The Answers Project

Send a text Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability. Others believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills and talents. Is it a philosophical question, a neurological question, or both? If you can pinpoint what intelligence is, can you then measure it? It’s certainly controversial and the question of measuring intelligence has quite a dark underbelly, with IQ tests used by regimes such as Nazi Germany as a justification for sterilisat...

Send us Fan Mail In 2020 and 2021, millions of students around the world couldn't sit their exams because of COVID. The pandemic has derailed exams everywhere, the UK cancelled exams and replaced them with teacher assessments and last summer in France, high school students couldn't sit the Baccalaureate exam (the final high school exam in France) for the first time since its introduction under Napoleon in 1888 - even the protests of May 1968 didn't prevent the exams from going ahead. Th...

Send a text We've been talking about poverty for a long time, and it still hasn't been resolved. Furthermore, the last two years of pandemic have undone a lot of the previous decades’ progress on poverty alleviation. We talk to a leading expert on poverty and the pandemic – Achim Steiner, the administrator of the United Nations Development Program. We also look at the role of jobs in relation to poverty and speak to Guy Ryder, the director-general of the International Labor Organization, who ...

Send a text The Answers Project, where The Agenda’s Stephen Cole and Mhairi Beveridge ask the best brains on the planet to shed light on some of the most pressing ethical, scientific, geopolitical and philosophical quandaries. In this, the first episode in the second series, we ask ‘Should all zoos be closed?’ There are various establishments that could be seen as zoos, not just caging animals but also aquariums, sanctuaries, safari parks and even animal rehabilitation centers. An estab...

Send a text Despite the lack of evidence that aliens exist, it’s hard to find an astrophysicist who will tell you they believe we are alone in the universe. Enrico Fermi summed up this sentiment in the 1950s when he simply asked: where is everybody? In this episode of The Answers Project Mhairi and Stephen discuss alien sightings, human evolution and the two equally terrifying possibilities: either alien life exists or we are totally alone in the universe. Featuring: Professor Didier Q...

Send a text The scope for malpractice in the waste industry is huge and often results in rich countries dumping their trash on poorer nations. So should countries be forced to start managing their waste domestically? And is there any real financial benefit for the nations receiving this waste? In this episode Mhairi and Stephen take on the dirty business of international waste. Featuring: [04:48] Simon Ellin, CEO of the Recycling Association [10:33] Professor Sedat Gundogdu, Membe...

Send a text Whilst all human life may be priceless, the reality is that putting a price tag on a life is an important part of the job for legislators all over the world. In this episode of The Answers Project, Mhairi and Stephen unpick the messy equation of death vs money, how seatbelts changed the way we value lives and why this question has ugly roots in slavery. Featuring: [05:04] W. Kip Viscusi, Author of ‘Pricing Lives’ [10:59] Anthony G Reddie, Director of the Oxford Centre for Re...

Send us Fan Mail In Northern Ireland, children begin primary school at the age of four - younger than anywhere else in the world. Across the water, in Finland, they start three years later. So who has got it right? Should children be allowed to determine their own futures? In this episode Stephen and Mhairi debate the benefits of homework, learning through play and what happens when you force a child to do maths. Featuring: [04:17] Wendy Ellyatt, Save Childhood Movement [10:03] Petteri Elo, F...

Send a text The wars of tomorrow will be faster, more high-tech and less human than ever before. But will robots ever fully replace soldiers on the battlefield? Stephen and Mhairi kick off the first episode of The Answers Project with ethics, logistics and the future of warfare. Featuring: [05:48] Kelvin Wong, Unmanned Systems Editor, Janes International Defence Review [09:06] Professor Noel Sharkey, Chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control [15:00] Joanna Bourke, Prof...

Send a text One world, one currency; it's a nice idea but how realistic is it in practice? The Euro crisis proved how difficult it was to have a single currency that covers a large area containing different economies. In this episode Mhairi and Stephen discuss cryptocurrency, special drawing rights and whether a single currency could bring world peace. Featuring: [02:16] Michael Roberts, Economist [08:59] Rebecca Christie, Scholar at Bruegel Think Tank [12:35] Lord Jim O’Neill, Ch...