Business Daily

Rights of nature

01 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2019 Bangladesh took the unusual step of granting all its rivers “legal personhood”. It was the result of a long fight by environmental ca...

Phosphates and the disputed corner of north-west Africa

31 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Phosphate mining is crucial to global food production, given that phosphorus is an essential ingredient in commercial fertilisers. By far, the largest...

Reinventing capitalism

30 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Can corporations be repurposed to prioritise society and the environment over profit? Ed Butler discusses the question with BBC Business Editor Simon ...

Are friends electric?

27 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When will artificial intelligence be capable of providing intelligent conversation? Jane Wakefield looks at two AI systems that still fall well short ...

Hack my brain

26 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook and Elon Musk are among those interested in the potential use of brain probes to read minds and enhance human capabilities.Jane Wakefield loo...

Will flying taxis ever take off?

25 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Will giant drones one day ferry us all through the heavens all on our way to and from work? Jane Wakefield speaks to two German companies who are work...

Smart cities: Big Data's watching you

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

City streets are becoming a valuable source of big data, so should we care who is gathering it and how it is being used?In Shenzhen in China, the auth...

Smart cities: How Barcelona learned to listen

23 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Smart sensors can improve citizens' lives, especially when residents are put in charge of gathering the data.Jane Wakefield reports from the Placa del...

How 24/7 life is rewiring our brains

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A group of artists look at how our modern hyper-connected always-on lifestyles are affecting our behaviour and interfering with our sleep.Their work h...

Our digital afterlife

19 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What happens to your online presence when you die, and who owns your data? Manuela Saragosa speaks to Carl Ohman, a researcher in the digital afterlif...

Have you paid your taxes?

18 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tax evasion is rife in many parts of the world, but might that be partly because we are we taxing the wrong things?Ed Butler looks at two countries ov...

When women aren't counted

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Gender bias in data collection. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, wi...

Brexit: What happens next?

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Three experts on the next steps for Boris Johnson, Britain and the EU, after a big win for the sitting British prime minister in national elections. E...

The death of expertise

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why do so many people think they know best? And are they putting dolts in charge of government?Ed Butler speaks to Professor Tom Nichols of the US Nav...

Old city v new city

12 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Should we protect historic neighbourhoods from redevelopment when new homes are desperately needed?Manuela Saragosa looks at two cities at opposite en...

Surviving the surveillance state

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Facial recognition tech is spreading everywhere, but it can still be fooled with a bit of face paint. So should we be worried?Ed Butler speaks to Prof...

Delivering in the gig economy

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How online shopping is fuelling insecure work for delivery drivers. British film director Ken Loach talks about his new film Sorry We Missed You, look...

US drug companies and the NHS

09 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is Britain's health service really up for sale? Ahead of a general election in the UK, Ed Butler looks at why the NHS probably gets a good deal on dru...

A machine to break down all language barriers

06 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC's Kizzy Cox in New York tries out the developers at tech firm Waverly Labs say can translate between any of 20 spoken languages in just a coup...

How 'cheap' English is conquering the world

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

English language proficiency has become a basic skill worldwide, and kids are picking it up in some surprising places.Manuela Saragosa - herself trili...

Taking football global

04 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The pitfalls when soccer tries to break into the US and Asian markets - and when American football tries to break into Europe.Ed Butler looks at the p...

Hidden art

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why the owners of movies and artworks don't want you to see them. Tamasin Ford explains why Disney is removing a catalogue of movies from the cinema c...

China moves from imitator to innovator

02 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chinese tech giants are gaining further ground in innovation, with development in e-commerce, social media and more, even outstripping the west. Rebec...

Meetings, meetings everywhere...

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It's not unusual for office workers to complain about the number of meetings they have to attend, but are they a distraction from real work, as some c...

The sea they plan to cover in turbines

28 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Offshore wind power is about to hit the big time in northern Europe, yet 20 years ago many saw the plan to build such complex engineering in the middl...

How to change your career

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ever thought about changing your career? With people living longer and job security decreasing, sticking with the same career for the whole of your wo...

What happened to austerity?

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As the UK approaches a general election, both major parties have been promising billions of extra pounds to go into hospitals, social care and other p...

Cryptocurrency's new frontier

25 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cryptocurrency mining is booming across parts of the former Soviet Union, with a number of regions expending gigawatts of power on mining operations. ...

Why Americans are loving trade unions again

22 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Trade unions in the United States have seen a historic decline since their heyday in the mid-20th Century. But in many sectors labour organisation is ...

Mental health in Africa

21 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

One of the continent's most neglected issues is finally getting some attention. Africa is affected by mental illness just like everywhere else, but wi...

The fight over the Parthenon Marbles

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Greece hopes to regain the ancient sculptures from the British Museum, which were taken from Athens two centuries ago by the Earl of Elgin.Tamasin For...

Africa's tech hub explosion

19 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What impact has it had on the continent's tech startup scene? Tamasin Ford speaks to Bosun Tijani, founder of the CcHub in Lagos, about why tech hubs ...

The scramble for Nollywood

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The international companies investing in Nigerian cinema. France's Canal+ and streaming giant Netflix are among those who see potential for Nollywood,...

Live long and prosper?

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The longevity industry aims to let everyone enjoy a healthy, active life well past the age of 100. But the question everyone will be asking is... will...

Quantum computers: What are they good for?

14 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Google claims to have achieved a major breakthrough with "quantum supremacy". But what could quantum computers actually do, and how soon will they be ...

The ethics of AI

13 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world's top thinkers on artificial intelligence, tells us why we should be cautious but not terrified at the prospect of computers that can...

The billionaires who want to pay more tax

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Liesel Pritzker Simmons and her husband Ian Simmons are billionaires who come from successful US business families. Liesel's family is best known for ...

Who wants to be a billionaire?

11 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Should the richest be taxed out of existence? Manuela Saragosa hears from Emmanuel Saez, a US-based French economist advising US presidential hopeful ...

Fake me an influencer

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The murky world of fake Instagram followers, fake comments, fake likes. Edwin Lane turns to the dark side in his quest for more followers for his Inst...

Make me an influencer

07 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How hard is it to make money on Instagram? Ed Butler hears from successful influencer Laura Strange, who makes a living from her Gluten-free food them...

The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

06 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Brittany Kaiser was one of the whistleblowers who brought down her former employer, Cambridge Analytica. She helped to expose how the data analysis fi...

The world's youngest Nobel-winning economist

05 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Esther Duflo discusses her work on the economics of poverty, for which she won this year's Nobel prize, along with her husband Abhijit Banerjee and co...

A hydro-powered Bitcoin boom in Georgia

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How hydroelectric dams are powering cryptocurrency mining on the eastern edge of Europe. Ed Butler travels to Georgia to visit the Bitcoin mines benef...

Tweaking your face

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How social media is fueling the modern cosmetic surgery industry. The BBC's Regan Morris visits a Botox party in Los Angeles and Sarah Treanor investi...

The cancer scammers

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How social media is being used to target cancer patients with fake cures. Tamasin Ford hears from cancer bloggers dealing with a flood of 'snake oil' ...

The diverse economy of the Lone Star State

30 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Texas is the second-largest state economy in the United States and if it were a country it would be the 11th largest in the world. Although it produce...

Can airlines pivot fully to biofuels?

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As pressure grows on airlines to reduce their climate change impact, and “flight shame” grows among people concerned about their own impact, ever ...

Goodbye Super Mario

28 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week marks a changing of the guard at the European Central Bank, one of the world’s most important financial institutions. The bank, under the ...

A meatless future?

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The food we'll be eating in the future may look the same, it may even taste the same, but it may well have been grown in a lab. In today's programme w...

Industry awards - worth the effort?

24 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Does coming second in a prestigious professional competition still boost the bottom line? Is it worth the time, money and emotional investment?Manuela...

What is the Green New Deal?

23 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The radical plan to transform the economy and tackle climate change has taken off in Washington DC, with the backing of the left-wing Congresswoman Al...

Bringing Uber back to Earth

22 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are losing faith in Uber's promise of rapid growth and market disruption, and are demanding to see actual profits. Oracle's founder Larry El...

The business case for sleep

21 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The demands of the working day and our 24-hour economy mean many of us don't get the recommended seven to eight hours sleep a night. Experts say all t...

Is the sun setting on Saudi oil?

18 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is the Saudi state oil company Aramco finalising its much-delayed share offering just as financial markets are losing faith in the future of fossil fu...

Concrete's dirty secret

17 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cement and concrete have one of the biggest carbon footprints of any industry, and eliminating it is no easy task.By volume concrete is the most heavi...

How China slam-dunked the NBA

16 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Does the China-NBA bust-up mean that the Chinese are falling out of love with US basketball - and US business in general?One thoughtless tweet in supp...

Is the West really meritocratic?

15 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We hear the arguments of leading US academic and author, Daniel Markovits, whose book The Meritocracy Trap argues that meritocracy in the United State...

How to be angry

14 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From hotheads to curmudgeons, is anger always bad for business? Can anger management techniques help? Or should we put our wrath to profitable use?Lau...

The vaping scare and big tobacco

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why health concerns over vaping is bad for cigarette companies. In the US hundreds of illnesses and even some deaths have been linked to vaping. That'...

Losing your mind at work

10 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On World Mental Health Day, we hear the experiences of people who've suffered a mental health breakdown at work, and ask what employers can do to supp...

Why whistleblowers need protection

09 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new EU directive grants new legal rights to those reporting corporate and government misbehaviour.Ed Butler asks David Lewis, professor of employmen...

Choose your own pay

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when a company lets its employees decide what their salaries should be? Will anyone ask to be paid less?A number of tech companies are fi...

The George Soros conspiracy

07 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why one financier is the target of a global conspiracy theory. Manuela Saragosa speaks to the BBC's Mike Rudin, who made a recent documentary on the S...

End of the road for US truckers?

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Truck drivers and the robots that could replace them. Jahd Khalil visits a truck stop in the US state of Virginia to find out why there's a chronic sh...

The right to repair

03 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why is it so hard to fix your own things? Ed Butler speaks to those campaigning for manufacturers to make it easier for us to fix our electronics good...

The search for sustainable fabric

02 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Modern textiles are environmentally problematic. Cotton needs gallons of water to produce, while polyester comes from crude oil. So could organic mate...

The onward march of Chinese debt

01 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is the rapid build up of consumer and corporate credit a threat to China's economic wellbeing?On the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's ...

Brexit and the currency speculators

30 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Some traders are betting on the UK crashing out of the EU without a divorce agreement. Should we be concerned that they wield too much political influ...

WeWork and the cult of the CEO

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How WeWork's Adam Neumann lost his job after a disastrous attempt to list the company on the stock market. Manuela Saragosa speaks to the Wall Street ...

Climate Action: Should we plant more trees?

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ed Butler speaks to Professor Tom Crowther from the Swiss university ETH Zurich, who says planting billions of trees around the world is by far the bi...

Climate Action: The moral imperative

25 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What is our ethical duty to eliminate carbon emissions? Was Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg right to express such anger at the UN Climate Action ...

Climate Action: Uninhabitable Earth

24 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Just how bad will it get if the world fails to get to grips with climate change?On day two of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, Justin Rowlatt...

Climate Action: Greta Thunberg's mission

23 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg explains how she aims to get the world's governments gathered for the UN Climate Action Summit in New York...

The future of Facebook

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What next for the social media giant? Jane Wakefield speaks to one former mentor of Mark Zuckerberg, and a British member of parliament about what cha...

Robot race cars and AI

19 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What robots driving cars can tell us about artificial intelligence. Ed Butler speaks to Bryn Balcombe, chief strategy officer of the autonomous vehicl...

Trading tinned fish and powdered milk

18 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How economies spring up in extreme places from refugee camps to prisons. Ed Butler speaks to economist Richard Davies, author of a new book called Ext...

Whom should the corporation serve?

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Should shareholders come first? Or should companies also serve their employees, customers, and society in general?Ed Butler explores the growing backl...

Africa's mobile credit revolution

16 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Will the roll out of online lending stimulate economic boom or just a credit binge in Africa?Ed Butler speaks to many of the businesspeople providing ...

The cost of sending money home

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why it's time to start paying attention to the global remittances industry. Ed Butler speaks to Monica, a nurse from the Philippines working in the UK...

The cannabidiol craze

12 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The cannabis extract CBD or cannabidiol is legal in many countries, and now it's finding its way into everything from soaps to cosmetics. But is it ju...

Going after Google

11 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The attorneys general of 48 out of the 50 US states have come together to challenge the control of the search giant over what we buy or view online.Ma...

Tackling the male fertility crisis

10 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sperm counts worldwide have been in steady decline for decades, and a group of tech start-ups are finally giving the problem attention.Manuela Saragos...

The world is running out of sand

09 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The global construction boom is fuelling an illegal trade in sand used to make concrete, causing environmental degradation and spawning sand mafias in...

Can technology read minds?

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The business of brain data. Real-life mind-reading technology is being developed right now, and it's already being used in places like China. Ed Butle...

Brand Britain and Brexit

05 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What the rest of the world makes of the UK's Brexit crisis. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Jane Foley, head of foreign exchange strategy at Rabobank, abou...

The hipster company that wants to save the world

04 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is WeWork an exciting new tech firm with lofty ideals worth $47bn, or is it just an over-priced office rental business?Manuela Saragosa speaks to two ...

Air pollution gets personal

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Can a greater understanding of how poor air quality harms us, enable us to tackle this urgent problem?Jane Wakefield meets British artist Michael Pins...

Hollywood vs Netflix

02 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How are movie producers making money in the age of online streaming? In Hollywood, if you produce a hit show or blockbuster movie, a cut of the profit...

Can we trust Rwanda's data?

30 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is Rwanda's economic success story really all it's cracked up to be? Ed Butler speaks to Tom Wilson, east Africa correspondent at the Financial Times,...

Dying for insulin in the USA

29 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why do Americans have to pay so much for this life-saving drug? There are reports of some uninsured diabetics dying as a consequence. Even the health ...

How can women take charge of their finances?

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Is the wealth management industry still too geared towards male clients? And how do women plan their finances in countries where they don't even have ...

Why not buy Greenland?

27 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What does Donald Trump's shock proposal to buy the island from Denmark tells us about modern-day sovereignty and Arctic geopolitics?Manuela Saragosa p...

The challenges facing Syrian refugees in Turkey

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As authorities in Istanbul start evicting undocumented migrants from their city, we look at the challenges facing Syrians generally in Turkey. Shrinki...

Ecommerce in Africa - still finding its way

21 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Will Jumia and other online retailers overcome a lack of infrastructure, wealth and consumer trust to conquer the African market?Jumia is widely seen ...

Helping Africa feed itself

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Much of east Africa has the potential to be a food basket for the region. But 250 million Africans remain undernourished and many depend on internatio...

The singing president who disappeared

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow mysteriously vanished for a few weeks, while his country faced economic crisis. Then ...

Are stock buybacks a corporate scam?

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Share buybacks are when a publicly-listed company uses some of its spare cash to buy up shares in itself, in order to drive the share price up and ben...

Has 3D printing met the hype?

15 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A few years back 3D printing was seen as the ground-breaking technology that promised a new industrial revolution. The revolution has not arrived yet....

Should workers be offered unlimited paid leave?

14 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new idea has emerged in the business world over the last few years: maybe employees should take time off whenever they feel like it, and get paid wh...

Vanuatu's sacred drink

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kava is a traditional drink that's popular across the Pacific. It's made from the root of the Kava plant. Proponents say it's a recreational beverage ...