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Tech Life

Tech Life

BBC World Service · BBC

362 episodesEN

Show overview

Tech Life has been publishing since 2019, and across the 7 years since has built a catalogue of 362 episodes. That works out to roughly 150 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.

Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 23 min and 26 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.

The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 6 days ago, with 26 episodes already out so far this year. Published by BBC.

Episodes
362
Running
2019–2026 · 7y
Median length
26 min
Cadence
Weekly

From the publisher

Tech Life discovers and explains the ways technology is changing our lives, wherever we are in the world. We meet the people with bright ideas for rethinking the way we work, learn and play, and get hands-on with the products they dream up. We hold tech giants to account for their huge power to affect our lives, and ask who wins, and who loses, in the technology transformation. Tech Life is your guide to a future being made, and remade, at lightning speed in front of our eyes.

Latest Episodes

View all 362 episodes

Viva technology!

Jun 23, 202626 min

ChatGPT prompt generates disturbing images

Jun 16, 202626 min

Tackling lithium battery fires on planes

Jun 9, 202626 min

Microsoft's big quantum bet

Jun 2, 202626 min

Teaching in the AI world

May 26, 202626 min

Myth or Mythos - is the AI cyber threat real?

May 19, 202626 min

The AI pothole hunter

May 12, 202626 min

Could this tech help millions of us sleep better?

May 5, 202626 min

The workers in the engine room of big tech

Apr 28, 202626 min

A hologram to remember: Pam and Bill’s love story

Apr 21, 202626 min

Sharing the road with driverless cars

Apr 14, 202626 min

The problem with AI

Apr 7, 202626 min

Putting polluters in court

Climate change is making devastating extreme weather more common. Tech Life's Yasmin Morgan-Griffiths explores the science that could help communities take polluters to court.Also this week: we look at whether the boom in AI is causing a boom in electronic waste. And as astronauts head back to the Moon, we meet a veteran NASA space robot that's on a mission to return home.Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn(Photo: Smoke billows from a chimney at a coal-fired power station in Eastern Europe. The light of the sun is obscured by the dense dark smoke clouds. Credit: Reuters)

Mar 31, 202626 min

Recommending: 13 Minutes Presents Artemis II

Humans are returning to the Moon - hear all about it on the BBC’s space podcast. 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is following Nasa’s mission to loop around the Moon, with a new episode every day. Starts on Monday 30 March 2026. Search for 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Follow or subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode. Nasa plans to return to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century. Its Artemis II mission aims to send four astronauts to loop around the Moon. They are planning to go further from Earth than any human in history. The story of Artemis II will be told by space scientist, Maggie Aderin and British astronaut, Tim Peake, with regular guest, US space journalist Kristin Fisher. 13 Minutes is the BBC’s space podcast, telling epic space stories, including the first Moon landing, Apollo 13 and the space shuttle. Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.

Mar 30, 20264 min

How will AI help my doctor?

We discuss how AI could help health professionals work better, detect diseases earlier and even change the way people around the world look after themselves. Also this week: Shiona McCallum interviews a businesswoman who is trying to make female health tech more accessible and affordable. And we have a good news story that originated on the darker side of the internet.Presenter: Shiona McCallum Producer: Tom Quinn(Image: A photo of a female doctor sitting at a desk in a hospital lab. She is using AI technology on a laptop computer. Credit: Getty Images)

Mar 24, 202626 min

Screen time ‘rewiring our brains’

We dig through the evidence on the effect of screen time on babies and young children, with the help of some parents and experts. And after hearing our story of a woman who got her voice back with the help of AI, a listener got in touch to tell us his own moving story of hearing his father’s voice for the first time in 50 years.Producers: Imran Rahman-Jones and Vuyelo Ndlovu Presenter: Shiona McCallum(Image: A baby holds a smartphone, looking at the screen while lying in bed. Credit: Getty Images.)

Mar 17, 202626 min

I pretend to be OnlyFans models online

Behind some OnlyFans models making money from chatting to paying subscribers is the unseen human labour people who pretend to be the models and chat on their behalf. We speak to a woman in the Philippines about her jobs as a “chatter’. Also on the programme, scientists using AI to help advance their research. And the White House has been cutting real footage from the war with Iran with clips from video games. We analyse their strategy.Presenter: Shiona McCallum Producer: Imran Rahman-Jones

Mar 10, 202626 min

Quantum computers are coming - do we need ethical guidelines?

Quantum computing promises revolutionary new discoveries. But tech revolutions can be messy. Is now the time to start thinking about how we ethically use quantum machines?Also, we find out how glass can be turned into useful data storage that will last for thousands of years. And what can science fiction tell us about our spacefaring future? Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn(Photo: An image of a quantum computer inside a high-tech facility. The computer has metallic silver and gold-coloured tubing to assist in cooling. Credit: Getty Images)

Mar 3, 202626 min

Hearing my voice again totally blew my mind

AI tech is giving people their lost voices back. We chat to Yvonne Johnson, who has motor neuron disease. She's lost much of her ability to speak. But artificial intelligence is helping Yvonne to be heard again, with her own voice.Also this week: we discuss AI and the price of memory chips with a big computer manufacturer. And video gaming is booming in Africa.Presenter: Shiona McCallum Producer: Tom Quinn(Image: A photo of Yvonne Johnson. She is smiling directly at the camera. Credit: Portrait Of A Voice.)

Feb 24, 202626 min

Engaging chatbots

We chat to NVIDIA about AI chat and how to make it sound more human. Explore making and breaking an emotional connection with AI. And new tech is helping stroke survivors.Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn(Photo: A digital screen shows an icon of a chatbot with text inviting users to ask it anything and a finger pressing on the screen. Credit: Getty Images)

Feb 17, 202626 min
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