In Depth, Out Loud

This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast features a report from two doctors on the frontline of the second wave of coronavirus in Liverpool.

Tom Wingfield, an infectious diseases physician at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool, and Miriam Taegtmeyer, professor of global health at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, describe what it’s like for healthcare workers who continue to put their lives and those of their families on the line.

They set out the problems they and their colleagues are facing around the country, some lessons we might be able to learn from the first wave, and some positive developments which will make the future a little brighter.

You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Megan Clement and produced by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Coronavirus Insights supported by Research England. The music is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere.

In Depth Out Loud is made by the charity The Conversation. By bringing together academics and journalists, we generate articles and podcasts that are grounded in research expertise, but also engage with and set the news agenda. We believe that the sharing of knowledge in this way helps inform better decision making.

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This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, features the work of Leon Litvack at Queen’s University Belfast on what happened after the death of Charles Dickens.

His new research has uncovered the never-before-explored areas of the great author’s sudden death on June 9 1870, and his subsequent burial.

Dickens’s death created an early predicament for his family. Where was he to be buried? Near his home (as he would have wished) or in that great public pantheon, Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey (which was clearly against his wishes)? But two ambitious men put their own interests ahead of the great writer and his family in an act of institutionally-sanctioned bodysnatching.

You can read the text version of this in depth article here. The audio version is read by Michael Parker and edited by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. Sponsored by Research England, our Insights team generate in depth articles derived from interdisciplinary research. You can read their stories here, or subscribe to In Depth Out Loud to listen to more of their articles in the coming months.

In Depth Out Loud is produced by The Conversation UK. We’re an independent news media outlet that exists purely to take reliable, informed voices direct to a wide audience. We’re a charity, with no wealthy owner nudging an editorial line in one direction or another. 

The only opinion we hold is that knowledge is crucially important, and must be made widely available to help as many people as possible understand the world and make informed decisions. We’re in the middle of a donations campaign so if you can help us do what we do, please click here. And if you’ve already supported what we do, we want to say a massive thank you!

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

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This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, features the work of David Vincent, historian at the Open University. He has spent the last few years looking into how people in the past managed to balance community ties and solitary behaviours. With the coronavirus crisis forcing many to self-isolate and limiting our sociability, this has never seemed more relevant.

Solitude used to be restricted to enclosed religious orders and was thus a privileged experience of a male elite. It was treated with a mixture of fear and respect. Change was only set in motion by the Reformation and the Enlightenment, when new ideologies took hold and solitude slowly became something that anyone could acceptably seek from time to time. Most people in the West are now used to some regular form of solitude – but the reality of lockdown is making this experience far more extreme.

The history of solitude has lessons for us in differentiating between being alone and feeling lonely. Similarly, it offers lessons for navigating the fragile boundary between life-enhancing and soul-destroying forms of solitary behaviour. 

You can read the text version of this in depth article here. This audio version is read and produced by Annabel Bligh.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. Sponsored by Research England, our Insights team generate in depth articles derived from interdisciplinary research. You can read their stories here, or subscribe to In Depth Out Loud to listen to more of their articles in the coming months.

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

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In this episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, Simon Mair, Research Fellow in Ecological Economics at the University of Surrey’s Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, says we could use the coronavirus crisis to rebuild, produce something better and more humane. But we may slide into something worse.

The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are simply the amplification of the dynamic that drives other social and ecological crises: the prioritisation of one type of value over others. This dynamic has played a large part in driving global responses to COVID-19. So as responses to the virus evolve, how might our economic futures develop?

From an economic perspective, there are four possible futures: a descent into barbarism, a robust state capitalism, a radical state socialism, and a transformation into a big society built on mutual aid. Versions of all of these futures are perfectly possible, if not equally desirable.

You can read the text version of this in depth article here. The audio version is read by Michael Parker and edited by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. Sponsored by Research England, our Insights team generate in depth articles derived from interdisciplinary research. You can read their stories here, or subscribe to In Depth Out Loud to listen to more of their articles in the coming months.

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

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

In this episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, Christian Yates, senior lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath, looks at how to model a pandemic.

With basic mathematical models, researchers can begin to forecast the progression of diseases and understand the effect of interventions on the way diseases spread. With more complex models, we can start to answer questions about how to efficiently allocate limited resources or tease out the consequences of public health interventions, like closing pubs and banning gatherings.

Insights from mathematical modelling are vital to ensure that authorities can prevent as many deaths as possible. As the coronavirus pandemic escalates, here’s a look inside the modelling that experts use to try and stay one step ahead of the virus.

You can read the text version of this in depth article here. The audio version is read by Holly Squire and edited by Gemma Ware.

This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights. Sponsored by Research England, our Insights team generate in depth articles derived from interdisciplinary research. You can read their stories here, or subscribe to In Depth Out Loud to listen to more of their articles in the coming months.

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

The Conversation is a charity. We don't have adverts, we don't have corporate backing and we don't have a paywall. Our support comes largely from universities, charitable institutions and donations from people like you. If you'd like to invest in experts and help spread their message to a global audience, please consider donating here.

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In this episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, we bring you the history of Ritalin by Matthew Smith, professor in health history at the University of Strathclyde.

Just over 75 years ago, a new stimulant drug with the generic name of methylphenidate was born in the Swiss lab of chemical company Ciba. Like many drugs, its therapeutic purpose was unclear. But these were the days a scientist could take a drug home and test it on their spouse, which is exactly what Ciba scientist Leandro Panizzon did. Panizzon’s wife, Rita, reported that the drug gave her tennis game a real fillip. And so Panizzon originally named the drug Ritaline in his wife’s honour.

Over the next three-quarters of a century, Ritalin would go on to wear many hats, including antipsychotic, tonic for worn-out housewives, drug to treat disruptive children, street drug and smart drug.

But what does the future hold?

You can read the text version of this in depth article here. The audio version is read by Annabel Bligh and edited by Laura Hood. You can read more in depth articles by academic experts on The Conversation.

The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. A big thanks to the Department of Journalism at City, University of London for letting us use their studios to record.

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Welcome back to The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast, the audio version of selected long form stories based on cutting edge research written by academic experts.

This episode is based on two years of in-depth historical analysis by Pablo de Orellana and Nick Michelsen at King’s College London.

After marching in the streets of Paris with the militant far-right group Génération Identitaire they met Charles, a young French man terrified by what he sees as the degeneration of Western culture.

Nationalists such as Charles often refer to themselves as the New Right, or read thinkers who do. They are not all as radical as he is, but a diverse grouping of politicians share the stream of New Right ideas. These include Donald Trump, Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg, European nationalists like Marine Le Pen, Matteo Salvini and Viktor Orbán, and newcomers such as Santiago Abascal and his Vox party in Spain.

But this research explains why the comparisons of the New Right with fascism are inaccurate and unhelpful. And they tell how they traced the ideology that is fuelling the extreme nationalism, racism and sexism they saw in the streets to an unlikely source: Maurice Barrès, a French man born 150 years ago.

You can read the text version of the article here.

This story came out of a new project at The Conversation called Insights. Sponsored by Research England, our Insights team generate in depth articles derived from interdisciplinary research. You can read their stories here, or subscribe to In Depth Out Loud to listen to more of their articles in the coming months.

The music in this podcast is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. A big thanks to the Department of Journalism at City, University of London for letting us use their studios to record.

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

An audio version of a long read article on the history of infertility, 40 years after the first baby was born via IVF.

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This episode of the In Depth Out Loud podcast outlines the importance of finding a way to remove the inequalities promoted by modern science.

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An audio version of an in depth article about the 18th century Enlightenment thinkers who promoted the potato as a way to build a healthy and productive society.

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