Grave Matters

Grave Matters

While death may be one of life’s only certainties, most of us are woefully unprepared for it. Grave Matters is back for season 2! 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. Grave digging even deeper this season, Anthony and Nadine hear from a forensic cleaner, a monster expert, a psycho-sexologist, 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.

Episodes

True Crime High: The Sociology Class Solving Murders

November 26, 2025 • 51 mins
Is it possible to protect today’s teens from the evils of the world? Are high schools adequately preparing them for adulthood in the age of AI? In small-town Tennessee, one teacher is using cold case murders to educate students with staggering results.
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End of Life Yarning: An Indigenous Perspective on Dying

November 19, 2025 • 51 mins
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were practising end of life care for thousands of years prior to colonisation. But with the loss of traditional practices in many communities, are mainstream palliative care services equipped to cater to the needs of Indigenous people? And what can we learn from Indigenous perspectives on dying?
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Death by Robot: Homo Digitalis and the AI Revolution

November 12, 2025 • 56 mins
From driving cars to drafting emails, retail therapy to disease diagnosis, artificial intelligence now permeates almost every aspect of our lives. But how is AI innovation affecting death and dying? Are we moving towards digital immortality, or does the onset of sentient AI sound the death knell for humankind?
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Crime Seen: Meet the Reigning Queen of Forensic Cleaning

November 5, 2025 • 47 mins
Ever wondered who has to clean up after a murder? Or who to call about a relative’s hoarding? After 25 years of mopping up such messes, one forensic and trauma cleaner says she’s seen it all. And from prison cells to blood-soaked parks, she may be right.
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Zombies and Vampires: Lessons on Death from the Undead

October 29, 2025 • 54 mins
You may see zombies and vampires as little more than cultural fodder for your horror-filled delight. But for centuries, undead creatures have been used to represent social anxieties, reflect political upheaval and reinforce burial rites. Anthony and Nadine meet a scholar who says the undead aren’t really monsters at all - they’re us. What can the walking corpse or the bloodsucking temptress tell us about ourselves and our relations...
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The Right to Die: Dr Philip Nitschke on Voluntary Assisted Dying

October 22, 2025 • 54 mins
Do we have a fundamental right to die? Should everyone have access to Voluntary Assisted Dying? Dr Philip Nitschke has been at the forefront of VAD advocacy and innovation for 30 years. He joins Anthony and Nadine to discuss the legal and ethical questions surrounding dying with dignity.
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Gay Abandon: Ageing and Dying in the LGBTQI Community

October 15, 2025 • 50 mins
Members of the LGBTQI community face unique, often invisible challenges when it comes to ageing and dying. They are also creating new and joyful ways to celebrate and honour each other’s lives. One man is holding their hands through it all. Anthony and Nadine chat with LGBTQI advocate Russ Gluyas about death and dying in the Queer community.
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Bodies R Us: What Really Happens to Bodies Donated to Science?

October 8, 2025 • 49 mins
Have you ever wondered what type of people donate their bodies to science? Or if body supply equals demand? Organ donation may be increasing but the numbers surrounding whole body donation remain vague. What happens to the bodies that do end up in labs? And what if there’s a shortage? One woman decided to find out.
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Grave Matters is back for Season 2!

October 1, 2025 • 1 min
Death — we all have to face it, but nobody wants to talk about it. Anthony Levin and Nadine J. Cohen are back to explore the unexpected, the eerie, and the deeply human sides of life’s final chapter. Grave Matters is the SBS podcast about death, dying, and the people helping us better understand what happens at the end of the road.
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Ray of light: Ray Martin ponders death & the afterlife

August 7, 2024 • 42 mins
American broadcaster Diane Sawyer once said that a good journalist follows their curiosity like a cat. If the adage is true, then Ray Martin has nine lives. At age 79, and with five Gold Logies on the mantle, Ray has finally turned his attention to what he says is the best question there is: death. He joins us on this special bonus episode of Grave Matters to discuss his new series for SBS, Ray Martin: The Last Goodbye.
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Saying Fur-well: Pets, Vets & the Afterlife

May 14, 2024 • 44 mins
We're back with a special bonus episode to cap off the series. We’ve spent the season exploring the myriad ways we respond to people dying and what it means to have a good death. But what does this mean for our pets? It turns out losing a furry friend can be just as challenging as losing a human one.
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Everybody Dies: Ben Lee on Life, Death, and Ayahuasca, Baby

May 7, 2024 • 43 mins
You may know him as the singer songwriter behind worldwide hits including Catch My Disease and We’re All In This Together. But there’s more to Ben Lee than clever lyrics and catchy hooks. Why is he on a podcast about death and dying? Good question.
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No Planet B: Coming to Terms with Climate Collapse

April 29, 2024 • 48 mins
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

April 23, 2024 • 44 mins
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?

April 16, 2024 • 44 mins
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

April 9, 2024 • 40 mins
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 ...
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21st-Century Plague: Has COVID-19 Changed Us Forever?

April 2, 2024 • 39 mins
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

March 28, 2024 • 27 mins
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.
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Hospitals and Hijabs: One Woman’s Mission to Raise Death Literacy in Her Community

March 26, 2024 • 45 mins
Have you had a near-death experience? Was there a bright light? A shadowy figure? Did your life flash before your eyes? A terrifying near-death experience changed Mariam Ardati’s whole perspective and led her to her life’s great purpose - educating her community about the practicalities of death and dying as a death doula, funeral director and educator.
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Body and Soil: Exploring a Greener Alternative to Burial and Cremation

March 19, 2024 • 41 mins
It’s no secret that burial and cremation are environmentally unsustainable. So how can we dispose of bodies in new, climate-friendly ways? Alternatives to burial and cremation that have a lower carbon footprint are disrupting the funeral industry all over the world. This episode explores natural organic reduction, aka human composting or terramation. It's an emerging, greener alternative to the “big two”.
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