Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

80 years since Operation Anthropoid SPECIAL - history, Prague exhibition as well as education projects for youth

...they want to express themselves. And are serious about it. The music production of these two talented women is appreciated by experts in Slovakia and abroad. Adela Mede and Nina Kohout are Slovaks studying in the UK. Their music production is appreciated by experts in Slovakia and abroad. In this show, they are sharing their thoughts on music with RSI.

On the Wednesday edition of Slovakia today we continue the series dedicated to the mills as technical monuments. In the second part we visit the banks of the Little Danube river in southern Slovakia, where unique mills built on wooden stilts are located. Those used to be called "lazy mills". After 18 years, Marek Hamšík retires from international soccer representing Slovakia.

Although the international Catholic charity Caritas has been present in Ukraine for decades, the recent eruption of large-scale hostilities has forced them to refocus their efforts in the country in a big way. Jonathan speaks with Hugo Gloss, a humanitarian aid manager at the organisation’s Slovak branch, Slovenská katolícka charita, about the current situation in Ukraine, and about their work both within the country itself and with Ukrainian refugees here in Slovakia. – Repeat: Are new technologies that automate repetitive tasks going to cause a social upheaval by putting large numbers of employees out of work? This is already happening in some fields, and Artificial Intelligence is threatening to make the problem much more widespread. I speak with Martin Spano, an AI enthusiast, about the social impact of his favourite technology.

Almost half of Slovaks think that honesty does not pay. A new survey shows that young people in particular are the most sceptical in this area. The Stop Corruption Foundation is trying to change this view with a new project for secondary schools. Project guarantor Zuzana Vasičák Očenášová and educator Lenka Jancíková give details. Journalists are also trying to fight dishonesty and corruption. Former journalist and university teacher Anna Sámelová talks about media freedom in Slovakia.

The construction of a new train stop has started in the town of Vranov nad Topľou. People in the Podpoľanie region are afraid of bears which walk on their streets every day. Slovak football legend Marin Škrteľ is retiring after 21 years of professional career.

The Slovak National Theatre has premiered a ballet production involving pieces by 4 world renowned choreographers - William Forshythe, Edwaard Liang, Craig Davidson and Jerome Robbins. Meanwhile, the Astorka/Korzo 90 theatre held a final rehearsal of the world hit "Mr Halpern and Mr Johnson" in front of its author Lionel Goldstein shortly ahead of its first ever premiere in Slovakia.

Besides leading language courses the Czech and Slovak school Okénko in London are very much involved in various projects. One of them is a special artistic fundraising event, they have put together for the people in Ukraine. Last week, the Environment Ministry has filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for illegally feeding bears while disregarding dangers such a behaviour might cause. The ministry responded this way to recent attacks by a brown bear on humans in central Slovakia. Mayors of towns and villages call on authorities to address what they see as an unsustainable overpopulation of brown bears. What do we actually know about the bear population in Slovakia? We speak to Robin Rigg, the head of the Slovak Wildlife Society

Not all bacterial cells replicate themselves by the same process – the usual ‘cell division’ into two cells of equal size. Some, by contrast, do so by means of a process called ‘sporulation’, in which the cell divides into ‘mother’ and ‘daughter’ cells, with the former containing and nourishing the latter until it’s ready to be released into the world. Jonathan speaks with the Slovak Academy of Science’s Imrich Barák – a molecular biologist and finalist for the 2021 ESET Science Award – about his research into this fascinating process of bacterial reproduction. – Repeat: The discovery that some of the moons of the larger planets in our solar system have liquid water under the surface, and hence the potential to support life, came as a big surpise to scientists. The question then was, where did these moons, far outside the solar system’s so-called “habitable zone”, get their warmth? Jonathan speaks with astrobiologist Tomas Paulech about just this question.

In the first part of the show we will talk about the important role of forests for our lives with ecologist Erik Baláž, activist and nature conservationist Jerguš Tesák will introduce nature tourism.