Seriously...

We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. An Artificial Intelligence revolution is super-char...

In a special episode to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, writer Horatio Clare and psychiatrist Femi Oyebode consider the purpose of anxiety, and how it can manifest in different ways. They look at where it comes from, and hear from firefighter Jonny about his journey with panic attacks and his techniques for coping with them.

You can buy almost everything on social media – how about a British dad for your child? A year long BBC investigation has uncovered a brazen illegal immigration scam in which pregnant migrant women who are in the UK without a visa are paying British men thousands of pounds to pose as fathers to their children. The women gain British citizenship for their child, which means they may be able to get...

For years, science has had a dirty secret; research has been dogged by claims and instances of fraud, malpractice and outright incompetence. Suspicious-looking data sets, breakthrough results that can’t be replicated, eyebrow-raising statistical sleights of hand - science has been undergoing something of an existential crisis. And at the forefront of keeping science honest has been a bunch of outs...

Adam Shaw peeks behind the curtain of the consultancy industry. Worth hundreds of billions of pounds, consultants stretch across almost every industry, government department and international border. Since the pandemic there’s been an unprecedented demand for their services and many believe our future is determined by what they think and do. Yet little is known about these largely hidden influence...

Presenter Anita Anand joins comedian Shaparak Khorsandi and author Andrew Scott Cooper to explore the tragic life, death and legacy of Princess Leila Pahlavi, the last Princess of Imperial Iran. Leila was the daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the last in a long line of Iranian Royalty. But when the 1979 revolution began, Leila and her family were forced to escape. Leila spent the rest of her...

Communities in the Scottish Highlands are facing a housing crisis so bad, it’s been described as a clearance for the 21st century. According to the Convenor of the Highland Council, Bill Lobban, “the species most under threat in the Cairngorms National Park isn’t the Capercaillie but the young family trying to find a home”. Ironically one key cause of the problem is also what brings most into the...

In May 2020 a group of experts came together, at speed, to form the UK’s Vaccine Task Force. Born in the teeth of a crisis, its efforts were responsible for allowing Britain to be among the first countries in the world to roll out vaccines against Covid-19. But as memories of the pandemic fade, the urgency it brought to its work has subsided as well. In this edition of Analysis, Sandra Kanthal ask...

The roads and byways of the British Isles are home to a new generation of travellers. Alongside the traditional Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities there’s a booming sub-culture of van dwellers who prefer the open road to bricks and mortar. For some it's a lifestyle choice. They spend the summer moving from festival to festival, picking up casual jobs as they go. They celebrate their light touch...

Are we running out of water? Britain may be known for its rain but, as our climate changes, there are warnings we could be closer than we think to our taps running dry. In this episode of Troubled Water, James Gallagher asks why our pipes are being pushed to the brink and what can be done about it, all from the comfort of his bathroom. Huddled in the loo, he talks to Professor Hannah Cloke, OBE, w...

Much of an astronaut’s leisure time is spent staring back at Earth, they just can’t stop looking back at home. Major Tim Peake journeys into the misunderstood phenomenon of homesickness. Tim had never experienced it until he found himself looking through the copula window of the space craft, which orbited earth several times before reaching the International Space Station. The British astronaut sp...

Situated 75-miles off the west coast of Shetland, the future of Cambo, a prospective new oil field in the North Sea, has big implications for Shetland. Cambo has become emblematic of the debate about fossil fuels. In 2001, an oil exploration license for the site was granted. In 2021, when public sentiment towards fossil fuels cooled, the project was shelved. But now, Cambo is being reconsidered on...

The word “controversy” almost always accompanies any reference to ECT or electroconvulsive therapy. It has a dark history and remains a deeply contentious practice. For many, ECT is seen as outdated, forever linked with frightening images of medical abuse, cruelty and even punishment. But when Professor Sally Marlow met Dr Tania Gergel at King’s College London, she was forced to acknowledge and th...

Matthew Syed traces the history of a term that's synonymous with our era of angry debate.

Historian Phil Tinline explores why, 37 years ago, the Thatcher government privatised British Gas, how what followed has shaped today's energy price crisis - and what should happen next. Contributors: Professor Michael Bradshaw, Derek Davis, Dr Amy Edwards, Mathew Lawrence, Tim Lefroy, Sir John Redwood Producer: Phil Tinline

It seems like an impossible conundrum. Ukraine is valiantly defending itself against the man Boris Johnson called "a blood-stained aggressor" and fighting for survival in a war that is currently deadlocked. President Zelensky has warned that attempts at talks with The Russian Federation will fail, because Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted. So in the absence of a decisive victory or a negotiated set...

Taiwan is one of the world's youngest democracies. The first fully democratic presidential election was held as recently as 1996. But it's now being heralded as a place where digital technology is giving citizens a sense of direct engagement with political systems and law creation. They have a Minister of Digital Affairs, Audrey Tang, who has brought his computer software programming expertise lea...

Recently, in both Europe and the United States, there have been serious attempts to overthrow elected governments by force. History is full of examples of coups d'etat succeeding, going all the way back to Ancient Rome. But these latest coup attempts failed. And they left a strange impression: of events that were part-horrific, part-absurd. In this programme, the novelist and classicist Natalie Ha...

The recent rise in migrant boat crossings between France the UK is being fuelled in part by the more sophisticated methods gangs are using to source the boats. Last year when they investigated the smuggling gangs for BBC Radio 4, reporter Sue Mitchell and former British soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, were alongside border force officials as they seized all manner of dinghies used in the cross...

For thousands of years we have gazed up at the stars and wondered: is anybody out there? The idea of meeting aliens has been the inspiration for countless books and films; for art and music. But today, thinking about meeting life on, or from, other planets is no longer dismissed as pure make-believe – it’s the focus of political consideration and cutting-edge space science. Farrah Jarral presents...

2 June 1953. As the crowds line the streets to see their new Queen crowned, the news that Everest has been conquered is relayed over loudspeaker and adds to the excitement of the day. The Times prints its headline - the scoop delivered in secret code from the mountain. Edmund Hillary is knighted while the press clamour to know who was first to the summit. No better news could have reached Britain...

The world is waiting for news of success from the British expedition on Mount Everest. James Morris, later to become Jan Morris, is a reporter from The Times newspaper embedded with the team on the mountain. When news arrives that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay have reached the summit, he must find a way to get the news to London without it leaking to other journalists waiting in Kathmandu. Mor...

In 1953 the 9th British expedition to the top of Mount Everest finally reaches the summit. In the final team was a New Zealander and a Nepalese Sherpa. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay come down the mountain to a blaze of publicity. They were soon to become the most famous men in the world. To the team involved and the wider world the expedition was a British one, but Britain, New Zealand, Nepal...

Britain has tried and failed to reach the top of Everest for decades. George Mallory and Sandy Irvine disappeared on the mountain in 1924. There were various British expeditions during the 1930s - all unmitigated failures. The Second World War interrupted the race to conquer Everest. But by 1951, with Tibet closed by communist China, a new unexplored route through Nepal was available. The Swiss ex...

In 1953 Queen Elizabeth II is crowned. It's also the year that the British expedition makes an attempt to climb to the summit of the highest mountain in the world. The story of Mount Everest spans the life of the new Queen and beyond, from the height of the British Empire to the rebirth of Britain as a nation. In this episode, Wade Davis, explorer and anthropologist, looks at events taking place i...