Writing the most important letters of your life and digging into soil health

In a world of texts, emails and voice notes, there's something almost romantic about an actual letter: the handwriting, the doodles in the margins, the thought poured into the paper. Self-described letter midwife Frish Brandt has spent years helping people write the letters that matter most. She shares the five essential letters of your life.

Nothing beats the smug satisfaction of garden-fresh produce, but research suggests about a fifth of Australian veggie gardens could be growing food in soil with unsafe lead levels. As spring planting kicks off, environmental scientist Cynthia Barlow and gourmet farmer Matthew Evans explain how you can check what’s lurking below the surface and work with it.

EV sales have more than doubled this year, outselling petrol and diesel cars outright in September, but a quarter of Australian drivers have nowhere to plug in at home. With a new EV hitting the road roughly every 100 seconds, ABC technology reporter James Purtill explores whether the government’s plan for more public chargers can keep pace.