How is technology changing our lives? Search for Tech Life wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe or follow if you can.

On Digital Planet’s final ever show we discuss the legacy of Gordon Moore, the father of transistors and creator of Moore’s law.

Special guests this week are Angelica Mari and Ghislaine Boddington.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Could 3D-printing be serving us up a tasty food revolution, or is it the ultimate in gimmicky processed foods taking us yet further away from natural eating? In the kitchen, a 3D-printer builds up customised tasty treats like exotic cheesecakes, layer by layer, using edible pastes, gels and liquids. The results look delicious, and delicate, and can be tweaked to suit the individual’s specific nutritional needs. The latest possibilities are one of the main courses in the latest issue of npj Science of Food. One of the article’s authors is Dr Jonathan Blutinger worked at the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University in New York where the research was carried out.

Jimmy Wales on AI and its impact on Wikipedia

Bollywood and the multiverse

Pod EXTRA:

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

Studio Manager: Giles Aspen

(Image: 3D-printed cheesecake using edible food inks, including peanut butter, Nutella, and strawberry. Credit: Jonathan Blutinger/Columbia Engineering)

Digital Planet caught up with Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. In the first of two interviews with Gareth, Jimmy explains why Wikipedia was restricted in Pakistan recently and how they overcame the block. And he gives his thoughts on Twitter’s plans to stop the bots and banish its free API.

6G – what we can expect

Computer labs for schoolchildren in rural Kenya

Podcast Extra

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari.

Studio Manager: Tim Heffer

(Image: Wikipedia logo seen on screen of laptop through magnifying glass.

It may seem that in some countries surveillance cameras are everywhere – recording almost our every move. We are using fingerprints and facial recognition to get access to our banking, work emails and even our healthcare systems. Alongside this rise in use comes a rapid increase in biometric data gathering, spurred on by contact tracing apps during Covid-19. But where is this very personal data going, who is using it and how.

We bring together a panel of experts to discuss what’s happening now and what’s next for our biometric data – shouldn’t we be the ones in control of our own digital identity? Contributing expert Ghislaine Boddington will shed light on these questions and will be joined by Dr Stephanie Hare, author of Technology is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics, Alice Thwaite, founder of the Hattusia consultancy and The Echo Chamber Club a philosophical research institute, and BBC China Editor Howard Zhang are all on the show.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Illustration: A fingerprint scanner is integrated into a printed circuit. Credit: Surasak Suwanmake/Getty Images)

As Ukraine enters the second year of the full-scale Russian invasion, we hear about an app through which citizens can help alert defence authorities of air attacks. To help prevent future attacks, the country’s Air Defence Forces want people to use their phones to report hostile airborne objects. Simply install an app, point your handset at the object, select the category – say a drone or a missile - and press the button. It means observers on the ground can pick up objects flying too low for radar detection. Gareth speaks to one of the app’s developers, Gennadiy Suldin of the tech start up NGO Technari.

Supercomputing predicting weather in Brazil – has it worked?

Spotting illegal farms in Taiwan with citizen tech

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari.

(Image: A drone approaches for an attack in Kyiv on 17 October 2022. Credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

After the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Northern Syria, how do you collate data to aid those coordinating the disaster response? Cecilia Utas from DEEP (Data Entry and Exploration Platform) explains how important data is in disaster relief and crisis management. And Aziz Şasa from the Turkish Amateur Radio Association also explains the vital role of amateur radio as a key communication method in the region after the earthquake.

High altitude communication platforms

Electricity from human waste

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

Image: Digital earthquake wave with circle vibration illustration

Within hours of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake across Turkey and northern Syria, the internet in Turkey was partially shutdown. And it wasn’t just because of damage to network infrastructure from the quake itself, but Twitter was blocked, as the authorities raised concerns over misinformation online.

Internet shutdowns are used by governments around the world to control people’s access to information, for example during protests, but also somewhat surprisingly to prevent cheating during public examinations.

Shutting down the internet costs individuals and countries huge amounts of money. The TopTenVPN annual report which analysed every major intentional internet shutdown in 2022 has revealed that they cost a world economy, already reeling from a number of shocks, a further $24 billion.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

(Image: Keyboard lit up in red in the dark. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What is happening with API’s, more commonly known as bots, on Twitter? The platform is set to eliminate free access to its APIs this Thursday, although there appears to have been some backtracking following announcements that bots providing “good content” will have access to the Twitter API for free. Tech writer, broadcaster and bot user and creator Kate Bevan will be on the show with the latest.

Tech that tells you when fruit is ripe

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

(Image: Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California Credit: David Odisho/Stringer/Getty Images)

One of the main causes of maternal mortality during childbirth is that the baby cannot be delivered vaginally, most likely because it is not positioned correctly in the womb. Without a plethora of medical equipment and training to check the baby’s position, midwives and doctors in developing countries struggle to reposition the baby safely. Scientists at UCL have developed a smart glove that links to an app, which in lab tests appears to be able to correctly identify the position of a baby’s head and how much pressure is being applied to it. The glove costs $1, making it an affordable solution in developing countries. Dr Shireen Jaufuraully and Carmen Salvadores Fernandez of University College London, lead authors on the study, explain their work so far.

Photometric-stereo 3D imaging reveals secrets of the past

Wi-fi seeing through walls

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

(Photo: Smart glove embedded with a sensor on the fingertip of the index finger. Credit: Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences)