Tech Life BBC World Service

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)

This week we're taking a global look at TikTok, and some of the problems the video sharing platform has been facing. Also on Tech Life, you want to keep in touch with your child, but is there an alternative to giving them a smartphone ? We hear from video gamers in South Africa. And a female tech boss from Brazil shares advice on how others can follow her success.
Presenter: Shiona McCallum
Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: The TikTok logo on a mobile phone screen. Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images)

We're looking at humanoid robots - the ones that look like us. They have arms and legs. But are they really that practical and useful ? And how might they develop in the future ? Also in this edition of Tech Life, you've heard of charging points for electric cars and bikes ? Well, next it's plug-in points for cruise ships ! We learn about Bitcoin halving. And tech is helping farmers in Ghana to grow more crops.
Presenter: Zoe Kleinman
Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: An image of Atlas, the Boston Dynamics robot. Credit: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images, and Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

We dive the ocean depths to find out how you fix undersea cables that keep us online. Also this week, the documentary that's programmed to have fifty two quintillion different versions. If you're planning to watch all of them you'll possibly need a coffee, so we look at the tech behind coffee bean roasters. And how do you enrich the tech lives of lemurs and parrots ? We speak to an expert.
Presenter: Chris Vallance
Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: Illustration of a submarine communications cable. Credit: Christoph Burgstedt/Getty)

This week on Tech Life we are looking at the problem of space junk, the man-made debris hurtling around our planet. Could it threaten some of the everyday tech we all rely on?
Also this week, don't you just hate it when stuff doesn't work? Are internet and social media outages becoming more frequent ?
A doctor in Argentina has created a video game to help calm the nerves of children facing a hospital operation.
And what weighs three tonnes and is the size of a mini-van ? It's the world's largest digital camera.
Presenter: Chris Vallance
Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: A NASA illustration of space debris around Earth. Credit: Nasa/Getty)

The internet plays an important role in most of our lives today. What will it, and other tech, look like in the future ? We take a long view with a veteran of the tech industry. Also on Tech Life this week, some of the biggest social media platforms have been accused of obstructing information on abortion and reproductive healthcare in developing countries. And health tech helps to combat child malnutrition in Africa.
Presenter: Shiona McCallum
Producer: Tom Quinn
(Photo: A photo of a computer taken in 1982. Credit: BBC)