Both the U.S. and China have plans to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. You might be wondering: why now? The answer to that is the relatively recent discovery of water on the Moon. The question of how humanity will establish a Moon base is perhaps a deeper and more important one. We speak with two people, a planetary scientist who studies lunar geology and a scholar who works on space law and politics, about the challenges facing nations as humanity heads to the Moon. Featuring M...
Mar 23, 2023•45 min
On March 19, 2003, the United States led an unlawful invasion into Iraq, occupying the country for over eight years until the official withdrawal of troops throughout 2011. It is estimated that around 405,000 deaths occurred as a direct result. Most of these deaths were of Iraqi civilians, hundreds of thousands of others were injured, and over nine million displaced. The invasion was followed by the rise of sectarian violence that followed between 2006 and 2010, and the Islamic State group’s occ...
Mar 16, 2023•48 min
Without a sense of time, leading us from cradle to grave, our lives would make little sense. But on the most fundamental level, physicists aren't sure whether the sort of time we experience exists at all. We talk to three experts and find out if time could potentially be moving backwards as well as forwards. Featuring Sean Carroll , Homewood professor of natural philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, Emily Adlam , postdoctoral associate of the philosophy of physics at Western University ...
Mar 09, 2023•46 min
When ChatGPT burst onto the technology world in November 2022, it gained 100 million users within just two months after its launch. The technology itself is fascinating, but part of what makes ChatGPT uniquely interesting is the fact that essentially overnight, most of the world gained access to a powerful generative artificial intelligence that they could use for their own purposes. We speak with researchers who study computer science, technology and economics to explore how the rapid adoption ...
Mar 02, 2023•42 min
An international team of biologists has discovered a tiny new species of owl, called the Príncipe scops owl, living in a remote forest on an island off the west coast of Africa. Featuring Bárbara Freitas, a Ph.D. fellow who studies bird evolution at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood and hosted by Dan Merino. The interim executive producer is Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta S...
Feb 27, 2023•22 min
Our dependence on fossil fuels is one of the biggest challenges to overcome in the fight against climate change. But production and consumption of fossil fuels is on the rise, and expected to peak within the next decade. We speak to two researchers who examine the political challenges of transitioning to a world after oil, and what it means for those states who rely on oil for resources. Featuring Caleb Wellum , Assistant Professor of U.S. History, at the University of Toronto in Canada, and Nat...
Feb 23, 2023•38 min
Social isolation and loneliness are increasingly becoming a societal problem, as they increase polarization and impact on our physical health. In 2018, two years before the pandemic, the United Kingdom created a ministerial portfolio for loneliness . Japan, where nearly 40 per cent of the population report experiencing loneliness , began a similar position in 2021. We speak to three researchers who invite us to more deeply consider loneliness and social isolation, and their impacts on our health...
Feb 16, 2023•37 min
Despite the many biological differences between people of different sexes, races, ages and life histories, chances are that if two people walk into a doctors office with the same symptoms, they are going to get the same exact treatment. As you can imagine, a whole range of treatments – from drugs to testing – could be much more effective if they were designed to work with many different kinds of bodies, not just some abstract, generic human. We speak to three researchers who are looking at ways ...
Feb 09, 2023•41 min
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demographics of cities shifted. As stay-at-home orders, remote work and bubbling reduced social interaction, and restaurants, venues and arts destinations shut down temporarily, people started reconsidering their decision to remain in a big city. We spoke with two urban theorists about why people were leaving larger cities for smaller ones, how authenticity was marketed using social media influencers, and why smaller and mid-sized cities are underrated. Featurin...
Feb 02, 2023•29 min
Whether you’re looking at tropical forests in Brazil, grasslands in California or coral reefs in Australia, it’s hard to find places where humanity hasn't left a mark. The scale of the alteration, invasion or destruction of natural ecosystems can be mindbogglingly huge. Thankfully, researchers, governments and everyday people around the world are putting more effort and money into conservation and restoration every year, but the task is large. How do you plant a billion trees? How do you restore...
Jan 26, 2023•40 min
During the years of suffering and tragedy that defined the Warsaw Ghetto in the midst of World War II, a team of Jewish doctors secretly documented the effects of starvation on the human body when the Nazis severely limited the amount of food available in the Jewish ghetto. Featuring Merry Fitzpatrick , an assistant professor at Tufts University who studies food security and malnutrition. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and hosted by Dan Merino. The executive producer is Mend Mariwany...
Jan 23, 2023•20 min
Across the globe, health-care workers have gone on strike to protest the stress placed on them by the global COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, pushing already-strained services beyond their limits. These labour actions are part of the challenges faced by countries attempting to provide welfare services to their populations. We talk to three experts about why social welfare services are being cut, and what actions governments may need to take to ensure better access. Featuring Miguel...
Jan 19, 2023•37 min
Reindeer's noses may not glow red, but these cold-loving creatures have evolved the ability to change the color of their eyes to help them thrive in northern winters. A neuroscientist explains how he discovered that a part of the reindeer eye called the tapetum lucidum is perfectly adapted to the dim, blue in the Arctic. Featuring Glen Jeffery, a professor of neuroscience at the Institute of Opthamology at University College London in the UK. This episode was produced by Katie Flood. The interim...
Dec 21, 2022•18 min
If you want to know what happened in the earliest years of the universe, you are going to need a very big, very specialized telescope. Much to the joy of astronomers and space fans everywhere, the world has one – the James Webb Space Telescope . In this episode, we talk to three experts about what astronomers have learned about the first galaxies in the universe and how just six months of data from James Webb is already changing astronomy. Featuring Jeyhan Kartaltepe , Associate Professor ...
Dec 15, 2022•39 min
How do you get a country to change its national diet? That’s what China has been trying by introducing potato as a staple as part of an effort to improve food security. In this episode, we talk to three experts about why countries need to shift what their citizens eat, and what the optimum diet for our planet might be. Featuring Xiaobo Xue Romeiko , assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at University at Albany, State University of New York in the US, Paul Behrens , associate...
Dec 08, 2022•35 min
In the latest episode of Discovery, an ongoing series where we explore the stories behind new research discoveries from around the world, we hear about how a Muslim celebrity footballer helped reduce Islamophobia. In this episode, Salma Mousa , assistant professor of political science at Yale University in the US, explains how she found a "Mo Salah effect" and why she's now testing how durable it is. This episode was produced and written by Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our ot...
Dec 05, 2022•19 min
The amount of alcohol young people drink in many high-income countries has seen a marked decline since the early 2000s. But in many developing countries, the opposite is happening. In this episode we talk to three experts studying trends in youth drinking to find out why and explore the questions this raises about the way young people see themselves and their place in the world. Featuring Amy Pennay , research fellow at La Trobe University in Australia, Jonas Raninen , a researcher at the ...
Dec 01, 2022•38 min
Mental illnesses like obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and addiction are notoriously hard to treat and often don't respond to drugs. But a new wave of treatments that stimulate the brain with electricity are showing promise on patients and in clinical trials. We talk to three experts and one patient about the history of treating mental illness, how new technology and deeper understanding of the brain are leading to better treatments and where the neuroscience of mental illness is h...
Nov 24, 2022•39 min
There are many competing theories about what causes Alzheimer's disease. For more than 30 years, Ruth Itzhaki has been accumulating evidence that viruses are involved in its development in the brain. We investigate in the In the third and final part of Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia. Featuring Ruth Itzhaki , professor emeritus of molecular neurobiology at the University of Manchester in the UK, Dana Cairns , a postdoctoral research fellow at Tufts University in the US and Davangere P. Devana...
Nov 19, 2022•28 min
In the second of a three-part series, Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia , we explore chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a form of dementia that athletes from a whole range of sports can develop. We hear about the toll it can take on family members, who are often unaware of what’s happening to their loved ones. Featuring Matthew Smith , a senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at the University of Winchester in the UK and Lisa McHale, director of family relations at the Concussion ...
Nov 18, 2022•25 min
This week we're running a three-part series called Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia exploring new research searching for answers to how dementia works in the brain and the damage it leaves behind. The series is hosted by Paul Keaveny and Gemma Ware and was initially published via The Anthill podcast from the team at The Conversation in the UK. In the first episode, we explore how a study which began just after the end of the second world war is revealing new insights into the risk factor...
Nov 17, 2022•30 min
Momentum is growing for objects stolen during the colonial era that are now held in museums in Europe and North America to be returned to the places and communities that they were taken from. We talk to three experts about what happens to these objects once they're returned and the questions their restitution is raising about the relationship between communities and museums in Africa. Featuring John Kelechi Ugwuanyi , senior lecturer in archaeology and tourism at the University of Nigeria ...
Nov 10, 2022•34 min
From the US, to Brazil, to India, deepening political polarisation is used as a frame through which to see a lot of 21st century politics. But what can actually be done to depolarise deeply divided societies, particularly democracies? In this episode we speak to a political scientist and a philosopher trying to find answers to that question. Featuring Jennifer Lynn McCoy , professor of political science at Georgia State University in the US and Robert B. Talisse , professor of philosophy a...
Nov 03, 2022•39 min
Welcome to the first episode of Discovery, a new series via The Conversation Weekly where we hear the stories behind new research discoveries from around the world. In this episode, Ruth Mace , professor of anthropology at University College London in the UK, explains how her research with the families of Tibetan monks in China suggests celibacy might have some surprising evolutionary advantages. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive...
Oct 31, 2022•16 min
Humans do a lot of different things to the environment, and there aren’t many natural processes that can rival the scale of changes brought on by human activity. In this episode, we speak to three experts who study different ways that human action – from radiation to pollution to urbanization – is affecting how plants and animals evolve, and how humanity has become the single biggest driver of evolutionary changes on Earth. Featuring Germán Orizaola , a biologist at the University of Ovied...
Oct 27, 2022•40 min
Digital nomads who work as they travel are often attracted by a life of freedom far removed from the daily office grind. Many head to cities that have become known hotspots for remote workers. In this episode, we find out what impact digital nomads have on these cities and the people who live there, and how governments are responding to the phenomenon. Featuring Dave Cook , PhD candidate in anthropology at UCL in the UK, Adrián Hernández Cordero , head of sociology at Metropolitan Autonomo...
Oct 20, 2022•40 min
Soon after Jair Bolsonaro’s election as president of Brazil in 2018, he began making it a lot easier for people in the country to buy guns. In this episode, we speak to two experts about Brazil’s boom in private gun ownership and why it’s exacerbating fears about political violence ahead of a run-off presidential election on October 30. Featuring Erika Robb Larkins , associate professor of anthropology and director of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State Unive...
Oct 13, 2022•36 min
A new barrier to climate action is opening up in an obscure and secretive part of international trade law which fossil fuel investors are using to sue countries if policy decisions go against them. We speak to experts about the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism and how it works. Many are worried that these clauses in international trade deals could jeopardise global efforts to save the climate – costing countries billions of dollars in the process. Featuring Kyla Tienhaara , Can...
Oct 06, 2022•41 min
As research into psychedelics and their medical uses makes a comeback, scientists are having to deal with the legacy – both scientific and social – of a 40-year near total freeze on psychedelic research. In this episode, we speak with three experts about the early rise and fall of psychedelics in western science and culture, how the mystical and often vague language of the 60s and 70s still pervades research today and what it’s like to actually run clinical trials using psilocybin. Featuring Rob...
Sep 29, 2022•34 min
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is one of many bodies of ice that are melting, but this massive glacier is uniquely important when it comes to sea level rise. In this episode we talk to three experts studying the glacier in Antarctica to find out what's happening and why it's so significant. Featuring Yixi Zheng , a PhD candidate in Oceanography at the University of East Anglia in the UK, Ted Scambos , a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and Paul Holland , a...
Sep 22, 2022•39 min
