A truckload of rubbish enters the ocean every minute. Boyan Slat is on a mission to remove it. He’s the founder of The Ocean Cleanup, one of the organisations ridding the oceans of plastic. But how does so much rubbish end up in the ocean to begin with? Boyan explains. One solution is to stop the flow from polluted rivers. You may have spotted clean-up videos on TikTok, especially in Bali. We speak to local Giri Winckler who is picking up plastic piece by piece. Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenters: Alex Rhodes with Mora Morrison Producer: William Lee Adams Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

Our phones are powered by teeny tiny semi conductors. Taiwan produces over 60% of them. Huawei recently unveiled a phone with a chip made in mainland China. Chris Miller is an expert on this subject. He tells us why the United States is wary of this move. We know our phones have a chip in them, but what’s it made of? And what else is in our phones? They’re built with metals and materials from some of the poorest countries in the world. They’re also designed to be difficult to recycle, leading to lots of technology waste. The BBC’s Science Correspondent, Victoria Gill, explains why our phones are made this way and what their life cycle is. Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes Producers: Emily Horler, Benita Barden and Julia Ross-Roy Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

After nearly five months, Hollywood writers have ended their strike, which brought the American film and TV industry to a halt. The Writers Guild of America said in a statement that union leaders ‘voted unanimously’ in favour of a deal - which some writers have called ‘exceptional’. It’ll now be voted on by union members. Some of the main sticking points included payments for reruns (known as residuals), and AI. The BBC’s Vivienne Nunis talks us through the detail. But the actors’ strike continues. The BBC’s Regan Morris is at the picket line in Los Angeles where she’s been speaking to actors, including stunt performer Max Calder and Frances Fisher from the film Titanic. Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes Producers: William Lee Adams and Mora Morrison Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

There are loads of videos on TikTok of people calling their 20s the loneliest decade. But are they? We speak to Foyin Ogunrombi (@FoyinOG), a content creator from South Africa, who’s been discussing this topic on her podcast. Dr Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist and author of ‘The Defining Decade’, explains what’s happens in our brains, and why we may feel a little haywire. Plus, Dr Laurie Santos from Yale University, and The Happiness Lab Podcast, gives us tips on how to feel more socially connected. Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes Producers: Mora Morrison and Emily Horler Editors: Simon Peeks

Talks about net zero have been getting heated in the UK. It’s after the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was still confident the country would hit net zero by 2050 — despite announcing changes to scale back some of the government’s key green policies. If you're confused about net zero and how to get on track to meet targets, Alex and Jordan Dunbar can help. Jordan is a presenter on The Climate Question podcast. He spells out the basics and helps assess the progress of the world’s biggest polluters — China, the United States and India. Also, NASA scientist Dr Jason Dworkin talks about the Bennu asteroid. The Osiris-Rex space mission left Earth in 2016; it scraped dust and rock from the asteroid three years ago and yesterday the sample landed in a Utah desert. He explains how it might answer some of the questions about life on this planet. . Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes with Jordan Dunbar Producers: William Lee Adams and Benita Barden Editors: Simon Peeks