11 episodes
Grave Matters SBS Audio
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- Society & Culture
While death may be one of life’s only certainties, most of us are woefully unprepared for it. In Grave Matters, hosts Anthony Levin and Nadine J. Cohen explore grief, death care and the business of dying, asking experts the questions we’re all too scared to ask. You’ll hear from a forensic scientist, a First Nations grief counsellor, a Muslim death doula, a tech innovator, funeral director and other inspiring, passionate people whose life's work is helping us to better navigate death. Lift your spirits with Grave Matters: a lively look at death.
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No Planet B: Coming to Terms with Climate Collapse
Would you live your life differently if you thought humanity was doomed? You don’t have to be a nihilist to wonder whether we can survive the climate crisis. We find hope where it seems there is none and examine the idea of dying well, together. We face facts with climate policy expert and communicator David Spratt, and get a virtual hug from psychotherapist Carolyn Baker.
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Trauma’s Children: Life in the shadow of massive loss
We inherit many things from our families - heirlooms, habits, humour. But what about psychological wounds? In this episode, we discuss epigenetics, intergenerational trauma and how collective memory helps us work through catastrophic loss with Linda Thai, a therapist and former child refugee.
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Rise of the Death Robots: Will Death Tech change the way we die?
In this Golden Age of Innovation, we’re accustomed to making room for new technologies in daily life. But what about when we die? It turns out that breakthroughs like AI, empathic robots and ‘smart’ memorial plaques are disrupting the deathcare sector too, from how we support end-of-life to the way we memorialise. Dr Hannah Gould joins us to explain her research into DeathTech and new traditions and technologies of death rites.
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Weird Science: How Chemistry is Helping One Woman Solve Crimes
You know how in TV crime shows, the police can always pinpoint a body’s exact time of death? Well, it seems we’ve been lied to. Forensic science hasn’t advanced quite far enough for such accuracy. But one facility in Sydney is working hard to change this. In this episode we meet Dr Maiken Ueland, Director of the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) - Australia's first facility to study the decomposition of human corpses.
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21st-Century Plague: Has COVID-19 Changed Us Forever?
How has coronavirus changed our experience and perceptions of dying? We look at some of the socio-political implications of the pandemic and whether it will have lasting impacts on how we mourn and dispose of the dead.
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Panning for Gold: A Death Doula’s Guide to Living and Dying
We introduced you to the concept of death doulas in the first episode of Grave Matters. But what do they actually do? We asked Sarah Tolmie, consummate death doula and possibly the nicest woman in the world, about the specifics of doula work.