The Conversation Weekly

4.7 (48)
NEWS COMMENTARY
UPDATED WEEKLY

A show for curious minds. Join us each week as academic experts tell us about the fascinating discoveries they're making to understand the world, and the big questions they’re still trying to answer. A podcast from The Conversation, hosted by Gemma Ware. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 DAY AGO

Why distrust in powerful politicians is part of a functioning democracy

Surveys suggest that in many western democracies, political trust is at rock bottom. But is it really such a bad thing for people living in a democracy to distrust their government? In this episode, we talk to political scientist Grant Duncan, visiting scholar in politics at City St George's, University of London, about why he thinks a certain level of distrust and scepticism of powerful politicians is actually healthy for democracy. And about how populists, like Donald Trump, manage to use people’s distrust in political elites to their advantage. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood with sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading Don’t trust politicians? That may not be such a bad thingWhy people vote for politicians they know are liarsTrusting societies are overall happier – a happiness expert explains why Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 min
DEC 5

How do animals understand death?

An orca that pulled along the corpse of its baby for 17 days. An opposum that plays dead to fool predators. And a chimpanzee that cleaned the teeth of its dead baby. Observations of behaviours like these suggest animals have a complex relationship with death. In this week’s episode, we speak to Susana Monsó, an associate professor of philosophy at the National Distance Education University in Madrid, Spain, about the different ways animals understand death. This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood with sound design by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading Los animales entienden la muerte más de lo que se pensabaWhat the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals experience deathElephant calves have been found buried – what does that mean? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

27 min
NOV 28

The story of one Amazon warehouse in the UK that pushed to unionise

The online retail giant Amazon is known for its resistance to unions. In this week’s episode, we tell the story of what happened at one warehouse in Coventry in the UK when its workers tried to gain official recognition for the GMB union, one of the country’s biggest labour unions. We talk to Tom Vickers, a sociologist at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, who spent weeks observing workers’ efforts to unionise at the warehouse as part of a research secondment with the GMB. And John Logan, a professor of labor and employment Studies at San Francisco State University in the US, explains why some companies, many of them American, are so doggedly anti-union. The episode also includes an introduction from Sarah Reid, business and economy editor at The Conversation in the UK. This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood with sound design by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading:I spent months with Amazon workers in Coventry before they narrowly voted against unionising. This is what I learnedAmazon still seems hell bent on turning workers into robots – here’s a better way forwardAmazon, Starbucks and the sparking of a new American union movement Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

33 min
NOV 21

50 years since the discovery of ancient hominin fossil Lucy in Ethiopia, calls grow to decolonize paleoanthropology

It's been 50 years since the American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson discovered the fossil of ancient hominin 'Lucy' in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The find took the story of human evolution back beyond 3 million years for the first time. Yet, despite largely centring on the African continent as the "cradle of mankind", the narrative of hominin fossil discovery is striking for its lack of African scientists. In this week's episode, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University in the US, explains why the story of ancient human origins is so western-centric, and why he's calling for the decolonisation of paleoanthropology. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany with sound design by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading:‘Deep inside, something told me I had found the earliest human ancestor; I went numb’ – Yohannes Haile-Selassie on his lifetime quest to discover ancient humanityLucy, discovered 50 years ago in Ethiopia, stood just 3.5 feet tall − but she still towers over our understanding of human origins Meet 3-million-year-old Lucy – she’ll tell you a lot about modern African heritage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 min
NOV 14

The controversy over cod fishing in Canada

For generations, cod fishing was a way of life in Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost province in Canada. But in 1992, after cod stocks in the north Atlantic plummeted, the federal government imposed a moratorium on cod fishing. It was to last for 32 years until June 2024, when the government lifted the ban in a controversial decision. In this episode we speak to Tyler Eddy, a research scientist in fisheries science at Memorial University of Newfoundland, to shed light on what’s happened. It's a story that offers a cautionary tale for those politicians trying to balance the complex demands of protecting ecosystems that also support substantial economies. This episode was produced by Katie Flood and Gemma Ware. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading:The federal government has lifted the moratorium on Northern cod fishing after 32 yearsThe Atlantic: The driving force behind ocean circulation and our taste for codTiny oceanic plankton adapted to warming during the last ice age, but probably won’t survive future climate change – new study Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 min
NOV 7

Gangsters who leave their gang behind for something new

What happens when a gangster leaves their life on the street? How do they transition to something new? We find out through the life stories of two people who joined them as young men and came out the other side. Featuring an interview with Gaz, a former gang member in Sierra Leone, and Dennis Rodgers, a research professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland who leads a global research project on gangs. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading:Gangs’stories: The Sierra Leonian gangster who gave up violence and drugs for poetryGangs’stories : A glimpse of hard lives around the worldFrom dealing drugs to selling tortillas: the surprising future of former gang members Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

32 min
OCT 31

What is motivating Americans as they decide who to vote for

Amid deep political polarization and extreme campaign rhetoric, the U.S. presidential election on November 5 is likely to be decided by a small number of voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. But why is it so close? In this episode Naomi Schalit, senior politics editor at the The Conversation U.S., speaks to Jesse Rhodes, associate professor of political science at UMass Amherst, who has been surveying Americans on the issues that matter to them, and their concerns as the election approaches. This episode was produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading:Why vote for Harris or Trump? A cheat sheet on the candidates’ records, why their supporters like them and why picking one or the other makes senseUS voters say they’re ready for a woman president − but sexist attitudes still go along with opposition to HarrisYes, sexism among Republican voters helped sink Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

32 min
OCT 24

Origins of South Australia’s mysterious pink sands revealed

Take a walk along a beach in parts of South Australia, and you may come across unusual patches of pink sand. When a team of geologists began analysing samples of this mysterious sand to find out where it comes from, their search took them back through time to a previously undiscovered mountain range in Antarctica. In this episode Sharmaine Verhaert, a PhD candidate in earth sciences at the University of Adelaide, explains how the discovery was made. This episode was produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. Further reading: South Australia’s enigmatic pink sand was born in ice-covered Antarctic mountains, new research showsAustralian amber has revealed ‘living fossils’ traced back to Gondwana 42 million years agoThe Anthropocene epoch that isn’t – what the decision not to label a new geological epoch means for Earth’s future Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22 min

See All (198)

4.7

out of 5

48 Ratings

Great to hear academic information in a very approachable manner

02/14/2023

Palunargar

It’s great to hear information from people from the academy that it’s easy to understand. I have learned a lot about different topics which are not published in the everyday news cycle.
Please do not overdub music-like sounds or sound-effects

Feb 10

Blaboptera

The background music is distracting or worse. This is not the only podcast with this flaw. The implication for a presumed need for imposed sounds, such as for shifts in spoken content (paragraphs), is that neither the speaker nor the listener is gifted enough to have the experience plainly, naturally.
The Conversation Weekly

03/04/2021

Mr.DWeiss

This is a great new addition to the podcast world. Relevant, well produced, informative, and interesting with knowledgeable guests and charismatic hosts. I highly recommend joining in on ”The Conversation Weekly.”
Great Show

02/22/2021

_method

Excellent Podcast, great flow and mix of guests.

A show for curious minds. Join us each week as academic experts tell us about the fascinating discoveries they're making to understand the world, and the big questions they’re still trying to answer. A podcast from The Conversation, hosted by Gemma Ware. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.