The Middle East is perilously close to all-out war. In the year since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, millions of people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and now Lebanon, and tens of thousands killed.

In this episode, we speak to two experts from the Middle East, Mireille Rebeiz and Amnon Aran, to get a sense of the strategic calculations being made by both Israel and its neighbours at this frightening moment for the region. Rebeiz is chair of Middle East Studies at Dickinson College in the US and Aran is professor of International Relations, City St George's, University of London in the UK.

This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and mixed by Michelle Macklem. Full credits for this episode are available.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen.

Further reading and listening:

• Does Hezbollah represent Lebanon? And what impact will the death of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah have?
• October 7 marks 12 months of escalation into the ‘forever war’ now engulfing the Middle East
• A year of escalating conflict in the Middle East has ushered in a new era of regional displacement
• Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations

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A new drug to prevent HIV infection is showing hugely promising results in clinical trials when injected every six months.

In this episode, we speak to South African HIV doctor and scientist Linda-Gail Bekker at the University of Cape Town about her involvement in one of the trials for lenacapavir and why she thinks it could be so ground-breaking.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and sound design was by Michelle Macklem. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen.

Further reading:

• HIV breakthrough: drug trial shows injection twice a year is 100% effective against infection
• The HIV epidemic 40 years on: 5 essential reads on breakthroughs, blind spots and new challenges
• HIV prevention: new injection could boost the fight, but some hurdles remain

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What makes some people more likely to feel disproportionate sympathy to people facing accusations of sexual misconduct – a concept known as himpathy? In this episode, we speak to a human behaviour expert whose research seeks to understand the psychological factors behind it.

Featuring Samantha Dodson, assistant professor of organizational behaviour and human resources at the University of Calgary in Canada, and an introduction form Eleni Vlahiotis, business and economy editor at The Conversation in Canada.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany and sound design by Michelle Macklem. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen.

Further reading:

• How ‘himpathy’ helps shield perpetrators of sexual misconduct from repercussions
• Trump found liable for assaulting, defaming E. Jean Carroll – after a trial where he relied on a discredited myth about how women should react to rape
• Kavanaugh is a reminder: Accused sexual harassers get promoted anyway

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A rare and ancient plant has been waiting for its long-lost mate. The only known specimens of Encephalartos woodii, a rare and ancient species of cycad, are male, all clones of the same plant found over 100 years ago deep in a South African forest. Now a team of researchers is on a mission to find an elusive female version of the plant with the help of drones and artificial intelligence.

In this episode we speak to Laura Cinti, a research fellow at the University of Southampton in the UK, about her determined quest to save the species – called the world's "loneliest" plant.

The story in this episode came out of our series Plant Curious, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife. The episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with assistance from Katie Flood and sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. A transcript is also available.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen.

Further reading:

• Searching for a female partner for the world’s ‘loneliest’ plant
• The silent conversations of plants
• Climate mapping can point to danger spots where new pest threatens Africa’s cycads
• Thirsty tomatoes emit ultrasonic sounds – and other plants may be listening

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An epidemic of mpox in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is spreading quickly, particularly among young children. Mpox is a serious, at times fatal, virus – and the world knows how to prevent it. There are effective vaccines stockpiled in many western countries. Yet, after an earlier global epidemic in 2022 was largely brought under control in Europe and North America, the ongoing battle to protect people in Africa from mpox was ignored.

In this episode we ask a virologist and a paediatrician why Africa's mpox crisis was so neglected and what needs to happen now to save lives, particularly children's.

Featuring Nadia Adjoa Sam-Agudu, professor of paediatric infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota in the US and Wolfgang Preiser, head of the division of medical virology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, with an introduction from Nadine Dreyer, health and medicine editor at The Conversation Africa.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with assistance from Katie Flood and sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen.

Further reading:

• Mpox in the DRC: children are at high risk – health expert explains why
• Mpox outbreak in Africa was neglected – it could now turn into the next global pandemic
• Mpox cases are soaring in Africa – what must be done to prevent a global pandemic
• Africa desperately needs mpox vaccines. But donations from rich countries won’t fix this or the next health emergency

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Dating apps are having a rocky moment, with some of the biggest struggling to attract paying users. In this episode, we hear from researchers exploring how dating apps have changed modern dating and the expectations around it. And we find out why some dating app users aren’t actually there looking for love, but keep on swiping anyway.

Featuring Treena Orchard, associate professor at the School of Health Studies at Western University in Canada, and Carolina Bandinelli associate professor in media and creative industries at the University of Warwick in the UK.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood and sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, which is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen. If you listen on PocketCasts, they've just launched the ability to rate shows here.

Further reading:

• Swipe right or left? How dating apps are impacting modern masculinity
• Dating apps are accused of being ‘addictive’. What makes us keep swiping?
• The problems with dating apps and how they could be fixed – two relationship experts discuss
• Dating apps: Lack of regulation, oversight and competition affects quality, and millions stand to lose

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In the second of two episodes on geoengineering, we hear the case against trying to reflect sunlight to cool the Earth.

Solar radiation modification has attracted attention and investment in recent years as a way to potential reverse the effects of climate change, but it remains a controversial idea.

We hear from researchers pushing a non-use agreement for solar geoengineering who explain why they believe these types of technologies are a dangerous distraction from what needs to be done to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Featuring Chukwumerije Okereke, professor in global governance and public policy at the University of Bristol, and Co-Director at the Center for Climate Change and Development at Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Nigeria and Aarti Gupta, professor of global environmental governance at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. And responses from Shaun Fitzgerald at the Centre for Climate Change at the University of Cambridge in the UK

Listen to the first episode to hear scientists who argue modifying the climate can help buy the world time.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with assistance from Katie Flood and sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

• Not such a bright idea: cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space is a dangerous distraction
• Solar geoengineering might work, but local temperatures could keep rising for years
• Blocking out the sun won’t fix climate change – but it could buy us time
• The overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
• Africa has vast gas reserves – here’s how to stop them adding to climate change

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Geoengineering, the modification of the climate using technological interventions to reverse climate change, is a hugely divisive issue and we’ve decided to explore it in two episodes.

In this first episode, we talk to scientists working on potential geoengineering technologies who argue the case for conducting research into these interventions. We speak to Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge in the UK and Hugh Hunt, deputy director at the Centre, as well as Ben Kravitz, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Indiana University in the US. We're also joined by Stacy Morford, environment and climate editor at The Conversation in the US.

Part two, out tomorrow, will focus on the case against a particular type of solar geoengineering called solar radiation management.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood, Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

• What could we do to cool the Arctic, specifically?
• Climate engineering carries serious national security risks − countries facing extreme heat may try it anyway, and the world needs to be prepared
• Blocking out the sun won’t fix climate change – but it could buy us time
• The overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.