Sunday Morning

8:10 Allan Lichtman: The 13 Keys to the White House 

American University’s distinguished professor of history, Alan Lichtman has accurately predicted the US presidential contest since 1982. 

He joins us to explain his 13 trends or keys system and to talk us though where things stand for this year’s election. 

8:35 Jack Whaley-Cohen: The Sunday Quiz  

Quiz master Jack Waley-Cohen joins us once again as our Sunday Morning question master.    

Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC quiz show Only Connect which is known for being both difficult to crack and totally obvious.   

It’s Sunday morning, so wake up your brain and have a go!  

8:45 The headlines we didn’t read 

Mary Argue is back guiding us through the latest weird and wonderful headlines from the world of science. 

9:00 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch this week looks at the sudden appointment of a new Minister of Media and Communications - and what went wrong for the outgoing one.                

Also - while our TV broadcasters are cutting back their news to the bare minimum, news is still lucrative for Australian TV networks - and it’s so competitive they often end up in court. 

9:40 David Robson: Could your anxiety be your superpower? 

David Robson is an award-winning science writer specialising in the extremes of the human brain, body and behaviour. He shares his personal experience taking his anxiety and harnessing it to use it to his advantage. Could your anxiety be your superpower? 

10:00 Taylor Swift and the Axis chord progression 

The Axis Chord Progression is a run of four chords named after Aussie music-comedy trio Axis Of Awesome. 

Not including her latest album, Taylor Swift has reportedly used this progression in 21 of her songs. 

Dr. Jadey O’Regan knows a thing or two about chord progressions in pop music. She’s a Lecturer in Contemporary Music Practice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and co-author of "Hooks in Popular Music". 

10:20 Why the Camino de Santiago still captivates our imagination. 

In the film THE WAY, MY WAY, film and documentary producer and director, Bill Bennett tells the true story of his 800-kilometre-long pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago route through Spain based on his best-selling memoir of the same name. 

Bill joins us along with the principal Camino Pilgrim guide writer for many years, Johnnie Walker to talk about its enduring appeal. 

10:45 How AI is helping campaigners in India’s election 

Suhasini Raj is a New York Times reporter based in New Delhi. She has been looking into how AI tools are changing the face of India’s elections – including AI-generated avatars of the candidates, addressing voters by name. 

She joins us to discuss the impact on the world’s largest democracy and the implications for elections elsewhere. 

11:10 Phil Daoust: Longevity for the late starter 

Can a latecomer to health and fitness undo decades of inactivity, excess and intemperance? 

Journalist Phil Daoust explores his options in a new column, Fit for ever, in The Guardian. 

11:25 Tooth wisdom: from flossing and gargling to halitosis and mouth ulcers. 

We’re joined once again by Dr. Alpdoğan Kantarcı, a faculty member at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and senior member of staff at the Forsyth Institute, an independent research institute that on the connections between oral health and overall wellness. 

He answers your questions on everything from flossing and gargling to halitosis and mouth ulcers. 

11:40 Will AI make language learning a thing of the past? 

With the click of a button an entire wall of text can become legible on the internet. 

The rise of AI translation has been rapid, and already extends to multi-media content. Its ubiquity, however, has coincided with a global drop in foreign language learners. 

When language is the vehicle by which we discover the world – a profoundly human experience – technology journalist Louise Matsakis asks: What are we losing in automatic and instantaneous translation?