Science unscripted

A very hungry caterpillar is wiping out cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. A new way of fighting dengue fever in Indonesia. Everybody has one – a pair of jeans. In Norway a team of young people is producing the blue trousers in an environmentally friendly fashion. That and more, right here on Spectrum.

A laser beam to end the shredding of newborn chicks, an app for the Koreas, under the ice in the Antarctic, and newly unveiled plans at the European Space Agency.

On this week's show: The future of driving is here, and it's not going to need drivers - Sexual assistance to the physically and mentally disabled - and the shifting fight on the ground in Tanzania against malaria.

Are you hygge? No idea what it is? We’ll take a look at this Danish tradition that's fast becoming a craze everywhere else. Also, one man’s pipe dream to build a "beer pipeline" under a Belgian city is finally coming to fruition.

Technology gets blamed for many things - from causing obesity, to a reduction in our ability to communicate with each other - but could it also be leading to evolutionary changes? Specifically, are our hands changing as a response to tools and gadgets such as smartphones? Also, we talk about how the city of Chicago is struggling with a growing problem with rats.

Solve the mystery of a strange deep ocean sound, a joystick to help alcoholics avoid relapsing, and fly into space - and the future.

Germany is on the verge of expanding the use of DNA analysis in criminal investigations - and we're going to hear from someone who's greatly responsible for that. Also, we go to the root of the problem of fake news, and we are going to drive through the new double-decker tunnel in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

On Spectrum this week with host Jessie Wingard: are you addicted to your smartphone? We head along to an addiction prevention class with a difference. We talk sex - a Danish travel company is encouraging people to have sex and says, why not bring the kids? And, we take a look at clothing that actively cools you down.

Avian flu is on the march in Germany and Europe once more - but there's a crucial difference between this strain of bird flu and the one that came before it. DW checks in with the German National Institute for Animal Health to find out what we have to fear from the highly viral outbreak.

Transplanting a human head, stopping fake news on Facebook and the potential death of the world's favorite banana.