Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

In this part of our series tracing the work of this significant rose breeder, we will present to you … the roses. Featuring Jana Salatova, garden designer, Ivana Sarvasova and Vladimir Jezovic, Arboretum Borová hora, Peter Hoťka, Arboretum Mlyňany - Slovak Academy of Sciences, Charles Quest-Ritson, historian and author of RHS Encyclopedia of roses and Erich Unmuth, Rosenkultivarium Baden.

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties - COP26 - in Glasgow in early November 2021. This has been among the topics covered during the recent visit of Wendy Morton, UK's Secretary of State for European Neighbourhood in Slovakia. What will be the Slovak agenda in Glasgow? For the second year in a row, the football club Slovan Bratislava reigns on the domestic scene. After winning the championship title in the Fortuna Liga, they also succeeded in the Cup competition.

RE-RUNS: 1) The recent landing of the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars – its main mission being to search for signs of ancient life there – is the latest example of the efforts of modern scientists to search for extraterrestrial life. But what scientists have expected to actually find in the course of their investigations has changed dramatically over time. Jonathan speaks with astrobiologist Tomáš Paulech, who manages the Astronomical and Geophysical observatory in Modra, about how such expectations have changed over the past couple of centuries, and where we are today in the search for life outside our own planet. 2) Will Artificial Intelligence be a great gift to society that will bring untold benefit to people’s lives? Or will it be a tool of the surveillance state and a predatory marketing device used to subvert human freedom and well-being? Potentially both, says Mária Bieliková, AI expert and founder of the Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies in Bratislava. Which aim it is used for depends not only on who gains control of such technology in the future, but also very much on how its development is being approached right now, and what sort of ethical principles are guiding this. Jonathan caught up with her recently to learn more.

News and Topical issue.

The 2021 IIHF World Championship starts with the Slovak team taking part. Dávid Skokan, MVP of the recent playoffs in the Slovak league, talks about the specific season and the injury, which prevents him from playing for the national team. Viliam Gyurke Director of the Studienka Center for children and families, which used to be an orphanage, explains how they have battled throughout lockdown and the pandemic situation.

News and Topical issue. In the year 2015, Martina Šimkovičová asked some of the world famous Slovak opera singers if they want to be popular home or abroad. Dezorz's puppet theatre is the only of its kind performing puppet shows purely for adults. And you can also hear whether it was possible to make living out of writing books in Slovakia in 2015.

On May 12, Slovak Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization launched a partnership with the prestigeous Massachusetts Institute of Technology. What will this cooperationg bring to Slovakia is certain, but what will it bring to the MIT? We discuss this with the deputy minister Dušan Velič. Later on the show we will open the largest mountain and adventure film festival in central Europe, taking place in Bratislava these days. How has the pandemic affected its theme and organisation?

In the wake of the recent ‘ransomware’ cyberattack that temporarily crippled much of the transport infrastructure of the east coast of the United States, we have once again been reminded just how dependent the modern world is on our IT systems, and how vulnerable is our critical infrastructure to the designs of cyber-criminals. But what about our modern IT security systems – are they not able to protect us from such destabilising attacks? Jonathan speaks with IT security specialist Pavol Luptak about this question, and about how multi-layered a security system has to be in order to keep our critical data safe. REPEAT: You may never heard of 'mitochondria' but you can't live without them – tiny 'organelles' that form an integral part of the structure of our living cells. Jonathan speaks with a scientist and mitochondria researcher Nina Kunová about these small but vitally important organs.

News and Topical issue. How do Slovaks see their country's current situation? Sport.

News and Topical Issue. In the first part of today’s show, we are going to focus on Slovak expats: Why do Slovaks tend to leave Slovakia and why does Slovakia have the largest student diaspora per capita in the EU? You will find out in the interview with Zuzana Palovic, Gabriela Bereghazyova and David Keys who have recently published a book called Super Slovaks. Then in the second part of today’s show on the occasion of the approaching International Day Against Homophobia we will discuss a unique festival called Drama Queer with its founder and director Robert Pakan.