The Conversation Weekly

In an era of ceaseless notifications from apps, devices and social media platforms, as well as access to more information than we could possibly consider, how do we find ways to manage? And is the way that we think, focus and process information changing as a result? We speak with three researchers who study human-computer interaction, technology design and literacy about how all of these demands on our attention are affecting us, and what we could possibly do about it.Featuring Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California, in the United States, Kai Lukoff, assistant professor at Santa Clara University, US, and Daniel Le Roux, a senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Mend Mariwany, who is also the show’s executive producer. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Ping, your pizza is on its way. Ping, please rate the driver. Yes, constant notifications really do tax your brainCan reading help heal us and process our emotions – or is that just a story we tell ourselves?There are challenges but also potential benefits of digital distractionsTo navigate the dangers of the web, you need critical thinking – but also critical ignoring

Both the U.S. and China have plans to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. You might be wondering: why now? The answer to that is the relatively recent discovery of water on the Moon. The question of how humanity will establish a Moon base is perhaps a deeper and more important one. We speak with two people, a planetary scientist who studies lunar geology and a scholar who works on space law and politics, about the challenges facing nations as humanity heads to the Moon.Featuring Mahesh Anand, Professor of Planetary Science and Exploration at The Open University in the UK, and Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Professor of Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi in the US.This episode was written by Katie Flood and produced by Dan Merino and Katie Flood. The executive producer is Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. A transcript will be available soon. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Lunar mining and Moon land claims fall into a gray area of international law, but negotiations are underway to avoid conflict and damage to spacecraftSpace law hasn’t been changed since 1967 – but the UN aims to update laws and keep space peacefulWater on the Moon: research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plansIf you like The Conversation Weekly, we encourage you to check out two limited series podcasts produced by The Conversation: Fear & Wonder and Great Mysteries of Physics. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to your podcasts.

On March 19, 2003, the United States led an unlawful invasion into Iraq, occupying the country for over eight years until the official withdrawal of troops throughout 2011. It is estimated that around 405,000 deaths occurred as a direct result. Most of these deaths were of Iraqi civilians, hundreds of thousands of others were injured, and over nine million displaced. The invasion was followed by the rise of sectarian violence that followed between 2006 and 2010, and the Islamic State group’s occupation in parts of the country from 2013-17. We speak to two researchers who examine the impact the invasion and conflict have had on the lives of Iraqis.Featuring Sana Murrani, associate professor in spatial practice with a background in architecture and urban design at the University of Plymouth, UK, and Inna Rudolf, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Divided Societies, King's College London in the UK. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Mend Mariwany, who is also the show’s executive producer. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: It’s been 20 years since the US invaded Iraq – long enough for my undergraduate students to see it as a relic of the pastYoung people in the Middle East struggle to see a promising futureIraq food protests against spiralling prices echo early stages of the Arab Spring

Without a sense of time, leading us from cradle to grave, our lives would make little sense. But on the most fundamental level, physicists aren't sure whether the sort of time we experience exists at all. We talk to three experts and find out if time could potentially be moving backwards as well as forwards. Featuring Sean Carroll, Homewood professor of natural philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, Emily Adlam, postdoctoral associate of the philosophy of physics at Western University and Natalia Ares, Royal Society university research fellow at the University of Oxford.This episode was presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Quantum mechanics: how the future might influence the pastFour misconceptions about quantum physics

When ChatGPT burst onto the technology world in November 2022, it gained 100 million users within just two months after its launch. The technology itself is fascinating, but part of what makes ChatGPT uniquely interesting is the fact that essentially overnight, most of the world gained access to a powerful generative artificial intelligence that they could use for their own purposes. We speak with researchers who study computer science, technology and economics to explore how the rapid adoption of technologies has, for the most part, failed to change social and economic systems in the past – but why AI might be different, despite its weaknesses.Featuring Daniel Acuña, Associate Professor of Computer Science, at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US, Kentaro Toyama, Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan, also in the US, and Thierry Rayna, Professor of Innovation and Entrepeneurship Management, École polytechnique in France. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced by Katie Flood and Dan Merino, and also written by Katie Flood. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Mend Mariwany is the show's executive producer. Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: AI could make more work for us, instead of simplifying our livesUnlike with academics and reporters, you can’t check when ChatGPT’s telling the truthI tried the Replika AI companion and can see why users are falling hard. The app raises serious ethical questions

An international team of biologists has discovered a tiny new species of owl, called the Príncipe scops owl, living in a remote forest on an island off the west coast of Africa.Featuring Bárbara Freitas, a Ph.D. fellow who studies bird evolution at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid.This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood and hosted by Dan Merino. The interim executive producer is Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: We discovered a new species of owl – but we already think it’s in dangerMini creatures with mighty voices know their audience and focus on a single frequency

Our dependence on fossil fuels is one of the biggest challenges to overcome in the fight against climate change. But production and consumption of fossil fuels is on the rise, and expected to peak within the next decade. We speak to two researchers who examine the political challenges of transitioning to a world after oil, and what it means for those states who rely on oil for resources.Featuring Caleb Wellum, Assistant Professor of U.S. History, at the University of Toronto in Canada, and Natalie Koch, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Heidelberg, in Germany. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Mend Mariwany who is also the show's executive producer. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: For developing world to quit coal, rich countries must eliminate oil and gas faster – new studyCOP27 flinched on phasing out ‘all fossil fuels’. What’s next for the fight to keep them in the ground?Ending the climate crisis has one simple solution: Stop using fossil fuels

Social isolation and loneliness are increasingly becoming a societal problem, as they increase polarization and impact on our physical health. In 2018, two years before the pandemic, the United Kingdom created a ministerial portfolio for loneliness. Japan, where nearly 40 per cent of the population report experiencing loneliness, began a similar position in 2021. We speak to three researchers who invite us to more deeply consider loneliness and social isolation, and their impacts on our health and society. Featuring Ananya Chakravarti, an associate professor of the history of emotions at Georgetown University in Washington in the US, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in the US, and Kate Mulligan, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Health in Canada.This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany, who is also the show’s executive producer. Eloise Stevens does our sound design and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. A transcript will be available soon. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Why loneliness is both an individual thing and a shared result of the cities we createTechnology is alienating people – and it’s not just those who are olderPeople feel lonelier in crowded cities – but green spaces can help

Despite the many biological differences between people of different sexes, races, ages and life histories, chances are that if two people walk into a doctors office with the same symptoms, they are going to get the same exact treatment. As you can imagine, a whole range of treatments – from drugs to testing – could be much more effective if they were designed to work with many different kinds of bodies, not just some abstract, generic human. We speak to three researchers who are looking at ways to make medicine more precise. It starts with simply making sure that clinical trial participants look like the actual patients a drug is meant to treat. And in the future, precision medicine could help each person get medical care that is tailored to their own biology, just like a custom shirt.Featuring Jennifer Miller, professor of medicine at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in the US, Julia Liu, professor of medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US, and Keith Yamamoto, head of Precision Medicine at the University of California San Francisco in the US. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Katie Flood. Mend Mariwany is the show's executive producer. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.  Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Yes, Black patients do want to help with medical research – here are ways to overcome the barriers that keep clinical trials from recruiting diverse populationsWomen are 50–75% more likely to have adverse drug reactions. A new mouse study finally helps explain why

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demographics of cities shifted. As stay-at-home orders, remote work and bubbling reduced social interaction, and restaurants, venues and arts destinations shut down temporarily, people started reconsidering their decision to remain in a big city. We spoke with two urban theorists about why people were leaving larger cities for smaller ones, how authenticity was marketed using social media influencers, and why smaller and mid-sized cities are underrated.Featuring Avi Friedman, a professor of architecture at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, and David A. Banks, lecturer in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Albany in New York, US. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Mend Mariwany who is also the show's executive producer. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.  Full credits for this episode are available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.Further reading: Kampala, Kigali and Addis Ababa are changing fast: new book follows their distinct pathsTo build sustainable cities, involve those who live in themThe era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are mergingAs big cities get even bigger, some residents are being left behind