The Happy Pod: How baby showers saved a rare bird

Summary

Global News Podcast Summary: "The Happy Pod: How Baby Showers Saved a Rare Bird"

Release Date: August 9, 2025
Host: Nick Miles
Producer: BBC World Service

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1. Saving the Greater Adjutant Stork in Assam

Timestamp: 01:18 - 06:55

Overview:
The episode opens with an inspiring story from Assam, India, where Purmina Devi Barman took extraordinary measures to save the endangered Greater Adjutant stork, locally known as Hagila. Distressed by the increasing deaths of baby storks due to the destruction of their nesting trees, Purmina initiated a grassroots movement centered around community engagement and cultural integration.

Key Actions:

• Community Events: Purmina organized events such as cooking competitions to educate and involve local women in bird conservation.
• Formation of the Hagila Army: What began with a handful of women has grown into a robust community of over 20,000 women dedicated to protecting the storks.
• Baby Showers for Storks: Unique baby showers are held for newly hatched storks, complete with traditional songs and food, fostering a deep cultural connection and raising awareness.

Impact:

• Population Recovery: The Greater Adjutant numbers have increased tenfold, and the species is no longer deemed endangered in the region.
• Empowerment of Women: The movement has provided financial independence and a sense of purpose to many women, with initiatives like weaving stork-themed products.

Notable Quotes:

• Ella Harbour: "They are very captivating. They have a dangling inflatable gular pouch and their eyes are deep blue. Intense blue. So innocent, so mesmerizing, so unique. They are the most beautiful bird in the world." (02:31)
• David Mitchell: "It's about bringing that kind of wildlife into your culture and seeing how important it is to preserve it." (06:45)

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2. Overcoming Adversity: Julia Bacosi’s Journey on the Aventur Cargo Ship

Timestamp: 07:35 - 11:07

Overview:
Julia Bacosi shares her gripping experience of being stranded on the Aventur cargo ship for over six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Intended as a three-month voyage, the journey extended as global lockdowns took hold, testing the resilience of Julia and her 14 crewmates.

Emotional Journey:

• Initial Reactions: Julia describes stages of denial and eventual acceptance, highlighting the psychological challenges faced during prolonged isolation.
• Maintaining Morale: As the ship's chef, she found joy and connection in preparing meals, which became a source of comfort and community for the crew.

Notable Quotes:

• Ella Harbour (Julia Bacosi): "I have enough resilience and strength within me to transform it into a growing opportunity." (07:39)
• Ella Harbour: "I am very Italian. I'm very fiery. I'm very impulsive. I'm very sensitive. So it was not as smooth, of course, and I've been through all the possible palette of emotions and feelings." (09:22)

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3. Dancing Cockatoos: Avian Grooves and Cognitive Marvels

Timestamp: 12:23 - 23:53

Overview:
Chantal Hartle explores the fascinating phenomenon of dancing cockatoos, expanding on Snowball the cockatoo's iconic dance moves. Recent research at Charles Sturt University uncovered that cockatoos not only mimic human dances but also invent their own unique movements.

Research Findings:

• Diverse Movements: Scientists identified 30 different dance moves across six cockatoo species, including 17 previously undocumented gestures.
• Independent Dance: Experiments showed that cockatoos perform dance moves even without music, indicating intrinsic motivation.
• Cognitive Insights: Experts suggest that dancing may be linked to advanced cognitive and emotional processes or redirected courtship behaviors.

Notable Quotes:

• Chantal Hartle: "Animal behavior experts aren't sure what exactly motivates the birds to dance." (13:55)
• David Mitchell: "So just why did the two packs of chicken smell so different?" (22:41) [Note: This seems to be a transcription error; likely intended for another segment.]

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4. Innovative Baby Showers: Creating a Mini Library

Timestamp: 13:55 - 16:16

Overview:
Abby from Bedfordshire introduces a creative twist to traditional baby showers by requesting guests to gift books instead of conventional presents. This initiative aims to build a diverse library for the child, fostering a love for reading from an early age.

Implementation and Benefits:

• Personalized Collections: Recipients accumulate a wide range of books, from children's stories to adult literature, providing lifelong reading resources.
• Emotional Significance: Gifts like Hilaire Belloc's "Cautionary Tales" carry sentimental value and family history, enriching the child's connection to their heritage.

Notable Quotes:

• Abby: "As part of their culture during these events. Eventually, she built up a group of women who call themselves the Hagila Army." *(Refers to the earlier story; may need correction.)
• Abby: "We invited our friends and family and we asked them to bring a book which had been important to them in their lives as a gift to our children." (14:23)

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5. Cycling Without Age: Restoring Joy to Seniors

Timestamp: 16:06 - 19:03

Overview:
Cycling Without Age is a global initiative that offers bicycle trips to older adults who can no longer ride themselves. Originating in Copenhagen, the program has expanded to over 3,500 locations in 41 countries, providing seniors with the joy and freedom of cycling.

Personal Stories:

• Holly Gibbs: Shares heartfelt interactions, such as a passenger regaining speech after a ride and the emotional connections rekindled through shared experiences.
• Pilot and Passenger Dynamics: The two-person trishore bicycles facilitate meaningful conversations and memorable outings for participants.

Notable Quotes:

• Holly Gibbs: "One passenger told me it was like going on a roller coaster which wasn't unsafe, but I think it just activates those feelings and it's just good for people who are particularly on their own or lonely or in care homes." (16:42)
• Holly Gibbs: "One of our passengers... could see his eyes light up and they had meaning between them, which she didn't have that for a long time." (17:05)

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6. Tackling Food Waste with Smart Packaging

Timestamp: 19:02 - 23:53

Overview:
Max Grell, co-founder and CEO of Black Bear, introduces an innovative solution to reduce global food waste through smart packaging technology. Traditional "best before" dates often lead to unnecessary disposal of edible food, but Black Bear's sensors provide real-time freshness data.

Technology Features:

• Odor Detection: Sensors identify gases like putrescine and ammonia that indicate spoilage.
• Temperature Monitoring: Tracks internal packet temperatures to assess bacterial growth.
• Real-Time Data: Enables precise removal of only spoiled items, conserving the rest.

Demonstration: Max and his team showcase the technology by evaluating two packs of chicken, one acceptable and one spoiled, illustrating the sensor's accuracy in distinguishing food quality.

Impact:

• Waste Reduction: Potential to cut food waste by about one-third for short-life products.
• Future Goals: Aiming to eliminate fixed expiration dates within the next decade.

Notable Quotes:

• Max Grell: "Food should tell you how fresh it is." (19:45)
• Craig Langren: "If you have an extra day shelf life on a short life product like some chicken or some strawberries or a sandwich or something, reduce waste by about a third." (23:30)

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7. The Waiting Room: A Tale of Abandonment and Hope

Timestamp: 24:09 - 27:02

Overview:
The episode concludes with a touching story of Tom, a baby left at a railway station's waiting room in the 1960s by his unmarried mother, reflecting the societal stigma of the time. Adopted shortly after, Tom's life journey inspired a heartfelt folk song featured in BBC Radio 2's 21st Century Folk series.

Creative Process:

• Song Development: Musicians Chris Weil and Julie Matthews collaborated with Tom to craft a narrative that honors both his biological and adoptive mothers.
• Emotional Resonance: The song captures the melancholy of abandonment while celebrating the lasting love from the women who shaped his life.

Impact:

• Personal Healing: For Tom, the song provides a new perspective and emotional closure to his past.
• Broader Message: Highlights the stories of many children who faced similar circumstances, emphasizing resilience and the capacity for love to overcome adversity.

Notable Quotes:

• Abby: "What struck us about Tom's story was that he's only ever been loved by the women in his life." (25:24)
• Tom (Stephanie Prentice): "It was actually a gift. Daniela, Tom's wife, calls it a gift to Tom, but actually Tom's story was a gift to us as writers." (26:16)

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Closing Remarks

Nick Miles wraps up the episode by inviting listeners to share their favorite books for baby gifting and teases upcoming stories, including one about a baby left at a railway station. The episode seamlessly blends heartfelt human stories with innovative solutions to global challenges, embodying the essence of "The Happy Pod."

Production Credits:

• Mixed by: Ben Andrews
• Producers: Holly Gibbs, Harry Bly, Rachel Bulkley
• Editor: Karen Martin

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Contact:
For contributions and feedback, listeners are encouraged to email [e-mail].

Subscribe:
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Transcript

[Nick Miles]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[David Mitchell]

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[Chantal Hartle]

You're hunting for clues in an Agatha Christie mystery.

[David Mitchell]

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[Nick Miles]

Bit awkward, really. I think I might just have solved a murder.

[David Mitchell]

And outrageous.

[Chantal Hartle]

A scandalous true story.

[David Mitchell]

Seems there's a political extremist in every family these days. See it differently when you stream the.

[Kieran Audit]

Best of British TV with BritBox.

[David Mitchell]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[Julia Bacosi]

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[David Mitchell]

Could you be more specific?

[Julia Bacosi]

When it's cravinient.

[Ella Harbour]

Okay.

[Julia Bacosi]

Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at am, pm. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at am, pm.

[David Mitchell]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Julia Bacosi]

Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.

[David Mitchell]

Crave, which is anything from am, pm.

[Julia Bacosi]

What more could you want? Stop by AM pm, where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's Cravenience ampm. Too much good stuff.

[Nick Miles]

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles, and in this edition.

[Ella Harbour]

So innocent, so mesmerizing, so unique. They are the most beautiful bird in the world.

[Nick Miles]

How one woman in India helped save save a rare bird by persuading others to share her passion for them. Also, lessons on overcoming adversity from a woman who spent months trapped on a small boat during the pandemic.

[Ella Harbour]

No matter how challenging it can be in the moment where I am, in that I have enough resilience and strength within me to transform it into a growing opportunity.

[Nick Miles]

Plus helping older people keep enjoying the thrills of cycling.

[Holly Gibbs]

These rides were breaks for her to be able to get out and to feel the air to see around her. It's a breath of fresh air for her, literally.

[Nick Miles]

And the unique dance moves of cockatoos. We start with an unusual and rather amazing idea that's helped save one of India's rarest birds from extinction. Purmina Devi Barman, who lives in Assam, was moved and upset when she saw so many baby Greater adjutant stalks dying when their nests were cut down.

[Ella Harbour]

They are very captivating. They have a dangling inflatable gular pouch and their eyes are deep blue. Intense blue. So innocent, so mesmerizing, so unique. They are the most beautiful bird in the world. And you know, I mean, it I mean, it's so.

[Nick Miles]

Having recently become a mother herself, she decided to draw attention to their plight by doing what many of us do as a celebration for expectant mothers, throw a baby shower for them. The storks, known locally as Hagila, used to be found across India and Cambodia, but became endangered because of the loss of their wetland habitat. Ella Hubba from the BBC Science Unit told me more.

[David Mitchell]

It's a huge bird, so around 150 centimeters tall. That's just 20 centimeters shorter than me. And they have these huge black and white wings which have this massive 250 centimeter wingspan. It's incredible. And then it has this lovely bold pink head. But most strikingly, they have these big pink pouches hanging below their necks and it's actually attached to its nostrils so they can inflate them and swing them around in a mating display. It's apparently pretty incredible sight to see. Were seen as a bad omen and people at Assam would cut down their nesting trees to get them away from the area. And Panima, as a conservationist and also a mother, could not stand to see the baby birds being harmed when the nesting trees were cut down. And so she essentially created this amazing movement to get local people to care about the birds. And, and she tried many things for this, but what she found worked the best was appealing to, to the women around Assam. So she would hold events like cooking competitions where they would compete and she would teach them about the birds and how important they were for the environment and as part of their culture during these events. Eventually she built up a group of women who call themselves the Hagila Army. And this started in the tens of people, but now is over 20,000 women around Assam. And one of my favorite things about the Hugula army is that they hold baby showers for the newly hatched storks. So they do traditional songs and food just as if this were a human baby. And it really brings that bird further into the culture and consciousness of the people of Assam.

[Nick Miles]

They are extraordinary, aren't they? I've seen pictures and videos of women from the Hagila army with stork hats on, with enormous great beaks sticking out in front of them. It's quite a sight, isn't it?

[David Mitchell]

Yeah, it's amazing. They, they will gather in the wetlands with these paper mache hats on and kind of sing songs and celebrate the stork. It's just very like strong community building around this bird.

[Nick Miles]

And you say there have been thousands of people working to try to restore the numbers. What has been the impact over the last few years?

[David Mitchell]

Well, the effects are kind of twofold. The first is, of course, that the numbers of the Greater Adjutant are way up. I think the nesting sites are about tenfold and the bird is no longer considered endangered, which is incredible. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the Hagila army and the greater community no longer cut down the nests. In fact, they've been planting the trees which the storks nest in, and they also help rehabilitate and care for the wetlands. The second massive impact, though, is on the women in the Hagila Army. Many of them have expressed that the army has given them purpose outside of the home lives they may have felt confined to. And actually, Purnima has been able to buy looms for some of the women who have been weaving cloth with stork motifs and then making them into bags and clothes and selling them, which actually gives them some financial independence as well. It's just an all around great demonstration of how impactful like a grassroots movement like this can be.

[Nick Miles]

And with that success, I suppose it just gives a broader understanding for people in many parts of India and beyond about the importance of protecting the natural world.

[David Mitchell]

Absolutely. It's about bringing that kind of wildlife into your culture and seeing how important it is to preserve it.

[Nick Miles]

That was Ella Harbour and you can hear more on this story on Discovery Unstoppable, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Have you ever embarked on a journey that didn't go quite to plan? Julia Bacosi did, along with 14 other crewmates on the Aventur cargo ship. A trip that was only meant to last for three months turned out into more than a six month journey at sea because of the COVID 19 pandemic and lockdowns happening across the world. Julia was the ship's chef and she spoke to the happy pods, Holly Gibbs, about her personal experience and what it was like being stuck on board with her crewmates.

[Ella Harbour]

There was all a bunch of stages that I personally went through. I think the beginning was a bit of denial. I think there was a moment of acceptance to understand that really I had no more control of what I would do. And that was absolutely precious. It was such a precious learning. It was really like putting us into the condition and in the position where millions, if not billions of humans live every day, like their restrictions of movement. So I think that there was a lot of redefining the sense of privilege and understanding that what is absolutely dramatic.

[Kieran Audit]

And tragic, what I find striking, is that you have a really Positive outlook on the situation you were saying there about. It was a precious experience because it's taught you a lot. That's amazing. But did it take you a while to get to that place?

[Ella Harbour]

Absolutely. I think that I had glimpses during the trip, especially during the Atlantic crossing back. But I think that the full realization of how useful, precious, and eye opening and rich this experience has been. Just when I was back on land and after eventually months and years.

[Kieran Audit]

How did you try when you were on the ship to keep your morale high as well as everybody else's?

[Ella Harbour]

I think I was seeking a lot for human connection. There were some people that were absolutely amazing human beings. So the connection between us was really, really powerful.

[Kieran Audit]

I'm so fascinated by the stories that you have, and I'm just purely thinking of myself in that situation. And to put it bluntly, I think I would have gone mad.

[Ella Harbour]

It's easy to talk now, right. Five years afterwards when this is just a memory, I went mad. I mean, I'm not sort of like Zen guru. I'm very Italian. I'm very fiery. I'm very impulsive. I'm very sensitive. So it was not as smooth, of course, and I've been through all the possible palette of emotions and feelings. Like now I, of course, like. It's easy to sound very wise and be here philosophing about all the great ways of dealing with such situations. The reality is that you just do your very best with what you have have going on.

[Kieran Audit]

So let's now talk about you being the chef on the ship. What was your favorite thing to cook?

[Ella Harbour]

Carmilasagne, which is a thing that I came up with. It's a hybrid between a parmigiana and a lasagna. And it was really good to eat, and especially it was really good to see the people highs. When I would say, oh, tonight it's parmila, or people come as asking me, oh, are you making parmila tonight or tomorrow or the day after, or can we have it all week long? I know, it's just like the. The ple. A part of myself that is very happy to serve food that that is gonna make is gonna be a party and people are gonna be happy.

[Kieran Audit]

Well, that was, I guess, part of your job as the cook is to cheer people up through the food that you were serving.

[Ella Harbour]

Yeah, absolutely. And the morale on board of a ship is always quite critical aspect, and very often it casts through food. And I think everybody everywhere in the world can relate.

[Kieran Audit]

And what is the one lesson that the whole experience has taught you that you now carry with you throughout your life.

[Ella Harbour]

I think it's really the trust, the process, because no matter how challenging it can be in the moment where I am in, but that I have enough resilience and tools and strength within me to transform it into a growing opportunity. It doesn't always happen and not always succeed. But I really try to, when I feel absolutely overwhelmed to say okay, to plunge back into that state of mind and say, hey, wait, maybe this is actually a great opportunity for you and just by being so negative.

[Nick Miles]

Julia Bakkersy and if you want to hear more about Julia and the Aventur, just search for lives less ordinary wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Furious headbanging, body bopping and hip thrusting are just a few go to options for an often mischievous member of the parrot family, apparently the bird the cockatoo is not only copying us, but inventing its own moves too, as Chantal Hartle's been finding out.

[Chantal Hartle]

In 2007, this white sulphur crested cockatoo called Snowball gained many fans online after his owner uploaded a video of him dancing to the Backstreet Boys. Animal behavior researchers studied his dancing and identified 14 distinctive movements ranging from headbanging to voguing. Now, almost two decades later, it seems Snowball is not alone in his dancing ability. Scientists at Charles Sturt University in Australia analyzed 45 social media videos of pet cockatoos dancing. They noted a total of 30 different movements, including 17 that had not been documented before. Curious by what they discovered, the team then studied six different species of cockatoo at a nearby zoo. The birds were played either a podcast, a song or no music over a period of 20 minutes. All of them performed dance moves whether there was music playing or not. Some coordinated their head bobbing with foot movements, while others did body rolls. One particularly enthusiastic cockatoo made a total of 257 moves while listening to a 20 minute loop of Avicii's song the Nights Animal behaviour experts aren't sure what exactly motivates the birds to dance. One said it was a sign of well developed cognitive and emotional processes. Another likened some of the dance moves to displays of courtship by wild parrots, suggesting that captive cockatoos may have redirected their courting dance towards their owners.

[Nick Miles]

Chantal Hartle we heard earlier about baby showers for birds, but when it comes to human children, what to buy is a real dilemma for many people. So instead of a shower or a religious ceremony, how about asking well wishers to share their favourite books to help create a mini library. Abby from Bedfordshire here in the United Kingdom spoke to the BBC about the idea.

[Abby]

We invited our friends and family and we asked them to bring a book which had been important to them in their lives as a gift to our children. It didn't have to be the actual book itself, but it could be if they wanted to be. And what happened as a result of that is that they both ended up with this magnificent library of books that range from children's books all the way through to books for adults that they have been able to read and enjoy through their lives. My father in law gave to my son, for example, a copy of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales. That was his own copy when when he was a boy. But the the copy itself is stained with water because he lived on a houseboat when he was a child and in the 1952 floods they were asked to evacuate and grab the things that had been important to them. Something that was important to them. His mother grabbed her wedding dress and he grabbed his copy of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales.

[Nick Miles]

Well, if you've got a favorite book that's meant a huge amount to you, we'd love to hear about it. Send us an email or a voice note to globalpodcastbc.co.uk. coming up in this podcast, finding the joy in the story of a baby left at a railway station.

[Abby]

It was actually a gift. It's funny because Daniela, Tom's wife, calls it a gift to Tom, but actually Tom's story was a gift to us as writer.

[Nick Miles]

The right to wind in your hair. That is the motto of Cycling Without Age, which offers bicycle trips to older people who can no longer ride the bike for themselves. It began in Copenhagen and it's gone global with chapters in three and a half thousand locations across 41 different countries. The specially trained pilots take passengers on slow scenic rides on what they call trishores bicycles with a two person carriage at the front. Kieran Audit, a Cycling Without Age trustee and volunteer in the uk, spoke to my colleague James Kumarasamy.

[Holly Gibbs]

One passenger told me it was like going on a roller coaster which wasn't unsafe, but I think it just activates those feelings and it's just good for people who are particularly on their own or lonely or in care homes and had active lives in the past. And for those people who can talk, there's also that conversation that goes between the pilot and the passenger as well, which is always very interesting.

[Nick Miles]

Tell us about some of those conversations.

[Holly Gibbs]

Well, one family Member spoke about how he spoke his first words in a long time after a ride on a trishore, which was quite touching, personally. I had one of our passengers who was just after lockdown, who was quite an active person going out into town quite often, but when he went on the bike, he was silent for the first 10 minutes, then afterwards he just said, that's a different smell. This smells of spring. And he not smelt spring because he'd been in the home for so long. Like us all, we were all locked down. But the small things in life add so much to their benefit.

[Nick Miles]

I mean, that's remarkable. So someone who hadn't spoken for some time sort of regained the gift of speech.

[Holly Gibbs]

Yes. And that's not unusual because I think also the eyes light up as well for some people who may not necessarily speak. There was one daughter whose father was in her home for some time and she went on a rush and when she came back, she. She could see his eyes light up and they had meaning between them, which she didn't have that for a long time. And when you have someone who has advanced dementia, such as Alzheimer's and things like you, you can lose that connection.

[Nick Miles]

And I hope, hope you don't mind me sharing that you are one of those who. Who has a mother with Alzheimer's and you've taken her on a trishore, haven't you?

[Holly Gibbs]

She got Alzheimer's in late 60s, but she's always been very active. These rides were breaks for her to be able to get out and to feel the air, to see around her. It's a breath of fresh air for her, literally. And it's good to see her come back after a ride with red cheeks. And.

[Nick Miles]

And apart from your mum, you have some regulars, don't you? You call them frequent fliers.

[Holly Gibbs]

Yes. I was just speaking to one of our volunteers today. We were just talking about how some of them just can't get enough. And we were thinking about putting a point system towards a free cup of coffee after every hundred kilometers or something.

[Nick Miles]

That was Kieran Audit. Across the world, it's estimated that around a billion tons of food is wasted every year and much of it is still edible, thrown away by shops or consumers, just because it's past the best before or expiry date printed on the label. But now packaging is being developed that can tell us whether food has actually gone bad or is still safe to eat. The technology is already being tested, tested with major supermarkets in the us, Europe and the uk. Craig Langren went to find out more. Hi, Max.

[Max Grell]

I'm here to meet Max Grell, co founder and CEO of a company called Black Bear. And Max has one simple mission.

[Craig Langren]

Food should tell you how fresh it is.

[Max Grell]

Back in the 1970s, the UK pioneered.

[Nick Miles]

Expiry dates on food.

[Max Grell]

These dates have since been rebranded as best before dates. But Max tells me there's still a fundamental issue with how they're set.

[Craig Langren]

So they'll choose that date to cover all eventualities. If it was a really sunny day, if it was a cold day, if you had a long journey home or a short journey home, the variation between the food that actually comes in to the factory. But then, of course, then you get this worst case scenario date, which creates unnecessary waste.

[Max Grell]

And here's the crucial point about why so much food gets wasted.

[Craig Langren]

Either you will trust your nose or you'll look at the date or maybe some combination of the two. But if you're a business, if you're a restaurant, if you're a supermarket, if you're like a food manufacturing site, they have to pull it off the shelf once it's past the date.

[Max Grell]

In the lab, Max shows me his solution. The sensors do two things. They smell or detect the presence of gases like putrescine and ammonia, which are only present if the food's going off. They also measure the temperature inside the packet. So if the temperature goes up, the amount of bacteria also increases. In simple terms, this replicates what we do with our noses when we open a packet of food and smell it. A technician at Black Bear called Siobhan gets out two packets of meat and puts them on the table in front of us.

[David Mitchell]

So I will first open up this roast chicken slice.

[Max Grell]

Siobhan opens the first pack and immediately pulls a face. Oh, yeah, okay. It's not terrible, but it is a bit vinegary, isn't it? It's a bit pungent.

[Holly Gibbs]

Meat smell.

[Max Grell]

We're using a five point scale here to rate how the food smells. One is no odor. Two is some odor, but it dissipates quickly. Three is could air out and cook. Then four is unacceptable. Five is I would not feed this to my dog.

[Nick Miles]

Brilliant.

[Max Grell]

For me, I'd say this is four unacceptable.

[David Mitchell]

Yeah, but you would feed this to your dog.

[Max Grell]

Yeah, my dog would probably. I've got a dog, actually, and she'd probably, should probably be okay with this. I think she eats almost anything, to be honest. We then open a second pack of cooked chicken from the same batch. To me, that smells fine between a one and a half and a two.

[Craig Langren]

I agree. I would eat that even though Both.

[Max Grell]

Of these packs have the same best before date and were stored under identical conditions. One smells fine while the other's definitely off. Max pulls up a laptop showing real time data from the sensors.

[Craig Langren]

The graph is measuring odour and then it's also predicting how the odor will grow into the future. And so this orange line is growing much higher and sort of gets above this number four, which is an unacceptable threshold, whereas the blue line stays below a three.

[Max Grell]

And that's exactly what we said, isn't it?

[Craig Langren]

So in this case it's worked out well.

[Max Grell]

So just why did the two packs of chicken smell so different?

[David Mitchell]

It just depends on sometimes when they're kept in the supermarket, on which level.

[Chantal Hartle]

They'Re kept, or even if some are.

[David Mitchell]

Slightly forward where the air is perhaps warmer.

[Craig Langren]

There's this huge variation between packs of food even when they're produced at the same time. And part of that could be temperature, but also there's intrinsic variation in the product. Right. There's literally a different amount of bacteria in these slices of chicken when they are packed. And that variation, we have to safely encompass that with used by dates at the moment, which is so hard to get right, which is why they're so risk averse.

[Max Grell]

That's the key to this whole solution. Smart sensors sending real time data about individual packs of food to the shops and the suppliers. So if one pack of chicken goes bad, they can pull it from the shelves without having to waste all the other packs.

[Craig Langren]

If you have an extra day shelf life on a short life product like some chicken or some strawberries or a sandwich or something, reduce waste by about a third. It's significant.

[Max Grell]

Max has even bigger ambitions.

[Craig Langren]

We know that most food at the date is still good to eat or good to cook. Our core belief is in 10 years time there will not be fixed dates on food, creating unnecessary waste everywhere as a great goal.

[Nick Miles]

Max Grell ending that report by Craig Langren and you can hear more about innovative ways to tackle food waste on People fixing the world wherever you get your podcasts from now to a sad story with a very happy ending.

[Ella Harbour]

The judgment.

[Nick Miles]

That is the Waiting Room. A folk song about a little baby who was wrapped up and left in the ladies waiting room at a train station in England. It was the 1960s and the mother was an unmarried Catholic woman from Ireland who faced social stigma and shame at the prospect of being a single mum. So she left her baby hoping another woman could give him the life that she couldn't. The baby's name was Tom and Stephanie Prentice has been Hearing more about his story, she didn't really probably want to leave me, but had no alternative, as women didn't in the 1960s. And then in February 1966, I was adopted.

[Kieran Audit]

Witnesses from that day described Tom's birth mother as wandering around in circles for an hour, struggling to leave him. Now age 60, he's had a song written about him as part of BBC Radio 2's 21st Century Folk series. Musicians Chris Weil and Julie Matthews met with Tom, and while at first they said his story was heartbreaking, they soon began to see it differently.

[Ella Harbour]

So we wanted to come from the.

[Chantal Hartle]

Point of view of his two mothers.

[Ella Harbour]

That both loved him. One sacrificed for him and the other one gave him everything.

[Abby]

What struck us about Tom's story was that he's only ever been loved by the women in his life. As Chris said, his biological mum made the ultimate sacrifice, and then he was raised by a beautiful woman, too. There is this theme that runs throughout Tom's life, that even though there are sad elements to all of this, it's also a really beautiful, happy ending. So you're tempted as writers to delve into the sadness of it, but actually it's a joyful thing too. So we wanted to celebrate that.

[Ella Harbour]

But what else was I supposed to do? With love and hope alone I could not make a life for you, dear child.

[Kieran Audit]

The writing duo said they felt lucky to be able to tell not just Tom's story, but those of many children who were born out of wedlock and abandoned.

[Abby]

As Chris always says, write about what you know. And we spent a beautiful afternoon with Tom where he was so open with us about something that we actually can't really imagine happening, and how from all of those people involved how it feels, but because he was so open, he gave us all of this beautiful material to then delve into and write about. So it was actually a gift. It's funny because Daniela, Tom's wife, calls it a gift to Tom, but actually, Tom's story was a gift to us as writers.

[Kieran Audit]

And for Tom, the song has given him a new way to look at an old chapter of his life.

[Nick Miles]

It took a couple of listens to.

[Abby]

Sort of get all the lyrics because.

[Nick Miles]

It was just so emotional. And I still get emotional listening to it. I just think that they have done a brilliant job and they're brilliant musicians. Tom and the song about his life ending, that report by Stephanie Prentice. And that's all from us from the Happy Pod for now. But we would love to hear, as I said earlier, about the books that have meant a lot to you. As ever. The address is globalpodcastbbc.co.uk and you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the Happy Pot. This edition was mixed by Ben Andrews and the producers were Holly Gibbs, Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye.

[David Mitchell]

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[Julia Bacosi]

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[David Mitchell]

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[Julia Bacosi]

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[David Mitchell]

Not even a little.

[Julia Bacosi]

Not even a crumb.

[Kieran Audit]

What if.

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[David Mitchell]

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