The Documentary Podcast

The story of the premature babies in incubators on display in amusement park on Coney Island, and how the man who put them there, Martin Couney, changed attitudes to premature babies and saved countless lives.

At Coney Island amusement park between 1903 and 1943 there was an extraordinary exhibit: tiny, premature babies. 'Dr Martin Couney's infant incubator’ facility was staffed by nurses in starched white uniforms and if you paid a quarter, you could see the babies in their incubators.

Image: Coney Island amusement park in 1904, Credit: Getty Images

China is a huge new market for the cruise industry. Philip Dodd cruises across the South China Sea to find out how the Chinese have taken to life on board ship.

Boarding in Shanghai Philip meets the passengers and crew who will sail the coast of China down to Hong Kong. The Chinese want different things from a cruise from Westerners – they don’t want to sit in the sun. What they do want though is more of a sense of community on board. Ships are now being fitted especially for the Chinese market with these requirements in mind.

As well as Asia, Philip looks to see if there is an appetite for cruising on the continent of Africa. He’ll be talking to the market specialists in South Africa where the numbers are on the rise.

Picture: Cruise ship in Hong Kong, Credit: Philip Dodd

In May 2015, the Syrian city of Palmyra was captured by the forces of the so-called Islamic State. Few of the group's excesses have won as much attention as their ravaging of the city. They have waged a campaign of violence against the local population, and they systematically destroyed many of the city's great monuments, including the 2,000 year old Temple of Bel; the Lion of al-Lat, an ancient sculpture of a protective spirit; and the nearby shrine of Mar Elian in the Syrian desert that was beloved by both Christian and Muslim communities for hundreds of years.

The three-part series, the Museum of Lost Objects, traces the histories of ten lost treasures through the stories of people who knew and loved them. From sculptures and shrines to tombs and temples, we explore how these ancient treasures have remained present in the lives of Iraqis and Syrians right up to this grim modern era of destruction. What you’ll hear is a recreation of sorts: these places and objects reimagined through local legends, histories and extraordinary personal stories. Think of it as a virtual Museum of Lost Objects; its curator is the history-obsessed writer, Kanishk Tharoor.

Picture: The Temple of Bel, Credit: Getty Images

Playing war-games in the woods has become an ever-more popular pastime in Poland as thousands of young people join paramilitary groups to defend their country against possible invasion. Others – so-called “preppers” - are building bunkers and storing food supplies so their families can survive any disaster. Now the government plans to recruit such enthusiasts into a state-run volunteer defence force – to counter a possible Russian threat. But are the authorities stoking fear – and creating an amateur force that’s no use in 21st Century warfare? Tim Whewell reports from the forests of north-eastern Poland, close to the Russian border.

Producer: Estelle Doyle

Poet Adélia Prado has shunned the spotlight since her discovery in 1976 – then a 40-year-old mother of five. Her literary career was launched by Brazil's foremost modern poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, with the announcement that St Francis was dictating verses to a housewife in the backwaters of the interior state of Minas Gerais.

She writes about the transcendent in ordinary life, of how the human experience is both mystical and carnal. Now aged 80, her sensual, devout, sometimes provocative poetry is read and admired around the world.

Picture: Adelia Prado, Credit: Eve Streeter

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution declares that anyone born on US soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is an American citizen. It was intended to give freed slaves guaranteed citizenship in the wake of the 1861-65 Civil War. But today, it also means the children of illegal immigrants to the US automatically become American citizens. This places it right at the heart of the huge controversy over immigration. Adam Smith, historian of 19th Century America, travels to Washington DC and North Carolina to find out.

Inside the secretive world of one of Malawi’s biggest charities - DAPP (Development Aid from People to People). For decades, governments including the US, UK and other European nations have donated many millions of dollars to DAPP for projects ranging from sanitation to teaching. But DAPP has a big secret – it is under the control of a Danish cult-like organisation called the Teachers Group. Simon Cox investigates.

*Since uploading this programme the UK's Department for International Development has suspended payments to DAPP and launched its own investigation*

Thousands of angry young Brazilians could not care less about the 2016 Olympics; they would rather paint Rio and São Paulo’s walls with their views about political turmoil, poverty and inequality. Steve Uruqhart meets graffiti writers and street artists in Brazil. Why do they choose to risk their lives, their limbs, their freedom, to highlight their social concerns?

Jeffrey Rosen explores how the US Supreme Court, once derided as the third branch of government, has become the busiest and most powerful institution in American politics, and how that makes the court’s current vacancy a particularly valuable prize in this presidential year.

Away from the sound of bombs and bullets, in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Darayya, is a secret library. It’s home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily brave snipers and shells to fill it’s shelves. In a town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson reveals how this literary sanctuary is proving a lifeline to a community shattered by war.

Produced by Michael Gallagher and translated by Mariam El Khalaf.

*Omar, the FSA soldier who was the last voice heard in this programme has been killed in fighting*

(Photo: Omar Abu Anas, a Free Syrian Army soldier reads on the front line)