Podcasts by People Fixing the World

The country tackling loneliness from 2023-12-12T04:00

Loneliness affects millions of people around the world and can have a significant impact on our mental and physical health.

In the Netherlands, they are taking the problem seriously, with ...

Building a clinic to save a forest from 2023-12-05T04:00

How do you stop people chopping down precious rainforest? In the Indonesian part of Borneo, researchers for a conservation charity discovered that local people were chopping down the rainforest ...

The plastic eaters from 2023-11-28T00:01

Every year the world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic – the same weight as all the humans on earth.

Only a small proportion of this is recycled, and this isn’t proper recycling but “...

Fighting period poverty from 2023-11-21T03:06

Millions of women around the world lack access to safe and hygienic menstrual products. But there are people trying to change that.

We meet the British student who learned to sew in lockdo...

Sharing the river from 2023-11-14T03:06

In the farming community of Los Negros in rural Bolivia, the river is their life and livelihood. So when that river started to dry up, it made life very hard. They blamed the villages upstream f...

Training heroin users to save their friends from 2023-11-07T03:06

Heroin users in Scotland are being trained to spot when someone is about to overdose and to step in and help.

The training – which includes lessons on how to use the antidote naloxone - is...

Disaster zone innovators from 2023-10-31T03:06

In the midst of a crisis, sometimes the solution you need isn’t obvious. Today we meet the inventors who found fascinating fixes amid the chaos and destruction of disasters.

We visit the ...

Sea cucumbers fixing the world from 2023-10-24T02:06

Meet the oceans’ unsung hero - the humble sea cucumber. An animal in the same family as starfish that looks like a lumpy sausage and lives on the ocean floor could help with some of the impact o...

Stopping suicide from 2023-10-17T02:06

More than 400 people in Ireland took their own lives in 2022. In Limerick, helicopters are often heard flying above the city in search of missing people in the River Shannon.

But in respon...

AI for good from 2023-10-10T02:06

Artificial intelligence can sometimes provoke fear and anxiety. Will it take away our jobs? Will it take over the world? So it’s important to recognise some of the good things AI is being used f...

Coconuts fixing the world from 2023-10-03T02:06

We eat millions of tonnes of coconuts every year - with the dense white flesh of the fruit making a tasty snack and the juice a refreshing drink.

But the inedible husk and shell go to wast...

Surviving earthquakes from 2023-09-26T02:06

Earthquakes strike suddenly, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But around the world, people are trying to do what they can to make them less deadly.

We hear from Haiti, where a ...

Shockwaves for the heart from 2023-09-19T02:06

Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killer in the world, causing 18 million deaths globally every year.

Cardiologists and heart surgeons try to manage heart dis...

Genetic problem-solving from 2023-09-12T02:06

From crops that grow faster to rice that could stop children going blind - the world is full of genetically modified products waiting to come onto the market.

Genetic modification techniqu...

Female farmers fighting sexism from 2023-09-05T02:06

In Bangladesh, there’s an app helping female farmers to get a fairer price for their crop.

At the market, women farmers often face sexism, and struggle to sell their produce for what it’s ...

Surprising solar from 2023-08-01T02:06

The fast growth of solar power is a success story in the fight against climate change. However, in some countries progress is being stymied by opposition to large solar farms in the countryside....

The bubble barrier cleaning up rivers from 2023-07-25T02:06

How can we stop plastic flowing into our oceans? Dutch inventors have one solution, pulling plastic from the water using a ‘net’ made from bubbles.

Also on the programme - how sound coul...

Eating invasive species from 2023-07-18T02:06

All across the world, invasive species are on the march. These are plants and animals that take over new areas, throwing nature out of balance. If left unchecked, they can destroy local ecosyste...

The game that fixes cities from 2023-07-11T02:06

In cities across Japan and the Philippines, an app called Tekkon is making data collection cool.

It's a Pokemon GO-style game which pays people with cryptocurrency if they track down broke...

The power of a backstory from 2023-07-04T02:06

How do you care for someone properly in a hospital or care home if you don’t know who they are?

With US hospitals and care homes seeing fast turnovers of staff, many clinicians don’t get t...

Fighting the heat from 2023-06-27T02:06

As climate change leads to global temperature rises, cities around the world are being faced with extreme levels of heat. This can bring whole cities to a halt, disrupt key infrastructure, and f...

Turning mud into ‘clean’ concrete from 2023-06-20T02:06

A young scientist has developed a white powder which gives waste soil concrete-like properties.

Gnanli Landrou grew up in Togo, helping his neighbours dry out soil to make bricks, and his ...

Palm oil that’s better for wildlife from 2023-06-13T02:06

Is it possible for palm oil plantations, wildlife and the rainforest to happily coexist?

Products containing palm oil, including soaps and cosmetics, are used by billions of people worldwi...

Catching the ‘bike bus’ from 2023-06-06T02:06

How can you get kids to school safely in a way that’s good for the environment and gives them some exercise too? We find out how kids from Spain to Scotland are joining together in long convo...

What to do with an empty mall? from 2023-05-30T02:06

US shopping malls, once a mainstay of American life, are in decline. Forty malls have closed since 2020, while more than 230 department stores have closed in the same time period, according to G...

Helping elephants and humans get along from 2023-05-23T02:06

As humanity expands further and further into the wild areas of the world, they are increasingly coming into conflict with the creatures that live there. One of those animals is the elephant. Whe...

Dementia friendly neighbourhoods from 2023-05-16T02:06

How do you help older people, and particularly those with dementia, to remain independent for longer?

In Singapore, where dementia affects roughly 1 in 10 people over 60, the government a...

Making peace with nature from 2023-05-09T02:06

Many of the world’s most violent conflicts happen in the midst of some of its most valuable natural wildernesses. But protecting these areas’ biodiversity cannot happen until the fighting stops....

Menopause mentors from 2023-05-02T02:06

The menopause is something half the world’s population goes through. But despite this, it’s still not much talked about - and in some places, remains taboo.

Which means many women hit this...

Fighting corruption in schools from 2023-04-25T02:06

Paraguay, like much of the world, has a problem with corruption. But a project in the country is trying to change that, by starting with the next generation.

Founded by David Riveros - who...

The hidden powers of bacteria from 2023-04-18T02:06

Many people associate bacteria with dirt and disease. But a lot of bacteria are good for us. And scientists around the world are using them to help us do all sorts of useful things like recycle...

Using lotteries to make us better people from 2022-05-03T02:06

Lotteries aren’t just about winning money. They’re also being used to nudge people to change their behaviour. In the UK we try out a mobile app that enters users in to a £25,000 lottery every time...

Work: Access for all from 2022-04-26T02:06

La Casa de Carlota isn’t like most workplaces. The design studio, based in Barcelona, Spain, employs creatives who have intellectual disabilities, autism and schizophrenia.Working together with non...

Sponge cities that fight flooding from 2022-04-19T02:06

Sponge cities use natural features to slow down, soak up and reuse flood water. Yu Kongjian nearly drowned as a boy when his village flooded, but it inspired him to come up with the sponge city con...

Turning tyres into cheap fuel&football pitches from 2022-04-12T02:06

Meet the entrepreneurs using scrap rubber to fuel cars and make new tyres. Each year, over a billion car tyres reach the end of their life.They’re notoriously hard to recycle and present an enviro...

Saving California’s butterflies from 2022-04-05T02:06

In California, butterflies such as the monarch are critically endangered as a result of habitat erosion, pesticides, and climate change. But many people are trying to save these beautiful insects. ...

How to make fishing nets less destructive from 2022-03-29T02:06

Fish have favourite colours and dolphins hate high pitched noises.In an effort to save rapidly dwindling global fish stocks, scientists are trying to figure out how to attract the right fish into n...

Making hospitals less stressful from 2022-03-22T03:06

Hospitals can make you sicker. It's a strange thought for places that also can make you healthier. But think about the constant noise, the distinctive hospital smell, the bright lights. There's lo...

Using haircuts to fight oil spills from 2022-03-15T03:06

When you get your hair cut, you probably don't think much about what happens to the bits that get chopped off. But it turns out that rather than being dumped in the rubbish, hair can be put to all...

Insects fixing the world from 2022-03-08T03:06

From an industrial-scale fly factory in London to farming bugs in the Madagascan rainforest, insects are being put to work all around the world.These biological wonders are turning stuff we don’t w...

Violent partners: The ‘window’ strategy from 2022-02-22T03:06

Police in Iceland treat domestic violence differently. Leaving an abusive relationship is hard, and many victims stay with physically or mentally hurtful partners, even after police get involved.I...

The house that fights malaria from 2022-02-08T03:06

Malaria kills more than half a million people per year. We meet the innovators who are using buildings, lights, genes and vaccines to fight the mosquito-borne disease.In Ghana, a young woman has tu...

Using VR to change lives from 2022-02-01T03:06

Virtual Reality is being used by researchers around the world to change people’s lives – helping them confront their own fears and change how they treat other people. In the UK, a company is using...

How to fight fake health news from 2022-01-25T03:06

Could a video game where you pretend to spread Covid misinformation actually make you less susceptible to real-life fake news?Fake news, conspiracy theories and misinformation about health can stop...

Making clean water with rubbish from 2022-01-18T03:06

A Ugandan chemist has found a way to use old cattle bones and food waste to make clean water. Timothy Kayondo turns the rubbish into activated carbon, which he uses to produce water purifiers. The...

Catching up with our solution seekers from 2022-01-11T03:06

How are Covid sniffer dogs, a sturdy bicycle scheme and balloons beaming down the internet getting on? We catch up with a few of the projects featured on our programme to see if they are making pro...

The moo loo and other stories from 2021-12-28T03:06

Training cows to use the toilet and a bouncy castle that fights climate change are some of the surprising solutions today.Humans have been training animals like dogs and horses for centuries. But h...

Creating an alternative gig economy from 2021-12-21T03:06

Meet the innovators who want to change gig work for the better. When we order a pizza on a Friday night or use a ride-sharing app to get home, it’s likely that the person providing the service is ...

How to make electricity for your neighbours from 2021-12-14T03:06

Hundreds of millions of people don’t have access to electricity. But all over the world, people are joining forces to provide a home-grown solution — by setting up their own “microgrids” using rene...

Food waste: The solar dryer solution from 2021-12-07T03:06

A simple system for saving food and empowering women on the show today. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of food go to waste every year, much of it before it is even sold. This waste is bad for the p...

Ways to save the planet: Using the sun from 2021-11-30T03:06

Floating solar panels and a see-through pyramid are the solutions this week.The sun is the ultimate source of energy for life on earth. Harnessing that energy in new ways is a key part of the fight...

The tiny satellites changing how we see Earth from 2021-11-23T03:06

CubeSats are small but mighty. They started as an educational toy in 1999, but now help people tackle issues from deforestation in Brazil to modern slavery in Greece. Cheap to make and launch, the...

The 15-minute city from 2021-11-16T03:06

Everything you need on your doorstep: a radical plan to improve our cities.Imagine if everything you needed - your work, leisure and essential services - was just a 15-minute walk or cycle from whe...

COP26: The tech helping you to help the planet from 2021-11-09T03:06

Climate change is set to alter our planet and human beings need to change the way we live and work. But how do we know exactly what changes to make?New technology could help us make informed choice...

Ways to save the planet: Ancient solutions from 2021-11-02T03:06

Sixteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved by using biochar, a simple fertilising technique adopted by tribes in the Amazon thousands of years ago. If produced on an industrial scal...

How to spot fake drugs with a mobile phone from 2021-10-26T02:06

Fake medicines are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. But inventors around the world are coming up with ways to spot the fakes.In Nigeria, pharmacists are using a ...

Talking signs, amazing peas and planes mapping fires from 2021-10-19T02:06

Signs that connect to a mobile phone app, which then reads the information out loud, are appearing in some cities. The technology is designed to help blind and visually impaired people find their w...

Can computer games improve mental health? from 2021-10-12T02:06

Apart of Me is a computer game that has been designed to help young people process grief.It’s part of a movement that’s bringing together psychology and gaming.Whilst many parents worry about the d...

Robots on the beat from 2021-10-05T02:06

Police forces in the US are turning to futuristic technology to tackle a rise in violent crime and murder across the country.In one area of California, they are even using robots to patrol the stre...

The hotel for homeless people from 2021-09-14T02:06

What would happen if the government of a country decided to try to find everyone who was homeless and living on the streets and offer them a place to live?That is exactly what happened in England a...

The library where the books are people from 2021-09-07T02:06

At the human library you borrow a person you wouldn’t usually meet for a half-hour frank conversation. The volunteers have various book titles from polyamorous to former prisoner. The aim of these ...

Ways to save the planet: Fridge detectives from 2021-08-31T02:06

Two sources of greenhouse gas could be lurking in your kitchen: rice and fridges. We meet a biologist breeding climate-friendly rice, and a team of detectives whose job is to stop fearsomely potent...

Ways to save the planet: Swap concrete for wood from 2021-08-24T02:06

Wood is strong enough to build skyscrapers, and bamboo - the fastest growing plant in the world - can also be used for building. Both suck up large amounts of greenhouse gas. We find out what would...

The seaweed farmers adapting to warming seas from 2021-08-17T07:30

Seaweed - we have been using it for centuries in food and toiletries. It can help to keep toothpaste and ice cream soft, as well as being a tasty snack. It is a billion-dollar industry. But in some...

Locust hunters from 2021-08-10T02:06

People in Kenya have been paid to catch swarms of locusts eating farmers’ crops. The insects are full of protein and the captured ones are ground up and put into animal feed. The BBC’s Nick Holland...

Turning preachers into LGBT allies from 2021-08-03T02:06

The LGBT community in Mombasa, Kenya has suffered from violent mob attacks in recent years - often fuelled by influential preachers spreading messages of hate. But one group decided to tackle this...

The ATMs that dispense clean fuel from 2021-07-27T02:06

Sleek blue machines have been popping up in convenience stores across Nairobi over the past two years. These “Koko points” look like cash machines but instead of giving out money they dispense bioe...

Introducing: Season 2 of 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter from 2021-07-22T17:15

How animals make us smarter – we thought you might like to hear our brand new episode. It’s about a robotic arm inspired by an elephant’s trunk. For more, search for 30 Animals That Made Us Smarte...

Unsung victories in the fight against disease from 2021-07-20T02:06

Recent years have seen remarkable successes against some of the most unpleasant illnesses on the planet.While much of the world’s focus has been on the fight against Covid-19, the battle against ot...

How five friends can change a refugee’s life from 2021-07-13T02:06

Dutch friends Evelien and Roel are part of a group sharing their social networks and local knowledge with Laila, a Syrian refugee, and her family. They’re taking part in a pilot project in the Neth...

The career where it helps to have a criminal past from 2021-06-29T02:06

Former criminals are being employed to run part of the probation system in one of America’s deeply troubled, gang-ridden communities. It’s a bold new approach to crime prevention, and it seems to b...

Test-tube rhinos from 2021-06-22T02:06

Scientists have hatched an incredible plan to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The team is using IVF techniques to produce a calf because the only two females left alive are infertile...

Smashing the glass ceiling for young Africans from 2021-06-15T02:06

A young Zimbabwean, Farai Munjoma, has set up a network of mentors to help Africa’s youth achieve their dreams.The idea is to link young people up with someone who can inspire and guide them as the...

The helpline for jealous and violent men from 2021-06-08T02:06

This week we hear from Colombia, where a helpline with a difference recently opened. Its aim is to stop domestic violence, but instead of targeting victims, it targets the perpetrators.The idea is ...

Turning the desert green from 2021-06-01T02:06

The Sinai desert in Egypt is a dry, barren place where not much grows. But Ties van der Hoeven has come up with a scheme to turn it into a green and fertile land. It’s a plan on a huge scale which...

Catching up with the problem solvers from 2021-05-25T02:06

Are stickers still saving lives? Was a coral reef repaired? Did the volcano erupt?In this episode we check back in with three projects that have featured on our programme over the past four years a...

Turning oil platforms into reefs from 2021-05-11T02:06

There are thousands of oil and gas platforms in the world’s oceans and in the coming decades many will become obsolete. Some people think that instead of treating them as industrial waste, we shoul...

The forest sound detectives from 2021-05-04T02:06

Scientists are checking up on the health of forests by analysing the sounds in them. They test their vital signs by measuring the croaks, tweets and hums of resident creatures. If they can hear a ...

The detection dogs tracking poachers and Covid-19 from 2021-04-27T02:06

Marlo the labrador is learning how to sniff out Covid-19 in the UK. In Tanzania, Polish hound Thor is on the track of wildlife poachers. We explore how their extraordinary noses are tackling these ...

Pedal power: How bicycles can change lives from 2021-04-20T02:06

This is the story of how one man is trying to transform lives through the power of the humble bicycle.Many rural communities in rural Africa don’t have access to cars or good roads, which can make ...

Shred it yourself: The DIY plastic recyclers from 2021-04-13T02:06

Machines to shred, melt and mould waste plastic are popping up in workshops around the world - from the UK to Malaysia, Kenya to Mexico.The project is being led by an organisation called Precious P...

Helping animals cross the road and other obstacles from 2021-04-06T02:06

Irrigation pipes have been designed to double as mid-air walkways to help slow lorises cross open farmland in Indonesia; and a footbridge has been built for a rare breed of monkey in Brazil - the g...

Watching out for Gran with help from her toaster from 2021-03-30T02:06

As many countries contemplate the best way to care for an ageing population, a common question is how to support the elderly to continue living in their own homes for as long as possible. One idea ...

How to reuse a demolished building from 2021-03-23T03:06

Is it possible to construct a new building, just by reusing materials from homes and offices that have been knocked down?That’s the dream of a pioneering Swiss architect Barbara Buser, who trains ...

Using satellite photos to help distribute cash from 2021-03-16T03:06

Togo has found a high-tech way to identify people who need financial help in the pandemic and send them emergency cash, using satellite photos and mobile phones. Computers search for clues in imag...

The magic greenhouse from 2021-03-09T03:06

A greenhouse cooled and humidified by seawater and the wind is transforming arid land. In Somaliland, vegetables have been grown in a spot previously thought too hot and dry for farming.It works by...

The secret to making your stuff last longer from 2021-03-02T03:06

The world generates more than two billion tonnes of rubbish every year. So we’re visiting companies in Sweden that want to make it easier to mend things when they break instead of replacing them – ...

Tackling sport’s concussion problem from 2021-02-23T02:06

Head injuries in sport can have a devastating effect on the brain, which is often only noticed later in life. So lots of people are investigating ways of making it safer to play sports such as Amer...

Beating superbugs from 2021-02-16T03:06

A small team of Indian scientists think they’ve found a new way to kill superbugs. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are killing hundreds of thousands of people every year, and that number is going up ...

How to store power in soil and salt from 2021-02-09T03:06

Giant towers of building blocks rising into the sky and huge vats packed with volcanic rock or molten salt are being used as massive batteries.They are the latest ideas for storing energy generated...

The spacesuits saving mothers’ lives from 2021-01-26T03:06

A suit originally designed for astronauts has been adapted to save the lives of mothers who experience bleeding after giving birth. It stems the bleeding, buying time until people in remote areas c...

A forest down your street from 2021-01-19T03:06

Forests the size of tennis courts are being planted in towns and cities around the world. They use a special method from Japan which can grow a dense forest in just a few years. At that size they w...

The solutions whisperer from 2021-01-12T03:06

Dhruv Boruah’s mission is to inspire other people to solve problems facing the planet. What’s more, he gets them to come up with their ideas in just one day. But are their solutions any good and ca...

Can doughnuts save the planet? from 2021-01-05T08:06

Imagine a ring doughnut. This is the basis of an idea about how we could run the world in a way that gives everyone what they need - food, homes, healthcare and more - and save the planet at the sa...

What happened next to our problem solvers from 2020-12-29T08:06

We revisit Lewis to find out how the hydrating sweets he designed for people with dementia have gone into production. We find out how a housing project where residents have to promise to socialise ...

Saving mums and their unborn babies from 2020-12-22T03:06

Women in a village in Northern Nigeria have come up with an emergency transport scheme that is saving lives.They decided to act when they saw mums-to-be and their unborn babies dying in childbirth ...

Making meat in a lab from 2020-12-15T03:06

Imagine if the meat we ate was all grown in shiny silver vats, with no animals harmed in the process.That’s the vision of start-ups around the world, each trying to perfect lab-grown or cultured me...

Building with fungi from 2020-12-08T03:06

Companies are growing light and durable packaging from mycelium that is easy to compost. Another team in Europe is creating a fungal home, which will sense when it’s dark and switch the lights on. ...

Perovskites: The future of solar? from 2020-12-01T03:06

A new kind of solar cell - made by drying a special liquid on a surface - is being heralded as a revolution in solar power. The minerals known as perovskites were discovered more than 150 years a...

Riding the solar railway from 2020-11-24T03:06

Can you make the railways greener by powering trains with energy from the sun? We hear about the pioneering train in Australia that’s run entirely on solar power. Plus we visit the solar farm that...

From prison to star employee from 2020-11-17T03:06

Why former criminals are being chosen for jobs at hundreds of companies in a small US city. One boss even tells us that some violent and sex offenders have become her best employees.Produced and p...

Audience takeover: Your questions answered from 2020-11-10T03:06

Audience members praise and pick holes in solutions we’ve covered. Nick Holland and Kat Hawkins hear the best comments and questions and try to get answers. Among the solutions under review is a ...

Teenage inventor special from 2020-11-03T03:06

In this inspiring episode, we hear ideas from high school students in Asia, Africa, Europe and America. They’ve created a new form of sound insulation, refined a forensic process to use at crime sc...

Saving Cape Cod’s dolphins from 2020-10-27T03:06

The mass stranding of dolphins, orcas and whales is depressingly common. We join a team on the East Coast of the United States who have dramatically improved the survival rates of beached dolphins ...

How to put the internet in a box from 2020-10-20T02:06

What happens when you take a little box containing some of the vast knowledge amassed on the internet, to communities that live offline?From a peaceful valley in the remote Himalayas to a bustling ...

How jellyfish can help us from 2020-10-13T02:06

Jellyfish blooms can cause havoc, scaring away tourists, clogging up fishing nets, and even getting stuck in power station cooling pipes.But scientists are finding ways to use the creatures to help...

Training police to patrol each other from 2020-10-06T02:06

A growing number of police departments in the US are introducing a new concept in their training - teaching officers on the beat how to step in when they see a colleague doing something they don't ...

Getting rid of AI bias from 2020-09-29T02:06

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 no...

How to prevent drowning from 2020-09-22T02:06

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 cre...

Smartphones saving the rainforest from 2020-09-15T02:06

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...

A happier planet from 2020-09-08T02:06

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 ar...

Keeping data forever from 2020-09-01T02:06

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 stori...

The tech doctors forecasting heart failure from 2020-08-11T02:06

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 card...

Prison Voicemail: Messages from behind bars from 2020-08-04T02:06

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 ...

Financing the forests from 2020-07-28T02:06

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 endang...

New uses for old solutions from 2020-07-14T02:06

Two life-saving apps have been adapted to fix problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic - hear how ideas we’ve visited before have developed and grown. One of them has been helping ambulance driver...

How to get everyone online from 2020-07-07T02:06

From balloons in the stratosphere to swarms of satellites in space, the race to get everyone online is heating up. The internet may never be more useful than during the coronavirus outbreak. It p...

A future without bees from 2020-06-30T02:06

Tech companies have developed drones to drop pollen on orchards or shoot it at crops through pipes from tractors. They’re responding to a crisis in insect pollination as studies suggest numbers o...

How tech is tackling wildlife trafficking from 2020-06-23T02:06

New technology is helping in the fight against wildlife poaching. Computer scientists have created a programme that uses artificial intelligence to predict where poachers are going to strike; a new...

Personality tests for loans from 2020-06-16T02:06

A short online test that reveals attitudes, opinions and thought processes is being used to help decide whether to give people loans.The idea is to use psychometric tests to give people with little...

Kids fixing the world from 2020-06-09T02:06

This week we look at four brilliant inventions by children: a phone app to stop drivers missing road signs; a robot that is activated when a vulnerable person falls over; a tool to help fire depart...

No more bosses from 2020-06-02T02:06

Can companies operate better without managers? We hear from people who’ve got rid of managers and say it has helped them do a better job, made them happier and saved money. But there are pitfall...

The ancient technology getting a second wind from 2020-05-26T02:06

Old ships, powered by the wind, are sailing small amounts of cargo around the world again to help cut pollution. Some of them were built more than 100 years ago. The shipping industry moves 80% of...

Electricity that grows on trees from 2020-05-19T02:06

Scientists in Italy have discovered that trees generate an electrical charge every time the wind blows strongly enough to make their leaves touch one another. The researchers, from the Italian Ins...

The breath of life from 2020-05-12T02:06

A clever invention is saving the lives of hundreds of children.Pneumonia kills about 1.4 million children under five every year. Treatment with concentrated oxygen could save many of them, but the ...

A Sporting Chance from 2020-05-05T02:06

We all know that sport is great for our health - and if you’re talented it can bring you great riches. But this week we look at how sport is changing lives and giving hope to young people leading t...

The great spreadsheet in the sky from 2020-04-28T02:06

There’s a technology on the block which has the power to change all kinds of things for the better. If that power is harnessed, it has the potential to end corruption, protect your online identity ...

The farmers moving their fields indoors from 2020-04-21T02:06

We visit farmers growing lettuce, herbs and strawberries indoors in the middle of cities. The plants are stacked up on shelves in vertical farms that use hydroponics and aeroponics to cultivate the...

Making the world a quieter place from 2020-04-14T02:06

People around the world are coming up with ways to make the world a quieter place, from portable sound barriers to schemes to stop people honking their car horns. The trouble is that noise from tr...

The big transport swap from 2020-04-07T02:06

Robot shuttles and buses on demand are being tested to persuade more people to use public transport. Tallinn in Estonia and Luxembourg have even made travel free. The aim is to tackle the impact ...

Regrowing the rainforest from 2020-03-31T02:06

It has taken him 40 years, but Omar Tello has turned a patch of exhausted farmland in Ecuador back into rainforest. One of his biggest challenges was repairing the soil. His land was so degraded he...

The treasure in our toilets from 2020-03-24T03:06

Human sewage contains lots of valuable nutrients, so should we be recycling it?One of these nutrients is phosphorus, a key ingredient in fertiliser. We need fertilisers to meet the demands of the p...

How to be a better dad from 2020-03-17T03:06

This week we’re in Rwanda, where some men are getting lessons teaching them how to look after their babies. As well as promoting gender equality it's helping to reduce the high levels of violence w...

How they’re saving the kakapo from 2020-03-10T03:06

It’s a flightless bird on the edge of extinction, but a team in New Zealand is trying to stop it from going the way of the dodo. The kakapo is a large parrot that was once common in New Zealand. ...

Audience takeover: Your feedback from 2020-03-03T03:06

“Fabulous idea” or “waste of money”? Clever observations from our audience about solutions we’ve covered on People Fixing the World. Many are funny and offer fresh perspectives. Regular listene...

A safe place to be gay from 2020-02-25T03:06

An idea used in video games is helping LGBTQ people in the Middle East talk safely online. Coming out can be particularly hard, especially if there are no support groups to go to. As a result, the ...

Meet the neighbours from 2020-02-18T03:06

People living in this block of flats sign a contract to socialise together for at least two hours a week.The new housing experiment in Sweden is aimed at the two age groups most likely to feel lone...

The good lads from 2020-02-11T03:06

Men and boys are being taught how to tackle some of the uncomfortable truths about everyday sexism. Many don’t realise the extent of the problem - cat-calling, unwelcome comments and dominating b...

The miracle cure: Exercise from 2020-02-04T03:06

If exercise were a drug, almost every single person on Earth would be prescribed it in the later years of their lives. The health benefits for older people are massive – it can help reduce the risk...

Fighting depression together from 2020-01-28T03:06

Women in Uganda are learning how to treat their neighbours for depression. That’s because there aren’t enough resources for professional care, especially for people from poor backgrounds. An orga...

Running to do good from 2020-01-21T03:06

What if all the energy used at the gym was directed towards helping others, rather than lifting useless weights and running nowhere on a treadmill? That thought struck Ivo Gormley 10 years ago. So ...

Forecasting volcanoes from 2020-01-14T03:06

As thousands of people are moved in the evacuation of the area around the Taal volcano in the Philippines, Ecuador - which has more than 20 active volcanoes - is looking at how to protect people th...

The pharmacists fighting high drug prices from 2020-01-07T03:06

If you had a rare disease and the only drug that could help you suddenly shot up in price how would you feel? What if your health service or insurer decided it was too expensive and they wouldn’t f...

How to move the Earth from 2019-12-31T03:06

Using lasers or asteroids to move our planet away from the sun may sound extreme, but a few scientists have come up with plans to do just that. The sun’s power is slowly increasing. Over the next...

Checking in with the problem solvers from 2019-12-24T03:06

Catch up with the goats fighting forest fires in Spain and discover where else in the world they’re being used. This programme looks at what happened next to some of the people and projects we have...

Making your deliveries greener from 2019-12-17T03:06

We look at four clever ways to reduce carbon emissions from deliveries. Shops, offices, restaurants and homes all get lots of them every day, and this so-called “last mile” in the logistics chain c...

Convicting more rapists from 2019-12-10T03:06

Rapists often avoid conviction and people they’ve attacked can face a traumatic journey through the legal system. But special reporting centres and courts in South Africa are improving things. The...

Turning kids into entrepreneurs from 2019-12-03T03:06

Uganda has a very young population – the median age is 16 and young people find it hard to get a job. So now children are being taught how to run their own businesses before they leave school. They...

Saving the World’s Ice from 2019-11-26T03:06

Global warming is melting the world's glaciers and sea ice. In Iceland the effects can already be seen - people there recently held a funeral to mark the death of the Okjokull glacier. So scientist...

Stopping abuse with protection dogs from 2019-11-19T03:06

Almost 30% of women experience violence from a partner at some point in their lives. If they manage to escape the immediate crisis, it can be hard to get long term support to rebuild their lives, a...

How to stop fires destroying whole neighbourhoods from 2019-11-12T03:06

Fires are common in South Africa’s informal settlements - it’s estimated that there are about 5,000 every year. They’re often caused by faulty wiring or open flames used for cooking or heating. Bec...

How to save the banana from 2019-11-05T03:06

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits on the planet - more than 100 million tonnes of them are eaten every year. But on banana plantations on four continents, a deadly fungus is creeping throu...

The future of freight from 2019-10-29T03:06

Billions of tonnes of goods are moved by lorry every year – everything from food and clothes to building materials, electronic gadgets and toys.Most heavy-duty vehicles run on diesel and they accou...

Gaming for good from 2019-10-22T02:06

Video games are often blamed for time-wasting and violence, but there’s a group of people proving this stereotype wrong. We meet the scientists behind a game designed to speed up finding a treatme...

The town rethinking the future of energy from 2019-10-15T02:06

The city of Vaasa in western Finland has built a reputation as a centre of innovation, where energy companies are working together to try to find solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. ...

Shopping for a better life from 2019-10-08T02:06

Imagine a grocery shop selling all your basic goods at a discounted price… and if you buy enough you also get free health insurance. It might seem too good to be true, but stores like this have bee...

Turning waste into energy from 2019-10-01T02:06

Where there are humans, there’s waste. About two billion tonnes of garbage was produced in 2016, and the amount we generate is increasing. A lot of it ends up in unmanaged dumps or landfill sites. ...

Spotting the sound of a cardiac arrest from 2019-09-24T02:06

If you have a cardiac arrest you need help immediately to have any chance of surviving.That’s why emergency call operators ask questions specifically designed to identify the condition, ideally wit...

The snakebite squad from 2019-09-17T02:06

It's estimated that a person dies from a snakebite every five minutes. Many more people face life-changing injuries, losing limbs and consequently their livelihoods.Antivenoms are expensive to make...

Meeting Colombia’s ‘Violentologist’ from 2019-09-10T02:06

For the past 20 years, police chiefs and policy makers around the world have been fascinated by an idea: that violence spreads through cities like a disease, with patterns of clustering and transmi...

A new way to detect an invisible poison in water from 2019-09-03T02:06

In the 1970s hundreds of thousands of wells were dug across Bangladesh to give people access to cholera-free water. But this led to what the World Health Organization has called the largest mass po...

Oysters to the rescue from 2019-08-27T09:37

Pollution, overfishing and oxygen depletion are damaging coastal waters across the world. Often fish and other marine life are the victims, but scientists are using one surprising creature to help ...

The concrete cleaners from 2019-08-20T02:06

Concrete is the most used man-made product in the world but it comes with a heavy environmental price. Between 5% and 7% of the world's annual carbon emissions come from producing the cement that ...

Bangladesh’s biker girls from 2019-08-13T02:06

For the growing number of working women in Dhaka, commuting to work can be a challenge.The traffic is terrible and cars and taxis are expensive. Public transport is not only inconvenient, it is som...

Putting a price on carbon from 2019-08-06T02:06

For most of human history, pumping carbon dioxide into the air has come free of charge. Burning fossil fuels powered the industrial revolution and powers most industries to this day. But all tha...

A simple way to help a relative if they’re arrested from 2019-07-30T02:06

In the US most people who are charged with a crime can’t afford expensive lawyers and investigators to prepare their case. The public defenders who represent them usually have heavy workloads and l...

Stopping child marriage with solar lanterns from 2019-07-23T02:06

It’s estimated that more than 100 million girls under the age of 18 will be married in the next decade.One country that’s trying to end the practice of child marriage is Ethiopia. There, the Berhan...

Trieste’s mental health ‘revolution’ from 2019-07-16T02:06

Each year, mental health practitioners from around the world visit Trieste in Italy to see what they can learn from the city’s approach to mental illness. In 1978, Trieste led a ‘revolution’ in It...

The school that puts wellbeing first from 2019-07-09T02:06

On average, one in eight children in the UK has a mental health disorder – that’s about three children in every classroom. Yet there are just 4.5 psychiatrists for every 100,000 young people - that...

Residents turn detective to fight crime from 2019-07-02T02:06

Neighbours in the US are using cameras that read car number plates to record vehicles driving down their streets. When there’s a crime they check through the footage and pass any leads on to the p...

Life-saving surgery, but not by a doctor from 2019-06-25T02:06

More than five billion people around the world don’t have access to safe, affordable surgical care. It has been a big problem in Ethiopia where most specialist doctors are concentrated in the citie...

Portugal, drugs and decriminalisation from 2019-06-18T02:06

In the 1990s Portugal had a major heroin problem, and when it came to people injecting drugs it had one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the EU. It took a radical approach and decriminalise...

Can capturing carbon buy us time to tackle climate change? from 2019-06-11T02:06

To prevent the worst effects of climate change, we need to massively cut how much carbon we pump into the atmosphere. But those carbon cuts might not happen in time, so another approach may be need...

Can sleep deprivation help treat bipolar disorder? from 2019-06-04T02:06

People diagnosed with bipolar disorder are commonly treated with a variety of drugs. They aren’t always effective and can come with a range of side effects. For several decades, an Italian psychia...

Audience takeover: Your plastic solutions from 2019-05-28T02:06

We hear what you, our listeners, are doing to tackle the problem of plastic waste. The idea came about when you started getting in touch after a previous episode asking why we don’t reuse and refil...

Reinventing the ranch from 2019-05-21T02:06

It’s not a good time to be a meat eater. Pressure is growing to tackle climate change – and the livestock sector produces 15% of global greenhouse emissions, with cattle farming accounting for two...

Working Less For The Same Pay from 2019-05-14T02:06

Matsuri Takahashi was 24 when she died. She took her own life after doing more than 100 hours overtime a month at a large advertising company in Japan. She was a victim of karoshi - dying as a re...

Could a device invented in the 1930s help end period poverty? from 2019-05-07T02:06

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? We look at two very different solutions. In a re...

The tree detectives tackling illegal logging from 2019-04-30T02:06

If you examine the atoms in a piece of wood, you can tell to the nearest 10km where it has come from. Environmental factors, such as the climate, affect trees as they grow and that signature remain...

The reuse and refill revolution from 2019-04-23T02:06

Should we reuse and refill plastic packaging to limit the amount being thrown away? Nick Holland looks at different ways people are trying to make this happen. One idea is to take used containers...

DNA tests for dogs to tackle problem poo from 2019-04-16T02:06

The average dog produces about 124kg of poo every year, but not all of that gets picked up and disposed of properly. So people living in many residential blocks in the US have had their dogs’ DNA...

The great mosquito swap from 2019-04-09T02:06

Every year, it’s estimated that nearly 400 million people around the world are infected with dengue fever, a potentially fatal illness that’s passed on by mosquitoes. No vaccine is effective at p...

The mums saving each other from a taboo condition from 2019-04-02T02:06

"Get rid of the girl who smells" - this is the reaction thousands of traumatised new mothers face every year. A prolonged or obstructed childbirth can lead to a condition called obstetric fistula, ...

Can phages save us as antibiotics stop working? from 2019-03-26T03:06

Tens of thousands of people die every year because bacterial infections are becoming resistant to antibiotics. That number is expected to explode, as more antibiotics stop working, making antimicro...

The digital detectives tackling child sexual abuse from 2019-03-19T03:06

Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, is taking an innovative approach to solving disturbing crimes. It holds more than 40 million images of child sexual abuse. In many cases the perpetrators ...

Crossing divides in Cyprus from 2019-03-12T03:06

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, but a community centre is bringing Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots together in the buffer zone between the two sides. Cyprus has been a divided island since...

Last video messages to help children grieve from 2019-03-05T03:06

Children who lose a parent may struggle to come to terms with this for the rest of their lives. In the UK about one in 20 children will lose a parent before the age of 16. In other countries, the f...

Turning old clothes into new ones from 2019-02-26T03:06

It’s estimated that 400 billion square metres of fabric are made every year – enough to cover Germany – for the fashion industry. The sector produces a similar amount of greenhouse gases to the int...

Predicting suicide from 2019-02-19T03:06

About 800,000 people take their own lives every year, that’s one person every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization. For decades, doctors and researchers have tried to establish t...

‘No Men Allowed’ – The Gym Getting Women Fit and into Work from 2019-02-12T03:06

In 2006, Turkish entrepreneur Bedriye Hülya set up her first women-only gym, b-fit. It’s cheap to join and is now a successful chain. Many women in Turkey don’t feel comfortable exercising alongs...

How Nepal Doubled its Tiger Population from 2019-02-05T03:06

Over the past 10 years, Nepal has almost doubled its population of Bengal tigers – it’s estimated the country now has 235 of the magnificent beasts. After years of decline, a combination of smart s...

The shopping mall where everything is recycled from 2019-01-29T03:06

There are 14 specialist shops at the Retuna shopping mall in Eskilstuna, Sweden, but they all have one thing in common. Every item for sale in the shopping centre is second-hand. The clever thing a...

The Turkish App to Help Autistic Children Learn from 2019-01-22T03:06

There are an estimated 350,000 autistic children in Turkey, but only 20,000 to 30,000 of those children are thought to be in education. And because of stigma around the condition, many parents ar...

The Talent Show for Honest People from 2019-01-15T03:06

In this talent show, it doesn’t matter if you can sing or dance, the winner just has to be honest and good at their job. It’s called Integrity Idol and the aim is to “name and fame” honest governme...

Does the world need more babies? from 2019-01-08T15:04

People in many parts of the world are having fewer babies than they were 60 years ago, and that’s worrying some countries. So in order to maintain the proportion of people of working age, governm...

The Little Libraries Bringing Books into People’s Homes from 2018-12-25T03:06

In 2009, Todd Bol built a small box in the shape of a school, filled it with books and placed it on his front lawn in Wisconsin, in the US. The book exchange soon became a focal point for the comm...

Can US Entrepreneurs Help Fix Education in Africa? from 2018-12-18T03:06

Many African countries face huge challenges in education. Millions of children completing primary school still struggle to read and teachers that should be in classrooms are routinely absent. Two...

Can This Smart Street Stop Drinkers Getting Violent? from 2018-12-11T03:06

World Hacks visits a long, narrow street in the heart of the Dutch city of Eindhoven. A quarter of a mile long and lined with pubs and bars, Stratumseind is a drinking destination for the country’s...

How 'Buddy Benches' are Making Playtime Less Lonely from 2018-12-04T03:06

The idea behind “Buddy Benches”, also known as “friendship benches”, is simple. If a child feels lonely at playtime at school, they can go to the bench as a signal that they need someone to play wi...

Smart Boats That Sail on a Bed of Bubbles from 2018-11-27T03:06

What’s being done to clean up the shipping industry and make it less polluting? Nick Holland looks at innovative ideas to make ships burn less fuel. The industry plays a critical role in the glob...

The Banks That Run on Time Instead of Money from 2018-11-20T03:06

Around the world, thousands of people are using a special kind of bank. Instead of using it to save and spend money, they’re using it to save and spend time. Based on the idea that everyone’s tim...

How to Build a City for an Ageing Population from 2018-11-13T03:06

More than a quarter of Japan’s population is over 65 and the country has the highest rate of centenarians in the world. It’s a ticking demographic time bomb as the cost of caring for the elderly r...

The Country That Can Jail You For Using Plastic Bags from 2018-11-06T03:06

Just over a year ago, Kenya introduced the world’s most draconian rules on single-use plastic bags. People can be fined up to $40,000 or even thrown in jail for producing, selling or using them. ...

Time to Update the Stranger Danger Message? from 2018-10-30T03:06

Child abduction by strangers is extremely rare, but the danger looms large in the minds of many parents. One reason is that for the past 50 years or so, governments have created public information ...

Tech That Tricks the Brain from 2018-10-23T02:06

Our brains are the control centre of the human body. They allow us to think, to learn and to dream - but if you know how the brain works, it can also be fooled. Two start-up companies are making a ...

‘Rental sisters’ for Japan’s Reclusive Young Men from 2018-10-16T02:06

In Japan, to become a 'hikikomori' means to withdraw from the world and social life. Many of those who suffer from the condition shut themselves in their bedrooms for years on end, refusing to work...

Fighting the ‘Water Mafia’ with Pipes in the Sky from 2018-10-09T02:06

In Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, access to water is a minefield. The marketplace is dominated by water cartels, or mafias - water is often syphoned off from the mains supply ...

Mending Our Disposable Culture from 2018-10-02T02:06

Volunteers around the world regularly get together to fix other people’s broken stuff free of charge. Reporter Nick Holland visits an event called a Repair Café in the Netherlands and links up with...

Smart Stimulation for People with Dementia from 2018-09-25T02:06

Anyone who cares for someone with dementia knows the struggle to keep them stimulated and engaged as the condition progresses. This week World Hacks looks at three clever ideas that attempt to help...

Running and Singing to Improve Maths and English from 2018-09-18T02:06

This week we go back to school, with two simple ideas that involve changing the day-to-day lives of pupils to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. The Daily Mile is an idea developed in a S...

A Green Space Revolution in Paris from 2018-09-11T02:06

How do you create green spaces in the middle of a city, where there’s no space to create large-scale parks or gardens? Paris has come up with a clever solution – they allow anyone to apply for a pe...

Scanning Homeless People To Make a Donation from 2018-09-04T02:06

Have you ever wanted to donate to a homeless person, but found yourself without any cash, or concerned about how they may spend the money? A potential solution is being proposed in Oxford, England,...

Rewarding Green Travel in Bologna from 2018-08-28T02:06

In the northern Italian town of Bologna, a new public transport system is rewarding citizens for taking sustainable modes of transport. Each time locals walk or use the bus, train, car pooling or c...

Cool Ways of Keeping Things Cool from 2018-08-21T12:47

A vast and expensive system with the sole purpose of keeping things cool exists across the developed world. This “cold chain” includes fridges in kitchens, refrigerated lorries and cold store wareh...

Reviving Italy’s ‘Ghost Towns’ from 2018-08-14T02:06

Across the Italian countryside, villages are becoming deserted as people migrate to towns and cities. A sustainable tourism model known as the ‘Albergo Diffuso’ is attempting to reverse this trend....

Why Millions Listen to This Girl from 2018-08-07T02:06

A nine-year-old child announcer has been recruited on the London Underground. The idea is that her voice will surprise passengers, so they listen to her safety message. It’s an example of nudge the...

Training India’s Fake Doctors from 2018-07-31T02:06

It’s thought that more than half the people claiming to be doctors in India have no medical qualifications. They are known as “quacks”, operating illegally, but often ignored by the authorities bec...

Stopping Wildfires in Their Tracks from 2018-07-24T02:06

Wildfires can have a devastating impact, destroying land, homes and lives. Scientists say that as the planet gets warmer, they are only going to start more often. World Hacks looks at three project...

Generating Power from the Roads from 2018-07-17T02:06

As scientists and companies work on cleaning up cars, there’s also a team developing new technology along a road in rural Georgia in the United States, with the aim of making a truly sustainable hi...

Recycling to Turn Trash into Cash from 2018-07-10T02:06

Rubbish littering the streets is a problem all around the world but collecting it can also be a vital source of income. Two projects, thousands of miles apart, are trying to clean up the streets an...

The Bricks Helping to Rebuild Gaza from 2018-07-03T02:06

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely-populated tracts of land in the world. In addition to the ongoing violence there, it has an unemployment rate of more than 40 percent, and problems with ac...

Learning Lessons from the Longest Living Lands from 2018-06-26T02:06

Can adapting your lifestyle add 10 years to your lifespan? Dan Buettner, a journalist for National Geographic, has identified nine characteristics that he says can add more than a decade to life ex...

Nigeria's Secret STI Test Kits from 2018-06-19T02:06

More than three million people in Nigeria are living with HIV, but only about 10% of the population has ever taken an HIV test. Talking about sex is a taboo subject and sexual health clinics are no...

Can a $1 million Prize Help Keep Women Safe? from 2018-06-12T02:06

In India, an estimated 79% of women have experienced sexual harassment in public, but it’s hoped that a $1 million competition will reduce that figure. We visit Mumbai for the grand final of the Wo...

The Street Where Houses Come Half-Built from 2018-06-05T02:06

Two thirds of the world’s population are expected to live in cities by 2050 according to the UN. But where will all these extra people actually live? Budgets to build new social housing are limited...

Fighting Food Waste from 2018-05-29T02:06

Food waste is a global problem. According to the UN, one third of the food that we produce is being thrown away. Two London-based technology start-ups aim to change that. Smartphone app Olio encour...

Clean Clothes and Glasses for the Poorest in Society from 2018-05-22T02:06

How do you improve the lives of the very poorest people? Sometimes it’s just a question of doing the simple things. In Greece, where an economic downturn has left thousands of people homeless o...

Turning Subsistence Farming into an Investment Opportunity from 2018-05-15T02:06

How do you pull subsistence farmers in Africa out of the cycle of poverty? All you have to do is help them produce more food than they need to survive. But to do that you need money and a new compa...

The Speed Detectors from 2018-05-08T02:06

A growing movement in the UK is devolving the power of catching speeding motorists from the police to the people. Police have been working with community volunteers, letting them use speed guns in ...

The People’s Peace Talks from 2018-05-01T02:06

When we think of peace talks we think of politicians from opposing camps meeting behind closed doors in wood-panelled rooms, hammering out the details of an agreement that both sides can accept. Bu...

The Schools Trying to Build Bridges from 2018-04-24T02:06

Could bilingual schools help bring peace to a seemingly intractable conflict? In Israel, the school you’ll go to is largely decided before you’re even born – by whether you come from a Jewish or Ar...

Problem-Solving Prizes from 2018-04-17T02:06

People can’t resist a prize, especially when there’s money to go with a medal, and for hundreds of years that basic human urge has been used to push humanity forward. When you focus minds and money...

The Town Trying to Cure Loneliness from 2018-04-10T02:06

Loneliness and isolation can trigger a host of other problems, particularly for our health. But a town in Somerset, in the United Kingdom, appears to have taken a big step towards alleviating the p...

The Babies Teaching Kindness In Class [REPEAT] from 2018-04-02T23:06

**This episode is a repeat from 23 January 2018** Naomi is not your average teacher. For one thing, she is only six months old. But in many schools across Canada babies like Naomi are a regular ...

Taking Out the Space Trash from 2018-03-27T02:06

Space is littered with junk – some pieces as small as a fleck of paint, and some as large as a London bus. So much of it is orbiting the Earth, in fact, that it poses a danger to future missions. B...

How to Help Homeless People in Hospital from 2018-03-20T00:06

Being homeless is extremely bad for your health. Homeless people end up in hospital far more often, and when they get there their condition is often serious. We visit a London hospital to see how o...

The Bird Rescuers from 2018-03-13T00:06

One of every five bird species could be extinct within the next century. Whether it’s down to the shiny glass office blocks materialising all over cities or the trawlers sailing ever-further out to...

Recycling Chewing Gum Litter to Clean Our Streets from 2018-03-06T00:06

More than $20bn is spent on chewing gum around the world each year. A lot of that gum will end up stuck to the streets. That's why gum is the second most common kind of street litter after cigarett...

How to Talk to Potential Extremists from 2018-02-27T00:06

Social media and messaging apps play a role in the extremist “radicalisation” of individuals. Tech companies have tried to get better at identifying extremist content and taking it down, but some s...

Putting Forgotten Pills Back to Work from 2018-02-20T03:06

An app in Greece is helping people donate their leftover drugs to people who can't afford to buy them. So far the system has helped to recover and redistribute 13,000 boxes of medicine. Donors use ...

Improvising Your Way Out of Anxiety from 2018-02-13T03:06

You’re standing on a stage, blinded by a spotlight trained on your face, knees weak, hands sweaty. Someone from the audience calls out a random word and you have to immediately react and come up w...

The Hydroponics Revolution from 2018-02-06T03:06

Providing food for seven billion people is fraught with difficulty. Fertilising vast tracts of land and flying fresh vegetables across the globe comes at a huge environmental cost. But more and mor...

The Currency Based on Good Deeds from 2018-01-30T03:06

By its very nature, volunteering means you don’t get paid. But what if there was a way to compensate volunteers that also helped the local economy? The northern English city of Hull is trying an ex...

The Babies Teaching Kindness in Class from 2018-01-23T03:06

Naomi is not your average teacher. For one thing, she is only six months old. But in many schools across Canada babies like Naomi are a regular feature at the front of class. It is because of an ...

Kids versus Cars from 2018-01-16T03:06

An English woman has championed a way to bring back community spirit to city streets and keep children fit. She creates pop-up playgrounds by regularly closing the roads to cars. Alice Ferguson beg...

Can We Save Coral? from 2018-01-09T03:06

Up to 90% of the world’s coral could be dead by 2050, according to some estimates, unless we take radical action. Tackling climate change remains the central battle, but around the world scienti...

Scouts, Knives and a Community Fridge from 2017-12-26T03:06

This week we hear about three small solutions trying to make a dent on some big problems. We hear about an outdoor gym made from melted-down knives. We talk to the scout leaders in Madagascar tryi...

The Ring That Could Help Save Women’s Lives from 2017-12-19T03:06

In Southern Africa, over seven thousand women are infected with HIV each week. Many can't persuade their partners to wear a condom, so a new form of protection being tested in Malawi could be a rea...

How to Get Wheelchairs on Planes from 2017-12-12T03:06

If you are a wheelchair user, travelling by aeroplane can be very difficult. Buses, trains and some cars are designed for people to roll into without getting out of their chair, but planes are not,...

Drone Delivery: Medicines By Air from 2017-12-05T03:06

Most Malawians live in rural areas and if they get sick, it can be incredibly difficult to get testing kits or medicines in time. Malawi's government has now opened up part of its sky to companies ...

Smartphone-Activated First Aiders from 2017-11-28T03:06

Your chances of surviving a cardiac arrest while out on the high street are slim. It's estimated survival rates decrease by ten percent for every minute you don't get medical help. The nearest ambu...

The Former Neo-Nazi Helping Others To Quit from 2017-11-21T03:06

A retired police detective and a former neo-Nazi leader may seem like an unlikely partnership. But Dr Bernd Wagner and Ingo Hasselbach have taken their past differences and used them as the basis ...

How Iceland Saved Its Teenagers from 2017-11-14T03:06

In 1998, 42% of Iceland’s 15 and 16 year-olds reported that they had got drunk in the past 30 days. By 2016, though, this figure had fallen to just 5% and drug use and smoking had also sharply decl...

The Missing Maps from 2017-11-07T03:06

Thousands of places in the world don't officially exist on a map. If you're not on a map, it can have implications for how people find you - in times of disaster for example. But a project called M...

The Town Where Public Toilets Are Everywhere from 2017-10-31T03:06

to stop people getting caught short. What do you do if you're out and about and can't find a public toilet? Do you sneak into a cafe and hope no one notices, buy something you don't want just for...

Addressing the World in Three Words from 2017-10-24T02:06

Around 75% of the world's population, approximately 4 billion people, don't have an address. Take a country like Mongolia, with a largely nomadic population, where street names and postcodes can b...

How Iceland is Fighting the Gender Pay Gap from 2017-10-17T02:06

Although Iceland is thought to be the best country in the world for gender equality, it lags behind in one metric: the gender pay gap. So a decade ago the country's unions and business community ca...

Viking Therapy? from 2017-10-10T02:06

It looks like the set of Game of Thrones. Once a year Wolin in Poland hosts a huge Viking festival - with a twist. Enthusiasts come from around the world not just to re-enact battles, but to win th...

How Cervical ‘Selfies’ are Fighting Cancer in The Gambia from 2017-10-03T02:06

It’s not usually a good idea to take selfies of your private parts, but what if those photos could save your life? A new, tiny medical device is being used across Africa to detect cervical cancer f...

How To Make Sushi From Methane Gas from 2017-09-26T02:06

Humanity’s hunger for meat is not good for the planet. Every cow, pig and fish that farmers rear has an environmental cost – particularly in the land and water resources it takes to grow the food t...

When Local Currencies Go Digital from 2017-09-19T02:06

Local currencies – money you can only spend at small local businesses – aim to keep money in their neighbourhood and out of the hands of big corporations and their shareholders. Now they are going ...

Condom Lifesavers and Voices for the Voiceless from 2017-09-12T02:06

Each year around 100,000 women die due to heavy bleeding after giving birth. But help is at hand from an unexpected source: condoms. World Hacks goes to a maternity hospital in Kenya to speak to ...

The Dutch Antibiotic Revolution from 2017-09-05T02:06

Antibiotic resistant superbugs are a huge problem both in humans and in animals. Many animals reared for food are routinely fed antibiotics to prevent infections. Farmers across the world do it to ...

How to Get Blood Where it is Needed from 2017-08-29T02:06

The availability of blood for transfusions saves lives after difficult births and operations. But in much of the developing world, hospitals have a blood shortage. One entrepreneur in Nigeria is wo...

Pakistan’s Laptop Female Doctors from 2017-08-22T02:06

How do you help female doctors get back to work when they've given up medicine to look after their families? It's a particular problem in Pakistan where the majority of medical graduates are women ...

Urban Cable Cars from 2017-08-15T02:06

Is a new urban cable car in Mexico more than just a means of public transport? As well as ferrying thousands of people a day, it's been strategically located to link up the poorest neighbourhoods t...

Does Universal Basic Income Work? from 2017-08-08T02:06

Around the world, governments and researchers are experimenting with the introduction of universal basic income. From Finland and Spain to India, the idea of giving every citizen – whether working ...

The Teachable Moment from 2017-08-01T02:06

Darius has been shot three separate occasions, but the third time was the last. He was met at his bedside by a stranger, who changed his life forever. Victims of violence are, far more likely to...

Mexico's Cartoon Therapists from 2017-07-25T02:06

How do you get children who're victims of emotional abuse or physical harm to open up about what's happened to them? In Mexico a psychologist, Julia Borbolla, encourages them to have a one-to-one c...

Cutting Cow Farts to Combat Climate Change from 2017-07-18T02:06

Methane emissions from the burps and farts of livestock accounts for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the trick to reducing this could lie with some of Kenya’s smallholder farmer...

Thailand’s Disease Detectives from 2017-07-11T02:06

World Hacks goes to Thailand to meet an army of volunteers on the front line in the fight against dangerous diseases, like Ebola and bird flu. Nearly 100 years ago Spanish Flu infected a third o...

Can We Supercharge School? from 2017-07-04T02:06

A new school in San Francisco thinks it can massively accelerate the speed at which children can learn, using clever technology and smart algorithms to offer each child a bespoke education.AltSchoo...

Turning Fatbergs into Fuel from 2017-06-27T02:00

Lurking in the sewers beneath the streets there are giant blobs of congealed cooking fat known as “fatbergs”. Now one company has come up with a clever way of making money out of them. Their effor...

Thailand’s Condom King from 2017-06-20T01:06

Thailand in the 1960s was on the verge of a population disaster. Thai women were having seven children on average, and the government was struggling to raise living conditions. Mechai Viravaidya, a...

How To Be A Better Mum In Jail from 2017-06-13T01:06

There are more than 200,000 women in US prisons and jails and it is estimated that 6% to 10% are pregnant. One project in Minnesota is trying to use these pregnancies to change the lives of the wom...

Would You Rent Your Clothes? from 2017-06-06T01:06

Globally, only around 20% of clothes are re-used or recycled. The majority go to landfill or are incinerated. In the USA alone, the amount of clothes being thrown away has doubled in the last two d...

The Stickers that Save Lives from 2017-05-30T01:15

Road accidents are the single largest cause of death amongst young people around the world. But a project in Kenya is making impressive progress in tackling the issue. It has deployed a small and v...

Turning Plastic Trash into Cash from 2017-05-23T01:30

Picking up money - that’s what Haitian’s nicknamed a movement seeking to solve Haiti’s plastic waste problem and reduce poverty at the same time. It was started by a man who saw a glimmer of hope i...

Turning Goats into Water from 2017-05-16T01:06

Fariel Salahuddin is not the type of person you’d expect to see wandering around rural Pakistan, especially with a herd of goats. She’s a successful energy consultant who has worked around the worl...

Saving Lives with Text Messages from 2017-05-09T01:06

What do you do in a medical emergency when the equivalent of 999 or 911 simply doesn’t exist? After spending time in countries that lack public ambulance services, US paramedic Jason Friesen realis...

Greener In Death from 2017-05-02T01:06

This is a story about what happens to your body after you die. In many countries, the current options are burial and cremation, but, both methods come with significant environmental impacts. We’re...

Helping Disabled People With Sex from 2017-04-28T10:51

How do you fulfil your sexual needs if you have a disability? How do you masturbate if you have limited use of your hands? These are problems that most able-bodied people have probably never consid...

The Data Donators from 2017-04-18T01:06

The Data Donators Meet Becky. She suffers from arthritis and is in constant pain. Like lots of people – patients and doctors alike – she has a hunch that bad weather could be exacerbating the p...

Postmen Delivering Kindness to the Elderly from 2017-04-11T01:06

On the island of Jersey, postal workers don’t just deliver the mail. They also check up on elderly people during their routes. In a five minute chat, they check they’ve taken their medication and i...

The Parent Hack For Cheaper Childcare from 2017-04-04T01:06

Parents struggling with childcare costs in London are banding together to care for each other’s kids. They run a super-cheap nursery where mums and dads take on half of the childcare. It’s a throwb...

Toilets in Haiti and Circular Runways from 2017-03-25T03:06

There are no sewers in Haiti. 26% of Haitians have access to a toilet, so a lot of the sewage ends up in the water supply. Currently, Haiti is battling the biggest cholera epidemic in recent histor...

Checking out the solar hotel from 2017-03-18T03:00

Could we build cities using solar panels instead of walls? That’s the dream that Huang Ming, a wealthy entrepreneur in China’s Shandong province, has had since the 1980s. He’s become known as the ...

Moving In With Refugees from 2017-03-11T03:06

An innovative housing project in Amsterdam is attempting a new way of integrating refugees into the local population. In prefab flats, refugees from the Syrian war live next door to young people in...

How China is Cleaning its Air from 2017-03-04T03:06

Air pollution is a huge problem for China, but did you know it’s actually getting better? The Air Quality Index in several cities is improving, because of a variety of experimental projects that a...

The Voter Lottery from 2017-02-25T03:06

Voter turnout is a problem around the world, particularly in local elections. But a small group of academics and activists in the US are experimenting with a new way of getting people to turn up an...

Denmark’s Food Waste Vigilante from 2017-02-18T11:54

Food waste is a massive global problem: the EU alone throws away 88 million tonnes a year. Much of this ends up in landfill and produces dangerous greenhouse gasses which contribute to climate chan...

The Sun Water Solution from 2017-02-11T03:06

This is a story about how the most amazing ideas do not always work how you would like in practise. In theory it is so simple. You put disease-ridden water into a two litre plastic bottle, screw on...

Lend Me Your Eyes from 2017-02-04T03:06

A new app is helping blind people solve everyday problems by combining smartphones video technology and an army of armchair volunteers.World Hacks investigates how it works and explores whether mic...

The War On Fake News from 2017-01-28T03:00

The internet is awash with made-up news stories. It’s not a new problem, but the highly charged US election campaign forced people to pay attention. This week on World Hacks we’re speaking to som...

Superblocks To The Rescue? from 2017-01-21T03:00

In Barcelona, they’re experimenting with a new way of designing the city. Superblocks are vast low-traffic zones, but they’re also deeply controversial. The aim is cut pollution and reclaim public ...

An Unlikely House Share from 2017-01-14T03:06

In one of the most expensive cities in the world, students are moving in with older people who have spare rooms as part of a “homeshare” scheme. The young people in Paris get cheap accommodatio...

Jobs for Syrian Refugees from 2017-01-07T03:06

Most refugees do not have the right to work. In Jordan they’re running an experiment to find out what happens when they’re given that right. They’re handing out work permits to thousands of Syr...

Respect My Remittances from 2016-12-24T03:00

Some £600bn is sent home every year by overseas migrant workers, almost four times more than all the countries of the world combined spend on foreign aid.But far from home, many workers fear their ...

‘Bribing’ Mums To Feed Their Kids from 2016-12-17T03:00

One in three children in Peru was growing up too short for their age, stunted by a lack of the right foods in their diet. Then in 2005, the government put in place an innovative new system. They...

Teaching Kids To Think from 2016-12-10T03:00

Giving children lessons in how to think and learn for themselves can lead to dramatic improvements in results, according to education researchers. World Hacks meets children learning these “met...

Reducing US Police Shootings from 2016-12-03T03:00

Nearly 1,000 people were shot and killed by the US police in 2015, sparking protests and huge controversy. But a new solution promises to reduce the death toll, by focusing in on the key moment of ...

Cloud Catchers In Peru from 2016-11-26T03:00

What can you do if you don’t have access to running water? No pipes, no wells, no rainfall? The solution may be to catch water from fog.We meet Abel Cruz, the Peruvian man behind a huge fog net...

Cash Cards For Syrian Refugees from 2016-11-19T03:00

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are being handed cash cards instead of blankets and food. Aid agencies say money transfers are a better way to deliver essential supplies to some of the 1.5 million Syria...