LSE IQ | Intelligent questions with social science answers

Nov 19 2024 70 ep. 33 mins 1.6k

LSE IQ | Intelligent questions with social science answers Podcast artwork

LSE IQ is a monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. To subscribe on Apple Podcasts please visit - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/lse-iq-podcast/id1223817465 Or search for 'LSE IQ' in your favourite podcast app or add our RSS feed -http://www.lse.ac.uk/assets/richmedia/webFeeds/lseiqpodcast_iTunesStore.xml For further information about the podcast visit http://lse.ac.uk/iq and please tell us what you think using the hashtag #LSEIQ https://twitter.com/hashtag/LSEIQ?f=tweets

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Who owns outer space?

Nov 19 2024 29 mins

With companies, like SpaceX or Blue Origin, getting into space exploration and the cost of launching rockets dropping, could we see a lot more people heading into space in the future? What kind of possibilities does this new space age bring—and what dangers should we be worried about? Can any nation seize possession of the moon? Could it be mined? Is there junk in space? And wh

What’s it like to win a Nobel Prize?

Oct 01 2024 30 mins

While there are always rumours about who might win a Nobel Prize every year, there is no short list for the globally revered academic awards. This means that winning one always comes as a complete surprise. In this episode of LSE iQ, we explore what it’s like to win the prestigious prize and how it changes your life. The Nobel Prizes were established in 1900 at the behest of Alfr

How can we solve the gender pay gap?

Sep 03 2024 28 mins

This episode of LSE iQ explores whether gender pay gap reporting, pay transparency and tackling gender norms can reduce the gender pay gap. On average across the globe, for every pound earned by a man, a woman earns around 80 pence, according to a 2023 report from the United Nations. But despite huge advances in access to education, the labour market, and the introduction of

Will the US remain the world's superpower?

May 21 2024 35 mins

A shining city on a hill. America the beautiful. The United States has long been mythologised as the land of dreams and opportunity. And since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s it has been undisputedly the most powerful nation on earth. But is it a fading force? The idea of an America in decline has gained traction in recent years and has, of course, been capitalized

China, war and the civilizational state

Apr 09 2024 18 mins

Why do some countries, such as China and Russia, stand outside of the liberal international order and oppose values that the West takes for granted – values such as liberty and democracy? For the late Professor Christopher Coker the answer lay in the rise of a new political entity, the civilizational state. In an episode of LSE iQ which explored China’s position in the world in

Are we on the verge of a weight-loss revolution?

Mar 05 2024 33 mins

Are we on the verge of a weight-loss revolution? Are weight-loss jabs the answer to Britain’s obesity crisis? Should we be doing more to tackle the root causes? Joanna Bale talks to Helen, who found Ozempic ‘life-changing’, Clinical Psychologist Sarah Appleton, and LSE’s Nikki Sullivan & Paul Frijters. Research links: The relationship between obesity and self-esteem: lo

Why do so many people mistakenly think they are working class? | Extra iQ

Feb 01 2024 9 mins

More than one in four people in the UK, from solidly middle-class backgrounds, mistakenly think of themselves as working-class. Why is this? In this episode of Extra iQ, a shorter style of the LSE iQ podcast, Sue Windebank speaks to Sam Friedman, a sociologist of class and inequality at LSE to find out more. Sam spoke to the podcast in November 2022 for an episode which asked, ‘H

How can we tackle loneliness?

Dec 12 2023 26 mins

This episode of LSE iQ asks, ‘How can we tackle loneliness?’. According to the Office for National Statistics, 7.1 per cent of adults in Great Britain - nearly 4 million people - say they 'often or always' feel lonely. Look around you when you’re in a crowded place – a supermarket or an office - 1 in 14 of the people you’re looking at are likely to be lonely, not just som

Can we change the world?

Nov 07 2023 29 mins

This episode of LSE iQ asks, ‘Can we change the world?’ Experts will discuss how change isn't as straightforward as we'd like it to be – How it can be all in the timing and that, at times, you just need to wait for the right moment to make change happen. We’ll hear from an academic striving to become a Member of Parliament and make change from within the political system, r

What’s it like to be criminalised for being gay?

Oct 03 2023 30 mins

What’s it like to be criminalised for being gay? Homosexuality is illegal in just over a third of countries across the globe. Some nations, like Barbados, have recently repealed anti-gay laws, but others, like Uganda, have just introduced the death penalty. Joanna Bale talks to LSE’s Dr Ryan Centner about how Western gay men living in Dubai create covert communities where the