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Saving lives at sea with an autonomous lifeboat
An autonomous lifeboat is being tested in Scottish waters in a bid to save many more lives at sea. Currently, the main reason for not launching lifeboat rescue missions to distress calls is the risk to the rescuers – not only will those already in danger be probably lost but also those going out to save them. With a crew-less boat this is no longer a risk. The vessel will use an AI detection system to identify victims in the water and a conveyor belt to lift them out of the sea. Sam Mayall, Founder and CEO of Zelim, the company behind the autonomous lifeboat joins us on the show.

Could Icelandic genes lead to new medical treatments?
Genealogy is a national hobby of Iceland, and its people are known for their long-standing passion for it. This tradition was taken further into a digital world and Íslendingabók (The Book of Icelanders), a free online genealogical database was developed. It holds genealogical details of almost entire populations going back to the 9th century when the first Viking and Celtic settlers arrived there. The database is very popular with ordinary Icelanders and is used mostly out of fun and curiosity. It even has an anti-incest feature which shows if people are related to each other when dating. However, the database is also being used by scientists to study the genetics of certain diseases. SOEP’s Snezana Curcic has been to Iceland to find out how the Íslendingabók works.


The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell and the studio expert is Ghislaine Boddington. 

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More on this week's stories:

Zelim: the future or unmanned search and rescue
https://www.zelim.co/

deCode Genetics
https://www.decode.com/

Dr Kari Stefansson, CEO, deCode
Kari Stefansson - deCODE genetics | LinkedIn

Iceland Genealogy App
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0175wbv

Harpa, Reykjavik's Cultural Centre 
https://www.harpa.is/en/   
 
The Team

Audio by Keziah Wenham-Kenyon and Dylan Burton 
Production Manager is Liz Tuohy 
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Editor: Ania Lichtarowicz
Production Manager: Liz Tuohy
Recording and audio editing : Lansons | Team Farner

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