Episodes

  • The quest for a theory of everything – explaining all the forces and particles in the universe – is arguably the holy grail of physics. While each of our main theories of physics works extraordinarily well, they also clash with each other. But do we really need a theory of everything? And are we anywhere near achieving one?


    Featuring Vlatko Vedral, a professor of physics at the University of Oxford and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy and core faculty in women's and gender studies at the University Of New Hampshire.


    This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 

    The standard model of particle physics may be broken – an expert explains

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  • What’s the difference between a living collection of matter, such as a tortoise, and an inanimate lump of it, such as a rock? They are, after all, both just made up of non-living atoms. The truth is, we don’t really know yet. Life seems to just somehow emerge from non-living parts.


    Featuring Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics at the University of Surrey, and Sara Imari Walker, professor of physics at Arizona State University.


    This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 


    Life: modern physics can’t explain it – but our new theory, which says time is fundamental, might



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  • It is hard to shake the intuition that there's a real and objective physical world out there. If I see an umbrella on top of a shelf, I assume you do too. And if I don't look at the umbrella, I expect it to remain there as long as nobody steals it. But the theory of quantum mechanics, which governs the micro-world of atoms and particles, threatens this commonsense view.


    Featuring Chiara Marletto, Research Fellow of Physics, and Christopher Timpson, Professor of Philosophy of Physics, both at the University of Oxford, and Marcus Huber, Professor of Physics, TU Wien.


    This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 

    'QBism': quantum mechanics is not an objective description of reality – it reveals a world of genuine free will

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  • Interest in the multiverse theory, suggesting that our universe is just one of many, has spiked since the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once was released. The film follows Evelyn Wang on her journey to connect with versions of herself in parallel universes to stop the destruction of the multiverse. The multiverse idea has long been an inspiration for science fiction writers. But does it have any basis in science? And if so, is it a concept we could ever test experimentally? 


    Featuring Andrew Pontzen, professor of Cosmology at University College London, Katie Mack, Hawking chair in cosmology and science communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and Sabine Hossenfelder, research fellow of physics at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. 


    This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 

    The multiverse: how we're tackling the challenges facing the theoryCurious Kids: how likely is it that there are parallel universes and other Earths?The multiverse: our universe is suspiciously unlikely to exist – unless it is one of many

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  • Imagine a universe with extremely strong gravity. Stars would be able to form from very little material. They would be smaller than in our universe and live for a much shorter amount of time. But could life evolve there? It after all took human life billions of years to evolve on Earth under the pleasantly warm rays from the Sun. 


    Now imagine a universe with extremely weak gravity. Its matter would struggle to clump together to form stars, planets and – ultimately – living beings. It seems we are pretty lucky to have gravity that is just right for life in our universe.


    Featuring Fred Adams, professor of physics, University of Michigan, and Paul Davies, professor of physics, Arizona State University.


    This episode was presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 

    The multiverse is suspiciously unlikely to exist unless it is one of many

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  • Without a sense of time, leading us from cradle to grave, our lives would make little sense. But on the most fundamental level, physicists aren't sure whether the sort of time we experience exists at all. We talk to three experts and find out if time could potentially be moving backwards as well as forwards.

     

    Featuring Sean Carroll, Homewood professor of natural philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, Emily Adlam, postdoctoral associate of the philosophy of physics at Western University and Natalia Ares, Royal Society university research fellow at the University of Oxford.


    This episode was presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.


    Further reading: 

    Quantum mechanics: how the future might influence the pastFour misconceptions about quantum physics

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  • 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


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  • 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 Conversation find 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

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  • 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

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  • 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.


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  • 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, UCLThe world has made more progress on climate change than you might think – or might have predicted a decade ago, by Myles Allen, University of OxfordCOP26 deal: how rich countries failed to meet their obligations to the rest of the world, by Lisa Vanhala, UCLCoal: why China and India aren’t the climate villains of COP26, by Daniel Parsons and Martin Taylor, University of Hull

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  • 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.


    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 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

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

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  • 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.


    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 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

    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 OxfordEnding coal use blighted Scottish communities – a just transition to a green economy must support workers, by Ewan Gibbs, University of GlasgowHow to make climate action popular, by James Patterson, Utrecht University and Marie Claire Brisbois, University of Sussex

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  • 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.


    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 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

    A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome, by Johanna Forster and Naomi Vaughan, University of East AngliaClimate crisis: what can trees really do for us?, by Rob MacKenzie University of Birmingham and Rose Pritchard, University of ManchesterClimate 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 UniversityNet 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

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  • 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 WarwickClimate adaptation finance is ineffective and must be more transparent, by Jessica Omukuti, University of YorkCOP26: 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

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  • 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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  • The 2008 financial crisis resulted in the worst global recession since the second world war. The collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 caused a meltdown of the global financial system. Money markets froze and there was a major credit crunch as the ability to borrow money suddenly dried up. 


    To stop contagion and make sure other major financial institutions didn’t collapse, governments stepped in to shore up the system by bailing out the banks. Anastasia Nesvetailova, professor of international political economy at City, University of London, explains what these bailouts involved and why they were so necessary. 


    Aidan Regan, associate professor at University College Dublin, tells us how the crisis spread across the eurozone and why some countries rebounded a lot more quickly than others. We also discuss how the austerity policies that many governments adopted following the 2008 financial crisis hampered economic growth. 


    And we explore how emerging markets such as Brazil and China were affected by the 2008 financial crisis. Carolina Alves, fellow in economics at the University of Cambridge, outlines how they were shielded from some elements of the crisis but also left vulnerable to the large reduction in finance that followed. 


    You can read more research into the 2008 financial crisis and what lessons we can learn from it for today's coronavirus recovery alongside other articles in our Recovery series, which accompany this podcast.


    This episode was produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh, with sound design by Eloise Stevens.


    The Anthill is a podcast from The Conversation UK. We’re an independent news media outlet that exists purely to take reliable, informed voices direct to a wide audience. If you’re able to to support our work, please consider donating via our website. Thanks to everyone who has already done so.


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  • In this fifth episode of Recovery, a series from The Anthill Podcast exploring key moments in history when parts of the world recovered from a major crisis or shock, we’re looking at what happened in the former Soviet Union during the transition from communism to capitalism in the 1990s.


    When the USSR was finally dissolved at the end of 1991 it was a massive shock to the system for millions of people. The transition from a state-controlled command economy to a market-driven capitalist one was a hugely complex structural change. What followed was what’s come to be known as “shock therapy” – post-communist states were suddenly subject to mass privatisation and market reforms. Price controls were lifted. State support – which had been such a fundamental part of everybody’s way of life in the former Soviet Union and eastern bloc – was withdrawn.


    Jo Crotty, professor of management and director of the Institute for Social Responsibility at Edge Hill University, was living in between Belarus and Russia in the early 1990s. She describes the hyperinflation and economic breakdown she witnessed during this period. Companies tried to keep people employed, but these were jobs in name only and there was a huge problem of hidden unemployment – which she says offers a warning as coronavirus furlough schemes end today.


    Some parts of the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries recovered quicker than others. Lawrence King, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a research associate at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, explains why, and what political upheaval the drastic economic reforms provoked. He also describes the devastating impact that waves of privatisation had on mortality rates in Russia in the 1990s.


    And Elisabeth Schimpfössl, lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, talks about a new group of oligarchs emerged in Russia during the transition in the 1990s, benefitting from the waves of privatisation and shift to a capitalist system. She describes the enduring legacy this period has had on wealth inequality in Russia.


    You can read more about the post-Soviet transition and its legacy alongside other articles in our Recovery series accompanying this podcast.


    This episode was produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh with sound design by Eloise Stevens.


    The Anthill 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. If you can help us do what we do, please click here to donate. And if you’ve already supported what we do, thank you!


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  • In this fourth episode of Recovery, a series from The Anthill Podcast exploring key moments in history when the world recovered from a major crisis or shock, we’re looking at what happened in the UK after the second world war.


    The second world war decimated landscapes, killed tens of millions of people and left many more unable to work, in need of long-term healthcare and help to rebuild their lives.


    In the UK, some had been calling for action to deal with poverty, squalid housing and better education since before the conflict, but the particular circumstances of the war seemed to provide the impetus needed to get things moving. The recovery project that followed the end of the war in 1945 transformed the nation into one that provided free healthcare for all, better education and massive housing regeneration.


    Pat Thane, visiting professor of history at Birkbeck College, takes us through the recommendations of a landmark government report written by William Beveridge that got the whole project moving. This set out a comprehensive cradle-to-grave welfare system designed to tackle the five giants of want, squalor, idleness, ignorance and disease.


    Bernard Harris, professor of social policy at the University of Strathclyde, reveals how this report turned into a series of changes to the law that ultimately constructed the welfare state. That included establishing the world-famous National Health Service. He explains how the shared trauma of the war helped people imagine a different future in which a greater number of people would be cared for by the government.


    Pippa Catterall, professor of history and policy at the University of Westminster, discusses the political context of the post-war period in the UK. After the suffering of the conflict, it was the left-wing Labour party that grasped how urgently the public wanted bold new thinking. The recovery promised by Labour Party leader Clement Attlee was based around a total restructuring of the state, and voters were prepared to take the plunge – not least because more of them had been exposed to hardship during the war.


    Finally, the panel explore what lessons this unique period in history can offer us today, as governments look to rebuild after the coronavirus pandemic. After years of retreat, states are stepping in on an unprecedented scale to offer rescue packages. Could we be witnessing the rebirth of the welfare state?


    You can read more about the aftermath of the second world war and the welfare state as well as other articles in our Recovery series to accompany this podcast.


    This episode was produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh, with sound design by Eloise Stevens.


    The Anthill 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, a massive thank you!


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  • In this third episode of Recovery, we’re looking at what happened after the combined shocks of the Spanish flu and world war one.


    It was called the Spanish flu because the first reports of the virus were in Spanish newspapers, due to wartime censorship restrictions elsewhere. The 1918-19 flu was the worst pandemic in human history. More than half the world’s population was infected. Estimates for the number of people who died range from between 20 and 50 million. And this off the back of a devastating world war in which 9.7 million military personnel and another 10 million civilians died.


    To find out about the recovery after these combined shocks of war and pandemic, we hear from three experts in this episode who study the period.


    Caitjan Gainty, lecturer in the history of science, technology and medicine at King’s College London, explains what measures were put in place to recover from the Spanish flu and how the pandemic lead to a rethink in the way cities and buildings were designed, and a focus on fresh air.


    Tim Hatton, professor of economics at the University of Essex, outlines how an economic boom followed the end of the war due to pent up demand, but it was followed by a severe economic slump and high unemployment. He explains what policies were introduced to help the recovery and why that recovery was patchy in the UK.


    And Chris Colvin, senior lecturer in economics at Queen’s University Belfast, tells us why it’s so hard to unpick the economic impact and recovery from the Spanish flu from the recovery from WW1. And he explains why in their desire to return to what they thought of as “normal”, some politicians decided to re-introduce the gold standard in the early 1920s, with mixed consequences.


    You can read more about the Spanish flu on The Converasation here as well as other articles in our Recovery series to accompany this podcast.


    This episode was produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh, with sound design by Eloise Stevens.


    The Anthill 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!


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