In Depth, Out Loud

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What is the best way to reduce car use in cities? Kimberly Nicholas, an associate professor of sustainability science at Lund University, looks at the evidence from across Europe. You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Adrienne Walker in partn…

How pop-ups, home delivery and fast fashion go back as far as the 1800s. Rachel Bowlby, professor of comparative literature at UCL tells the story of how the pandemic changed the way we shop – with many ‘new’ initiatives actually reinventing old ways of doing things. You can read the text version o…

A tale of monstrous egos, toxic rivalries and injustices behind the discovery of insulin. Kersten Hall, author and honorary fellow at the school of philosophy, religion and history of science at the University of Leeds, recounts the story of feuding scientists behind the discovery of insulin. …

How science fiction’s hopes and fears can inspire humanity’s response to the climate crisis. Chris Pak, lecturer in English Literature at Swansea University, explores the history of science fiction stories about terraforming, geoengineering, space and climate change – and why they're vital reading …

When people think about how AI might ‘go wrong’, most probably picture malevolent computers trying to cause harm. But what if we should be more worried about them seeking pleasure? Thomas Moynihan and Anders Sandberg at the University of Oxford explain why AI experts are worried about wireheading, …

There aren’t enough trees to offset society’s carbon emissions – and there never will be. Yet, Bonnie Waring, senior lecturer at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment, at Imperial College London argues that even if they can't save us from climate change, society still depends on f…

This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast features the story of a young Soviet miner named Alexei Stakhanov, and how the work ethic he embodied in the 1930s has been invoked by managers in the west ever since. Stakhanov’s staggering workload and personal commitment to his job as …

This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast features prominent academics, including a former IPCC chair, rounding on governments worldwide for using the concept of net zero emissions to “greenwash” their lack of commitment to solving global warming. You can read the text version of…

This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast features the story of Lucian Landau, the forgotten man who invented the technology that made Durex boom. Jessica Borge, Digital Collections (Scholarship) Manager at King’s College London Archives and Research Collections and a Visiting F…