Federal MP Andrew Leigh is a former professor of economics who is fascinated by how economics can create magic

How Jeanne Ryckmans fell for a dashing Irish Professor who was far from what he appeared to be

Historian Alison Bashford with the story of the Huxley family, who founded one of the great dynasties of the world

Dominic Riley on how a chance encounter with a bookbinding monk named Brother Bede changed the course of his life (R)

Australia's storyteller in song on the poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his songwriting (R)

Artist David Rankin on his turbulent early life as a the son of a bootmaker, his unexpected path into painting, and his passionate love story with writer Lily Brett (R)

Sophie Matterson spent five years preparing to cross the Australian continent with five camels she caught and trained herself (R)

Nick Clemann is one of Australia's leading lizard experts, but took an unconventional path into research. After working for years as a tradie, Nick plucked up the nerve to go to university, walking into what he thought was territory reserved for the intellectual elite

Victoria Vanstone was just 13 years old when she had her first drink, and the booze quickly consumed her. It wasn't until she was in her 30s that Vic realised she needed to do something radical

Sue Lowry originally trained as an opera singer, but while living in London she fell in love with teaching children with special needs

The actor on the late love of his life, his wife Joan Washington, and the final message she left him (R)

Dr Kira Westaway has been on a ten-year mission to solve the mystery of how, why and when a giant ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki became extinct, and why nothing remains of this beast but thousands and thousands of teeth

Nazeem Hussain honed his comedy in Melbourne's suburbs in the 1990s. After his father left the family, his fearless mother taught Nazeem how to use humour to get bullies off his back

Mark Balla was on a business trip to India when he met two young men on a train. They invited him back to see their home, one of the world's biggest slums. This meeting changed the course of Mark's life

Dr Ameliah Scott pilots herself around remote NSW to take care of animals and have a cuppa with their owners.

For years, Adele Dumont had been secretly pulling out her hair from the root so obsessively she created a bald spot at the crown of her head. Eventually, she learnt her compulsion had a name

After feeling burnt out, Jackie Carpenter spontaneously applied for NASA's Space Camp. She was the first Australian accepted, and it was the most transformative experience of her life

Julia Baird has been sustained through hard times by acts of "moral beauty". In a world marked by division, these gestures have the power to restore our shared humanity

Dr Robert Waldinger on what it takes to live a happy life

The hardship, cruelty and loneliness of the mission system during the Great Depression didn't crush Aunty Ruth Hegarty's spirit. She found her voice, God and her family