The Documentary Podcast Folgen

Forty years ago, an iceberg broke away from the Antarctic ice shelf. But this was no ordinary iceberg. A colossal chunk of ice which covered an area twice the size of London, it was as deep as the Empire State building is high and it weighed a trillion tonnes. For nearly four decades A23a was the world’s largest iceberg. Glaciologist Dr. Catherine Walker tells the story of A23a from its origins, its ice being laid down deep in the Antarctic over millennia, through to its final chapter - shrinking, melting and feeding the ocean from which it came. Catherine talks to glaciologists who study the vast cracks which propagate across the Antarctic ice shelf and to scientists who have seen A23a up close and followed its journey and its impact as it released a trillion tonnes of fresh water and nutrients into the marine environment.

Presenter Becky Green lost one of her twins to sepsis in 2018. It is a condition that, according to the World Health Organization, is implicated in one in five deaths worldwide - more than bowel, prostate and lung cancer combined. Sepsis can begin as a simple infection and escalate within hours, overwhelming the body and causing organ failure. It is a race against time that too often goes unrecognised until it is too late. But around the world, that is starting to change. Becky speaks to Dr Kissoon of the Global Sepsis Alliance about how our understanding of sepsis has changed. In Malawi and Uganda, she meets the team behind the APT Sepsis programme. By educating healthcare workers on hand hygiene, infection prevention and early detection they have cut maternal deaths and severe infections from sepsis by 32%. In Madrid, Dr Rosa Mendez explains how a hospital-wide "sepsis code" - mirroring fast-track protocols for heart attacks and strokes - has brought sepsis mortality down from 24% to 17%. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from People Fixing the World, looking at people and projects trying to make the world a better place.

AI cameras, drones, licence plate readers, sound detection, Flock - the United States is monitored through a growing, high-tech, and increasingly interconnected surveillance network. In some cities, like Houston, Texas, the true extent of this system is a secret. Law enforcement says this is all for public safety - to prevent crime and assist investigations. Critics think it is an invasion of privacy, open to misuse, and a sneaky tool aiding ICE in President Trump’s deportation drive. One company is bearing the brunt of the backlash: Flock Safety. Its network of AI-powered licence plate readers spans over 6000 communities, generating 20 billion vehicle scans a month. Vigilantes have been cutting down Flock devices. Social media is full of tips on how to obstruct or disable the cameras. Ellie House is in Houston, Texas, to investigate the surveillance network authorities do not want you to know about. She sees how Flock has been used by police to fight crime, gets inside the anti-surveillance techlash, and she sits down with Flock CEO Garrett Langley in his Atlanta HQ. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Assignment.