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The Conversation Weekly

Plastic waste at a recycling plant.
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How the world fell in love with plastic without thinking through the consequences – podcast

An illustration of a little robot performing tasks on a computer.
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Brain implants, agentic AI and answers on dark matter: what to expect from science in 2025 – podcast

Elsa Couderc, The Conversation; Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Paul Rincon, The Conversation, and Signe Dean, The Conversation

Donald Trump and Joe Biden meet in the White House.
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Why distrust in powerful politicians is part of a functioning democracy – podcast

A baby orca among family.
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From grieving orcas to opposums playing dead: how animals respond to death – podcast

Death penalty: how Zimbabwe reached the point of abolition – podcast
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Prisoners in a yard at a maximum security prison in Zimbabwe.
Fifty years after the discovery of Lucy, it’s time to ‘decolonise paleoanthropology’ says leading Ethiopian fossil expert – podcast
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Close-up of a man holdiing a replica of an ancient hominin skull.
As Amazon workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, the story of one warehouse in the UK that pushed to unionize – podcast
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Amazon workers hold up a banner saying 'We demand the right to unionise'
Why Canada’s decision to lift a ban on cod fishing in Newfoundland after 32 years is so controversial – podcast
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A fisherman fillets a cod.
Fear, hope and the economy: what is motivating Americans as they decide who to vote for – podcast
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Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Stories of gangsters who’ve left their life on the streets behind – podcast
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A photo of a man in a farm holding some plants.
Why mpox in Africa was ignored for too long and children are dying as a result – podcast
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A woman holds her son who has mpox.
HIV prevention: why a new injectable drug could be such a breakthrough – podcast
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A clinician holds a vial of a drug called lenacapavir
Victor Ambros walking into a room with his wife Rosalind Lee
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Victor Ambros on the team effort behind his Nobel-prize winning discovery of microRNA – podcast

A woman swiping on her phone.
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The emotional toll of dating apps and why they’re no longer about finding love – podcast

Himpathy: the psychology of why some people side with perpetrators of sexual misconduct – podcast
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Donald Trump in the lobby of Trump tower.
Sharing that moment: can collective experiences bring people closer together? Podcast
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Four people sitting on sofa watching TV.
How we solved the mystery of the pink sand on South Australia’s beaches – podcast
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Pink sand on a beach near Adelaide.
Iceberg in Arctic melting
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Geoengineering: the scientists who argue modifying the climate could buy the world time – podcast

Sun and clouds in an orange sky.
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Solar geoengineering: the risks and distractions of trying to reflect sunlight to cool the Earth – podcast

Man with back pain stretches at desk
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Chronic pain: emerging treatment options for patients after the opioid crisis – podcast

Fightback gains pace against trade deals fossil fuel investors can use to sue countries over climate action – podcast
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A woman holds up a sign that says Exit the Energy Charter Treaty.
Who designed the FGC-9? Unmasking the man behind the world’s most popular 3D-printed gun – podcast
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Disassembled components of the FGC-9 shadow gun.
A lonely and ancient plant needs a female partner and researchers are using drones and AI to find it – podcast
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Aerial map in multiple colours of the Ngoye Forest taken with drones.
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The Conversation's Curious Kids

Northern lights in the sky.
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Does magic really exist? The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast

Can chameleons change colour in their sleep?
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A chameleon.
If an asteroid hit Earth and all the humans died, would the dinosaurs come back?
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Illustration of a tyrannosaurus.
Do whales sneeze?
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A humpback whale breaching.
Why is my dog so cute?
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A puppy and a little girl.
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What happened to Nelson Mandela's South Africa?

What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa? A new podcast series marks 30 years of post-apartheid democracy
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A man wearing a suit and tie raises his right hand to take an oath, wtacxhed by a male judge.
Part 1: After the euphoria of Nelson Mandela’s election, what happened next?
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A grey-haired and smiling man wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt holds a piece of paper above a ballot box, while other people stand around him
Part 2: South Africans tasted the fruits of freedom and then corruption snatched them away
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Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma
Part 3: Persisting inequality has made many young South Africans question the choices made by Nelson Mandela – podcast
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Two young men wearing graduation gowns lead protesters carrying placards saying 'We are young and capable'.

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A picture from the James Webb Space Telescope of galaxies.
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Scientists can’t agree on how fast the universe is expanding – why this matters so much for our understanding of the cosmos

A cobra with its mouth open.
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Breakthroughs and setbacks on the hunt for a universal snakebite antivenom

An illustration of a woman with underlying digital measurements.
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Computer science culture often means anybody’s data is fair game to feed the AI algorithm – but artists are fighting back

Creative flow: what’s going on inside the brain when everything just clicks – podcast
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Illustration of jazz saxophonist.
North Korean women are now the breadwinners – and shifting this deeply patriarchal society towards a matriarchy
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A small shop run by and serving women in North Korea.
How conspiracy theories help to maintain Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in Russia
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A big screen in a street showing Vladimir Russia.
Assisted dying: Canada grapples with plans to extend euthanasia to people suffering solely from mental illness
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A doctor with a clipboard holds the hand of a patient on a bed.
A signpost on a trail.
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A personal tale of intellectual humility – and the rewards of being open-minded

A hospital monitor showing body signals.
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Interoception: the sixth sense we use to read hidden signals from our body – podcast

Explore The Conversation Weekly's archive of episodes

Israel-Gaza

Smoke rising from an Israeli airstrike on Beirut
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What Israel and its neighbours want now as all-out war looms in the Middle East – podcast

Israel-Gaza war is having a chilling effect on academic freedom
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Protesters in Edinburgh hold a banner saying 'Students against apartheid'.
American universities in the spotlight over reaction to Israel-Gaza war
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A police officer walks with students holding a Palestinian flag above him.
Israel-Gaza: what the term genocide means under international law
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A man holds a sign saying Stop Genocide Free Hostages with another placard behind saying Sactions on Israel
Israel-Gaza: how opinion polls used in Northern Ireland could pave a way to peace
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A statue of two men holding out hands across a divide in Northern Ireland.
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Environment + climate

Busy soundscapes of seagrass meadows and the animals that live there revealed in new recordings – podcast
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Busy soundscapes of seagrass meadows and the animals that live there revealed in new recordings – podcast

The Anthropocene epoch that isn’t – what the decision not to label a new geological epoch means for Earth’s future
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Open pit mine with trucks on a hill side.
Climate quitting: the people leaving their fossil fuel jobs because of climate change
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Woman holding up envelope with 'I Quit' on it.
Unprecedented drought in the Amazon threatens to release huge stores of carbon – podcast
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A boat on an exposed riverbed in the Amazon.
How a place’s ecology can shape the culture of the people who live there – podcast
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Women working in rice fields.
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Stories behind research

The wildfires that led to mass extinction: a warning from California’s Ice Age history – podcast
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A wildfire in the forest.
Female lifestyle influencers are changing the face of the far right
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Women recording YouTube video.
As we dream, we can listen in on the waking world – podcast
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Illustration of a person in a surreal dreamlike state.
A tooth that rewrites history? The discovery challenging what we knew about Neanderthals
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A depiction of a Neanderthal man.

Inside the Oslo Accords

Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations
Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations
Jan Egeland remembers the secret negotiations that led to the Oslo accords – podcast
Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat, right, pose holding t-shirts that say seeds of peace.
Hanan Ashrawi and Yossi Beilin on what happened after the Oslo accords handshake – podcast
James Baker, Faisal Husseini, Zakaria Al-Agha, Sari Nusseibah and Hanan Ashrawi
Israel-Palestine: the legacy of Oslo and the future of a two-state solution – podcast
Tower blocks on a hill show the West Bank settlement of Modiin Ilit
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