The Conversation Weekly

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...

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 a...

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 sav...

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 pervad...

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,...

For thousands of years, people living in parts of the world used to high temperatures have deployed traditional passive cooling techniques in the way they design their buildings. But "modern" styles of architecture using concrete and glass often usurped local building techniques better suited to hotter climates. In this episode, we explore why that happened, and how some architects are championing...

M was a double agent during the cold war, working on the side of the west. But when the Iron Curtain fell, he felt abandoned by the secret services he risked his life for. M's story is told by Eleni Braat , associate professor of international history at Utrecht University and Ben de Jong , research fellow at Leiden University. They've been interviewing him in depth for their research on what happ...

As the latest Jurassic World Dominion film hits cinemas, we’re re-running a story originally aired in 2021 about what dinosaurs really looked liked – and how scientists' understanding of their appearance keeps evolving.  Featuring Maria McNamara , professor of palaeobiology at University College Cork in Ireland and Nicolas Campione , senior lecturer in paleaobiology at the University of New E...

A little update about The Conversation Weekly podcast and what we'll be up to over the next few months. If you've not yet completed our listener survey , we'd love to hear what you think about the show. It should take about five minutes to complete. Thank you!

India and Pakistan have been sweltering under an unprecedented heatwave, the severity of which scientists attribute to climate change. In this episode we explore how much worse heatwaves in the region could get and how farmers can prepare for it. Featuring Alan Thomas Kennedy-Asser , a research associate in climate science at the University of Bristol in the UK, Andrew King , a senior Lecturer in...

As Australians prepare to vote in federal elections on May 21, in this episode we explore how the country’s political landscape is shifting – and why it's not looking good for Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Featuring Michelle Grattan , a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and political correspondent for The Conversation in Australia. Grattan, who is one of Australia's most respected...

We'd love to hear what you think about The Conversation Weekly. Please let us know via our listener survey , which should take about five minutes to complete. Thank you! Parents and doctors have known about childhood ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – for decades, but it is only recently that the medical field has started to recognise, diagnose and seriously study ADHD in adults. In...

We'd love to hear what you think about The Conversation Weekly. Please let us know via our listener survey , which should take about five minutes to complete. Thank you! When war breaks out, what does it mean for a country to remain neutral? In this episode we explore the advantages and disadvantages of neutrality – and what responsibilities come with the choice not to take sides. We talk to an hi...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is challenging the structures of international collaboration in space. In this episode, we talk to two experts about how space is entering a new era of international competition – and whether the existing laws are ready for what comes next.  Featuring Kuan-Wei (David) Chen , executive director of the Centre for Research in Air and Space Law at McGill University in...

How much does your cultural background influence the way you react to music? Or whether you think a piece of music sounds happy or sad? That's what George Athanasopoulos and his colleagues decided to investigate. They travelled to a remote part of northwest Pakistan to spend time with the Kalash and Kho people who live there and find out how they reacted to western music. Athanasopoulos, an ethnom...

Indonesia plans to move its capital city from Jakarta on the island of Java to a new forest city on the island of Borneo called Nusantara. We talk to three experts in urban planning and ecology to find out why, what the problems are with Jakarta – and what the environmental impacts of the project could be. Featuring Eka Permanasari , associate professor in urban design, Monash University Australia...

Can makeup really kill you? That’s the myth attached to Maria Gunning, the Countess of Coventry, an 18th century socialite who reportedly died from her lead-based makeup in 1760, aged just 27. In this episode, we speak to Fiona McNeill , a professor of physics at McMaster University in Canada, who has recreated some centuries-old recipes for white lead makeup to test how dangerous these cosmetics...

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy – a site of First Nations protest in Canberra, Australia – marks its 50th anniversary this year. In this episode, Carissa Lee, First Nations and public policy editor at The Conversation in Australia, explores its history and hears how the ongoing protest has influenced a new generation of Indigenous activism. Featuring Bronwyn Carlson, professor of Indigenous studies an...

It's been five years since Emmanuel Macron rocked the French political establishment with his victory in the 2017 presidential elections. France is now returning to the polls for two rounds of voting and Macron is favourite to win a second five-year term on April 24. In this episode, we ask two French politics experts: how has Macron changed the French political system? Featuring, Gilles Ivaldi ,...

What does it mean to be a Ukrainian? In this episode, we talk to three experts about the origins of Ukrainian nationalism, and how Ukrainian national identity is changing. Featuring Volodomyr Kulyk , head research fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv; Dominique Arel , professor and holder of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at...

The life of limbo for people in immigration detention is often deeply traumatic. In this episode we talk to two experts on immigration detention in Australia and the UK about why people are waiting months, sometimes years, for a decision about their future – and the impact it's having on them. Featuring Madeline Gleeson Senior Research Fellow, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for Internation...

Scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just published a stark new warning about the impacts climate change is already having on our planet. Some of these impacts are already irreversible. In this episode, we talk to three of the scientists involved in the report about what the future may hold – and the narrowing window of opportunity to adapt to climate change. Featuring Mark...

Scientists at a nuclear fusion lab in the UK just broke the world record for the amount of energy produced in a single fusion reaction. In this episode, we ask two nuclear experts what this means, and how long it’ll take before we can switch on the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant. Featuring Livia Casali , assistant professor in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville...

Military juntas have seized power in a series of coups in recent months in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. We ask three experts what the coups mean for the war against jihadi insurgents in the Sahel – and for the future of French and European soldiers in the region.  Featuring Folahanmi Aina , PhD candidate at King's College London in the UK, Mady Ibrahim Kanté , lecturer at the University of...

As frantic diplomatic efforts continue to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s reliance on Russian gas supplies – and what would happen to them in the case of a war – remains an ever-present threat. We speak to two experts on the geopolitics of natural gas about the history of the energy relationship between Russia and Europe, and the role gas supplies play in the current diplomatic effor...