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The Big Q

The Big Q: What does it mean to be responsible? March 11, 2019

 The Big Q: What does it mean to be responsible? March 11, 2019 The Big Q: What does it mean to be responsible? March 11, 2019, 19.69 MB
Mon 11 Mar 2019

What does it mean to be responsible? And how has neoliberalism changed our conception of personal responsibility? Maria Armoudian speaks to Susanna Trnka about the factors that shape our lives, and our ways of being: ideas, events, and what she calls ‘traversing’.


The Big Q website: www.thebiq.org
 

The Big Q: How do animals use magnetic fields to navigate? March 4, 2019

 The Big Q: How do animals use magnetic fields to navigate? March 4, 2019 The Big Q: How do animals use magnetic fields to navigate? March 4, 2019, 11.64 MB
Mon 4 Mar 2019

Birds, bees, whales, and turtles all use the Earth’s magnetic field to guide their behaviour. Now scientists have learned much more about how. Maria Armoudian speaks with Andres Vidal-Gadea about what has been discovered.


The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org
 

The Big Q: How does our unconscious mind alter political outcomes? February 25, 2019

 The Big Q: How does our unconscious mind alter political outcomes? February 25, 2019 The Big Q: How does our unconscious mind alter political outcomes? February 25, 2019, 19.1 MB
Mon 25 Feb 2019

Scientists are finding more and more evidence that human behaviour is not rational, not conscious, and maybe completely programmed without our rational thinking. How does the unconscious mind and biological predispositions effect political outcomes and prejudice biases? Maria Armoudian speaks with Guillermo Jiménez and Shankar Vedantam.


The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org
 

The Big Q: What is love? February 18, 2019

 The Big Q: What is love? February 18, 2019 The Big Q: What is love? February 18, 2019, 19.74 MB
Mon 18 Feb 2019

Last Thursday was Valentines Day but what exactly is love? How have notions of love changed over time? Can love be consciously developed? And how does love for partners, friends, children, and country differ? Maria Armoudian speaks to Simon May, Bennett W. Helm, and Robert Epstein.

The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org 

The Big Q: How can our everyday decisions help alleviate the water crisis? February 11, 2019

 The Big Q: How can our everyday decisions help alleviate the water crisis? February 11, 2019 The Big Q: How can our everyday decisions help alleviate the water crisis? February 11, 2019, 14.38 MB
Mon 11 Feb 2019

The world is fast running out of fresh water according and the results could be very grim: more wildfires, droughts, rationing, less food, more hunger. The causes are linked to overconsumption and a growing human population. Can we reverse the trend? Thomas Kostigen, author of The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life, says we can and he has quantified how much each of us contributes to either continuing water crisis or averting it. Maria Armoudian speaks with Kostigen about what people can do to help alleviate the water crisis.

The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org 

The Big Q: Venezuela in crisis: how did we get here? February 4, 2019

The Big Q: Venezuela in crisis: how did we get here? February 4, 2019 The Big Q: Venezuela in crisis: how did we get here? February 4, 2019 , 17.93 MB
Mon 4 Feb 2019

Venezuela is once again at a crossroads. The opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself the interim leader of the country, while calls are growing internationally for President Nicolas Maduro to step aside. But what is the historic context behind the ongoing political polarisation in Venezuela? Maria Armoudian speaks with Daniel Levine, Jennifer McCoy, and David Smilde.

Note: this was originally recorded in 2013. 

The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org 

The Big Q: How do fear, anger, and resentment lead to conflict? January 29, 2019

 The Big Q: How do fear, anger, and resentment lead to conflict? January 29, 2019 The Big Q: How do fear, anger, and resentment lead to conflict? January 29, 2019, 20.61 MB
Tue 29 Jan 2019

How much do emotions impact or even dictate political outcomes like ethnic violence, wars, or even genocides? That is a key question posed by international relations theorists, political scientists, psychologists, and communications scholars. Where do these emotions come from? How do they play out? Maria Armoudian speaks with Roger Petersen, David Altheide, and Jeff Birkenstein.


The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org
 

The Big Q: How influential is the presidency of the United States? January 21, 2019

 The Big Q: How influential is the presidency of the United States? January 21, 2019 The Big Q: How influential is the presidency of the United States? January 21, 2019, 31.85 MB
Mon 21 Jan 2019

How much does the U.S. presidency matter for the direction of the United States, and for the rest of the world? Maria Armoudian speaks with William F. Grover and Joseph G. Peschek about the power of the U.S. presidency and what they term the “unsustainable presidency.”


The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org 
 

The Big Q: What do changes in Congress mean for the ongoing policy battles in the US? January 17, 2019

 The Big Q: What do changes in Congress mean for the ongoing policy battles in the US? January 17, 2019 The Big Q: What do changes in Congress mean for the ongoing policy battles in the US? January 17, 2019, 37.12 MB
Thu 17 Jan 2019

With the historic changes in the American House of Representatives, what can we expect from the Congress and President in the ongoing policy and investigative battles? How will the power struggles play out? Will the Supreme Court weigh in and if so how? Maria Armoudian discusses the unfolding situation with Andrew Rudalevige, George C. Edwards III, Mark Peterson, and Sean Theriault.


The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org
 

The Big Q: How will climate change impact Aotearoa?

The Big Q: How will climate change impact Aotearoa? The Big Q: How will climate change impact Aotearoa? , 124.4 MB
Mon 14 Jan 2019

The debate is over. All life on planet Earth is threatened by human-caused climate change. Within our lifetimes, the oceans will rise, weather will get more extreme, our air, soil, and water will become more tainted and toxic. Animals will perish en masse – and humans are at serious risk too.

New Zealand emits twice as much carbon dioxide per capita as China. Our agriculture and energy industries are already unsustainable. So how will climate change affect our natural world, our society, and our culture? And what can we do to halt the looming catastrophe?

Dr. James Renwick, Dr. Lyn Carter, Dr. Sylvia Nissen, and Dr. Meg Parsons gave their views during a public panel discussion at the University of Auckland, December 17, 2018. The discussion was moderated by Maria Armoudian, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland.

The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org