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The Conversation Weekly

The Conversation

A show for curious minds, from The Conversation. Each week, host Gemma Ware speaks to an academic expert about a topic in the news to understand how we got here.

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Thursday · 23 min
America's death penalty: why executions are rising again
In Tennessee, death row inmate Christa Pike survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection in late September. Meanwhile, plans to livestream a US military execution recently sparked outrage, prompting President Donald Trump to walk back the broadcast. These controversies come after a sharp rise in executions in the United States in 2025, reversing a decline that had lasted two decades. In this episode, historian Carolyn Strange, emeritus professor at the Australian National University, talks us through the history of capital punishment in America, from public hangings to lethal injections. She explains why failed executions are nothing new, what's driving the resurgence, and why the death penalty remains so deeply political. This episode was produced by Justin Bergman, Isabella Podwinski and Gemma Ware. Grace Jennings-Edquist was the executive producer. Mixing by Dan Semo and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
October 15 · 31 min
In Alberta, far-right populism drives bid to leave Canada
In the western Canadian province of Alberta, a political battle is playing out on people’s front lawns. Separatists are flying the royal blue Alberta flag, others the red and white maple leaf of Canada to show their support for a united Canada. It's all because a populist right-wing political movement wants Alberta to break away from the rest of the country. On October 19, Albertans will vote in a referendum on whether to have a referendum on independence. So how did the relatively small separatist movement gain so much political influence? Why do they want to leave Canada? And what does Donald Trump have to do with all of this? Listen to Jared Wesley, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta, on the origins of the Alberta separatist movement. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Grace Jennings-Edquist. Mixing by Dan Semo and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Q&A with an Alberta politics expert: Taking the province’s pulse as the referendum approaches What if Alberta really did vote to separate? Albertans disapprove of Donald Trump — and his brand is weakening separatism, too As Alberta separatists court the U.S., prosperity is fuelling a sovereigntist turn Mentioned in this episode: The Making of an Autocrat Search "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series: The Making of an Autocrat. Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
October 8 · 15 min
Nobel laureate Karl Deisseroth on how light is changing what we know about the brain
What is it that makes us conscious? How does the firing of neurons in one part of our brain make us feel aggressive, while others make us hungry or anxious? These are the questions that drove the discoveries behind the 2026 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. One of the new laureates, Karl Deisseroth, a professor in the schools of medicine and engineering at Stanford University, speaks to us this week about his pioneering research into optogenetics that led him to become a Nobel laureate. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Grace Jennings-Edquist and Isabella Podwinski. Mixing by Lloyd Barrett and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Read more coverage of the 2026 Nobel prizes on The Conversation How pond algae led to a Nobel prize and a new way to study the brain Optogenetics wins the Nobel – one neuroscience breakthrough in a line of technological innovations helping scientists map and control the brain
October 1 · 24 min
Could a former IDF chief break Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power in Israel?
Israel is heading to the polls on October 27 and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing perhaps the toughest political battle of his career. He's been accused of treason over fresh allegations he was warned of a major Hamas plot ahead of the October 7 attacks. In this week's episode of The Conversation Weekly, Dov Waxman, a political scientist and Professor of Israeli Studies at the University of California explains why Israel's political magician might be out of tricks and how former IDF chief and political novice Gadi Eisenkot could be the one to upstage him. Read more Israeli political analysis from Dov Waxman here. This episode was written by Justin Bergman and Isabella Podwinski was the executive producer. Sound mixing by Dan Semo and our theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is our Head of Audio and Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
September 24 · 23 min
Can we ever fully trust AI agents?
As more incidents emerge of AI agents going rogue during testing, can we fully trust them? In the latest hack, Australia revealed OpenAI agents hacked into a government database containing healthcare data. As calls mount from some within the AI industry for a slowdown, in this episode AI expert Nick Jennings, the vice-chancellor and president of Loughborough University in the UK, says tech leaders have choices about the way they develop these models. So what's the future for these AI agents? Can we ever fully trust them? And are our lives really at risk? This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware with help from Isabella Podwinski and Ashlynne McGhee. Mixing by Daniel Semo and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation, and The Conversation AI, a newsletter about how AI is changing society. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. What does the OpenAI Medicare hack reveal about Australia’s cyber security? The next frontier is not artificial intelligence, it’s artificial societies Could AI really kill off humanity within the decade? Expert Q&A
September 17 · 20 min
Australia's 'barking mad' bet on nuclear submarines
The multi-billion dollar AUKUS defence deal between the US, UK and Australia is one of the most significant in our modern history. The three countries wanted to curb China’s growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific. To do it, Australia was going to get new nuclear-powered submarines. But in the five years since the agreement was first announced, it’s been anything but smooth sailing. In this week's episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak with Hugh White, a security and defence analyst at the Australian National University, to explore how the secretive deal was struck and why it's proving so controversial. Read more from Hugh White and his take on the AUKUS debate here. This episode was written by Justin Bergman and Isabella Podwinski was the executive producer. Sound mixing by Dan Semo and our theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is our Head of Audio and Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
September 10 · 16 min
Ratko Mladić: the war criminal who became a martyr for Bosnian Serbs
To most of the world, former Bosnian Serb military general Ratko Mladić was a brutal war criminal whose actions during the Bosnian War killed thousands. For others, he was a martyr who defended the Serbian people. In late August, the 84-year-old died while serving a life sentence in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was laid to rest in Belgrade earlier this week with full military honours - a move which angered the families of the victims of his crimes. On this week's episode of The Conversation Weekly, why a war criminal being celebrated by some as a hero and how this is reopening old wounds in one of Europe’s most divided regions. Read Olivera’s Simic’s article on Mladic’s death and what it means for Bosnia and Herzegovina here. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinski and Justin Bergman. Sound mixing is by Lloyd Barrett and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is our Head of Audio and Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation. Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Mentioned in this episode: The We Society Tackling the big questions through a social science lens, the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences brings you some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
September 3 · 21 min
Inside the booming ‘shadow fleet’ industry keeping rogue states afloat
It’s the middle of the night in April 2023 in the East China Sea. A North Korean-linked oil tanker sailing under another country’s flag suddenly goes dark. It stops transmitting its location and simply vanishes from the map. Ten days later, the New Konk reappears on global tracking screens. It’s signal places it off the coast of southern China. Except it’s not. It’s actually in a bay hundreds of kilometres away. Commonly known as a “shadow fleet”, the New Konk is part of a clandestine network of vessels which are used to evade international sanctions. See pictures of the ship and track its journey in a visual feature Justin Hastings and his team have written for us here. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinsk and Justin Bergman. Sound mixing is by Lloyd Barrett and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
August 31 · 20 min
The music that made Dolly Parton a global icon
It was 1967, and country musician Porter Wagoner was introducing a guest on his weekly TV show. The camera cuts to a woman with big, blonde beehive, wearing a magenta mini dress with the same shade of lipstick to match. It was in that moment a star was born. Her name was Dolly Parton. In the following decades after that performance, Parton went on to become the “Queen of Country”. In this week's bonus episode of The Conversation Weekly, musicologist and Professor of Music at Hamilton College Lydia Hamessley explains the music that made Dolly Parton a global superstar. If you're after more stories about the life and legacy of Dolly Parton, read them here. This episode was written by Gemma Ware. Isabella Podwinski was the executive producer. Sound mixing is by Eloise Stevens and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
August 27 · 18 min
How Ukraine is bringing the war home to Russia
In recent weeks, Ukrainian drones have targeted large warehouses across Russia, destroying millions of dollars of merchandise stored inside them. These warehouses and logistics hubs belong to Wildberries, the Russian equivalent to Amazon. They're also taking aim at Ozon, Russia's second largest online retailer too. Ukraine says it’s targeting these companies because they’ve been providing supplies to soldiers on the front line. But as the war drags on well into its fourth year, is there anything that could put pressure on Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine? Read more from Matthew Sussex here. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinski and Justin Bergman. Sound mixing is by Lloyd Barrett and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Mentioned in this episode: The Making of an Autocrat Search "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series: The Making of an Autocrat. Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
August 20 · 24 min
How Timor-Leste is fighting back against Asia’s scamming gangs
🔁 Rerun: originally published 12/12/25. We're revisiting this episode as we take a quick break but we'll be back next week with a new instalment of The Conversation Weekly. Oecusse, a rugged, remote district of Timor-Leste in south-east Asia, is usually a pretty sleepy place. But in August, Oecusse was rocked by a large police raid on a suspected scam centre, later linked by a UN report to organised crime networks running scamming operations across south-east Asia. And then in early September, a Facebook post by one of Timor-Leste’s highest political officials made some explosive allegations about a murky criminal underworld trying to get a foothold in the country. In this episode, we speak to Michael Rose, an anthropologist and adjunct lecturer at the University of Adelaide who has lived and worked in Timor-Leste, about how Asia’s scamming gangs set their sights on Timor-Leste as their next frontier – and the movement to keep them out. This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood and Gemma Ware with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
August 13 · 23 min
Loonies and bins: Britain's long love affair with novelty politics
It's pretty grim when your main political opponent is a man with a bin for a head. That's the situation that's faced Nigel Farage in the Clacton byelection in the UK. Count Binface has pledged to nationalise the singer Adele, cap the price of ice creams and build at least one affordable house. It might sound surreal, but the count isn’t the first satirical candidate in election history. Historian Richard Toye argues we should take them seriously. You can read his analysis on our website. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinski, Justin Bergman and Ashlynne McGhee. Sound mixing is by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
August 6 · 20 min
The soviet origins of shadow libraries
Balázs Bödö's first interaction with a shadow library was when, as a young professor at university in Budapest, he was faced with a dilemma: what should he teach his students? "Do I condemn my students to a second rate education and a second rate degree in the European Union? Or do I pirate the books and give them the education that they deserve?" This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Sound mixing is by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Mentioned in this episode: The Making of an Autocrat Search "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series: The Making of an Autocrat. Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
July 30 · 18 min
A window into the murky world of peptides
Timothy Piatkowki was scrolling when a targeted ad landed in his feed. Cheap peptides! Straight from the factory! Naturally, he started a chat with the dealer and found himself deep in the world of a thriving grey market. The more he found out, the less he realised we know about what’s really in these tiny drug vials being shipped around the world. You can see screen grabs of Tim’s exchanges with the peptide seller in a fascinating visual story he’s written for us about the experience. Read it here. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinski. Sound mixing is by Michelle Macklem and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Ashlynne McGhee is our Head of Editorial Innovation and Misha Ketchell and Stephen Khan are our editors in chief. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
July 23 · 16 min
Save our brains: how dangerous is sport?
With growing evidence about concussion, repetitive head impacts and long-term brain disease, have we underestimated the risks of sport all along? How did we get here, what do we really know about head injuries and given the risks, is it time to rethink children’s participation in sport? In this episode, we chat to Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist and Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne who has been researching sports-related concussions for more than two decades. This episode was written and produced by Isabella Podwinski. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. You can sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
July 16 · 27 min
How Manchester shaped Andy Burnham, the UK's incoming prime minister
Three months ago, Andy Burnham’s desk was filled with the business of running Greater Manchester. Buses. Housing. Policing. This mayoral region in the north of England is home to 3 million people and Burnham, a former minister in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has been its mayor for nearly a decade. But after a whirlwind ten weeks, Burnham travelled to Buckingham Palace on July 20 to meet King Charles, who appointed him as Britain’s new prime minister. At the heart of Burnham’s plans for power lies Manchesterism, a political philosophy that centres on giving cities and towns outside London more political control. In this episode, we explore how running Greater Manchester shaped Andy Burnham’s politics with researchers Kirsty Fairclough from Manchester Metropolitan University and Philip Brown from the University of Huddersfield. They assess what Burnham achieved as mayor and discuss whether a philosophy designed around one city can work on a national level for the UK. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Why Andy Burnham’s radical plan relies on the Treasury being a friend of devolution This is what Andy Burnham’s devolution plans need to consider – expert panel This episode is part of a series on Manchesterism – a guide to Burnham's Britain
July 9 · 25 min
How celebrities like Taylor Swift are fighting back against AI deepfakes
When Taylor Swift launched her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October 2025, she recorded two short clips to promote it. One for Amazon Music began with “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift”. Another, for Spotify with “Hey, it’s Taylor”. These two phrases may sound a little mundane, but they’re now at the frontline of a legal fightback by celebrities like Swift against AI deepfakes. In April, Swift’s intellectual property company, TAS Right Management, applied to the US Patent and Trademark office to trademark them as registered sound marks, along with a photo of her, from her recent Eras tour. In this episode, we speak to intellectual property expert Graeme Austin, a professor of law at the University of Melbourne and chair of private law at Victoria University of Wellington to understand why Swift took this route, and the different ways celebrities are trying to protect themselves against AI deepfakes. And if you’re not a celebrity with a large legal team, what can you do? This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Can you own a voice? Taylor Swift’s latest legal move raises big questions for AI and copyright From Taylor Swift to Bollywood, stars turn to the civil courts to fight deepfakes Taylor Swift trademarking her voice and likeness points to a new legal frontier in combating AI deepfakes
July 2 · 21 min
The anatomy of a super El Niño
El Niño has begun and forecasters predict a more than 60% chance that the naturally occurring phenomenon could become a very strong, or super El Niño later in 2026. El Niño begins with warmer water in the Pacific Ocean near the equator and can have a cascade of dramatic effects on the world’s weather. But what chain of events has to happen for high temperatures in the Pacific to translate into severe floods, droughts and storms around the world? And what role does climate change play in El Niño? In this episode, Ioana Colfescu, an expert in climate and machine learning at the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh, explains how El Niño works and what it could mean for the world. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. Mentioned in this episode: Voices of the South
June 25 · 25 min
Cockroach party hits nerve with angry young Indians
A new youth protest movement in India that started as online satire is now staging an ongoing sit-in in New Delhi calling for the resignation of India’s education minister. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was launched in late May by Abhijeet Dipke, a graduate of Boston University, in response to alleged comments by India's chief justice, Surya Kant, comparing unemployed young Indians to cockroaches. Dipke launched a parody political party, calling on all cockroaches to unite, which led to street protests in cities including Delhi, Pune, Jaipur and Bengaluru. The CJP latched onto mounting anger in India at a series of issues affecting exams, including the secondary school leaving exam, which has affected thousands of people and been linked to suicides. But the movement has also tapped into the anger of a generation of graduates who’ve done everything right but still can’t find work that matches their aspirations. In this episode economist Rosa Abraham at Azim Premji University, explains how India’s jobs crisis is fuelling this new youth protest movement. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.
June 18 · 27 min
Teens are still on social media, but does that mean Australia's ban has failed?
When Australia banned under 16-year-olds from using social media in December 2025, it became a test case for a policy now being pursued by governments around the world. This week, the UK announced a similar social media ban from 2027. So how’s it going in Australia? Have the teenagers emerged from a phone-lit glow to reengage in the real world? And what kind of difference is it having on their mental health? In this episode, we speak to Susan Sawyer, a professor of adolescent mental health at the University of Melbourne, who is running a number of ongoing studies examining the way young people and their parents are reacting to Australia’s ban. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

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