What lies behind the clashes on the Thai Cambodian border is a fractured friendship between the two nations.

In July both countries strike each other with civilians killed and injured in the crossfire. More than a hundred thousand are evacuated.

Thailand warns the clashes could escalate to war. In May a brief gunfire exchange killed a Cambodian soldier. Just over two weeks later surprising details from a recorded private phone conversation went public.

On that 17-minute call to Cambodia was Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. It was supposed to defuse the situation - instead it has erupted.

Away from the border, there’s been public outrage in Thailand, a major prime ministerial setback, fractured friendships, diplomatic ties downgraded and even more political pressure on a far from robust government.

Contributors: ·

Presented by Charmaine Cozier

In Chile, a powerful new telescope has just given a taster of what we can expect from it later this year, when it will be used to survey the cosmos over a ten-year period. In one image it revealed vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirling in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from the Earth.

Housed in the Vera C Rubin Observatory, which sits on a mountain in the Chilean Andes, the telescope is designed to get giant images of the sky about one hundred times larger and quicker than any other existing telescope can achieve. It contains the world’s most largest digital camera, the size of a large car.

When the Legacy Survey of Space and Time begins towards the end of 2025, the camera will film the entire Southern hemisphere night sky for the next decade, every three days, repeating the process over and over. And it will focus on four areas: mapping changes in the skies or transient objects, the formation of the Milky Way, mapping the Solar System and understanding dark matter or how the universe formed.

So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking, ‘What will Chile’s latest telescope tell us about the Universe?’

Contributors:

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier

Image Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

More and more of the tasks we perform in our daily lives are been guided by artificial intelligence, from searching the internet for answers to relying on satellite navigation in our cars. But studies recently released suggest that our use of AI is having a negative impact on our ability to make informed judgements and decisions. In one recent study from MiT’s Media Lab, a group of people were asked to write several essays. Some of them used AI, others didn’t. Those who used generative AI reportedly became lazier with each subsequent essay.

This cognitive offloading, allowing AI to take over from our brains might be less taxing, but there are concerns that if we come to rely on AI, we are in danger of replacing our own critical thinking for a technology that might not always come up with the right answer.

However, there are those who argue that AI can be beneficial in helping our cognitive function, that it can be employed to take on the more mundane, repetitive tasks, freeing up headspace to allow us to become more productive. Software education platforms are just one example where AI is been employed to assist teachers in things like knowledge checks and grading, with the claim that it allows them time for more valuable interaction with their students.

So is it possible to find a balance where we can we can rely on AI but not to the extent were we lose our mental agility.

Contributors:

Presenter: Tanya Beckett

Brazil’s Zebu cattle, or “supercows” are bred for size, strength, and meat quality. Every year the animals are showcased at ExpoZebu, Brazil’s premier cattle fair. These animals are preened, pampered, and prized, before being sold for millions for their genetic material.

Zebu cattle were not always part of Brazil’s landscape. After being imported from India in the late 19th century, farmers found their resilience to heat, pests, and poor pasture made them ideal for Brazil’s expanding cattle frontier.

Thanks to decades of selective breeding and low-cost pasture-based farming, Brazil is now the world’s largest beef exporter, and demand is only rising.

Despite its economic success and domestic popularity, Brazil’s beef has a significant environmental cost due to its emissions and links to deforestation. However, their genetic material has the potential to be used around the world to make cattle more resilient to climate change.

Photo Credit: Carolina Arantes

Contributors:

Presenter: David Baker

Ahead of last year’s US Presidential elections, Donald Trump was asked if he would defend China against Taiwan, he responded that Taiwan should pay the US for protection from China. Taiwan is a self-governing island, claimed by Beijing and whilst Taiwan is not formally recognised by the US, they do remain the island’s most important security partner. Taiwan manufactures over ninety percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips, which makes some American industries heavily dependent on trade links with the island.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett

The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the most important energy corridors in the world. It is the only sea route from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, it serves as the primary maritime route for oil exports from the Gulf. Any disruption to traffic through the strait would have implications for oil markets and regional stability.

While some Gulf states have developed pipelines to bypass the strait, the volume of oil transported by sea is far greater, and for many countries, including key Gulf exporters, the waterway is essential to maintaining trade. China is the largest buyer of oil that travels through the strait, making it particularly exposed to any disruption.

Iran itself relies on the Strait of Hormuz to sell its oil and any blockage of the route would likely damage Iran’s own economy and could strain relationships with regional neighbours.

Despite past threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway has remained open, including during the tanker wars of the 1980s, but any disruption could have a big impact on global oil supplies.

Picture Credit: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Contributors:

Jacob P. Larsen, BIMCO’s Chief Safety & Security Officer

Petter Haugen, Partner, Equity Research Shipping, ABG Sundal Collier, Nordic Investment Bank

Presenter Charmaine Cozier

During a speech to the Spanish parliament earlier this year, the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed there’s one thing that would guarantee lasting peace in Europe.

His idea is the creation of a new army drawn from the 27 countries whose governments already work together as members of the European Union.

The concept isn't a new one - and NATO already exists, the military alliance which includes EU member states and other European countries.

But talk of a new military force is reappearing as the continent becomes more vulnerable to threats. Its ally the US is increasingly unreliable and unpredictable too.

Other European leaders are also backing the idea

This week we’re asking - “Are we closer to a European army?”

Contributors:

Dick Zandee, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Security and Defence Programme at the Clingendael Institute

Dr Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Oana Lungescu, Distinguished fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and former NATO spokesperson

Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Europe in the World Programme at Egmont.

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier

Producer: Daniel Rosney

Researcher: Maeve Schaffer

Editor: Tara McDermott

Technical Producer: Toby James

Production Coordinator - Tammy Snow

(Image Credit: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The creation of a landmark gene editing drug used to treat a baby with a rare genetic mutation which could help transform personalized medicine.

Presented by Tanya Beckett. Produced by Bob Howard. Researched by Mauve Schaffer Edited by Tara McDermott.

The economic fortunes of the Southern Africa country of Botswana were transformed back in the mid 1960s when shortly after gaining independence from Britain, its first diamond mine was discovered. A partnership with the world’s biggest diamond firm DeBeers ensured Botswana’s diamonds gained global attention and with some of the world’s biggest diamonds been mined in the country, it now ranks just below Russia in terms of its importance in the industry.

Another reason for this shift is the emerging popularity of lab grown diamonds. Originally used in industrial machinery, lab diamonds are now been refined for the jewellery market at a fraction of the price of mined diamonds, with the majority of consumer interest coming from the United States.

Contributors:

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier

(Photo: Karowe diamond in Botswana. Credit: Lucara Diamond/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Fungal diseases are becoming more common, more dangerous, and more difficult to treat. There’s concern that they may cause the next global pandemic.

Rising global temperatures, better survival rates for vulnerable patients, and increased medical interventions contribute to the rise in fungal infections. Access to effective diagnostics and treatment remains limited, with significant disparities between high and low-income countries.

Treating fungal infections is becoming more challenging as they build resistance

Contributors:

Rita Oladele, Professor of Clinical Microbiology, University of Lagos and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Arturo Casadevall, Professor and Chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, US

Michael Bromley, Professor in Fungal Disease, University of Manchester, UK

Presenter: Tanya Beckett

(Image: Aspergillus fumigatus, seen under an optical microscope. Credit: BSIP/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)