The Conversation Documentaries

Latest Episodes:

Uncharted Brain 3: the role viruses may play in Alzheimer’s Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

There are many competing theories about what causes Alzheimer's disease. For more than 30 years, Ruth Itzhaki has been accumulating evidence that viruses are involved in its development in the brain. We investigate this evidence in the third and final episode of Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia, hosted by Paul Keaveny and Gemma Ware from The Conversation.

Featuring interviews with Ruth Itzhaki, professor emeritus of molecular neurobiology at the University of Manchester in the UK, Dana Cairns, a postdoctoral research fellow at Tufts University in the US and Davangere P. Devanand, director of geriatric psychiatry and professor of psychiatry and neurology, Columbia University Medical Center in the US.

Uncharted Brain is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware. Read full credits here.

Further reading:

My work investigating the links between viruses and Alzheimer’s disease was dismissed for years – but now the evidence is building

Uncharted Brain 2 : the family trauma of dementia from sports injuries Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Dementia doesn’t just affect older people. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a form of dementia that athletes from a whole range of sports can develop. It’s now at the centre of a number of legal challenges involving sports from rugby to American football. In the second episode of Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia, hosts Gemma Ware and Paul Keaveny from The Conversationfind out about the toll this type of dementia can take on family members, who are often unaware of what’s happening to their loved ones.

This episode features interviews with Matthew Smith, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at the University of Winchester in the UK and Lisa McHale, director of family relations at the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

Uncharted Brain is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware. Read full credits here.

Further reading:

Sport-induced traumatic brain injury: families reveal the ‘hell’ of living with the condition

Uncharted Brain 1: a lifelong study unlocks clues to Alzheimer’s Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Scientists have been doing an array of regular health checks on the same group of people since they were born in 1946 – the world's longest running cohort study. Now the brains of some of its participants are revealing new insights into the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

We find out more in the first episode of Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia, a new series from The Anthill hosted by Paul Keaveny and Gemma Ware from The Conversation.

This episode features Marcus Richards, professor of psychology in epidemiology, UCL, Jonathan Schott, professor of neurology at UCL and David Ward, one of the cohort study participants.

Uncharted Brain is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware. Read full credits here.

Further reading:

We’ve been studying the same people for 76 years – this is what we’ve found out about Alzheimer’s disease

Uncharted Brain: decoding dementia – trailer Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

Uncharted Brain: decoding dementia is a new series from The Conversation exploring new research unlocking clues to the ongoing mystery of how dementia works in the brain.

In this three-part series, hosted by journalists Paul Keaveny and Gemma Ware from The Conversation, we'll delve into some of the findings from the world's longest continuously running cohort study, hear about the trauma of families effected by dementia and explore one researcher's investigation into the role certain viruses could play in Alzheimer's disease.

All episodes will be available via The Anthill on November 16.

Uncharted Brain is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware.

Climate Fight part 5: the art and chaos of negotiating the Glasgow Climate Pact Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

A good negotiation is supposed to leave everyone feeling a little unsatisfied. So what happened at the world's biggest one – over the future of our planet? In part five, and our final episode of Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiations, host Jack Marley reports from Glasgow where he spoke to academics who have been researching the UN climate negotiations for decades, and the people representing their countries in the talks.

Featuring Abhinay Muthoo, professor of economics at the University of Warwick in the UK; François Gemenne, director of the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège in Belgium, and Lisa Vanhala, professor of political science at UCL in the UK. And Hadeel Hisham Ikhmais, a climate negotiator from Palestine.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. A transcript of this episode will be available soon.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Five things you need to know about the Glasgow Climate Pact, by Simon Lewis, UCL and Mark Maslin, UCL
The world has made more progress on climate change than you might think – or might have predicted a decade ago, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford
COP26 deal: how rich countries failed to meet their obligations to the rest of the world, by Lisa Vanhala, UCL
Coal: why China and India aren’t the climate villains of COP26, by Daniel Parsons and Martin Taylor, University of Hull

Climate Fight part 4: the youth movement grows up Oct 27, 2021

Show notes

Locked out of conferences and company boardrooms, young people have tried to influence the international response to the climate crisis with strikes and protests. In part four of Climate Fight, the world's biggest negotiation, we explore what effect this youth activism has, and where the movement will go next.

Featuring Harriet Thew, researcher in climate change governance at the University of Leeds, who speaks to youth climate activist Abel Harvie-Clark about his experiences. And Lynda Dunlop, a senior lecturer in science education at the University of York.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Environmental action: why some young people want an alternative to protests, by Lynda Dunlop, Lucy Atkinson and Maria Turkenburg-van Diepen, University of York
Young climate activists have far more power than they realise, by Anna Pigott, Swansea University
How the youth climate movement is influencing the green recovery from COVID-19 , by Jens Marquardt, Stockholm University
Climate crisis: how states may be held responsible for impact on children, by Aoife Daly, University College Cork

Climate fight part 3: the left behind Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

In the shift away from fossil fuels, how do countries make sure not to widen inequalities in the process? In part three of our series Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiations, we travel to the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven on England’s north-west coast that could soon host the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than three decades. We talk to local people for and against the mine, as well as experts in the concept of a just transition, to explore how regions like west Cumbria that have suffered from decades of deindustrialisation can thrive in the shift to a low-carbon economy.

Featuring Rebecca Ford, senior lecturer in politics at the University of Strathclyde, Rebecca Willis, professor in Practice at the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Kieran Harrahill, PhD candidate in bioeconomy at University College Dublin.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Cumbria coal mine could usher in a net-zero-compliant fossil fuel industry – or prove it was always a fantasy, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford
Ending coal use blighted Scottish communities – a just transition to a green economy must support workers, by Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow
How to make climate action popular, by James Patterson, Utrecht University and Marie Claire Brisbois, University of Sussex

Climate Fight part 2: the path to net zero Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

In part two of Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation, we’re talking to experts about the grand goal of the negotiations: reaching net zero emissions by 2050. We explore what net zero means, and the technologies that will be needed to get the world there.

Featuring Mercedes Maroto-Valer, assistant deputy principal for research & innovation and director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University, James Dyke, senior lecturer in global systems at the University of Exeter and Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science and director of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford. Our producer Tiffany Cassidy also visits the Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant in Saskatchewan, Canada, to see carbon capture and storage technology in action.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome, by Johanna Forster and Naomi Vaughan, University of East Anglia
Climate crisis: what can trees really do for us?, by Rob MacKenzie University of Birmingham and Rose Pritchard, University of Manchester
Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap , by James Dyke, University of Exeter; Robert Watson, University of East Anglia and Wolfgang Knorr, Lund University
Net zero: despite the greenwash, it’s vital for tackling climate change, by Richard Black, Imperial College London; Steve Smith and Thomas Hale, University of Oxford

Climate Fight part 1: where's the money? Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

In the first episode of our new series Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation, we're talking about climate finance – money pledged by the world's richest countries to help the poorest parts of the world adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Where is it being spent and is it really working?

Featuring Jessica Omukuti, COP26 Fellow in Climate Finance at the University of York and a research fellow on inclusive net zero at the University of Oxford, Harpreet Kaur Paul, a PhD candidate in climate justice at the University of Warwick and Alina Averchenkova, distinguished policy fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, London School of Economics and Political Science. Thanks to the reporting of Maryam Charles, we also hear from two residents of Zanzibar about why some climate finance can leave people feeling worse off.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with reporting from Maryam Charles in Zanzibar. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. A transcript of this episode is available here.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading:

Climate finance: rich countries aren’t meeting aid targets – could legal action force them? by Harpreet Kaur Paul, University of Warwick
Climate adaptation finance is ineffective and must be more transparent, by Jessica Omukuti, University of York
COP26: what’s the point of this year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow? by Federica Genovese, University of Essex and Patrick Bayer, University of Strathclyde
Climate change: convincing people to pay to tackle it is hard – treating it like a pension could help by David Comerford, University of Stirling

Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation – trailer Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

How will we actually tackle the climate crisis? And who gets to decide? As Glasgow gets ready to hold the COP26 climate summit in November, The Anthill Podcast is launching Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation, a new podcast series taking you inside the fight for our planet's future.

We'll speak to some of the academic experts influencing climate policy, and to some of the people around the world who will see their lives change as a result of it. We'll also be in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, talking to experts to unpack how the negotiations went. The first episode will go live on October 6.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

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