my private podcast channel
The cricket world cup has us looking at the science of spitting on cricket balls, particle accelerators, and insect sound engineers.
Also on the program, how AI is breaking into e-commerce, why do we get in the middle of the night, and is a fat flightless parrot the world's greatest bird?
As Liberians wait to swear in President-elect Joseph Boakai, we look back at George Weah's time in office. Why did he lose the last election? What impact did he make?
Also what happened at the stadium in the Brazaville-Congo where 37 people died and over 100 were injured?
And how the rise in the cost of living is forcing girls out of schools in some African countries.
The United Nations recently held the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, in order to develop an international treaty on plastic pollution. However, campaigners have accused oil and plastic producing countries as well as special interest groups of delaying progress.
Over 20 African countries are on the slippery path to debt distress. What is it, and what can they do to avoid it?
And is the development of women's footballing talent in Africa stuck in the slow lane?
The spectacular rise and incredible fall of crypto empire FTX and its unconventional founder, Sam Bankman-Fried - a billionaire wannabe philanthropist now facing decades behind bars.
Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack could not resist inviting special guest Michael Lewis (author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball and The Big Short) to tell this story. Michael was at the scene as Bankman-Fried's crypto trading business crumbled and the law closed in.
They trace his life from childhood in Californian academia through his rapid accumulation of wealth – surpassed only by the speed at which it was lost – and on into his prison cell. Then they decide if he is good, bad, or just another billionaire.
This programme was edited on 4 December 2023 to correct a factual error.
We’d love to hear your feedback. Email goodbadbillionaire@bbc.com or drop us a text or WhatsApp to +1 (917) 686-1176.
To find out more about the show and read our privacy notice, visit www.bbcworldservice.com/goodbadbillionaire
There's a fresh call from the Sudan Humanitarian crisis conference in Cairo to end the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The three-day conference concludes today with peacebuilding experts suggesting, negotiations in Sudan this time round, should largely be African-led.
Also is there press freedom in Eritrea? The founder of ERISAT, which has been broadcasting in the country since 2018 shares her experience.
And how a production company in the UK, is changing the narrative of Somali women in Britain.
Lying is something all humans do. We find it in every culture around the world. It’s in the world of work, in our relationships and online. It’s all pervasive and hard to escape.
Our question this week is from listener Anthony from Cambodia. He asked us to find out why we lie, and wants to know how conscious we are of the lies that we tell?
CrowdScience’s Caroline Steel is in the hot seat, on a journey where she will attempt to untangle the complex story behind lying.
It’s a subject scientists and psychologists have been studying for a long time. It’s also something writers, philosophers and theologists have been interpreting for thousands of years. But we’re only now really starting to get to grips with how it works as a human behaviour.
There are lies in our folklore, lies in the media and also lies in everyday conversation. It’s something we’ve all had to learn to navigate at some point in our lives. In this episode the CrowdScience team unravels the mysteries surrounding the behaviour and the art of lying.
Our journey will take us to meet the world’s ‘second best liar’, an award she picked up at West Virginia’s Liar Contest. We’ll also meet a comedian who’s proud of the down-to-earth plain honesty of Dutch people.
An academic who has studied thousands of children’s brains will explain when we first start learning to lie. And we’ll hear about new research using magnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI scans, which is helping to show how the more we actually lie, the less our brain reacts telling us not to.
Caroline looks at how lying changes from culture to culture. Do we really all lie? And do we lie in the same way?
The surprising and intriguing answer is found in how early it develops in us as a human behaviour.
Contributors:
Prof Kang Lee, Professor in Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto Prof Tali Sharot, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London Ian Leslie, journalist and author of ‘Born Liars’ Ariana Kincaid, Champion Liar at West Virginia Liars Contest Derek Scott Mitchell, actor and comedian | @letsdoubledutch on Instagram Readings by Kitty O'Sullivan
Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Studio Managers: Emma Harth, Donald MacDonald, Andrew Garratt
(Photo: Young Businessman Interviews for new job. Credit: Andrew Rich/ Getty Images)
English author A. S Byatt talks to an audience about her novel 'Possession'. First broadcast in March 2004
(Photo: A S Byatt. Credit:BBC)
Calls for a global fund to compensate Africans for the transatlantic slave trade were made at a recent summit in Ghana. However, what form should this compensation take?
Sudan civil war: Returning home to Port Sudan after escaping clashes bewteen Sudan government solders and the RSF paramilitary unit. Reporter Osman Mohamed shares his experience. At nearly five million, the country officially has the highest number of internally displaced people in the world.
And a South African initiative which gives abandoned babies a new lease of life ordered to close for ''breaking law''
Calls for a global fund to compensate Africans for the transatlantic slave trade were made at a recent summit in Ghana. However, what form should this compensation take?
Sudan civil war: Returning home to Port Sudan after escaping clashes bewteen Sudan government solders and the RSF paramilitary unit. Reporter Osman Mohamed shares his experience. At nearly five million, the country officially has the highest number of internally displaced people in the world.
And a South African initiative which gives abandoned babies a new lease of life ordered to close for ''breaking law''
Increased tremors have been felt in Iceland, and concerns about an impending eruption have led to the evacuation of the town of Grindavik. Geophysicist Dr Freysteinn Sigmundsson reveals more about the events and whether this area of Iceland may be entering a new period of volcanic activity that could span centuries.
Also, Google DeepMind’s new GraphCast system could revolutionise weather forecasting. Rémi Lam from Google DeepMind and Dr Matthew Chantry from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts explain how it works.
Beyond warming our planet, climate change can have wide-ranging, unexpected impacts on people and the environment. Dr Christopher Trisos from the University of Cape Town has the lowdown.
Finally, recreating ancient seawater in the laboratory has given Dr Rosalie Tostevin, a geochemist from the University of Cape Town, additional information about the metals used by early microbes.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: Emergency services worker walking near a crack cutting across the main road in Grindavik, southwestern Iceland following earthquakes. Credit: KJARTAN TORBJOERNSSON/AFP via Getty Images)