THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

The Documentary Podcast

Drugs, Overdose, Hope, North Carolina (Tue, 14 Oct 2025)
Drug overdose has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid mass produced in Mexico and smuggled across the border – drove the increasing number of fatalities ever higher. But there’s a good news story that hasn’t been widely reported… Drug-related deaths fell year on year from 2023 to 2024 by around 25%. In some states, the decline was even more dramatic - North Carolina was one of them. For Assignment, Linda Pressly visits the state capital of Raleigh to report on some of the reasons why fewer people are dying from illicit narcotics. This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.
>> Read More

Alexey Seliverstov: Bionic birdsong (Mon, 13 Oct 2025)
How fixed is the borderline between human music and the sounds of nature? That is a question that guides the work of Los Angeles-based composer Alexey Seliverstov. In this programme, Regan Morris follows Alexey’s creative process from recording the dawn chorus in the Santa Monica mountains, through the ingenious transformations of the field recordings to the finished multi-channel and multi-sensory installation for the Shelemay Sound Lab at Harvard University. There is more to Alexey’s music than first meets the ear: some of the ‘birds’ are actually the sounds of his own and his brother’s voices recorded when they were children and altered beyond recognition by Alexey’s sophisticated processing. Adding ear-prints of empty spaces to the sounds of chirping synthesisers, similar to the effect of repeated exposures on an old-fashioned camera film, draw us further into Alexey’s imaginary landscapes. Are these soundscapes artificial or still mostly natural? How does mixing the sounds of nature and sounds that we associate with humans, such as pianos, alter our idea of what music can be?
>> Read More

BBC News

Your nose gets colder when you're stressed. These thermal images show the change (Mon, 13 Oct 2025)
Psychologists subjected a BBC reporter to a carefully designed thermal camera stress test.
>> Read More

Floods trap people in cars in Spain's Catalonia region (Sun, 12 Oct 2025)
The highest red alert is declared in one coastal province, as residents are urged to stay indoors.
>> Read More

Green turtle bounces back from brink in conservation 'win' (Fri, 10 Oct 2025)
Once endangered due to hunting, it is making a strong recovery thanks to global conservation efforts.
>> Read More

BBC News

Eurovision organisers postpone vote on Israel's inclusion in contest next year (Mon, 13 Oct 2025)
The European Broadcasting Union had previously announced it would hold a vote on Israel's participation in November.
>> Read More

'Unlike anyone': Woody Allen pays glowing tribute to Diane Keaton (Mon, 13 Oct 2025)
The pair worked together on eight films including the Oscar-winning Annie Hall and Manhattan.
>> Read More

Two in court accused of killing jailed singer Watkins (Mon, 13 Oct 2025)
The disgraced Lostprophets frontman was fatally injured at HMP Wakefield on Saturday.
>> Read More

Follow the latest important news and the way the world keeps spinning round....

Here, one-minute listenings to get up to date every day!