National Year of Reading and retro tech

South African lawyer Navi Pillay has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her work on human rights and international law, and Bex, Eve and Dan talk through her life’s work, from defending people who fought against apartheid to six years as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and how she found out she’d won at the same time as everyone else. There’s also the Atlantic puffin, barn owl, buff-tailed bumblebee and hedgehog being picked by the public for the next Bank of England banknotes, a pool party in Nevada crashed by 296 puppies for Real or Rubbish, a 150-year-old “bendy” wych elm in County Down crowned UK Tree of the Year as hero of the week, and a big debate on whether more data centres should be built. Plus what joy means to the team for The Week Junior’s Christmas cover competition, Stevie from Science+Nature with a spooky quiz on tarsiers and glowing scorpions and a call for your questions about time for Jim Al-Khalili, home-sewn trousers for a teddy bear and a reader in a vintage tram in Milan from the inbox, Girl with a Sabretooth Tiger by Jasbinder Bilan as Book of the Week, and your chance to win a copy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The WWF’s new Living Planet Report is called The Science of Hope, and Bex, Eve and Stevie talk through what it found, including wild tiger numbers rising by more than 70% since 2010, and what we can all do to help nature recover. There’s also Dutch porridge maker Gina Saarberg winning the Golden Spurtle in the Highlands, a government investigation into why the UK keeps flopping at Eurovision for Real or Rubbish, a tiny chihuahua called Comando joining Mexico’s National Guard as hero of the week, and a big debate on whether it’s okay to boo sports stars. Plus Week Junior editor Vanessa on the hunt for the magazine’s first ever Word of the Year, a very human-looking carrot and a papier-mâché bowl from the inbox, The Week Junior Real or Rubbish? as Book of the Week, and your chance to win a copy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was The Week Junior Book Awards this week, and Bex, Eve and Stevie talk through the big night, including Jack Mackay’s spooky story Gloam winning two trophies and the books they each helped to judge. There’s also new shoots sprouting from the stump of the Sycamore Gap tree, a hotel shaped like a Poké Ball for Real or Rubbish, a BAFTA Young Presenter as hero of the week, and a big debate on whether pets should have birthday celebrations. Plus Dan from Science+Nature on the Dream Machines competition to design the car of the future, a conker family and a seagull postbox topper from the inbox, Half-Asleep Chris’s The Unordinary Book of Ideas as Book of the Week, and your chance to win a copy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, as part of the Be Hope Podcast Takeover, we talk to guerilla gardener and nature rights campaigner Kalpana Arias about her work and what makes her feel hopeful. We also talk about new social media rules in the EU, a scheme to encourage more people to read in Singapore, and whether e-scooters should be banned. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The boss of AI company Anthropic has said that powerful artificial intelligence should be developed more slowly and checked more closely, and Bex, Eve and Dan talk through why more than 70 UK politicians are also asking for new rules on AI. There’s also scientists in Switzerland wrapping melting glaciers in blankets of sheep’s wool, a marathon in Canada that may have been too long for Real or Rubbish, some fun facts about the new Shaun the Sheep film, and a big debate on whether dogs should be banned from beaches. Plus editorial assistant Kaye’s last visit to the inbox, Harry Woodgate’s Cinnamon Crumb, Baking Detective: The Great Cake Caper as Book of the Week, and your chance to win a copy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.