Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Swimming against depression

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

We hear from a Ukrainian refugee who says cold water swimming has helped her tackle depression and keep moving forward. Also: making fuel from washed up seaweed; how a community rescued a pod of whales; and driving rats.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. You are actually radioactive and everything alive is unexpected elements from the BBC World Service. Search for unexpected elements wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Hello, I'm Maurizio Pirri. Hello, I'm Maurizio Pirri and when I wish to hear positive news, I'm listening to the Epipod from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in this edition, I feel brave, crazy and I feel, you know, excited inside. It's hell. The Ukrainian refugee using cold water swimming to tackle depression. Also turning an eyesore into a sustainable fuel.

On a bad day in Barbados, enough sargassum washes up on the beach to power all the energy in Italy country for one month. How a community came together to rescue a pod of whales. We've had really awesome response from the community. Thousands of people have come down to help. It was great to see that unity. And driving rats. Yes, rats can drive. And they enjoy it.

and they enjoy it. As the Russia-Ukraine war continues, nearly 7 million Ukrainians are now living abroad, with many refugees seeking help for mental health issues like depression, anxiety and PTSD. Svitlana Sakno, a young mother from the city of Odessa, was diagnosed with depression in Ireland, where she now lives with her family. Her doctor recommended an unusual therapy – swimming in the cold Irish sea. Now a convert, she wants to motivate other refugees to try it.

Cold swimming in the sea, it's not to solve my problems, you know, it's not finish war or come back my friends or come back my home, but it's help me keep moving, you know, help me keep moving. I'm Svetlana and I flew from war from Ukraine to Ireland to more safety place. I was in the city of Odessa when it started, you know, it was shock. Loud explosions have been now heard in Ukraine and lots of different cities as the Russian assault has begun. And we decided to go, to go abroad. I'm the small child and I'm breastfeeding her all the time. We find some job for my husband in Ireland.

I stay alone in this hotel room. In TV always war in Ukraine. I keep going because my child, my doctor in Ireland, she prescribed me antidepressants and she recommended me swimming in cold water sea. And I saw people do it. They always go out from water like heroes and it's like really powerful, very brave to go to cold water. And we was one day on the beach and I just have swimming suit with me,

I don't know why, and I just wear and go. Oh my God, it was like shock. I cannot believe I do it. And my husband, my daughter, looking at me and shocked. I start September and then I decided to do every week. So like routine. The coldest water I ever swim, it was three degrees Celsius.

It was really freezing and inside my body was like pain and then it's warm warm warm warm warm and I feel powerful and it's even give me energy. I have some Instagram page to do some video. I just try to show people how I fight with depression, try to keep moving. My parents, they didn't know. They see this video and they cannot believe it's me, you know. I feel brave, crazy. I do it for my body and I feel, you know, excited inside. It's help. I don't know how it's working, but it's working, you know.

Svetlana Sakno, talking to Anya Dorodako. Now to a project that's turned an eyesore into an asset. Huge swathes of the invasive seaweed sargassum wash up on beaches across the Caribbean every year, posing a risk to people and animals like hawk's head turtles and damaging tourism. In Barbados it's even been declared a national emergency. But now a group of environmentalists and scientists on the island have found a way to turn it into fuel for cars and generating electricity. I spoke to biologist Sharmika Spencer and Dr LaGina Henry, who founded the project.

On a bad day in Barbados, more than 800 dump trucks of sargassum can wash up on shorelines and this affects the coastal ecosystems. We've had events of turtles dying. So it washes up, it spoils the beaches and as I understand it, it stinks. Not only does it stink but, Shemeika, I guess you can speak about the health issues around the hydrogen sulphide. It releases hydrogen sulphide and ammonia gases as it decomposes. And this has been linked to pre-cancer in mothers. It causes their blood pressure to be elevated during pregnancy and it has also caused presence to be rushed to the emergency room because

it has been linked to neurological and even respiratory issues. Because Shamika, you've been doing all sorts of experiments in the laboratory on this stuff. You're not impressed with it to begin with, but you've now found it might have its uses. So it was very heartwarming to see that the researcher I did in the lab could fuel a vehicle in real time. So I conducted on the first go about 400 experiments where I did variant ratios of slag as some seaweed and rum distillery waste water, measured the volumes of biogas that are produced. What do you think could be done with this?

So it could be used to fuel vehicles. The digestate could be used as fertilizer and even generate electricity and the electricity could be used in houses and sun and the gas could be used to cook on as well. So there's a lot of different uses. On a bad day in Barbados enough sargassum washes up on the beach to power all the energy needs of the country for one month. So there's definitely enough sargassum to generate significant amounts of the energy needs on this island. And there's no downsides to this. I mean, we're sort of trying to move away from burning fuel. Are there climate change worries about this or is it completely green? So we looked at it from a sustainability standpoint and I think we've kept that at the nexus of the solution. How

do you approach it sustainably? And so we don't believe you have to harvest all the sargathum in the ocean. Sargathum is like a floating rainforest. There's a whole biological ecosystem around it, but also it does extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So it's great to suddenly have this offshore floating rainforest in the Caribbean Sea. Wonderful. But the problem is when some moths arrive on the coastline and that's harmful. So what we want is to divert the moths that are heading to the coastline and put those in a biodigester. You both must be delighted with what you've done here. I was wondering how could we actually solve this problem? I was wondering when the maps would stop arriving,

but I realized maybe they would not stop coming. Also, they were coming because of climate change and global warming events. I was delighted to actually start working on this project and figuring out ways to even stop the maps from going to landfills where they're still releasing the gases and where it could be used in a sustainable solution and I also love seeing my results being used in a practical way so that's also very heartwarming for me. The exciting thing is when you think of all the problems that this solution is solving it's like a win-win-win-win-win. As a scientist, it's great to see the work that you do result in outcomes that are positive in so many ways.

In New Zealand, some Maori tribes see Wales as the descendants of the ocean god Tangaroa. But dozens of these beautiful creatures get stranded every single year, especially off the North Ireland coastline. Last week a community from Fongarei banded together for a rescue mission off Ruakaka beach, guiding more than 30 pilot whales back to the sea. Lule Hassan reports.

They came out in their hundreds. Conservation workers using sheets to transport the whales back into the water in a rescue mission spearheaded by Patuharikiki, the area's local Maori group. Members of the indigenous group remained on the beach through the night to make sure none of the whales were re-stranded. Dave Milner is part of the Patuharakiki Tiwi Trust. He says it really bonded the community together. We've had a really awesome response from the community. Thousands of people have come

down to help and it was great to see that unity for the same purpose. Whales getting stranded in New Zealand is nothing new. There were more than 80 incidents reported last year alone. Joel Lauterbach is from the country's Department of Conservation. So these four stranded yesterday afternoon between 4.30 and 5.36 o'clock and there was an amazing response from the community here and led by Patuharakeke and that response led to, well, you know, obviously the sad outcome of these four passing away on the beach. However, the rest of the pod actually was able to get back out to sea. The indigenous Māori New Zealanders consider whales a taonga,

a sacred treasure of cultural significance to their community. The group held a ceremony for the three adult whales and one calf that also died. Rescue teams remained vigilant and continued to monitor waters for any more whales that might be at risk. Not only are they mourning a tragic loss, but they are celebrating a beautiful creature that is as much a New Zealander as they are. Lule Hassan.

The Zambian player Barbara Banda has won a public vote to be named as the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2024. The 24-year-old scored four goals for her country at the Paris Olympics, becoming the leading African goalscorer in Olympic history with ten. She's also won the US National Women's Soccer League's Most Valuable Player of the Year award after joining Orlando Pride in March. The BBC's Maz Faroukhi went to the club to surprise her with a trophy. Barbara. Good morning everyone.

Hello Barbara. Sorry to interrupt your team meeting everyone but Barbara we just wanted to deliver a special award for you. You are the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2012. Congratulations! 2020. Guys, I think I'm just dedicating this award to every one of you guys who has been there for me. I have nothing much to say. Thank you so much. I appreciate your support. Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate your support. Thank you. Applause Here she comes again. Banda, Swerve, shoots, tallies.

A star is born in Orlando. I'm still surprised and shocked to have this award right by my side, but I think at some other point I deserve it because I've been consistent, I've been working so hard and people have been pushing me, more especially like I said here, the club has been pushing the teammates, they've been pushing so hard for me to be where I am right now and to have this trophy. So in the 10 years since we launched the award, has's only ever been one other African winner. That was Assa Satla Swala back in 2015. Now you are the winner in 2024. How does it feel to sort of be alongside someone who has been such an icon for African football? Well, I think it's great. I think Oshuwara has won a couple of awards. I give much respect

to her because she has done a lot that I haven't done. So for me winning this award at this moment, I think there's always a time for everything. So I guess it's my time and I appreciate it. Tell us a little bit more about Paris. What is it about Olympics at Barbara Banda that is such a good fit? It was so important for me that I had to score another at-trick in Paris. My aim always is to score because I love scoring. Marta delivers, this one to the back post, it comes in the middle, Banda scores!

Who can stop her at the moment? I love Zambia and definitely I'm typical Zambian so it's very important to represent my country at large and just wearing on that t-shirt means a lot to me, to Mother Zambia and everyone, all those youngsters that are coming up, a lot of young girls and boys looking up to me so it's very important for me even to show good character to them. Growing up in Zambia has never been easy, you know. More especially as a girl child, it's so difficult for us to get into sport like football. I was playing with young boys and my mum was not in support of it, but she came the time

to understand to say when women's football started being recognised in Zambia, that's when she came to understand and just to let me do what I love doing most. Your father was a huge positive influence on you, really loved you playing football. I know he passed away years ago, but you said recently, I still remember him and everything I do. And I wonder what he would think about this moment with us sitting here with you with that trade spirit. Everything that I do, I did get everything to him because I'm sure if he was here, he was going to be a proud father for me because he really supported me in all ways.

Even like when my mom want to put up a fight over me because of football shoe, he will stand for me. So whatever I'm getting, it's all up to him. Orlando trying to get ahead here in the late moments. Banda! The Banda Wagon comes out to strike late. My message to the fans is to say thank you so much for the support that you've given to me. Thank you so much and thank you for joining Banda Wagon. and thank you for joining Banda Warden. CHEERING MUSIC Zambian football star Barbara Banda, still to come.

When I retire now, then I think it's good to keep clean and tidy. When it's nice and clean, they make me happy. How one woman is making her neighbourhood better for everyone. What are people around the world doing to help tackle the climate emergency? Climate shocks that we are experiencing. Trouts, floods, decimated agriculture and so on. The climate question from the BBC World Service looks for answers to those challenges posed by climate change.

How can we solve this? It's all being discussed. We only hear the bad stuff in the news, don't we? And there's loads of quiet progress. Reasons to be hopeful. Solutions exist. We just need to be able to implement them at scale. The climate question. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Many of us have animals that we like to teach tricks to. Often it's something like sit, stay, fetch. But scientists at the University of Richmond in Virginia have taken it a step further. They've taught rats how to drive and their research suggests that the animals actually enjoy it. Dr Kelly Lambert is Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience and spoke to the Happy Pods Rebecca Wood. You need a treat, an incentive, something for the animals to work for and they love

Froot Loops cereal pieces. It's not, they also have a nutritious diet in their cages but so they're very motivated, they're very food motivated and then you start to shape their behaviour, require them to approach the car and give them a reward and then get in the car and give them a reward and then approach the steering mechanism dashboard, give them a reward and then get in the car and give them a reward and then approach the steering mechanism dashboard give them a reward and then activate the steering so you get and just require more of them as we're shaping and then eventually they'll jump in the car and drive down the arena to the fruit load tree what we as we call it. Is it possible to be able to tell whether they enjoy driving?

So before the rats could only drive to this fruit loop tree. They were put in the car. They couldn't jump out and run to it. But I we train the animals so that they could walk on Paul on foot to the fruit loop tree and they could get their rewards then. So then the test, preliminary test with our driving animals, was to put the animal in the middle of the arena where they could easily walk and get all the rewards they wanted or they

could backtrack and jump in the car and drive. And so we had three of these trained animals and two turned around, saw the car, walked very quickly, kind of like a little rat run, a little leap, and jumped in the car to drive. So they went out of their way to drive, which suggested that they preferred that method, that mode of transportation. I have to say, I've had a little mouse who's taken up residence in my house in the last week. Just picturing him speeding around a little vehicle makes me feel a little bit fonder of him. I know people are a little mixed about how they feel about the complex complex abilities of these animals. So what was it that you actually set out to achieve from this experiment? My lab we we look at experience-based

neuroplasticity and this is just simply how our brains change as I tell my students from the womb to the tomb, makes us all accountable for how we treat our brains. So the physical environment, the social environment, how we interact, our experiences with the environment and each other, all of that changes our brain and sculpts our brains so that we're ready for the next challenge.

So this was a very complex challenge we thought would be fun, interesting, and engaging to teach the rats. It was during the pandemic when I think most of us had kind of a low mood, we're socially isolated, and the students had all gone home. So we were taking turns,

a few of us going in to check the animals because when you have animals in your lab, that's, they need to be checked every day. So when I went in the these were the animals that had been trained to drive but they weren't driving a lot because it was a pandemic no one was doing what they wanted to do but they approached the side of the cage when I walked in they were climbing up and down like my dog jumps up and down when I ask him maybe wants to go for a walk they were reaching out they seemed excited to see me and I was excited to see them during the pandemic. And it made me think, goodness,

this seems to certainly be the embodiment of a positive emotion. And I'd spent most of my career, as is the case for many of my colleagues in this field, we focus a lot on the negative emotions, stress, trauma, fear, anxiety, and that's incredibly important to understand. But a lot less attention has been focused on these positive emotions. And I don't think we've, we think that there is important, they're kind of fluff or icing on the cake. But this is, at that point, I wanted to shift and look more at positive emotions. Do you think you could teach other animals to drive as well? Or is it just rats for you?

If an animal is food motivated and you can create a vehicle that their bodies can respond to, absolutely, absolutely. I think that we would be surprised that probably the mouse in your house could learn to drive a car. I don't know. I don't know of a frog. But you know, if they're hungry enough, they could probably do this. I think we need to respect these other animal brains a little bit more. Dr Kelly Lambert. Music festivals may once have been dominated by younger people. But Rod Stewart is hoping to prove that you're never too old to be the headline act. The star will perform at one of the world's biggest

festivals, Glastonbury, in England next summer, taking the coveted legend slot at the age of 80. Here's our entertainment correspondent, Mark Savage. entertainment correspondent Mark Savage. The last time Rod Stewart played at Glastonbury it was 2002 and the star won over the crowd with a set of ageless classics that included hits like Maggie Mae, Stay With Me and The First Cut Is The Deepest, as well as A Spot of Football. It's Rod Stewart and Maggie May, do you remember it? By that stage, Rod had already been performing for 40 years. To date, he's sold more than 250 million albums and singles. Wake up Maggie, I think I've got something to say to you

Not that we can't go for a rehearsal. I mean, the boys thought we'd come and do it ourselves. In recent years, he's become something of an activist, filling in potholes near his home in Essex, and paying for MRI scans to help cut NHS waiting lists. I'm in a privileged position. I've, you know, I've earned my money and I want to help people. When he returns to Glastonbury next June, he will be 80 years old. The star recently announced plans to step back from large-scale touring, but in a statement, he said he was ready and able

to play the pyramid stage next summer. Friends, thank you very, very much. Time for some news in brief. Paris' famous Notre Dame Cathedral has been revealed to the public for the first time since the devastating fire five and a half years ago. It's been completely repaired and renovated and years of soot were cleaned up, giving the space a brand new look. The French president Emmanuel Macron toured the Gothic Cathedral live on TV. He praised workers for achieving the impossible.

The planet was turned upside down on that famous day in April. The shock of the reopening will be, I believe, as strong as the shock of the fire. But it will be a shock of hope. And that's because of all the work that you've done. You did your alchemy here on this site to turn charred coals into art. The fire of Notre Dame was a national wound and you were its remedy. And last month brought good news for the critically endangered bird, the Great Indian Bustard. For the first time, a chick bred through artificial insemination was hatched successfully.

It was done by wildlife officials in the western state of Rajasthan who say it opens up the possibility of creating a sperm bank for the species. Habitat loss, poaching and collisions with overhead power lines have reduced the number of great Indian bustards to around 150. In common with many cities around the world, London has a big problem with litter. At this time of the year assorted rubbish swirls around in the wind with the fallen leaves of autumn making otherwise pleasant neighbourhoods look unkempt and dishevelled. But Shakespeare Road in the south of the city is a notable exception thanks to the tireless, unpaid work

of Maria Rakita and her trusty broom. I stopped by to ask her why she does it. Because nobody is sweeping. I like it when it's clean. Early morning broken bottle, can, dog poo, people step, melted, it's horrible. It's not nice. How different look that street. People doesn't like sweep. Sometimes the nasty lady she come past my gate, she put hands on the pocket, tiny paper and she spread like this. On purpose? Yeah, on my front gate because it's too clean. I like it when it's clean. I live here 40 years.

When I'm working before, I be executive chef in restaurant in Harrods. When I finish in Harrods, I go to the east South Kensington Polish restaurant. I be chef restaurant. When I Polish restaurant, I'm the chef of the restaurant. When I finish midnight, come back home. When I retire now, then I think it's good, keep clean and tidy. It's good exercise for my hands, because I've got rheumatoid arthritis over 20 few years.

I can't walk, can't do nothing like this. And that is the not heavy job, and it make me happy when it's clean. And I think it's good for the people when they're walking, not step for the dog poo and the broken bottle because it's very dangerous. And there's a school on this street? Yes. Do the kids see you doing this? Do they talk to you? Yes. Sometimes the nice bunch of flowers, the one

girl she bring me one rose, this bunch is nice and she say Maria that is for you because always when I walk it's nice and clean. Do you think the council should be paying you for this? No, I'm do free for them. The council not pay me. I do free. What's your happiest day doing this? When it's nice and clean. I'm happy. Every time? Yes, when I just open my eyes, go outside to my front street and see it's dirty. I'm confused. It's horrible. Then I start sweeping. Sometimes I'm sweeping a little bit too far when my daughter not see me because she tell mommy you crazy. You sweeping just your side and left the rest. I tell when I left my rest the wind come blow again to me. Then always meter by meter, rifts by rifts. I sometimes go a little bit

too far. When I feel tired, go take rest and start again. When the wind not blow, it's OK. When it is the wind, you can sweeping. When it's nice and clean, they make me happy. Maria Roqueta, and if you know any unsung heroes that made things better for people where you live, we'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address for emails or voice notes is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk And that's all from the HappyPod for now. This edition was mixed by Craig Kingham and the producers were Holly Gibbs, Rachel Bulkley and Lul Hassan. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritzen. Until next time, goodbye. Science is done by people who constantly expect the unexpected.

That thing that we couldn't figure out, we figured it out. But now you're like, OK, this is like a whole other can of worms. Unexpected Elements brings you the most unexpected bits. At the origin of the lightning discharge, we have a temperature which is even higher than the surface of the sun. Unexpected elements from the BBC World Service. It's not Jurassic Park, is it? It's Cretaceous Park.

All of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park came from the Cretaceous period. Search for unexpected elements wherever you get your BBC podcasts.