Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Life-saving rat retires

Episode Date: April 12, 2025

Meet the rat with a life-saving sense of smell. Carolina has correctly identified thousands of cases of Tuberculosis. Also: the Malaria vaccine providing hope in Uganda and, what is the UK tea time alarm?Presenter: Oliver Conway. Music composed by Iona Hampson

This BBC podcast is supported byPod from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and in this edition, you know, she was saving life. She saved a lot of lives. We meet Carolina, the rat who's retiring after using her sense of smell to detect tuberculosis, the new vaccine providing hope in Uganda's fight against malaria. It's estimated that this vaccine rollout will prevent around 800 cases of severe malaria every day.

The man who set a world record for running barefoot on ice. They helped me understand myself more. I wish everybody to have a chance to get connected to ourselves. And... The monkeys that have been crowned the best yodellers in the world. But we begin with a remarkable rodent that saved thousands of human lives. Carolina is a rat who spent years detecting cases of tuberculosis. Local clinics in Tanzania and Ethiopia test for the disease, but the results are not that

accurate. So samples which come up negative are routinely sent to be double checked by rats. Carolina sniffed her way through 200,000 samples, identifying many positive cases. But now she's retiring from her role with the global non-profit Apopo. Harry Bly has the details. This is the sound of sniffing, scuttling, and the soft squeaking of a giant African pouched rat.

These rats at the Apopo Tuberculosis Detection Center in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania can determine whether a person has TB by sniffing a sample of their phlegm and it's all thanks to their exceptional sense of smell. Humans do have up to 400 nerve endings in our nose and dogs do have up to 900, but rats do have up to 1,200. That is why rats are, you know, sleeping even better than dogs. That's Dr Tefera Aghizu, the head of TB at Apopo. Because of just the name rats, many people, you know, easily misunderstand these rats as any other ordinary rats, but these are special rats with special capacity.

To process 100 samples using a microscope, Dr. Agazu says it would take a lab technician up to four days. Rats like Karolina take 20 minutes. Karolina, Karolina, Karolina, Karolina. Karolina is an excellent animal. Karolina likes to be cuddled. She's very, very calm. She's very excited when taking her to work. Fidelis Gali is a training supervisor at Opopo. He trained and worked with Carolina throughout her entire career. So she was like my family when I was working with her.

In her seven years of work, Carolina has successfully detected more than 3,000 positive cases of TB and is thought to have spared around 30,000 other people from infection. But at the age of eight it was time for Karolina to retire. She sniffed 208,235 patient samples. Fidelis and the team threw Karolina a party, celebrating her years of service and many, many lives saved. It was very special. So we prepared banana and avocado and she was grabbing everything that she liked and she was very happy.

It was a party, you know. We prepared a cake, some drinks, so we enjoyed that day. Last year, Carolina and her peers prevented nearly 400,000 new cases in Tanzania and Ethiopia. And across East Africa, the program has raised detection rates 40 B by 40 percent. You know, they are doing an amazing job so we treat them nice nice so that as they live long and she's just resting you know she doesn't work she's resting just eating and sleeping exercising that's all you know she was saving life she saved lives. She saved a lot of lives.

Fidelis Ghali ending that report by Harry Bly. Malaria is a huge problem in Uganda with the entire population of the East African nation at risk of infection. But help is at hand thanks to the world's biggest rollout of a malaria vaccine, which began earlier this month. The new jab has been described as a game changer by health professionals. The Happy Pod's Holly Gibbs found out more from our health correspondent, Dominic Hughes. So the introduction of a malaria vaccine is massive. Many experts say it's the thing that could really change the picture and has the potential to save millions of lives. Uganda has started rolling out a vaccine called the R21 vaccine. It's developed in the UK, produced in India, it's relatively cheap and this Uganda is the

biggest single country rollout so far. It involves three and a half million vaccine doses across 105 districts in Uganda targeting 1.1 million children all under the age of one and it's a huge logistical challenge but the potential benefits are also massive. It's the 19th country actually in Africa to do a rollout, but we've seen nothing on the scale, on this scale before, because Uganda is one of the worst affected countries by malaria. It's got the world's highest malaria incident. So roughly half of the population are affected by malaria. And this programme has been launched in a district

called APAC in northern Uganda and that's reported to have the highest number of mosquito bites per person globally, over 1500 bites per person annually. So you can see this is an area where malaria spread by mosquitoes is going to have a massive impact. And what's the reaction been to this news about the vaccine? It's been greeted, I think, as a really significant milestone in this fight against malaria, not least by Uganda's government. It's estimated that this vaccine rollout will prevent around 800 cases of severe malaria every day. So as well as easing pressure on a stressed healthcare system, it's also going to relieve pressure on family finances through reducing them having to pay

for relatively expensive hospital visits. So potentially there's a huge economic benefit as well. Now the World Health Organisation has played a really big role in trials of this malaria vaccine in Africa and it says this rollout is an historic turning point in Uganda's fight against malaria. It characterises this really as they say it's a bold step to protect its children, save lives and secure a healthier future. Now the vaccine has been described as a game changer so I think it's fair to say there's lots of hope riding on it.

So what's next in getting this vaccine rolled out? So it's targeting children initially in around 105 districts like APAC where malaria infections are highest. Now the R21 malaria vaccine is administered in four doses, right, for children aged at six, seven, eight and eighteen months. Just to remind you the aim is to reach 1.1 million children in those districts across Uganda where malaria is surging. But there are plans then to expand the whole scheme nationwide. So yes, a pretty big logistical challenge but there is the potential there to also have a massive positive impact on the lives of millions of people.

Dominic Hughes talking to Holly Gibbs. Next to a man who's overcome major personal challenges to set a series of world records for barefoot running, driven by a desire to help others. Pavel Durakovich, who was addicted to alcohol, uses the sport to raise money for disadvantaged children. Pavel, who's 46 and from Poland, set a new world record earlier this year, becoming the fastest person to run half a marathon barefoot on ice. He had to battle snowdrifts, arctic winds and temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius to complete the gruelling sea ice race in Sweden.

He's been speaking to Shabnam Yunus Juhl. I did not really prepare running on ice before or running on snow. I mean I run barefoot on all different kinds of terrain and all different kinds of temperature but it's also about breathing, about controlling your mind, about telling your mind what to do, not to your mind to be afraid. You tell your mind what you want it to do and then you complement it with breath. Human nature is impossible. We cannot even comprehend what we can do. For me it's a very nice journey. So why did you decide to take on these challenges then, in particular running barefoot? Okay, so I did three challenges so far, three Guinness World Records. And it is actually

to raise money for the foundation. So we organise camps and we bring people, kids from orphanages, kids in need. So Diamond Soul Foundation, we bring them to Tisdalee from Poland. Most of them, they fly for the first time. Most of them, it's the first time they're in a restaurant having pizza, seeing the sea, having like you know, a decent good food and also learning about emotions, working with the therapist, working with the yoga instructor, working with the breath. So they have a chance to experience something probably incredible for them. But breaking records barefoot is only part of Pavel's story.

Seven years ago, he was contemplating taking his own life because of a long and deep addiction to alcohol. His is a story of recovery and transformation through sport. It's a story of achieving the impossible by an ordinary person who once hit rock bottom. I was 13, like you know, and I didn't know better. All adults were drinking, like you know, I was in a country where heavy drinking was a part of doing business, part of life. Heavy drinking was a part of doing business, part of life. When I got drunk, when I was 13 years old, it was just like a pill for me. Something like to help me to cope with myself. I don't know, to feel better, to feel normal just for a second.

And I was hooked. And I was drinking all my life, almost destroying myself. I'm very grateful. I'm almost 80 years sober now. And with that sobriety, I mean, I can experience life. It's, of course, it's not easy every day. Like we all have our challenges. We all have suffering, which we go through, and it's not going to stop, you know, but you always have a choice how to do it.

I found different ways through breathing, through yoga, through sports, through helping others. We all can choose the better and more healthier. And now, you know, I have a chance to tell those kids that, okay, emotions are okay, like, you know, feeling sad, like, you know, it's okay. Life doesn't look like it is on Instagram and not everybody looks like it's on Instagram. You have to understand that we all suffer and this is normal. And these challenges that you take on, I wonder just how much they help you. Those events and those challenges, they help me understand myself more. I wish everybody to have a chance to get connected to ourselves. I think I was very lost in my life.

to ourselves. I think I was very lost in my life. And, you know, besides the accomplishments, I think the most thing I have got out of it is that I'm a little bit closer to knowing myself, that I know who Pavel is. And I wish this to all of the people and all of the kids. It's a beautiful, but not easy experience. And you can hear more from Pavel and other inspiring athletes on the BBC Sports Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Now don't worry, I won't be attempting it myself, but how good is your yodelling? Yolo, yolo. Well, a study by researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria has found that monkeys could be the best yodellers in the world. Stephanie Zachrisson explains.

When you think of yodelling, you might associate it with the sound of music, the Swiss Alps or the Austrian uplands, but perhaps not with a Bolivian rainforest. But researchers have found that South American monkeys might be the best in the wild at it. They recorded and studied the cause of the primates in a wildlife sanctuary. Now that might not sound that similar to human yodelling, but the researchers say that while human yodellers leap between notes spanning one octave or less, the primates can jump more than three musical octaves at once, enabling them to switch between high and low frequencies remarkably fast. Here's another slow down clip. The research included black and gold howler monkeys, black-capped squirrel monkeys and Peruvian spider monkeys. Dr. Jake Dunn, an associate professor in

evolutionary biology from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, says these primates are able to produce the sounds because they have a vocal membrane, a thin ribbon of tissue in their throat, that humans lost through evolution, which allowed us to develop our way of speaking. Having this ability to be able to have extra things vibrating in their throat increases the complexity. So humans have evolved sort of big brains to be able to make language possible. But we have quite a simple throat with just with vocal folds. Monkeys have kind of come up with this trick to be able to have this additional bit of tissue in their throat

to increase the complexity without the need for a big expensive brain like we have. Now, exactly what the monkeys are saying when they're making these noises isn't clear, but the group of so-called New World monkeys, whose range stretches from Mexico to Argentina, were found to have evolved the largest vocal membranes of all the primates, suggesting that they've developed them out of an important need in their vocabulary. So even though they might not become professional yodellers any time soon, they're able to use their skills to communicate better and ensure they get attention from other monkeys. And still to come on the podcast. When the tea time alarm goes off, genuinely I want to know what you do. I'm so curious about tea time. I need to know the truth.

Is it a real thing? Is it just a big joke on us Americans? So is the UK tea time alarm real? We find out what's behind this viral trend on social media. To Indonesia now, and a project that aims to protect the rainforest and improve the lives of local people at the same time by providing affordable healthcare. The Asri Clinic in Western Borneo offers discounts if everyone in a village agrees to stop chopping down the trees.

Patients can also pay by giving their time or handicrafts, all collecting and nurturing seedlings, which are replanted in areas of deforestation. Ade Mardiyati went along to find out more. The clinic is set in the foothills of the Gunung Palung National Park. It's a small wooden structure covered in colorful flowers and surrounded on all sides by dense tropical rainforests, which is home to wildlife like sunbears, pangolins and orangutans. On a day like today, the clinic sees up to 50 patients coming in with everything from toothache to flu and hypertension.

Today, they're being treated by Dr. Sari, who has recently started working here. I do enjoy my time here because I do help a lot of people. A lot of people before, there were no other health center facility. One of Dr. Sari's patients today is Mat Jais, who is being treated for chest pains. When Ashri visited our village, they told us that they would give a different rate if no logging takes place. I used to work as a logger when I was young, when I was 20 or 22 years old, to cover the cost of living. Nobody in our village cuts down trees anymore.

Especially now that we have Asri Clinic, they come to visit and educate us. So there is no way we would do it again. In total, there are 81 local villages in which Asri monitors whether logging has taken place. And out of these 81 villages, 15 are entitled to the biggest discount, which is 70%. Only three out of the 81 villages don't currently receive any discount at all. Matt is happy he gets a discount for the health care, but I wondered how he felt about others having to pay full price for the same treatment. It's not just people who have contributed to logging themselves who have to pay more. It's actually anyone who

lives in a village where trees have been cut down recently. This is to encourage us to stop lugging, and it is good. We risk things when we cut down trees. For example floods. That is why we were willing to change. I guess if the advice makes sense, we'll take it. It's also important to point out that the clinic doesn't require payment immediately, and nobody is ever turned away if they don't have the money up front.

Patients are also able to pay with whatever they can offer. A few metres from the clinic, Asri are collecting payment in the form of seedlings from another recent visitor to the clinic, 42-year-old Mardalina. Mardalina has been paying for medical treatment for herself and her family in this way for over 10 years. It all began when my daughter was sick

and we went to see a doctor at Asri. And I actually didn't have any money. Mardalina was terrified. Her nine-year-old daughter had an abscess the size of an egg at the back of her neck, and the other local health care options could even be dangerous. In the past, people in small villages like this would go see a witch doctor. When I was feeling sick with a stomach ache or headache,

I was told I was possessed by an evil spirit. Madelina wanted to ensure that her daughter got the very best treatment possible. But when she arrived at the Asri clinic, she wasn't sure whether they would be able to help. The cashier said to me, you can't pay with the seedlings if you don't have cash. So I did. I'm a single mother. So I said to myself, if there was an alternative to cash, I would do it so that my daughter could receive the treatment she needed. Mardalena says that she's collected more than 10,000 seedlings in total from the nearby forest. A steady supply of seedlings means she has credit in the bank anytime either

she or a family member is unwell and needs to visit the clinic. Ade Mardiaty and you can hear more on people fixing the world. A scientific breakthrough has allowed a paralysed woman to turn her thoughts into speech almost instantly. Anne Johnson, who's from Regina in Canada, had a catastrophic stroke in 2005 when she was just 30, leaving her unable to move or talk. She's become the first person to benefit from a brain implant that fluently converts the words she says in her mind into computer-generated speech,

as she thinks them, rather than waiting for complete sentences. It enables her to hold conversations and avoid being interrupted. The system uses a voice generated from old recordings of Anne and sounds like this. My colleague Anna Foster spoke to Gopala Anuman Chappali, an assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who's part of the research team. She was very excited to first hear her own voice in the first place, but now she actually reports being able to volitionally control the speech synthesis, meaning she feels like it's an embodiment of herself. That kind of embodiment

is very important for technology like this to actually be useful for them so that it's like second nature to them to be able to use this. And then of course, you know, the brain has its own mechanisms of learning to use it better, like how you're working with a new gadget. You may not be very good in the first place, but then as you keep using it you get better. How is she able to differentiate between what is said out loud and what stays in her head? Because we've all got this internal dialogue and I think that the speed of it might make people think well how can I stop everything that I think from just just coming out and people hearing it all? How can she switch between the two? As we speak, we have all these stages in converting what we want to say to actually choosing the words to say, and making all the right movements in with our mouth and your lips and the tongue and the jaw, and hearing the sound itself, right. So in someone who is paralyzed, but within that cortical function like Anne here,

she has chosen what to say. She knows the words. She wants to make those movements. And now she's trying to make them, except the pathways that take her neural command to her mouth are now broken down. So that's what we are augmenting, right? So we are really not tapping into her thinking or inner speech or anything just yet. It's the intention to move. And that's a very strong signal, very different from like general thinking. As you said that there was just this moment of enlightenment for me. So actually, the way that she doesn't blurt things out is exactly the same way that we all don't blurt things out. The pattern, the activity in the brain is exactly the same way that we all don't blurt things out. The pattern, the activity in the brain is exactly the same. Yeah, that's exactly right. Can the technology

be replicated at scale? Could this be available to anybody who needs it? So this is an experimental study which is really on exemption to just verify whether this kind of technology for neural implantation would work in someone who is paralysed, right? To that end, this is a research study. But there are still some milestones in making this more mainstream to have it be available with a low power consumption, not be able to be wireless and actually someone can be sent home with. Gopala Anuman Chappali from the University of California, Berkeley. Finally, many of us like a practical joke, but what about when it's a whole country

trying to fool another? Well that's what happened on social media when thousands of British users attempted to convince Americans about the supposed tea time alarm that goes off here every day at four o'clock to let us know it's time for tea. Ella Bicknell takes up the story. It's hardly a secret. Brits love a cup of tea. Whether it be a mug of strong English breakfast or a milky brew of Earl Grey, it's a quintessential part of British culture. So imagine UK-based TikTokers exploiting that stereotype to trick Americans across the pond. My mum's gone out and it's about to be the tea alarm. The tea time alarm's just gone off.

What's up Americans? It's very, very real. We're not joking. The tea time alarm is in fact a thing. Videos show people being caught off guard by a daily alarm, dropping what they're doing whether they be at a football match, on a zip line or even on the London Underground. When making your tea, please mind the drip between the bag and the cup. The trend has gone viral with people finding creative ways to explain the alarm and the fines that supposedly come to those who ignore it. Basically the lamp posts in our streets double up as alarms. If you miss this alarm there is a fine you will get given. I'm not quite sure like how much because I think it depends

on your age and income, I'm pretty sure. And it's safe to say then it's left some Americans quite confused. When the tea time alarm goes off, genuinely I want to know what you do. I'm so curious about tea time alarm goes off. Genuinely, I want to know what you do. I'm so curious about tea time. I need to know the truth. Is it a real thing? Is it just a big joke on us Americans? The trend's even been spurred on by the official TikTok accounts of the UK government and well-known UK brands. This is the UK's official tea time announcement. All airport services will pause temporarily while colleagues enjoy a mandatory tea break.

Yes, it might be a bit of internet nonsense, but it's a clever combination of the British self-deprecating humour and our reputation for strange rules and customs. And we at the BBC are no different. Ah, perfect timing. Anybody want a cuppa? Yes, I better go and stick the kettle on Ella Bicknell there reporting. And that's all from the HappyPod for now, but if you have any cheerful stories for us, email globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk and you can see some of our interviews on YouTube by searching

for the HappyPod. This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons and produced by Holly Gibbs and Harry Bly, our editors Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway, until next time, goodbye. Unless you've been hiding under a very large pixelated rock, you've probably heard of Minecraft. It's the best-selling video game of all time, and the franchise's first feature film is in cinemas now. But how much do you know about the game's creator, software developer Marcus Persson? Find out about the man behind Minecraft on Good, Bad, Billionaire, the podcast exploring

the minds, motives, and money of some of the world's richest individuals. Good, Bad, Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. In the fall of 2001, while Americans were still grappling with the horror of September 11th, envelopes started showing up at media outlets and government buildings filled with a white lethal powder, anthrax. But what's strange is if you ask people now what happened with that story, almost no one knows. It's like the whole thing just disappeared.

Who mailed those letters? Do you know? From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, and CBC podcasts, this is Aftermath, the hunt for the anthrax killer. Available now.