The Conversation Weekly

What makes some people more likely to feel disproportionate sympathy to people facing accusations of sexual misconduct – a concept known as himpathy? In this episode, we speak to a human behaviour expert whose research seeks to understand the psychological factors behind it. Featuring Samantha Dodson , assistant professor of organizational behaviour and human resources at the University of Calgary...

A rare and ancient plant has been waiting for its long-lost mate. The only known specimens of Encephalartos woodii , a rare and ancient species of cycad, are male, all clones of the same plant found over 100 years ago deep in a South African forest. Now a team of researchers is on a mission to find an elusive female version of the plant with the help of drones and artificial intelligence...

An epidemic of mpox in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is spreading quickly, particularly among young children. Mpox is a serious, at times fatal, virus – and the world knows how to prevent it. There are effective vaccines stockpiled in many western countries. Yet, after an earlier global epidemic in 2022 was largely brought under control in Europe and North America, the ongoing battle t...

Dating apps are having a rocky moment, with some of the biggest struggling to attract paying users. In this episode, we hear from researchers exploring how dating apps have changed modern dating and the expectations around it. And we find out why some dating app users aren’t actually there looking for love, but keep on swiping anyway. Featuring Treena Orchard , associate professor at the School of...

In the second of two episodes on geoengineering, we hear the case against trying to reflect sunlight to cool the Earth. Solar radiation modification has attracted attention and investment in recent years as a way to potential reverse the effects of climate change, but it remains a controversial idea. We hear from researchers pushing a non-use agreement for solar geoengineering who explain why they...

Geoengineering, the modification of the climate using technological interventions to reverse climate change, is a hugely divisive issue and we’ve decided to explore it in two episodes. In this first episode, we talk to scientists working on potential geoengineering technologies who argue the case for conducting research into these interventions. We speak to Shaun Fitzgerald , director of the Centr...

As we take a short production break in August, we're re-running an episode from 2023 about Neanderthals, and what new discoveries about their research could tell us about Homo Sapiens . For generations, Neanderthals have been a source of fascination for scientists. This species of ancient hominim inhabited the world for around 500,000 years until they suddenly disappeared 42,000 years ago. Today,...

As The Conversation Weekly takes a short production break in August, we're bringing you a recent episode from our partners at the Borders and Belonging podcast about Japan’s evolving stance on immigration. With a rapidly ageing population and a shrinking workforce, Japan is facing an unprecedented crisis: by 2030, it's projected to have a shortfall of nearly 6.4 million workers. But despite Japan’...

A chance to hear an episode from the first season of The Conversation's Curious Kids , a new podcast where kids from around the world get to ask their questions direct to experts. In this episode: do you think your dog is the cutest thing you've ever seen? Ten-year-old Grace does! But why? She joins our host Eloise and psychologist Deborah Wells from Queen's University Belfast to find out! Yo...

Momentum is growing against clauses in investment treaties that permit companies to sue a state if it decides to keep fossil fuels in the ground. In this episode, we revisit the secretive world of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which some experts are worried could jeopardise global efforts to save the climate and cost countries billions of dollars in the process. Kyla Tienhaara , Canada...

Chronic pain affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the opioid crisis in North America led many health care providers to realize they relied too heavily on drugs to help patients manage their pain. In this episode, a pain management specialist discusses new developments in pain treatment and why there’s hope for patients with chronic pain. Rachael Rzasa Lynn Associate Profess...

Across the world, fans will soon be tuning in at all hours of the day and night to watch the Paris Olympics. In a world where on-demand media streaming is now increasingly the norm, sport is something of a rarity. It’s watched live, often with other people. Can something as simple as watching a sporting competition at the same time bring people closer together? In this episode, we explore this que...

A few days after Labour leader Keir Starmer was elected British prime minister on July 4 with a landslide victory, ending 14 years of Conservative-led rule, a coalition of left-wing parties came out on top in the French legislative elections. It was a good week for the left in this corner of Europe. In this episode, we’ve brought together an expert from each country to help analyse the results and...

Seagrass, a marine plant that flowers underwater, has lots of environmental benefits – from storing carbon to preventing coastal erosion. In this episode, we speak to Isabel Key , a marine ecologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, about her work recording the soundscape of Scottish seagrass meadows to uncover more about the creatures living within them. She also explains how this is the...

We’re bringing you an extra episode this week from Don’t Call Me Resilient , another podcast from The Conversation. Hosted by Vinita Srivastava at The Conversation in Canada, Don’t Call Me Resilient is your weekly dose of news and current events through a sharply-focused anti-racist lens. In this episode Vinita talks to Nisrin Elamin about the ongoing war in Sudan, which has displaced more th...

3D-printed guns are now appearing the world over, including in the hands of organised criminals in Europe and anti-junta rebels in Myanmar. Made using a 3D printer and a few metal parts that can be easily sourced online, these shadow guns are untraceable, and becoming a popular choice for extremists too.  In this episode, we talk to researcher Rajan Basra at King's College London about this c...

A controversial British government plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been central to the UK’s response to a recent sharp increase in the number of people making the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats. But if the Conservative party lose the general election in early July, the Rwanda plan is likely to be abandoned. In this episode, two experts in UK immigration polic...

It’s one of the biggest puzzles in cosmology. Why two different methods used to calculate the rate at which the universe is expanding don’t produce the same result. Known as the Hubble tension, the enigma suggests that there could be something wrong with the standard model of cosmology used to explain the forces in the universe. Now, recent observations using the new James Webb Space Telescope are...

If you’ve ever experienced a state of creative flow, perhaps when writing, playing music, or even gardening, you’ll know that it feels like everything just clicks into place. But what is actually happening inside the brain? In this episode, we speak to a neuroscientist who scanned the brains of jazz musicians as they were improvising, and revealed the secret ingredients need to achieve a state of...

Snake bites kill tens of thousands of people around the world each year. But we still use techniques invented in the late 19th century to make antivenom, and each bite needs to be treated with antivenom for that specific type of snake. We hear from two scientists whose recent breakthroughs – and failures – could save many more lives and help achieve the holy grail: a universal antivenom. Featuring...

After six weeks of voting in the world’s largest democracy, on June 4, Indians will learn who is to be their next prime minister. Narendra Modi, standing for a third term, is the frontrunner. Critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party argue that India’s democracy has been hollowed out during his premiership. Thousands of Indians have taken to the streets to protest against Modi’s policies. For...

A growing number of countries now permit some form of assisted dying and politicians in a number of others, including Ireland, Scotland and France, are now seriously debating it. In Canada, where medical assistance in dying, known as MAID, became legal in 2016, the government intends to extend eligibility to people whose sole reason for ending their life is mental illness. But the planned expansio...

As global temperatures continue to rise, the ramifications of climate change – from more frequent and severe extreme weather events to rising sea levels and ecosystem disruptions – are becoming increasingly evident around the world. But their effects are not evenly distributed, often hitting vulnerable communities the hardest. In this episode we speak to Katherine Browne , a research fellow at the...

Content created with the help of generative artificial intelligence is popping up everywhere, and it’s worrying some artists. They’re concerned that their intellectual property may be at risk if generative AI tools have been built by scraping the internet for data and images, regardless of whether they had permissions to do so. In this episode we speak with a computer scientist about how some arti...

Some young South Africans have begun to question Nelson Mandela's legacy, and the choices made in the transition to democracy after the end of apartheid in 1994. Some have even called him a "sellout".  In the third and final part of our special series What happened to Nelson Mandela's South Africa?, marking 30 years of democracy in South Africa post-apartheid, we talk to two academics about t...