People Fixing the World

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 because they couldn’t get to hospital in time. Their solution also inspired the state government to help thousands of other women. Produced and presented by Bara’atu Ibrahim

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 meat. It’s a huge challenge in bioengineering to make it work at a cheap enough price. But there are big benefits for the planet if they can pull it off. Presented by Amy Elizabeth Produced by Amy Elizabeth and Tom Colls Image: Lab-grown meat produced by Memphis Meat

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. And researchers in the UK are developing strains of fungi that won’t just replace plastic, but eat it as well. Produced and presented by Claire BatesPicture: Getty Images

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 ago. More recently, their crystal structure has been copied using other materials and used to produce energy.If it can be made to work, these crystals could be used to literally print out solar cells to put on skyscraper walls, furniture and electrical gadgets. Produced and presented by Tom CollsImage: Olga from Saule Technology

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’s plugged directly into a railway in Britain and hear about Indian Railways’ big plan for converting to renewable power.Produced and presented by Richard Kenny

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 presented by Jo MathysPhoto: Getty Images

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 story about a man who regrew a rainforest in Ecuador. One listener is worried it’ll just get cut down again when he dies. And eyebrows are raised about nurses in Kenya using motorbikes to rescue snakebite victims. Producer: Nick Holland

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 scenes, won an award for predicting crop yields and made going to the beach a little safer in the age of Covid. Image: Team Hibla from the Philippines.

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 there. And we are with them as they fight to save a dolphin mother and calf. Plus we look at how Silicon Valley AI tech, and its power to understand dolphin communication, could lead to even more being saved. Produced and Presented by Ben Wyatt Picture credit: Getty Images

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 Rohingya refugee camp, people are carrying gigabytes of data - from school curricula to the whole of Wikipedia - into places where access to the internet is impossible. Inspired by one of our listeners, we delve into the world of the “sneakernet” - a network of people who carry information to places where the signal doesn’t reach. Produced and presented by Tom CollsPhoto Credit: Getty