Australia will be without one of its star players for the remainder of the T20 World Cup, but the defending champions believe they will not skip a beat as the semi-finals approach.

Despite not winning a match, Thailand proves to be the feel-good story of the Women's T20 World Cup, as Australian crowds warm to their positivity and sense of fun.

With rain forecast for Sydney on Thursday, Australia's up-and-down Twenty20 World Cup is at risk of coming to an anti-climactic and disappointing end.

Lungi Ngidi dismantles Australia's batsmen with career-best figures and Janneman Malan pummels the bowling attack in just his second ODI as South Africa clinches the series with a 2-0 lead.

Bad weather in Sydney means India goes through to T20 World Cup final without a ball being bowled — and Australia will lose out if the second semi does not go ahead.

South Africa pushes Australia all the way, but the hosts are through to the T20 World Cup final in a rain-affected game at the SCG.

India and England's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final was washed out and Australia's clash with South Africa almost was too, all without a backup plan in place. How was this allowed to happen?

Cameron Bancroft survived a one-year ban for ball tampering, but has since gone from the lofty heights of a Test at Lord's to suburban cricket after being dropped from the WA state team, writes Ben Cameron.

Whether Australia or India wins the final, this T20 World Cup almost promised too much but has delivered even more. If fans #FillTheG on Sunday it will give this tournament the conclusion it deserves, writes Richard Hinds.

From a scattering of fans to stadiums at near-capacity, women's cricket has come a long way in the last decade since Australia won its first women's T20 World Cup.

Mitchell Starc comes home early from South Africa to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play for Australia in the T20 World Cup final — and criticises the lack of reserve days which nearly saw the hosts eliminated.

Playing sport as a girl in India is not always widely accepted, but India's cricket stars hope their stunning World Cup run can make life a bit easier for the next wave of girls.

Australia's superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry will go under the knife and face six months out of cricket after injuring her hamstring during her team's T20 World Cup campaign.

Win or lose, the T20 World Cup is going to be a game changer for women's cricket — but the Aussies want to be the ones dancing with Katy Perry on the podium, writes Jess Jonassen.

The T20 final brings to an end a five-year campaign to beat the world-record crowd of 90,815 for a women's sporting event, writes Brittany Carter.

Australia slumps to a 3-0 series defeat in South Africa with a six-wicket loss in Potchefstroom, despite Marnus Labuschagne's maiden ODI century.

Australia is Women's T20 World Cup champion again after thumping India by 85 runs in front of a whopping 86,174 people at the MCG.