The Conversation Weekly

It's been 50 years since the American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson discovered the fossil of ancient hominin 'Lucy' in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The find took the story of human evolution back beyond 3 million years for the first time. Yet, despite largely centring on the African continent as the "cradle of mankind", the narrative of hominin fossil discovery is striking for its lack of African scientists.

In this week's episode, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University in the US, explains why the story of ancient human origins is so western-centric, and why he's calling for the decolonisation of paleoanthropology.

This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany with sound design by Michelle Macklem and 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.

• ‘Deep inside, something told me I had found the earliest human ancestor; I went numb’ – Yohannes Haile-Selassie on his lifetime quest to discover ancient humanity
• Lucy, discovered 50 years ago in Ethiopia, stood just 3.5 feet tall − but she still towers over our understanding of human origins 
• Meet 3-million-year-old Lucy – she’ll tell you a lot about modern African heritage 

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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 June 2024, when the government lifted the ban in a controversial decision.

In this episode we speak to Tyler Eddy, a research scientist in fisheries science at Memorial University of Newfoundland, to shed light on what’s happened. It's a story that offers a cautionary tale for those politicians trying to balance the complex demands of protecting ecosystems that also support substantial economies.

This episode was produced by Katie Flood and Gemma Ware. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and 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.

• The federal government has lifted the moratorium on Northern cod fishing after 32 years
• The Atlantic: The driving force behind ocean circulation and our taste for cod
• Tiny oceanic plankton adapted to warming during the last ice age, but probably won’t survive future climate change – new study

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What happens when a gangster leaves their life on the street? How do they transition to something new? We find out through the life stories of two people who joined them as young men and came out the other side. 

Featuring an interview with Gaz, a former gang member in Sierra Leone, and Dennis Rodgers, a research professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland who leads a global research project on gangs.

This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and 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.

• Gangs’stories: The Sierra Leonian gangster who gave up violence and drugs for poetry
• Gangs’stories : A glimpse of hard lives around the world
• From dealing drugs to selling tortillas: the surprising future of former gang members

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Amid deep political polarization and extreme campaign rhetoric, the U.S. presidential election on November 5 is likely to be decided by a small number of voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. But why is it so close?

In this episode Naomi Schalit, senior politics editor at the The Conversation U.S., speaks to Jesse Rhodes, associate professor of political science at UMass Amherst, who has been surveying Americans on the issues that matter to them, and their concerns as the election approaches. 

This episode was produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and 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.

• Why vote for Harris or Trump? A cheat sheet on the candidates’ records, why their supporters like them and why picking one or the other makes sense
• US voters say they’re ready for a woman president − but sexist attitudes still go along with opposition to Harris
• Yes, sexism among Republican voters helped sink Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign

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Take a walk along a beach in parts of South Australia, and you may come across unusual patches of pink sand. When a team of geologists began analysing samples of this mysterious sand to find out where it comes from, their search took them back through time to a previously undiscovered mountain range in Antarctica. In this episode Sharmaine Verhaert, a PhD candidate in earth sciences at the University of Adelaide, explains how the discovery was made.

This episode was produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and 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:

• South Australia’s enigmatic pink sand was born in ice-covered Antarctic mountains, new research shows
• Australian amber has revealed ‘living fossils’ traced back to Gondwana 42 million years ago
• The Anthropocene epoch that isn’t – what the decision not to label a new geological epoch means for Earth’s future

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Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were awarded the 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of microRNA, tiny biological molecules that tell the cells in our body what kind of cell to be by turning on and off certain genes.

In this episode, we speak to Ambros, who is professor of natural sciences at UMass Chan Medical School in the US, about the discovery that led to his Nobel prize and find out what he’s researching now. And we hear from Justin Stebbing, professor of biomedical sciences at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, about how a deeper understanding of microRNA is opening up new avenues for potential treatment of diseases such as cancer. 

This episode was produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem and 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.

• MicroRNA − a new Nobel laureate describes the scientific process of discovering these tiny molecules that turn genes on and off
• MicroRNA is the Nobel-winning master regulator of the genome – researchers are learning to treat disease by harnessing how it controls genes
• Nobel prize in medicine awarded for discovery of microRNAs, the molecules that control our genes
• Full coverage of the 2024 Nobel prizes on The Conversation

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In an extra episode this week, we're running the first part of Know Your Place: what happened to class in British politics, a new series from The Conversation Documentaries. Host Laura Hood, senior politics editor at The Conversation in London, explores when the relationship between class and voting in the UK broke down and why. 

Featuring John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research, Paula Surridge, professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol, Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and Geoffrey Evans, professor in the sociology of politics at the University of Oxford.

Subscribe to The Conversation Documentaries to listen to the full series.

Know your place is a series supported by the National Centre for Social Research. It's produced and mixed by Anouk Millet for The Conversation. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was mixed by Michelle Macklem. Full credits available here.

The Conversation Documentaries, formerly The Anthill podcast, is home to in-depth audio series from The Conversation UK, a not-for-profit independent news organisation. Find out more and donate here. And consider signing up for our free daily newsletter.

Further reading

• Age, not class, is now the biggest divide in British politics, new research confirms
• Brexit identities: how Leave versus Remain replaced Conservative versus Labour affiliations of British voters
• UK election: Reform and Green members campaigned more online – but pounded the pavements less

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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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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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