In The Zone

Interesting chats with Mike and Josh

Working in the home

Mike and Josh are joined by Dr Emily Cox-Palmer-White to discuss research around domestic labour and the distribution of work in the household.

What makes a robot ‘female’?

Mike and Josh are joined by Dr Emily Cox-Palmer-White to discuss her research on female androids, also known as ‘gynoids’, and the different ways they are depicted in fiction and wider society.

Animals, language, killing and death

Mike and Josh are joined by Dr Emma Franklin, a linguist whose research explores the language around death, and specifically, the killing of animals.

Academic activism

What role does activism have to play in academia? Mike and Josh discuss all things politics in academia, and ask whether you can ever separate a researcher from the politics they bring to a discussion.

Gender and AI

Why are so many digital voices female? Why do we ‘prefer’ female voices to male? In this episode, Mike and Josh discuss the question of gender and AI, and some of the many factors that have led us to a world dominated by ‘female’ digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Cortana.

Women and terrorism

Mike and Josh are joined by Rosie Mutton to discuss the role of women in terrorist organisations, and the many ‘invisible’ roles they perform that maintain and sustain the continued existence of the group.

Genetics, Gender and Caster Semenya

Mike and Josh explore the curious case of Caster Semenya – a South African athlete whose hyperandrogenism arguably gives her a competitive advantage in the women’s 800m.