People Fixing the World

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 think is right. After the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, a programme pioneered by police in New Orleans is being developed for other forces. Presented and produced by Daniel...

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...

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 pr...

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 BB...

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 P...

"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...

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)

Nurses and midwives in Ethiopia are being trained to perform emergency operations, saving thousands of lives. People Fixing the World follows one of them, Seida Guadu, as she operates to try to save the lives of a mother and her unborn child. This podcast was first published on 25 June 2019. Reporter: Ruth Evans Producers: Lily Freeston and Hadra Ahmed

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 drivers find their way to field hospitals; the other has been finding volunteers to run errands for people who are vulnerable. Presenter: Daniel Gordon Reporters: Ruth Evans, Nick Holland and Richard Kenny Pict...

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 provides us with the latest health information, educates our kids and lets us communicate with our loved ones face to face. But only half of the world’s population is online. Tech evangelists around the wor...

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 of both wild pollinators and farmed bees are declining. This could have a serious knock-on effect on how we grow our fruit and veg. But some experts argue high-tech alternatives are a short-term solution to...

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 generation of smart cameras is catching the criminals red-handed; and the latest police forensic techniques are being adapted to investigate these crimes. The aim is to put a stop to the illegal trade o...

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 or no credit history a better chance of getting support and investment. New ways of providing financial services are needed because 1.7 billion people have no access to any kind of formal banking facil...

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 departments predict the likelihood of wildfires, and a way to make your fish tank double as a vegetable patch for microgreens. The future engineers and scientists behind these innovations are aged between 12 a...

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 pitfalls, too. Co-ordination and hiring talent for what are usually considered top management jobs can be a challenge when there’s no traditional hierarchy. Produced and presented by Dina Newman. Picture credit: G...

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 traded goods around the planet. But the diesel engines that propel modern cargo ships through the oceans burn the dirtiest type of fuel. Nick Holland speaks to sailors and brokers who, for the sake of th...

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 Institute of Technology, have managed to harvest enough energy this way to power 150 LED lights from a single leaf. We meet them, and others, who are trying to make use of untapped, natural sources energy. W...

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 machines that make it need a reliable source of electricity. Some hospitals have frequent power cuts, though, which can be fatal. So scientists in Australia and Uganda came up with an innovative way to...

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 the toughest lives. In Cape Town, South Africa, a British surfer noticed how kids from poor townships hardly ever went to the beach. So he started giving them free surfing lessons. Now hundreds go along e...

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 and a whole lot more. Start-up companies and charities are using it in everything from tuna supply chains to medical records and ID documents and everything in between. The technology is blockchain and o...

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 them. The idea is to grow food closer to where it’s eaten. At the moment, cities get most of their produce delivered from far away, but transporting it uses energy, while fruit and veg can lose their freshn...