The Conversation

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Kanal • 21 program

Barn och familj

Barn och familj

Varje vecka
Nyhetskommentarer

Nyhetskommentarer

Varannan vecka
Politik

Politik

29 apr.

Fysik

Fysik

Varje vecka
Nyhetskommentarer

Nyhetskommentarer

Varje vecka
Konst

Konst

2021-03-25
Nyheter

Nyheter

2020-04-28
Nyheter

Nyheter

2022-08-18
Nyhetskommentarer

Nyhetskommentarer

Varannan vecka
Politik

Politik

29 apr.

11 juni

How the US finally fell in love with soccer

When Roberto Baggio missed a penalty in the 1994 Fifa World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, more than 94,000 people were there to watch Italian heartbreak and Brazilian ecstasy. To this day, no other World Cup has been as well attended as the 1994 tournament. Tickets were cheap and abundant, and despite the relatively low profile of the game in the US compared to sports like baseball or basketball, people went along to see what it was all about. Now, three decades later, as the 2026 World Cup returns to North America with games across Mexico, Canada and the US, soccer has grown a much larger and more dedicated fan base in America. In this episode, we speak to John Sloop, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and historian of soccer and its fans in the United States, about what’s changed for the men’s game in the US and whether the popularity has staying power. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Is soccer taking over America … or are Americans taking over football?How apartheid, European racism and Pelé helped cultivate a culture of diversity in US soccer that endures into Messi-era MLSSoaring ticket prices could help FIFA pull in $15B this World Cup cycle — where does the money come from, where does it go?

11 juni

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26 min
−21 h

Teens are still on social media, but does that mean Australia's ban has failed?

When Australia banned under 16-year-olds from using social media in December 2025, it became a test case for a policy now being pursued by governments around the world. This week, the UK announced a similar social media ban from 2027. So how’s it going in Australia? Have the teenagers emerged from a phone-lit glow to reengage in the real world? And what kind of difference is it having on their mental health? In this episode, we speak to Susan Sawyer, a professor of adolescent mental health at the University of Melbourne, who is running a number of ongoing studies examining the way young people and their parents are reacting to Australia’s ban. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

−21 h

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27 min
28 maj

The salt caverns used to stockpile oil

Buried underground in caverns dug out of salt on the Gulf coast of the US are millions of barrels worth of crude oil. This is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, built up in the late 1970s. Globally, at the end of 2025, global strategic oil stockpiles were estimated at 2.5 billion barrels, with China holding the most. With the Strait of Hormuz now closed for more than two months, global oil supplies are being squeezed. In March, as part of a co-ordinated move by members of the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil to prevent price spikes, the US began releasing 172 million barrels from its strategic reserves. In this episode, we speak to Scott Montgomery, a former petroleum geologist who lectures in international studies at the University of Washington, about why these oil stockpiles were built up in the first place, and how they work. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Katie Flood with production assistance from Katie Flood. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Why Middle East gas field attacks could send energy prices soaringWhy the Persian Gulf has more oil and gas than anywhere else on EarthWar in the Middle East made the case for renewables – what’s happening in each country tells a harder storyThe government’s plans to bolster Australia’s fuel stores are sensible – but 5 years too lateOver 400 million barrels will be added to the oil market soon – what are strategic reserves and what can they do?

28 maj

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24 min
−3 d

What came before the Big Bang?

It’s a question big enough to make your head spin! Eight-year-old Ellie from Atlanta, Georgia, wants to know what came before the Big Bang? Ellie joins our host Eloise to delve into the origins of our universe with astronomer Michael Lam from Rochester Institute of Technology. If you'd like to join in with the experiment in this episode, make sure you have a balloon and a pen on hand while you listen. A podcast from The Conversation, the independent not-for-profit news organisation that brings you news and analysis straight from academic experts. Full credits available here. This season is supported by the University of Southampton in the UK, a world-leading research-intensive university with a global network of international students and campuses in Malaysia and Delhi. Are you a curious kid with a question? Pop it in an email, or record it and send us the audio to curiouskids@theconversation.com. Curious Kids: how likely is it that there are parallel universes and other Earths?Curious Kids: how are galaxies formed?How could an explosive Big Bang be the birth of our universe?What if the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning? Our research suggests it may have taken place inside a black hole

−3 d

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16 min
2 juni

4 | The Making of One Nation: move the centre

It’s never held government, or even opposition, yet One Nation’s managed to exert an outsized influence on the public policy agenda. From borders to migration, multiculturalism to Indigenous affairs, the far-right party has mastered mainstreaming and captured the masses fleeing the Coalition. In the fourth instalment of The Making of One Nation, we speak to Josh Sunman, Associate Lecturer in Public Policy at Flinders University and Tim Bale, a Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London. This episode was written and hosted by Ashlynne McGhee and produced and edited by Isabella Podwinski. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Misha Ketchel is the editor of The Conversation Australia. If you are enjoying the series, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Or, you can subscribe to one of our free newsletters.

2 juni

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19 min
21 maj

Argentina’s inflation ‘miracle’ is more of a mirage

The month Javier Milei took over as president of Argentina in December 2023, monthly inflation was 25.5%. The annual rate for that year was 211%. Now, it’s plummeted to 32% – still very high, but more stable. Milei, a right-wing populist famous for wielding a chainsaw on stage to make a point about fiscal conservatism, made cutting inflation a central part of his campaign. And yet economists like Can Cinar from City St George's, University of London, warn that Milei’s battle against inflation is more of a mirage, than a miracle. In this episode, Cinar explains how Milei’s government managed to cut inflation by deliberately suppressing people’s wages, and the stark impact these policies are having on Argentinians. This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Kemi Badenoch says she wants to be Britain’s Javier Milei – but is the Argentinian president a model to follow?What’s inflation – and how exactly do we measure it?Javier Milei’s victory in Argentina’s midterm elections is also a win for TrumpCurrency controls and debt in Argentina: the stakes are high if Milei’s latest economic gamble doesn’t pay offJavier Milei’s inflation ‘miracle’ in Argentina is a warning to the world, not a blueprint

21 maj

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25 min
4 juni

Two scientists on their race to make a new Ebola vaccine

As health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to battle an ongoing Ebola outbreak, scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against the strain of the virus that’s causing it. Two approved vaccines exist for Ebola, but they target the Zaire strain of the virus, not the Bundibugyo strain causing the 2026 outbreak, which has so far killed 61 people with 359 confirmed cases in the DRC and neighbouring Uganda. In this episode, we speak to two scientists at the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, Teresa Lambe and Rebecca Makinson, who are developing a vaccine candidate for Bundibugyo virus. On June 1, they were among three research groups to receive fast-track funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, alongside Moderna and IAVI. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

4 juni

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22 min
14 maj

The conspiracy theorists who feel vindicated by the Epstein files

As the revelations from the Epstein files continue to reverberate around the globe, those conspiracy theorists who were among the first to call for the release of information about Jeffrey Epstein's legal cases are feeling vindicated. Before his death, Epstein already featured in many fringe online forums, including those centred on the Qanon conspiracy narrative that the world is run by an elite cabal of child sex traffickers. Now, many in these communities are saying "We told you so." In this episode, Art Jipson, a sociologist at the University of Dayton in Ohio, who researches social movements and extremism, explains what happened when a real-life criminal case collided with an online community built on conspiracy theories. This episode was produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. The executive producer was Gemma Ware. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

14 maj

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29 min
7 maj

China’s long game on Trump’s tariffs

As Xi Jinping prepares to host Donald Trump for a delayed summit in Beijing on May 14-15, a lot has changed since the US president's last visit to China in November 2017. Trump's first trade war with China began in earnest the following year, ushering in a new era of trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. While Trump's second trade war raged in 2025, China reported a record trade surplus of US$1.2 trillion. Yes, direct trade with the US fell sharply, but China shifted its focus elsewhere, doubling down on an existing "great reallocation". In this episode, we speak to economist Jiao Wang at the University of Sussex, about how decisions China took over the past two decades meant it was able to protect itself from the worst of Trump's tariff wars. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and the executive producer was Gemma Ware. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Supreme Court’s tariff decision still leaves a ‘mess’ for companies trying to grab refundsWith a shrinking population, China needs new drivers of growth. Consumer spending has yet to fill the gapAmid rising tensions, ‘friendshoring’ might keep global trade aliveHave US tariffs failed to bite? China’s trade surplus hits a record US$1.2 trillion

7 maj

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30 min
26 maj

3 | The Making of One Nation: survive a scandal

We’d all like deeply considered policy and informed debate to be at the heart of politics, but unfortunately controversies and scandals tend to steal the show. For most parties, scandals are disastrous: they lose seats, ministers and elections — but not One Nation. It's weathered defections and punch-ups (including a memorable smearing of blood on a Senate door), jail and chaos, and thirty years on it's surging. This is a party that doesn’t just survive the chaos, but cultivates it and capitalises on it. This episode was written and hosted by Ashlynne McGhee and produced and edited by Isabella Podwinski. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Misha Ketchel is the editor of The Conversation Australia. If you are enjoying the series, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Subscribe to The Conversation's free newsletters.

26 maj

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20 min

Listen to experts explain the world around us and tell the stories behind brand new research. Podcasts from The Conversation, an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community. Shows in English, French and Bahasa Indonesia. Free to listen.