What in the World
Episodes
Switzerland ski resort fire: What we know so far
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Just an hour and a half after the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day 2026, a fire broke out in a bar in Crans-Montana, a ski resort in Switzerl...
Is fashion turning its back on body inclusivity?
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Women’s appearances have often come under heavy scrutiny, especially their weight. The ideal body type has changed again and again. But in the wake ...
Do I need to heal my gut?
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gut health seems to be everywhere on social media right now. Top tips for healing your gut, diet advice including things like sea moss and bone broth,...
Why romantasy books are having a moment
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, Fate & Flame… all of these popular book series belong to the romantasy genre. It combines elements of romance and fantasy, ...
How useful are your supplements?
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vitamin C, vitamin D, collagen, creatine, magnesium. All of them can be found in supermarkets, wellness shops and of course, online. These products, a...
Are we in our nostalgia era?
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nostalgia. That reminiscent, comforting feeling of something from the past that is familiar. We get it with different things, from fashion to TV shows...
Why are we obsessed with personality types and labels?
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Do you enjoy small talk with strangers or do you do everything you can to avoid catching their eye? Type A or Ty...
Why is there so much seaweed on our beaches?
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, tonnes of seaweed is turning up on beaches in ever bigger quantities. Seaweed blooms — massive, rapid accum...
How easy will it be to go to the 2026 World Cup?
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Football fans all around the world are gearing up for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. It’s set to be a historic tournament and will be hosted by three c...
Just checking in…are my emails holding me back at work?! xx
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are your work emails too polite? Do you use unnecessary punctuation and emojis? Career experts have told the BBC that using multiple exclamation marks...
Ethiopia arrests TikTok creators over ‘indecent’ outfits
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of November, Ethiopia’s biggest social media creators gathered in Addis Ababa for the Ethiopia Creative Awards. It was supposed to be a n...
Why Iran is running out of water
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Iran is facing its worst drought in decades, with rainfall hitting a record low. Several of the reservoirs that supply water to the capital Tehran are...
The growing trend of influencers fronting charity campaigns
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Charity used to be about bake sales and running marathons. Now it’s all about thumbnails, hashtags, and stunts.Recently, MrBeast ran a massive campa...
Taiwan and China: Everything you need to know
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Taiwan is an island about 180 kilometres off the coast of China - nearly 24 million people live there. Taiwan is self governed but China says it’s p...
Bondi Beach shooting: What we know so far
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday evening in Australia, two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in Australia. Fifteen people were killed and doz...
Why does protecting traditions matter?
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vases crafted thousands of years ago, temples built by past civilisations, natural parks with stunning waterfalls. These are all tangible things, ther...
Boy bands vs girl bands: Who makes better music?
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stray Kids or BlackPink? Spice Girls or Westlife? Music executives - like Simon Cowell - have been creating girl bands and boy bands for decades. And ...
Why Cambodia and Thailand are fighting
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More than half a million people have been forced to leave their homes in Cambodia and Thailand. This follows rising conflict over the two countries’...
Venezuela and the US have a tense relationship
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration says it has killed dozens of people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, which it says are from Venezuela and ar...
How a social media ban would have changed my teens
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is banning social media for everyone under 16. The government says it’s to protect children from cyber bullying, harmful content and onlin...
Footballers are getting younger
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Across the world, footballers are hoping to be picked for their national team to play at FIFA World Cup 2026, but in Europe's top leagues, teams are p...
The darker side behind scam texts
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve probably had a call from someone pretending to be your bank - or even a family member - all to find out that it’s a scam. It’s part of a ...
Did India just end poverty in Kerala?
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kerala claims to be the first state in India to have ended extreme poverty. Over the past four years, various government departments have worked toget...
Ukraine’s underground schools
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Thousands of schools have been damaged in the war. According to the UN children agency Unice...
Why are some sugar drinks more expensive?
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sugar taxes are in place in several countries including Mexico and the UK. And they’re evolving. Maybe you’ve noticed that some sweet fizzy drinks...
Could this be the most valuable shipwreck in the world?
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colombian archaeologists have retrieved the first items from what’s thought to be the most valuable shipwreck in the world. A Spanish naval ship, th...
Are we in the age of trillionaires?
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk could be about to become the world’s first trillionaire. That’s after a record-breaking pay package - that could be worth nearly $1tn (£...
Do students learn best in their first language?
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Children learn best when they’re taught in the language they use at home, research suggests. But there's the question about the power of world langu...
Why your plane’s GPS might be sabotaged (but don’t be scared)
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
GPS interference or GPS ‘jamming’ is getting more common. It’s when radio signals on the same frequencies as GPS satellites are used to overwhel...
COP30 made some progress, but not on fossil fuels
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
COP30, the big meeting where countries discuss climate change annually, has finished. This year it was hosted in the city of Belem in Brazil, in the A...
The ancient origins of kissing
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists at Oxford University in the UK now think that kissing evolved more than 21 million years ago, and it wasn’t humans that started it.As a b...
The drama at this year’s Miss Universe
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch has been crowned Miss Universe at a ceremony in Bangkok, marking the end of an exceptionally scandal-filled pageant season. I...
Epstein files: What are they and when will they be released?
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After months of mounting pressure, US lawmakers have just voted to release all of the so-called Epstein files. So documents from criminal investigatio...
Sudan: Studying in a war zone
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Sudan, where a civil war has been raging for over two years, millions of students have had their education disrupted. Over half of all schools are ...
How can islands protect against typhoons and hurricanes?
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Both Jamaica and the Philippines have been battered by tropical storms in the past month. Hurricane Melissa, a category five storm, was the worst stor...
Would price caps on reselling tickets stop touts?
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
These days, buying concert tickets is a huge expense. If fans miss out, they can often find tickets on resale sites at hugely inflated prices. Sometim...
Do tech bros know something we don’t?
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prepping is a big deal in the US. There’s even a reality TV show called “Doomsday Preppers”. Prepping is when you stockpile loads of stuff - foo...
Are Nicki Minaj and Trump right about Christian killings in Nigeria?
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are Christians being targeted and killed in their thousands in Nigeria? That’s the claim made by US President Donald Trump in several social media p...
Are we one step closer to discovering life on other planets?
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do aliens exist? What’s out there in the universe beyond Earth? These are some of the questions which have plagued astronomers and film producers fo...
COP30: What’s changed in the past decade for the climate?
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The COP30 climate summit is taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém for the next two weeks. It's run by the United Nations (UN) and every year is...
How did New York’s mayor-elect Mamdani win over young people?
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New York has chosen its new mayor - Zohran Mamdani. He’s a Muslim, was born in Uganda, and loves Arsenal. He’s also pretty young. The politician h...
What’s being done to protect the Amazon rainforest?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Amazon rainforest is home to billions of trees, animals and people. It’s spread across nine countries in South America - Brazil, Peru, Colombia,...
Sudan: What’s happened in el-Fasher?
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The RSF (Rapid Support Forces) have taken the city of el-Fasher, in Darfur, from the Sudanese army. The city had been under siege by RSF fighters for ...
AI videos just got super real - here’s how to spot them
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sora and Vibes are making it easier than ever to make AI-generated videos. You may already be familiar with low-budget ‘AI slop’ which is creeping...
Why is Australia deporting people to one of the world’s smallest countries?
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nauru is the third smallest country in the world. It’s located in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean and is home to around 12-thousand people. Th...
The Andrew Formerly known as Prince
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does someone stop being a prince? The UK's King Charles has announced that his brother Andrew will no longer have this or any of his other titles ...
This is what it takes to be a sumo wrestler
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sumo is Japan’s national sport. Its origins go back more than 1,500 years, and it rarely leaves Japan. But some competitions are starting to tour - ...
Why is Trump giving the White House a makeover?
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The White House, in the heart of Washington DC, has housed American presidents for more than two centuries. But now, the East Wing of the famous compl...
Why China wants more foreign tech grads
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In August, China launched a new “K visa”, to attract young science and technology graduates. It came into effect on 1st October 2025 and although ...
What could the NBA, mafia, and X-ray glasses have in common?
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re an NBA fan, you’ll probably know that this season has gotten off to a rocky start. The FBI has revealed two major cases of illegal sport...
Not all antidepressants are the same
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Antidepressants have been prescribed to help people with depression for decades. While they help millions, they also come with potential side effects....
The video gamer who became a Catholic saint
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Catholic Church has appointed its first ever millennial saint — Carlo Acutis. A keen gamer and coder, the Italian teenager died aged only 15 bac...
No Snapchat?! Why the AWS outage was so big
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fortnite, Roblox, Snapchat, Zoom, Duolingo, Delta Airlines, Amazon Prime, HBO, Hinge, Hulu, Outlook, Reddit, Lyft, Slack, Strava… These are just som...
Why are people dying from fake alcohol in Brazil?
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Methanol poisoning has surged in Brazil, mostly around São Paulo. At least three people have died, including a 30-year-old woman. Hundreds more have ...
Our recap on the Madagascar protests
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Weeks of protests held in Madagascar drew to a close last week as a military leader was sworn in as the new president. It came after young people mobi...
How do you win a Nobel Prize?
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious award in the world. Whether you win it for physics, chemistry, literature, medicine, economics - or, the most ...
How the One Piece flag became a worldwide symbol of protest
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gen Z protests have been happening all around the world. And you might have seen photos of some of these protestors waving the same anime pirate flag ...
Are we about to see more ‘Made in Nigeria’ leather goods?
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve checked out the label of your favourite leather accessories lately, you might see Made in China or Italy… but perhaps not Nigeria. The c...
Could Taylor Swift’s reign ever end?
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift has long dominated the world of music, but her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, had massive sales but mixed reviews. Could her reign ev...
Naked mole rats prove pretty privilege is overrated
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What’s small, sausage-shaped, wrinkly and pink? No… not that… Get your mind out of the gutter.It’s a naked mole rat!!! A new study of the odd-...
Is the war in Gaza over?
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire, arranged by US President Trump. Under the agreement Hamas will release all Israeli hostages, alive and de...
How yaba swept across East Asia
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Golden Triangle, a border region of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos is the world’s most active production zone for synthetic drugs like methamphetami...
China’s renewable energy takeover
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Renewables are now the world’s leading source of electricity and China has boosted its solar and wind capacity more than the rest of the world combi...
Too young for cosmetic surgery?
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A teenager recently died in Mexico, reportedly after having cosmetic surgery. Paloma Nicole was just 14. Her dad claims he didn’t know she was havin...
Will the world’s oldest leader win again?
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cameroon’s president Paul Biya is 92-years-old. He’s been the president for decades. This weekend Cameroonians will vote in presidential elections...
How do you cut the internet for a whole country?
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Afghanistan has just come out of an internet blackout, which paralysed businesses, banks and airports and cut people off from their friends and family...
The multi-million dollar coral reef restoration project in Indonesia
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017 a cruise ship called the Caledonian Sky was sailing near the Raja Ampat islands in Indonesia when it ran aground in the shallow waters and got...
Bad Bunny is taking Puerto Rican vibes to the Super Bowl
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio AKA Bad Bunny’s year. In January, he released Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, his sixth album, with great reception from ...
What is bride kidnapping - and why does it still happen?
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, two countries in central Asia between Russia and China, there is a so-called tradition of bride kidnapping. Young women ...
No phones on the dance floor! Why artists don’t want you filming at gigs
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish may not have much in common, but they do share one thing: asking fans to put their phones away at their concerts. ...
If you’re listening to this, the Rapture didn’t happen
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
#Rapture has been trending on TikTok. Some believe that the Rapture is when Christ’s followers will be taken up to Heaven, while those who do not fo...
Could a four-day work week become the new norm?
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A study published earlier this year showed that cutting the working week to four days instead of five significantly improved people's wellbeing. So wh...
Can you be fined for insulting virtual K-pop idols?
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
PLAVE is your average hit-making K-pop group, but with a twist: its members are virtual avatars. There are real-life performers behind the characters,...
How Australia is addressing its koala chlamydia crisis
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australian koalas are having a hard time in the wild. As many as 80% of some populations in eastern Australia have chlamydia and it can be deadly. The...
How a Kenyan athlete became a soldier for Russia
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine if you took a trip abroad and in an effort to extend your stay, you unknowingly sign a piece of paperwork that makes you a front line soldier....
Are you obsessed with The Summer I Turned Pretty (like us)?
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Don’t worry if you haven’t watched The Summer I Turned Pretty, this episode is a great introduction! And fear not, there will also be no spoilers ...
Teens in Rwanda get access to family planning without parental consent
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rwanda has made it easier for teenagers to access reproductive health services with a new law. If you’re aged 15 in the country, you’ll be able to...
Gimme GTA 6 now!
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Borderlands 4 is now out after a six year wait and Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to come out in 2026 after more than a decade. It’s one of the mos...
Is AI the reason graduates can’t get jobs?
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Applying for jobs is TOUGH. First you’ve got to find the adverts and openings, then there’s the mental energy and time required to put in an appli...
Nepal’s Gen Z don’t want #NepoKids or corruption
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Protesters in Nepal were demonstrating against corruption, nepotism, and a social media ban which they said limited their freedom of speech. But the p...
Why was Charlie Kirk such a big deal for young Americans?
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Wednesday 10 September Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a university campus in Utah. Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist who founded the student ...
When a ‘dating safety’ app goes wrong
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Tea Dating Advice app blew up in the US earlier this year - it let women run background checks on men - to see if they were married, using fake id...
Why is everyone talking about Kim Jong Un’s daughter?
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Ju Ae is reportedly around 13-years-old, but she could be the next leader of North Korea. There is huge speculation about why her father, Kim Jong...
Are we using the wrong world map?
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Mercator projection, a map that’s been around for over 450 years and which most people use, distorts size. It stretches land masses farther from...
Charli XCX Apple dance lawsuit: Can you copyright a dance move?
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok is full of people doing the choreography to Charlie XCX’s Apple dance - as well as many other dances. But can you get in trouble for copying ...
Why do tennis players smash up their rackets?
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve been watching the US Open this year, chances are you’ll have seen that there’s been some drama on the court. There was a heated exchan...
How to REALLY spot a narcissist and can they change?
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Am I a narcissist? Am I dating a narcissist? Is narcissism becoming more common? How do I spot a narcissist? Can narcissists change or be treated? The...
Why are protesters in Indonesia so angry with the government?
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There have been huge protests across Indonesia. They were sparked by cost-of-living concerns and discontent at politician wages and allowances. But af...
How does China control its internet?
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China has one of the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship systems - it’s so extensive that it’s been nicknamed ‘The Great Firewall o...
Kpop Demon Hunters is slaying charts and monsters
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The animated movie Kpop Demon Hunters is topping nearly every chart. Netflix says it’s become its most watched movie ever, and its songs are some of...
The Russian job scheme targeting young women in South Africa
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
South Africa’s government is warning young women not to fall for social media recruitment drives promoting job opportunities abroad. That’s after ...
What’s the ‘manosphere’ and why is it harmful?
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Toxic masculinity can be seen online - and IRL. Chads, Alphas and Stacys are some terms that are used in an online space known as the ‘manosphere’...
How did a meteorite from Mars end up at auction in New York?
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A chunk of the planet Mars - the largest ever found on Earth - recently sold for $4.3 million at Sotheby’s auction house in New York City. A meteori...
How TikTok and streaming changed pop music
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a question artists have been racking their brains over for years: how long is the perfect pop song? The rise of streaming platforms meant that ...
Dead white people’s clothes: How Ghana is dealing with its textile waste crisis
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ghana has been described as the fashion industry’s dumping ground. Around 15 million second-hand garments arrive every week, making Ghana the world’...
ID please! Why the UK is checking your age online
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, if you want to watch pornography or see content on sites like X, Reddit and Discord that is deemed only suitable for people over 18 years o...
Why fake weddings are India’s latest party trend
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The big fat 'fake' Indian wedding is social media’s latest party trend. Fake wedding parties have taken the world and social media by storm with peo...
Why the world is divided on plastic pollution
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Life is full of plastic, but it’s not always fantastic. We know that plastic is super useful: it helps keep food fresh and lets medicines, like vacc...
Why only Russians are allowed to holiday in North Korea
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
North Korea is one of the world’s most secretive nations. For years it’s been almost entirely closed to foreign visitors (apart from a few highly-...
Meet Ghana's first female world boxing champion Abigail Kwartekaa Quartey
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, is famous for producing boxing world champions like Azumah Nelson. However, it wasn't until last year that a female boxer b...