Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,07 May 2024,26 mins

The mammoth ivory problem

Tech Life

Available for over a year

Customs officers looking for illegally traded elephant ivory face a challenge, because ivory taken from the remains of mammoths is legal. Telling the two apart isn't easy. Now researchers have come up with a new technique using lasers that promises to make ivory identification easier. We speak to two experts involved in the project. Also on Tech Life this week, "The chatbot will see you now". People are more willing to discuss personal health matters with artificial intelligence than real medics. Hear about a community-based solution to the problem of e-waste. And how do you detect crumbling concrete in buildings ? Shiona McCallum reports on a tech solution. Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn (Photo: An illustration of a woolly mammoth. Credit: Leonello Calvetti/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

Programme Website
More episodes