Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

News and Topical Issue. In the first story of today, we will look at issues linked to cage farming practices and discuss the impact of cage faming on animals with Martin Smrek from the Humánny pokrok animal advocacy group. Then we are going to discuss the importance of silence for our well-being, and adjustments that can be made in order to reduce unwanted noise. Later in the show, we are going to visit beautiful Slovak caves and celebrate the International Year of Caves and Karst.

Only 12 out of hunderds applicants study modern circus in Toulouse, France, among them is the Slovak contact juggler. The founder of an online catalogue of visual artworks of all Slovak galleries had a vision that came true.

On the Wednesday edition of Slovakia Today show we will speak to organisers of the first ever Tour de France L´Étape in Slovakia. How did experts from the French iconic race select the course in Slovakia? We will also visit Slovak regions in another segment of the traditional "Summer news". On the show we also rerun 6th round of "Once there was a castle..." competition.

Repeat show: The problem of 'brain drain' has long been an issue in Slovakia, especially in the sciences, and programmes offering financial incentives to attract Slovaks back home have met with limited success. The founder of a new private research institute focused on 'intelligent technologies', however, has this problem in her crosshairs and believes her new institute is pursuing the right strategy for improving the situation. Jonathan recently caught up with Mária Bieliková to find out more. A tissue biopsy has long been the preferred method for detecting or monitoring the progress of a cancer disease, but its shortcomings - it's both invasive and restricted to a limited area of tissue - have led to the development of liquid biopsy, based on a simple blood test. Jonathan speaks with Irena Hudecová, a Slovak scientist working in this fast-growing field in cooperation with Cambridge University.

The city of Košice is starting its pilot project of separating biological kitchen waste. In the Trenčín region, the first students of dual education in the automotive industry graduated from the local schools.

95/65: Recalling memories of the megahit in the history of radio broadcasting in Slovakia. Due to COVID, the largest multigenre festival is thankful for state support. Internationally successful Slovak circus artist performing in Bratislava over the upcoming weekend.

Slovak football team was credited as perhaps the most boring participant at EURO2020 tournament. In three matches, Slovaks shot at goal only two times. We discuss the performance of Slovakia at EUROs with football journalist Marek Arpáš. Then, environmentalist and educator Gregg Losinski tells us how to behave around bears, since these majestic forrest beasts have been quite active in the past days.

Repeat show: The development of so-called 'nanocomposites' - materials made by combining nanoparticles with other materials - has become a hot topic these days, offering the possibility of new applications which until recent years were not thought possible. One of these is a possible future treatment for cancer patients, by injecting so-called 'nano-platforms' into the blood which have the ability to find and identify cancer cells anywhere in the body. Jonathan speaks with nanotechnology expert Mária Omastová of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, a finalist in the 2020 ESET Science Award, about these interesting developments. Are new Artificial Intelligence technologies going to cause a social upheaval by putting large numbers of employees out of work? This is already happening in some fields, and developments in AI are threatening to make the problem much more widespread. Jonathan speaks with Martin Spano, an AI enthusiast, about the social impact of his favourite technology.

News and Topical Issue. RERUN: In the first part of today’s program we are going to look at bees in Slovakia and at the impact that farming practices have on their populations.Then we are going to talk about the positives of urban meadows with Katarína Klimová from the Regional Association for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development. In the last part of our program, we are going to discuss the negative impact of monoculture fields on bio-diversity as well as soil quality and we will look at Slovak rapeseed fields and colza production that have recently triggered a passionate public discussion in Slovakia.

News and Topical Issue. What is the future of Kosice region going to look like? We have discussed it at the occasion of Tawnhall Kosice conference organised by AmCham.