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We'll be in Malawi for the latest on efforts to help people caught in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Freddy.
Also, Anthony Blinken is the first US Secretary of State to visit Niger, but why now?
And what needs to be done to help children recover from the psychological effects of the war in Tigray?
Those stories and more in this podcast presented by Audrey Brown.
We'll be in Malawi for the latest on efforts to help people caught in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Freddy.
Also, Anthony Blinken is the first US Secretary of State to visit Niger, but why now?
And what needs to be done to help children recover from the psychological effects of the war in Tigray?
Those stories and more in this podcast presented by Audrey Brown.
Up to five million people are affected by floods in Malawi. Things are so bad that even the helpers need help.
Also, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, is in Ethiopia. What's on the agenda?
And Professor Daniele Darlan - who risked her own safety to defend judicial independence in the Central African Republic.
Those stories and more in this podcast with Audrey Brown.
We meet experts at the Human Genome Editing Summit in London, seeking to cure genetic disease and ensure that it is safe and available to all.
Roland Pease hears from Victoria Gray, the first person to be cured of the debilitating and life-shortening disease sickle cell anaemia by gene editing, and from the scientists making it possible.
Also, the prospect of work to attempt gene rescue in fetuses before they are born. But the technology is expensive and complex. The question troubling the participants is to ensure people across the world can benefit from it, not just the rich and privileged.
And what are the limitations of gene editing? Can it be made more effective, safer? And what of gene edits that will be inherited by future generations?
Several African nations unite in Malawi in a bid to create a taskforce to curb the spread of deadly Cholera.
Also, Mozambique braces itself for a second battering by Cyclone Freddy.
And our very own satirical resident presidents have their take on the recent elections in Nigeria.
Those stories and more in this podcast with Paul Bakibinga.
Human Genome Editing: The team meet experts at the Human Genome Editing Summit in London, seeking to cure genetic disease and ensure that it's safe and available to all. Roland Pease hears from Victoria Gray, the first person to be cured of the debilitating and life-shortening disease sickle cell anaemia by gene editing, and from the scientists making it possible. Also, the prospect of work to attempt gene rescue in fetuses before they are born. But the technology is expensive and complex – the question troubling the participants is to ensure people across the world can benefit from it, not just the rich and privileged. And what are the limitations of gene editing? Can it be made more effective, safer? And what of gene edits that will be inherited by future generations?
Former Nigerian vice President, Atiku Abubakar leads a 'black uniform' march by his party, PDP, to the headquarters of the electoral commission INEC. The Presidential candidate said the February 25th poll was compromised and his party demands a re-run after saying they'll challenge it in courts.
Also, a BBC investigation exposes a major trade in heroin on the Seychelles Islands, but also what could be the biggest heroin epidemic for a nation globally.
Plus, FESPACO ends in Burkina Faso with Tunisia winning the grand prize and a film by a Burkinabe director on the scourge of jihadism in the country coming second.
Those stories and more in this podcast with Bola Mosuro.
The long rains of East Africa are forecast to fail again, for the third year running, precipitating a food crisis affecting millions. Science In Action explores the science of the drought, hears about new methods improving forecasts, and what is unusual about the region that makes it so vulnerable.
When we think of helium, for many of us balloons and squeaky voices come to mind. But the noble gas is critical for many aspects of modern life – and we’re facing a global shortage. Dr Annie Cheng and her colleagues at the University of Oxford are attempting to solve this by creating a model that has the potential to locate previously untapped reservoirs.
CrowdScience listener Eric, in New Zealand, has noticed his wisteria growing towards a neighbouring tree. He thinks that it actually knows where it’s going. But how can a plant have a sense of direction?
Plants don’t have the advantage of brains or eyes, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from being clever enough to find out from their environment where to move and how to get there – all while being rooted to the spot.
Marnie Chesterton visits the Natural History Museum and Kew Gardens in London, home to the largest collection of living plants in the world, to discover how plants make their manoeuvres, and talks to botanists and plant biologists for the latest findings on the mysterious life of climbing plants.
Image by Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Producer: Roland Pease Assistant Producer: Sophie Ormiston
This month World Book Club visits Paris, France to be guests of the iconic bookshop on the Left Bank of the River Seine, Shakespeare & Co. There Harriett Gilbert and a bookshop audience talk to acclaimed French writer Marie Darrieussecq about her extraordinary novel Pig Tales.
Pig Tales is the story of a young woman who works at a shady Parisian massage parlour, becoming a favourite with her lustful clients until, that is, she slowly and alarmingly metamorphoses into a pig.
A dark feminist fable of political and sexual corruption, and a grim warning of what can happen in a society without a soul, Pig Tales scandalised its readers when it first came out and became the most popular first novel published in decades.
(Picture: Marie Darrieussecq. Photo credit: Charles Freger.)
CrowdScience listener Eric, in New Zealand, has noticed his wisteria growing towards a neighbouring tree. He thinks that it actually knows where it’s going. But how can a plant have a sense of direction?
Plants don’t have the advantage of brains or eyes, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from being clever enough to find out from their environment where to move and how to get there – all while being rooted to the spot.
Marnie Chesterton visits the Natural History Museum and Kew Gardens in London, home to the largest collection of living plants in the world, to discover how plants make their manoeuvres, and talks to botanists and plant biologists for the latest findings on the mysterious life of climbing plants.
Featuring:
Dr Mariane Sousa-Baena, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University Dr Ilia Leitch, Senior Research Leader, Kew Gardens Tom Freeth, Head of Plant Records, Kew Gardens Dr Silvia Guerra, Neuroscience of Movement Laboratory, Padua University Professor Christian Fankhauser, Centre for Integrative Genomics, Lausanne University Dr Sandra Knapp, Merit Researcher, Natural History Museum