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The Latest Breaking News from The Conversation Weekly

Birkin vs Wirkin: the backlash against the global elite and their luxury bags – podcast

The Birkin bag made by French luxury retailer Hermès has become a status symbol for some of the global elite. Notoriously difficult to obtain, a select few obsess over how to get their hands on one.

The Conversation

How AI could influence the evolution of humanity – podcast

Some of the leading brains behind generative AI have warned about the risk of artificial superintelligence wiping out humanity, if left unchecked.

The Conversation

COVID modelling reveals new insights into ancient social distancing – podcast

Five years since COVID emerged, not only has the pandemic affected the way we live and work, it’s also influencing the way researchers are thinking about the past.

The Conversation

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A ‘Google maps for the sea’, sails and alternative fuels: the technologies steering shipping towards lower emissions – podcast

Ships transport around 80% of the world’s cargo. From your food, to your car to your phone, chances are it got to you by sea. The vast majority of the world’s container ships burn fossil fuels, which is why 3% of global emissions come from shipping – slightly more than…

The Conversation

The PKK says it will lay down its arms. What are the chances of lasting peace between Turkey and the Kurds? Podcast

For over 40 years, the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, has waged an armed insurgency against Turkey, fighting for Kurdish rights and autonomy.

The Conversation

A glimpse into a surreal abyss: how COVID ravaged a remote city in the Amazonian jungle – podcast

When the first cases of COVID began to spread around the world in early 2020, people in Iquitos, a remote city in the Peruvian Amazon, weren’t unduly worried. They assumed their isolation would protect them. It didn’t. Peru, and Iquitos, were hit fast and hard.

The Conversation

Taung child: the controversial story of the fossil discovery that proved humanity’s common origins in Africa – podcast

One hundred years ago, a paper was published in the journal Nature that would radically shift our understandings of the origins of humanity. It described a fossil, found in a lime mine in Taung in South Africa, which became known as the Taung child skull.

The Conversation

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‘I thought about escaping every day’: how survivors get out of Southeast Asia’s cybercrime compounds – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 3

Every day that he was locked up in a scam compound in Southeast Asia, George thought about how to get out. “We looked for means of escaping, but it was hard,” he told The Conversation.

The Conversation

‘Your life becomes a nightmare’: how scam operations exploit those trapped inside – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 2

A few weeks after Ben Yeo travelled to Cambodia for what he thought was a job in a casino, he found himself locked up in a padded room. “It’s a combination between a prison and a madhouse,” he remembers. He was being punished for refusing to conduct online scams.

The Conversation

‘It seemed like a good job at first’: how people are trafficked, trapped and forced to scam in Southeast Asia – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 1

Scam Factories is a podcast series from The Conversation Weekly taking you inside Southeast Asia’s brutal fraud compounds. It accompanies a series of articles on The Conversation.

The Conversation

Why the US return to tariffs and protectionism ‘reeks of hypocrisy’ – podcast

When Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs during his first term as US president, it sparked a trade war with China. As the Trump administration ratchets up its threat to tax imports from its allies and economic rivals alike, the world is bracing for another wave of costly economic disruption.

The Conversation

Decentralised social media offers an alternative to big tech platforms like X and Meta. How does it work? Podcast

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, many users looked for alternatives, fuelling a wave of online migration from the social media platform. Musk says he’s using Twitter, now named X, to champion free speech and that “cancel culture has been cancelled”. But his closeness to Donald Trump and his…

The Conversation

Where support for Germany’s far-right AFD is growing and why – podcast

Germany is holding an election on February 23 and the contest is attracting an unusual amount of attention. That’s because the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) is polling in second place on 20% of the national vote.

The Conversation

How close are quantum computers to being really useful? Podcast

Quantum computers have the potential to solve big scientific problems that are beyond the reach of today’s most powerful supercomputers, such as discovering new antibiotics or developing new materials.

The Conversation

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How wildfire, humans and a warming climate led to the extinction of California’s big mammals 13,000 years ago – podcast

Firefighters in Los Angeles continue to battle devastating wildfires that have killed at least 27 people and left thousands of homes destroyed. A new fire also provoked evacuation orders north of the city.

The Conversation

Silicon Valley’s bet on AI defence startups and what it means for the future of war – podcast

From Gaza to Ukraine, today’s war zones are being used as testing grounds for new systems driven by artificial intelligence. Billions of dollars are now being pumped into AI weapons technology, much of it from Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

The Conversation

How the world fell in love with plastic without thinking through the consequences – podcast

Every year, 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide, and every year, approximately 57 million tons of plastic pollution is created. And yet in November, the latest round of negotiations on the first legally binding international treaty on plastics pollution ended without an agreement.

The Conversation

Brain implants, agentic AI and answers on dark matter: what to expect from science in 2025 – podcast

In a special episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast to start 2025, we’ve brought together three science editors from The Conversation’s editions around the world to discuss what to look out for in the world of science and technology in the coming year.

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Death penalty: how Zimbabwe reached the point of abolition – podcast

Zimbabwe is on the cusp of abolishing the death penalty after its Death Penalty Abolition Bill was approved by the Senate on December 12. The bill is now sitting on the desk of Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a known opponent of the death penalty, waiting for his assent. Once it…

The Conversation

Why distrust in powerful politicians is part of a functioning democracy – podcast

Surveys suggest that in many western democracies, political trust is at rock bottom. Scandals, corruption, faltering economies, conspiracy theories and swirling disinformation are all playing their part. But is it really such a bad thing for people living in a democracy to distrust their government?

The Conversation

From grieving orcas to opposums playing dead: how animals respond to death – podcast

It was a story that pulled at the heartstrings. In 2018, an orca called Tahlequah was seen dragging the corpse of her newborn baby calf for 17 days, over 1,000 miles along the coast of North America. Eventually, Talequah let the baby go (happily, she’s had another baby since), but…

The Conversation

As Amazon workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, the story of one warehouse in the UK that pushed to unionise – podcast

Amazon workers in 20 countries are expected to strike or protest on Black Friday, pushing the company to respect their rights and commit to more action on the climate. The protests are coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign, run by a global umbrella body of trade unions and workers’…

The Conversation

Fifty years after the discovery of Lucy, it’s time to ‘decolonise paleoanthropology’ says leading Ethiopian fossil expert – podcast

On November 24 1974, renowned American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson spotted “a piece of elbow with humanlike anatomy” poking out of a rocky hillside in northern Ethiopia. It was the first fossil of a partial skeleton belonging to “Lucy”, an ancient female hominin who took the story of human evolution back…

The Conversation

Why Canada’s decision to lift a ban on cod fishing in Newfoundland after 32 years is so controversial – podcast

For generations, cod fishing was a way of life in Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost province in Canada. But in 1992, after cod stocks in the north Atlantic plummeted, the federal government imposed a moratorium on cod fishing. It was to last for 32 years until it was lifted in…

The Conversation

Stories of gangsters who’ve left their life on the streets behind – podcast

What happens when a gangster leaves their life on the street? How do they transition to something new? In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we find out through the life stories of two people who joined gangs as young men and came out the other side.

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