The Inquiry

The Inquiry episodes:

• 04.18.2024

  Are synthetic opioids a global problem?

  An increasing number of people are dying from misuse of synthetic opioids. In 2022, the US recorded over 70,000 overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids. The government is spending billions to combat the effects of these super strength drugs. Synthetic opioids,...

  
• 04.11.2024

  How secure is Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership?

  Six months into Israel’s war in Gaza and with no sign of a ceasefire or breakthrough in securing the release of the 130 hostages, as yet unaccounted for, pressure is mounting on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There...

  
• 04.04.2024

  Are we close to a breakthrough for Multiple Sclerosis?

  Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease which can lead to loss of mobility and vision. Almost 3 million people worldwide are affected by it. There is no cure, but attempts are being made to accelerate the healing process with...

  
• 03.28.2024

  Is climate change impacting chocolate production?

  For centuries chocolate has had a global appeal, the key ingredient of this confectionery is derived from the dried and fully fermented seed of the Theobroma cacao, whose origins began in northern Amazonia. From this tree, both cocoa solids...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Will neighbouring countries follow El Salvador's lead on crime?

  In February this year, El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele won re-election with nearly 85% of the vote. His flagship policy after he came to power in 2019 has been the mass arrest of thousands of alleged gang members, mainly young...

  
• 03.14.2024

  Is our future underground?

  More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and by 2050, the UN estimates that figure will rise to nearly 7 in 10 people. The world is also getting hotter, with heatwaves and wildfires becoming increasingly common....

  
• 03.07.2024

  Can Mexico win its battle with US gun companies?

  The Mexican government has won its appeal to bring a civil lawsuit against a number of American gun companies. Mexico, which has extremely restrictive gun laws, claims that the ‘deliberate’ business practices of these US firms results in the illegal...

  
• 02.29.2024

  What’s going on with the pyramids?

  One of the most famous of Egypt’s pyramids, Menkaure’s pyramid on the Giza plateau, is the subject of controversy after the Egyptian authorities announced plans to restore it in what the country’s Head of Antiquities has called “the project of...

  
• 02.22.2024

  Can Europe reverse its falling fertility rates?

  Across the world fertility rates are falling and for the first time Europe is experiencing a sustained population decline. The average fertility rate for the European Union is 1.53 live births per woman. In Italy the fertility rate...

  
• 02.15.2024

  Who will be next to walk on the moon?

  In the next two or three years America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA - plans to send a mission into space that will land people on the moon for the first time in over a half a century....

  
• 02.08.2024

  Are Ethiopians losing faith in their Orthodox Church?

  The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church - once a powerful marker of nationhood - is deeply split as result of the recent civil war in Tigray which exacerbated historical tensions in the church. The Church, which traces its history to...

  
• 02.01.2024

  Can the Vatican stop Nicaragua’s Catholic crackdown?

  After serving nearly a year of his 26 year sentence for treason in a Nicaraguan jail, Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was flown to Rome in January. The high profile bishop known as an outspoken critic of President Ortega’s Sandinista...

  
• 01.25.2024

  What does Iran want?

  After months of tension and hostility in the Middle East over the Gaza-Israel conflict, Iran has publicly stated its desire to avoid a regional conflict. It has however displayed its military force on several fronts. There have been missile strikes....

  
• 01.18.2024

  Can Indonesia pull off relocating its capital?

  Indonesia’s ambitious plan to move the administrative headquarters of its capital city from Jakarta to a new location on the island of Borneo, in the East Kalimantan province, is nearing the completion of its first phase. Known as Nusantara, the...

  
• 01.11.2024

  Why is the US Army struggling to recruit new soldiers?

  In 1973 America ended a draft that had been in effect since before it entered the second World War, and for the last fifty years the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have been an all-volunteer military. But, recently,...

  
• 01.04.2024

  Are orcas OK?

  Something strange started happening in early 2023 in the waters off south-western Europe, where the Mediterranean sea meets the Atlantic ocean. Orcas began slamming into the sides of fishing and sailing vessels. The killer whales then dived underneath to locate...

  
• 12.28.2023

  What’s going on with sargassum seaweed?

  Sargassum seaweed was recorded as far back as the 15th century when Christopher Columbus wrote in his expedition diaries about miles and miles and miles of dense seaweed as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In 2011, a great...

  
• 12.21.2023

  Has Toyota solved the electric car battery problem?

  Toyota has unveiled a revolutionary electric car battery, able to travel 1,200 kilometres in one go and can be charged in just ten minutes. Toyota’s CEO Koji Sato said that “commercialisation of solid state batteries is a thing of the...

  
• 12.14.2023

  Is Venezuela about to invade its neighbour?

  Tensions between South American neighbours Venezuela and Guyana have ratcheted up a notch in recent weeks over the disputed oil rich region of Essequibo. The territory, which is roughly the size of Florida, currently makes up around two thirds of...

  
• 12.07.2023

  Is Paris ready for the 2024 Olympics?

  In less than a year, France will play host to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The opening ceremony will be played out along the River Seine in the nation’s capital city Paris. The Seine is also set to be the...

  
• 11.30.2023

  Have we reached a turning point with migraine medication?

  Around 1 billion people around the world suffer from a mysterious neurological condition called migraine. Far more than just a headache, migraine is abnormal processing of the world around us that can have symptoms like loss of sight and speech,...

  
• 11.23.2023

  Why is Bangladesh in turmoil?

  Bangladesh is set to hold parliamentary elections next January. But only time will tell whether there will be real change at the top or whether the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League will remain in power. In...

  
• 11.16.2023

  Is the war in Ukraine at a stalemate?

  The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Zaluzhny, has a frank take on his country’s conflict with Russia: "Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate." ...

  
• 11.09.2023

  What went wrong with Australia’s Indigenous call for a voice?

  When the Referendum to give Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders greater political rights was first announced, it was well received, with the early polls suggesting that more than sixty percent of Australians supported it. This was an opportunity for...

  
• 11.02.2023

  What is the Human Cell Atlas?

  The Human Cell Atlas is a project that has 3000 researchers in over 94 countries working to collect samples of every single cell in the human body. The idea is that an interactive map of the body will be created....

  
• 10.26.2023

  What can US diplomacy achieve in the Middle East?

  After violence erupted between Hamas and Israel, President Biden flew to Tel Aviv to offer his ‘staunch’ ally US support. In a very public embrace of Israel, he reinforced a relationship that goes back decades to Israel's foundation. ...

  
• 10.19.2023

  Is peace in the Arctic melting?

  Climate change and the war in Ukraine is transforming the geopolitics of the Arctic. Melting ice opens up the possibility of new trade routes making the region more valuable. Tensions in the area are rising as...

  
• 10.12.2023

  Can Europe solve its migrant crisis?

  Europe’s migration crisis began back in 2015, with the arrival of over a million refugees, the majority from the war in Syria. Many thousands more from different countries have since sought refuge on European shores for one reason...

  
• 10.05.2023

  Why can’t Germany build enough homes?

  The German government was elected with a plan to build 400,000 new homes a year – but it fell short last year by over 100,000. The country’s house building industry is in crisis, with hundreds of companies going into...

  
• 09.28.2023

  Can China and India fix their relationship?

  At the recent BRICS economic summit in South Africa, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping had a rare face-to-face meeting. For years these two world powers have been in dispute over their ill-defined border in the...

  
• 09.21.2023

  Why is life expectancy falling in America?

  The life expectancy of Americans has fallen in recent years after a long period when it had been increasing. There are a number of factors which contribute to the fall. The Covid pandemic, with over 1m deaths, made a...

  
• 09.14.2023

  What’s next for Palestinian leadership?

  The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is ageing and his ruling Fatah party is deeply unpopular. There have been protests against him and the Palestinian Authority. Many Palestinians feel the PA has lost legitimacy. There’s no plan...

  
• 09.07.2023

  What’s wrong with our guts?

  How much do you think about your gut? Are you taking a probiotic or prebiotic? If so, you’re not alone as globally we spend billions of dollars on soothing our stomachs. Our guts do so much...

  
• 08.31.2023

  Are we alone in the universe?

  In July 2023 a group of lawmakers in the US held a session to explore evidence of extra-terrestrial life. The evidence included the famous Tic Tac videos of mysterious objects flying through the sky. Pilots described encounters with Unidentified...

  
• 08.24.2023

  Is work from home working?

  Working from home became the norm for millions of us around the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic, but now three years on some major employers are insisting on their employees returning to the office, for at least some part of...

  
• 08.17.2023

  Can Brazil’s indigenous population save the Amazon?

  About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil and it is home to more than 300 indigenous groups. But for centuries both the rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants have been under threat, from deforestation, agri-business, mining and...

  
• 08.10.2023

  Can we stop oil?

  Environmental activists in the UK have disrupted high profile sporting events in an effort to persuade the government to stop oil development. How would stopping oil production impact those countries around the world with economies dependent on oil? ...

  
• 08.03.2023

  Why is South Africa collapsing?

  South Africa once had the most abundant and cheap electricity on the continent. Now, it is experiencing power blackouts. It’s called loadshedding, the process by which the power company Eskom occasionally reduces the demand for electricity on the national grid....

  
• 07.27.2023

  Are weight loss drugs the answer to obesity?

  In June 2023 the British government announced a £40 million pound pilot scheme to increase access to specialist weight management services in England -It reads “Using the latest drugs to support people to lose weight will be a game-changer.” The...

  
• 07.20.2023

  Is Venezuela a failed state?

  Venezuela is the country with the largest oil deposits, yet 3 in every 4 Venezuelan lives in extreme poverty. More than 7 million people are recorded as having left the country since 2015 in search of a better...

  
• 07.13.2023

  How can we stop wildfires?

  Canada is in the grip of the worst wildfires in recorded history. Blazes are devouring millions of acres of forest, forcing more than a hundred thousand people from their homes. Toxic smoke has blanketed cities across North America....

  
• 07.06.2023

  Is the global nuclear threat level rising?

  Following the Wagner mutiny in Russia, and with fighting intensifying as Ukraine presses on with its counter-offensive, there’s concern about increasing instability around potential use of nuclear weapons. President Putin has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Gary...

  
• 06.29.2023

  Can seawater save Venice from flooding?

  The medieval city of Venice is situated in the heart of a lagoon on the coast of northeast Italy. It was built on a large area of low-lying marshland. A system of wooden poles driven into the soft mud...

  
• 06.22.2023

  Who will be the next Prime Minister of Thailand?

  Thailand’s recent elections produced a shock result. A popular progressive party called Move Forward won the most seats. But the leader of the government has not yet been named as the country moves through its procedures for verifying...

  
• 06.15.2023

  Is it Endgame for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

  In 2009 Disney bought Marvel studios and helped transform the company into a movie making powerhouse that brought a new world of superhero stories to the silver screen, called The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since then the franchise has generated over...

  
• 06.08.2023

  Will hydrogen solve our energy needs?

  A fifteen minute test flight of a plane fuelled only by hydrogen was successfully completed over recent months. Trucks are already running on the fuel in the US, as are trains in Canada and the UK. Both Toyota and Hyundai...

  
• 06.01.2023

  Can Ron DeSantis win the White House?

  Ron DeSantis, the governor of the US State of Florida has now declared his republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential Election. He’s the latest in a line of republican contenders keen to take on President Joe Biden for...

  
• 05.25.2023

  Why are there millions of empty houses in Japan?

  Official figures report that there are more than eight million houses standing empty across Japan, the reality could be even higher. One of the highest concentrations of empty houses or ‘Akiya’ as they are known, is in the Prefecture...

  
• 05.18.2023

  Is Africa’s Great Green Wall failing?

  The Great Green Wall is one of the most ambitious environmental projects ever conceived, creating a vast belt of vegetation spanning Africa by 2030; from Senegal on the Atlantic to Djibouti on the Red Sea. It was heralded as...

  
• 05.11.2023

  What does this presidential election mean for Turkey’s future?

  For the first time in his 20 years in power Erdogan is facing serious pressure - and the choice voters make in this month’s presidential election could define Turkey’s destiny for decades. The impact of February’s devastating earthquake in...