Dutch friends Evelien and Roel are part of a group sharing their social networks and local knowledge with Laila, a Syrian refugee, and her family. They’re taking part in a pilot project in the Netherlands called Samen Hier, which matches locals and newcomers. The idea is to help people who live nearby get to know one another and encourage integration.

A large study published in June showed how a peculiar intervention could help prevent the spread of dengue fever. Instead of vaccinating people, the World Mosquito Program has found a way to breed mosquitoes carrying bacteria that prevent them catching the disease in the first place. The organisation releases millions of these designer mosquitos into a city with the aim of displacing the wild population and protecting the human residents. People Fixing the World saw the method in action in Colombia in 2019 – this is another chance to hear that report, and get an update.

Former criminals are being employed to run part of the probation system in one of America’s deeply troubled, gang-ridden communities. It’s a bold new approach to crime prevention, and it seems to be working - young lives are being transformed and reconviction rates are dropping.

Produced and presented by Jo Mathys

Scientists have hatched an incredible plan to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The team is using IVF techniques to produce a calf because the only two females left alive are infertile. Nick Holland reports on how close they are to succeeding and of their hopes to eventually release a whole herd back into the wild.

A young Zimbabwean, Farai Munjoma, has set up a network of mentors to help Africa’s youth achieve their dreams.

This week we hear from Colombia, where a helpline with a difference recently opened. Its aim is to stop domestic violence, but instead of targeting victims, it targets the perpetrators.

The Sinai desert in Egypt is a dry, barren place where not much grows. But Ties van der Hoeven has come up with a scheme to turn it into a green and fertile land. It’s a plan on a huge scale which involves dredging a lake, restoring ecosystems, and even bringing back rain to the desert. He’s been inspired by a successful project to restore the Loess Plateau in China. But could it work in the Middle East?

Produced and presented by Richard Kenny.

Picture: Getty Images

Are stickers still saving lives? Was a coral reef repaired? Did the volcano erupt?

It has taken him 40 years, but Omar Tello has turned a patch of exhausted farmland in Ecuador back into rainforest. One of his biggest challenges was repairing the soil. His land was so degraded he had to make enough new soil - from unwanted wood shavings and chicken manure - to cover the entire plot. That alone took about 15 years.

Repeat - first published 31 March 2020.

There are thousands of oil and gas platforms in the world’s oceans and in the coming decades many will become obsolete. Some people think that instead of treating them as industrial waste, we should embrace the ecosystems they’ve created and leave them in the sea as artificial reefs. This approach has been adopted by some US states, and scientists are considering whether this could also work in the North Sea.