Stay ConnectedDiscover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.
A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.
Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.
Copyright: © (C) BBC 2022
It’s not just search engines that are powered by artificial intelligence. From the courts to the jobs market, AI is influencing decisions that have a big impact on people’s lives. But researchers now believe that not all people are treated equally by some algorithms. They’ve found potential bias - influenced by race, class and gender - can have an impact on the decisions that computers make. Some programmers, computer scientists and entrepreneurs hope to fight this bias, using the technology that created it in the first place. Produced and presented by Craig Langran
Image: Getty Images
We hear how AI lifeguards are helping to spot danger on Israel’s beaches, while on Lake Victoria special forecasts for fishermen are saving hundreds of lives. Meanwhile in Bangladesh, community creches and bamboo swimming stages are reducing deaths among children – the group at highest risk of drowning. It’s estimated that 320,000 people around the world die in the water each year.
Produced and presented by Claire Bates
Photo: Getty Images
Old smartphones powered by solar panels are being used to catch illegal loggers in rainforests across the world.
Each year, more than 150 million mobiles are discarded in the US alone - so we’re looking at clever ways to reuse them. But should we really rethink our consumer habits and keep our phones for longer?
Produced and presented by Julie Ball.
Photo: Rainforest Connection
Looking for the happiest places in the world. We follow in the tracks of someone who gave up his job to cycle round the world to investigate happiness. From Costa Rica to Canada to Bhutan - what are the best ways of bringing about a happier planet?
Could your family photos end up being stored on a piece of glass? Might you find yourself saving a file to DNA storage? Or downloading a video from a data centre in space?
Current methods of storing information are susceptible to decay and have limited capacity but novel approaches could provide plentiful storage so that our selfies outlast our species.
Reporter/ Producer William Kremer for the BBC World Service.
Picture credit: Southampton University
Period poverty affects girls and women across the world who can’t afford to buy sanitary pads or tampons each month. So what are the alternatives?
In a refugee camp in Jordan, we follow one woman as she tries to get a sanitary pad micro-factory off the ground. While in Malawi, they’re handing out menstrual cups to teenagers.
This podcast was first published on 7 May 2019
Presenter: Vibeke Venema Producer: Tom Colls
(Photo Caption: A menstrual cup / Photo Credit: Getty Images)
"Get rid of the girl who smells" - this is the reaction thousands of traumatised new mothers face every year because of a condition called fistula.
But in Madagascar some women, who have successfully been treated, become patient ambassadors finding others with the same condition.
They personally accompany them to clinics to get life-changing surgery and support.
This podcast was first published on 2 April 2019.
Reporter/ Producer: Amelia Martyn-Hemphill (Photo: Felicia - a patient ambassador in Madagascar)
Monitoring devices implanted in a person’s chest are helping doctors predict if something is about to go wrong with a patient’s heart. Sometimes they can tell a month in advance. It’s allowing cardiologists to adjust treatment and prevent problems before they occur.
Produced and presented by Nick Holland.
The Prison Voicemail app connects inmates and their families, helping them stay in touch throughout a sentence. We hear a mum and daughter using the messages to rebuild their relationship, and find out how it helps children who are separated from their dad. Producer/ reporter Ruth Evans
Protecting the rainforest could make people millions of dollars under a pioneering new scheme.
Bankers and conservationists have teamed up to regrow a large area of Indonesia’s jungle where endangered orangutans and tigers live.
Reporter: Jo Mathys
Image: An orangutan (Getty Images)
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
