In Depth, Out Loud

The inside story of the CIA v Russia – from cold war conspiracy to ‘black’ propaganda in Ukraine. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a professor emeritus of American history at the University of Edinburgh, on what history tells us about the CIA's influence today.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Sam Scholl in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. Listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware. This story was edited by Mike Herd and came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. You can read more stories in the series here.

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 partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. Listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware. This story was edited by Paul Keavney and Mike Herd and came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. You can read more stories in the series here.

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 of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Jane Wing in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. Listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware. This story was edited by Paul Keavney and Mike Herd and came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. You can read more stories in the series here.

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.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Martin Buchanan in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. Listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware. This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

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 ahead of the November 2021 UN climate change conference in Glasgow. 

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Peter Hanly in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

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, a phenomenon strangely akin to addiction in humans.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Peter Hanly in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

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 forests.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Jane Wing in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app.

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

The Conversation is a charity. If you're able to support what we do, please consider donating here. Thank you.

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 a miner in Stalin’s Soviet Union became the embodiment of a new human type and the beginning of a new social and political trend known as “Stakhanovism”. Bogdan Costea, professor of management and society at Lancaster University, and Peter Watt, international lecturer in management and organisation studies at Lancaster University in Leipzig, argue that the spectre of this long-forgotten Soviet miner still haunts our workplace culture today.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Les Smith in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app.

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

The Conversation is a charity. If you're able to support what we do, please consider donating here. Thank you.

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 in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Les Smith in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app. 

James Dyke, Senior Lecturer in Global Systems at the University of Exeter, Robert Watson, Emeritus Professor in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia and Wolfgang Knorr, Senior Research Scientist in Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University, write about the obvious dangers of the concept of net zero.

They argue that they’ve arrived at the painful realisation that the idea of net zero has licensed a recklessly cavalier “burn now, pay later” approach which has seen carbon emissions continue to soar. It has also hastened the destruction of the natural world by increasing deforestation today, and greatly increases the risk of further devastation in the future.

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

The Conversation is a charity. If you're able to support what we do, please consider donating here. Thank you.

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 Fellow in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, explains her research into who actually invented Durex condoms.

She discovered that the technology behind Durex was invented by Lucian Landau, a Polish teenager living in Highbury and studying rubber technology at the former Northern Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University). His story is fascinating.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Adrienne Walker in partnership with Noa, the audio journalism platform.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere.