The Happy Pod: Life-saving rat retires

Summary

Global News Podcast Summary: The Happy Pod – Life-saving Rat Retires

Release Date: April 12, 2025
Host: Oliver Conway and Holly Gibbs
Produced by BBC World Service

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1. Carolina the Life-Saving Rat Retires

Overview:
The episode opens with a heartwarming story of Carolina, a giant African pouched rat, who has dedicated seven years to detecting tuberculosis (TB) in East Africa. Working with the global nonprofit Apopo, Carolina's exceptional sense of smell has been instrumental in identifying over 3,000 positive TB cases, thereby preventing approximately 30,000 infections.

Key Points:

• Detection Efficiency: Traditional TB testing in Tanzania and Ethiopia lacked accuracy, leading to the necessity of double-checking negative results. Carolina streamlined this process by swiftly screening 200,000 samples with remarkable accuracy.
• Comparison of Olfactory Abilities: Dr. Tefera Agizu, Head of TB at Apopo, highlights, “Humans do have up to 400 nerve endings in our nose, and dogs do have up to 900. But rats do have up to 1,200. That is why rats are, you know, sniffing even better than dogs” (02:34).
• Retirement Ceremony: After her commendable service, Carolina was honored with a heartfelt retirement party. Dr. Agizu shared, “Karolina is an excellent animal. Karolina likes to be cuddled... she saved a lot of lives” (04:03).

Notable Quote:

Dr. Tefera Agizu: “Karolina... she was saving life. She saved a lot of lives.” (04:56)

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2. Malaria Vaccine Rollout in Uganda

Overview:
The podcast transitions to Uganda's ambitious rollout of the R21 malaria vaccine, described as a "game changer" by health professionals. This initiative aims to immunize 1.1 million children under one year across 105 districts, marking the largest single-country malaria vaccine campaign to date.

Key Points:

• Vaccine Impact: The rollout is projected to prevent around 800 cases of severe malaria daily, alleviating pressure on healthcare systems and reducing economic burdens on families.
• Logistical Challenges: Managing the distribution of three and a half million doses in regions like APAC, which experiences over 1,500 mosquito bites per person annually, presents significant logistical hurdles.
• Global Health Significance: The World Health Organization regards this effort as an historic turning point, emphasizing its potential to save millions of lives (05:51).

Notable Quote:

Oliver Conway: “It's been greeted... as a really significant milestone in this fight against malaria.” (07:16)

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3. Pavel Durakovic’s Inspirational Journey

Overview:
Pavel Durakovic, a 46-year-old from Poland, shares his transformative journey from battling alcoholism to setting world records in barefoot running on ice. Driven by a desire to support disadvantaged children, Pavel leverages his athletic achievements to fundraise for the Diamond Soul Foundation.

Key Points:

• Personal Struggles and Recovery: Pavel recounts, “I was 13... I was hooked. And I was drinking all my life, almost destroying myself. I'm almost eight years sober now” (11:23).
• Charitable Initiatives: Through organizing camps in Sicily, Pavel provides orphaned and underprivileged children with experiences such as first-time flying, enjoying good food, and engaging in therapeutic activities.
• World Records: Earlier this year, Pavel set a new world record by becoming the fastest person to run a half marathon barefoot on ice, overcoming extreme conditions like minus 10°C temperatures and Arctic winds (09:00).

Notable Quote:

Pavel Durakovic: “It's a very nice journey.” (09:38)

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4. Monkeys: The World's Best Yodelers

Overview:
A surprising discovery reveals that certain South American monkeys may outperform humans in yodeling. Researchers from the University of Vienna found that these primates can produce rapid shifts across three musical octaves, thanks to an evolved vocal membrane.

Key Points:

• Vocal Abilities: Unlike humans, who have a simpler throat structure, these monkeys possess a vocal membrane allowing increased sound complexity without the need for a larger brain.
• Species Studied: The research focused on black and gold howler monkeys, black-capped squirrel monkeys, and Peruvian spider monkeys.
• Communication and Evolution: Dr. Jake Dunn explains that these vocal adaptations likely evolved to enhance communication within their environments (14:58).

Notable Quote:

Oliver Conway: “Monkeys have come up with this trick... to increase the complexity without the need for a big expensive brain like we have now.” (14:58)

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5. The UK Tea Time Alarm Prank

Overview:
A viral social media trend showcases British TikTokers fooling American audiences with the fabricated concept of a "tea time alarm." Videos depict unsuspecting Americans being startled by these alarms in various public settings, blending humor with cultural stereotypes.

Key Points:

• Viral Trend: The prank involves staged alarms in locations like football matches and the London Underground, claiming fines for those who miss them.
• Cultural Humor: This trend leverages the British reputation for enjoying tea and their penchant for quirky customs.
• Official Involvement: The UK government and well-known brands have participated, adding authenticity to the prank (25:02).

Notable Quote:

Ella Bicknell: “I need to know the truth. Is it a real thing? Is it just a big joke on us Americans?” (16:04)

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6. Brain Implant Breakthrough for Speech

Overview:
A groundbreaking scientific advancement enables paralyzed individuals to convert their thoughts into spoken words almost instantaneously. Ann Johnson, who suffered a severe stroke in 2005, became the first person to use this technology, significantly improving her ability to communicate.

Key Points:

• Technology Functionality: The brain implant deciphers neural signals associated with speech intentions, translating them into computer-generated voice outputs based on Ann's previous recordings.
• User Experience: Dr. Tefera Agizu shares, “She was very excited to first hear her own voice... she actually reports being able to volitionally control the speech synthesis” (22:34).
• Future Prospects: While still experimental, the technology holds promise for broader applications, contingent on developments like lower power consumption and wireless capabilities (24:03).

Notable Quote:

Dr. Tefera Agizu: “It is an embodiment of herself... like second nature to them to be able to use this.” (22:34)

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Conclusion

The episode of "The Happy Pod" deftly weaves together stories of extraordinary animals, groundbreaking medical advancements, personal triumphs over adversity, and lighthearted cultural pranks. From Carolina the TB-detecting rat to Pavel Durakovic’s inspiring runs and the surprising yodeling talents of monkeys, each narrative underscores resilience, innovation, and the profound impact of dedicated individuals and technologies on global well-being.

For more uplifting stories, listeners are encouraged to share their cheerful experiences via email or explore interviews on YouTube by searching for "The Happy Pod."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Dr. Tefera Agizu: “Karolina is an excellent animal... she saved a lot of lives.” (04:56)
• Pavel Durakovic: “I was hooked. And I was drinking all my life, almost destroying myself.” (11:23)
• Oliver Conway: “Monkeys have come up with this trick... to increase the complexity without the need for a big expensive brain like we have now.” (14:58)
• Dr. Tefera Agizu: “She was very excited to first hear her own voice... she actually reports being able to volitionally control the speech synthesis.” (22:34)

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For more information or to share your own stories, contact the BBC Global News Podcast team at [e-mail].

Transcript

[Oliver Conway]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. On our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire, we explain how the world's billionaires made all their money.

[Holly Gibbs]

Pop stars and tech titans, founders and filmmakers, inventors and investors. We cover them all. And for the first time, we're talking about a video game designer.

[Oliver Conway]

Yep. We're talking about Markus Persson, the Swedish coding king who programmed the world's most successful game, Minecraft, all by himself.

[Holly Gibbs]

He made a billion. But is he good, bad or just another billionaire? Fabulous. Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on the BBC app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dominic Hughes]

This is the Happy pod from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. And in this edition, you know, she was saving life.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

She saved a life. She saved a lot of lives.

[Dominic Hughes]

We meet Carolina, the rat who's retiring after using her sense of smell to detect tuberculosis, the new vaccine providing hope in Uganda's fight against malaria.

[Oliver Conway]

It's estimated that this vaccine rollout will prevent around 800 cases of severe malaria every day.

[Dominic Hughes]

The man who set a world record for running barefoot on ice.

[Pavel Durakovic]

They help me understand myself more. I wish everybody to have a chance to get connected to ourselves and.

[Dominic Hughes]

The monkeys that have been crowned the best yodelers in the world. But we begin with a remarkable rodent that saved thousands of human lives. Carolina is a rat who spent years detecting cases of tuberculosis. Local clinics in Tanzania and Ethiopia test for the disease, but the results are not that accurate. So samples which come up negative are routinely sent to be double checked by rats. Carolina sniffed her way through 200,000 samples, identifying many positive cases. But now she's retiring from her role with the global non profit apopo. Harry Bly has the details.

[Oliver Conway]

This is the sound of sniffing, scuttling and the soft squeaking of a giant African pouched rat. These rats at the APOPO Tuberculosis Detection center in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania can determine whether a person has TB by sniffing a sample of their phlegm. And it's all thanks to their exceptional sense of smell.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Humans do have up to 400 nerve endings in our nose, and dogs do have up to 900. But rats do have up to 1200. That is why rats are, you know, sniffing even better than dogs.

[Oliver Conway]

That's Dr. Tefera Agizu, the head of TB at Apopo.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Because of just the name rats, many people, you know, easily misunderstand these rats as any other ordinary rats. But these are special rats with a.

[Oliver Conway]

Special capacity to process 100 samples using a microscope. Dr. Agazu says it would take a lab technician up to four days. Rats like Carolina take 20 minutes.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Karolina is an excellent animal. Karolina like to be cuddled. You know, she's very, very calm. She's very excited when taking her to work.

[Oliver Conway]

Fidelis Galli is a training supervisor at apopo. He trained and worked with Karolina throughout her entire career.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

So she was like my family when I was working with her.

[Oliver Conway]

In her seven years of work, Karolina has successfully detected more than 3,000 positive cases of TB and is thought to have spared around 30,000 other people from infection. But at the age of eight, it was time for Carolina to retire.

[Pavel Durakovic]

She sniffed 208,235 patient samples.

[Oliver Conway]

Fidelis and the team threw Carolina a party celebrating her years of service and many, many lives. Sa.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

It was very special. So we prepared banana and avocado and she was grabbing everything that she liked and she was, she was very happy. It was a party, you know, we prepared a cake, some drinks, so we enjoyed that day.

[Oliver Conway]

Last year, Carolina and her peers prevented nearly 400,000 new cases. In Tanzania and Ethiopia and across East Africa. The program has raised detection rates for TB by 40%.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

You know, they are doing an amazing job, so we treat them nice, nicely so that they live long. And she's just resting, you know, she doesn't work, she's resting, just eating and sleeping, exercising. That's all. You know, she was saving life. She saved the life. She saved a lot of lives.

[Dominic Hughes]

Fidelis galley Ending that report by Harry Bly. Malaria is a huge problem in Uganda, with the entire population of the East African nation at risk of infection. But help is at hand thanks to the world's biggest rollout of a malaria vaccine, which began earlier this month. The new jab has been described as a game changer by health professionals. The happy pods. Holly Gibbs found out more from our health correspondent Dominic Hughes.

[Oliver Conway]

So the introduction of a malaria vaccine is massive. Many experts say it's the thing that could really change the picture and has the potential to save millions of lives. Uganda has started rolling out a vaccine called the R21 vaccine. It's developed in the UK, it's produced in India. It's relatively cheap. And this, Uganda is the biggest single country rollout so far. It involves three and a half million vaccine doses across 105 districts in Uganda, targeting 1.1 million children, all under the age of one. And it's a huge logistical challenge, but the potential benefits are also massive. It's the 19th country actually in Africa to do A rollout. But we've seen nothing on the scale, on this scale before because Uganda is one of the worst affected countries by malaria. It's got the world's highest malaria incident, so roughly half of the population are affected by malaria. And this program has been launched in a district called APAC in northern Uganda that's reported to have the highest number of mosquito bites per person globally, over 1500 bites per person annually. So you can see this is an area where malaria spread by mosquitoes is going to have a massive impact.

[Dominic Hughes]

And what's the reaction been to this.

[Holly Gibbs]

News about the vaccine?

[Oliver Conway]

Yeah, it's been greeted, I think, as a really significant milestone in this fight against malaria, not least by Uganda's government. It's estimated that this vaccine rollout will prevent around 800 cases of severe malaria every day. So as well as easing pressure on a stressed healthcare system, it's also going to relieve pressure on family finances through reducing them having to pay for relatively expensive hospital visits. So potentially there's a huge economic benefit as well. Now, the World Health Organization has played a really big role in trials of this malaria vaccine in Africa, and it says this rollout is an historic turning point in Uganda's fight against malaria. It characterises this really, as they say, it's a bold step to protect its children, save lives and secure a healthier future. Now, the vaccine has been described as a game changer, so I think it's fair to say there's lots of hope riding on it.

[Dominic Hughes]

So what's next in getting this vaccine rolled out?

[Oliver Conway]

So it's targeting children initially in around 105 districts like APAC, where malaria infections are highest. Now, the R21 malaria vaccine is administered in four doses, right, for children aged 6, 7, 8 and 18 months. Just to remind you, the aim is to reach 1.1 million children in those districts across Uganda where malaria is surging. But there are plans then to expand the whole scheme nationwide. So, yeah, it's a pretty big logistical challenge, but there is the potential there to also have a massive positive impact on the lives of millions of people.

[Dominic Hughes]

Dominic Hughes talking to Holly Gibbs next to a man who's overcome major personal challenges to set a series of world records for barefoot running, driven by a desire to help others. Pavel Durakovic, who is addicted to alcohol, uses the sport to raise money for disadvantaged children. Pavl, who's 46 and from Poland, set a new world record earlier this year, becoming the fastest person to run half a marathon barefoot on ice. He had to battle snow drifts, Arctic Winds and temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius to complete the gruelling sea ice race in Sweden, he's been speaking to Shabnam Yunus Jewel.

[Pavel Durakovic]

I did not really prepare running on ice before or running on snow. I mean, I run barefoot on all different kinds of terrain and all different kinds of temperature. But it's also about breathing, about controlling your mind, about telling your mind what to do, not to your mind to be afraid. Can I tell you mind what you wanted to do and then you complement it with breath. Human nature is impossible. Like, you know, we cannot even comprehend what we can do. And for me, it's a very nice journey.

[Holly Gibbs]

So why did you decide to take on these challenges then, in particular running barefoot?

[Pavel Durakovic]

Okay, so I did three. Three challenges so far. Three Guinness World Record. And it is actually to raise money for the foundation. So we organize camps and we bring people k. From, from orphanages, kids in need. So Diamond Soul foundation, they. We bring them to Sicily, from Poland. Most of them, they fly for the first time. Most of them is the first time they are in a restaurant, having pizza, seeing the sea, having like, you know, a decent, good food, and also learning about emotions, working with the therapist, working with the yoga instructor, working with. With the breath so they have a chance to experience something probably incredible for them.

[Holly Gibbs]

But breaking records barefoot is only part of Pavel's story. Seven years ago, he was contemplating taking his own life because of a long and deep addiction to alcohol. His is a story of recovery and transformation through sport. It's a story of achieving the impossible by an ordinary person who once hit rock bottom.

[Pavel Durakovic]

I was 13, like, you know, and I didn't know better. All adults were drinking like, you know, I was in the country where heavy drinking was a part of doing business, part of life. When I got drunk when I was 13 years old, it was just like, you know, a pill for me. Something like, you know, to hurt me, to cope with myself. I don't know, to feel better, to feel normal just for a second. And I was hooked. And I was drinking all my life, almost destroying myself. Like, you know, I'm very grateful. I'm almost eight years sober now. And with that sobriety, I mean, I can experience life. It's, of course, it's not easy every day. Like, we all have our challenges, we all have suffering which we go through. And it's not going to stop, you know, but you always have the choice how to, how to do it. I found different ways. Through breathing, through yoga, through sports, through helping others. We all can choose the better and more healthier. And now, you know, I have a chance to tell those kids that, okay emotions are okay, like, you know, feeling sad, like, you know, it's okay. Life doesn't look like it is on Instagram and not everybody looks like it's on Instagram. You, you, you have to understand that we all suffer and this is normal.

[Holly Gibbs]

Like, you know, and these challenges that you take on, I wonder just how much they help you.

[Pavel Durakovic]

Those events and those challenges, they help me understand myself more. I wish everybody to have a chance to, to get connected to ourselves. I think I was very lost in my life and, you know, besides the accomplishments, I think the most thing I've got out of it is that I'm a little bit closer to knowing myself, that I know who Pavel is. And I wish this to all of the people and all of the kids. It's a beautiful but not easy experience.

[Dominic Hughes]

And you can hear more from Pavel and other inspiring athletes on the BBC Sports Hour, wherever you get your podcasts. Now, don't worry, I won't be attempting it myself. But how good is your yodeling? Well, a study by researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria has found that monkeys could be the best yodelers in the world. As Stephanie Zakrisen explains, when you think.

[Holly Gibbs]

Of yodeling, you might associate it with the sound of music, the Swiss Alps or the Austrian uplands, but perhaps not with a Bolivian rainforest. But researchers have found that South American monkeys might be the best in the world at it. They recorded and studied the cause of the primates in a wildlife sanctuary. Now, that might not sound that similar to human yodeling, but the researchers say that while human yodelers leap between notes spanning one octave or less, the primates can jump more than three musical octaves at once, enabling them to switch between high and low frequencies remarkably fast. Here's another slowed down clip. The research included black and gold howler monkeys, black capped squirrel monkeys, and Peruvian spider monkeys. Dr. Jake Dunn, an associate professor in evolutionary biology from Anglia Ruskin University in the uk, says these primates are able to produce the sounds because they have a vocal membrane, a thin ribbon of tissue in their throat that humans lost through evolution, which allowed us to develop our way of speaking.

[Oliver Conway]

This ability to be able to have extra things vibrating in their throat increases the complexity. So humans have evolved sort of big brains to be able to make language possible, but we have quite a simple throat with just with vocal folds. Monkeys have kind of come up with this trick to be able to have this additional bit of tissue in their throat to increase the complexity without the need for a big expensive brain like we have now.

[Holly Gibbs]

Exactly what the monkeys are saying when they're making these noises isn't clear. But the group of so called New World monkeys, whose range stretches from Mexico to Argentina, were found to have evolved the largest vocal membranes of all the primates, suggesting that they've developed them out of an important need in their vocabulary. So even though they might not become professional yodelers anytime soon, they're able to use their skills to communicate better and ensure they get attention from other monkeys.

[Dominic Hughes]

Stephanie Zacharison and still to come on the podcast when the tea time alarm.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Goes off, genuinely, I want to know what you do.

[Oliver Conway]

I'm so curious about tea time.

[Ella Bicknell]

I need to know the truth. Is it a real thing? Is it, is it just a big joke on us Americans?

[Dominic Hughes]

So is the UK Tea time alarm real? We find out what's behind this viral trend on social media to Indonesia now. And a project that aims to protect the rainforest and improve the lives of local people at the same time by providing affordable health care. The Asri Clinic in western Borneo offers discounts if everyone in a village agrees to stop chopping down the trees. Patients can also pay by giving their time or handicrafts, or collecting and nurturing seedlings, which are replanted in areas of deforestation. Adei Mardiati went along to find out more.

[Ella Bicknell]

The clinic is set in the foothills of the Gunung Palung National Park. It's a small wooden structure covered in colorful flowers and surrounded on all sides by dense tropical rainforest which is home to wildlife like sun bears, pangolins and orangutans. On a day like today, the clinic sees up to 50 patients coming in with everything from toothache to flu and hypertension. Today they're being treated by Dr. Sari, who has recently started working here. I do enjoy my time here because, well, I do help a lot of people. A lot of people. Before there were no other health center facilities. One of Dr. Saadi's patients today is is Mat Jais, who is being treated for chest pains.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

When Asri visited our village, they told us that they would give a different rate if no logging takes place. I used to work as a logger when I was young, when I was 20 or 22 years old to cover the cost of living. Nobody in our village cuts down trees anymore. Especially now that we have Asri Clinic. They come to visit and educate us so there is no way we would do it again.

[Ella Bicknell]

In total, there are 81 local villages in which ASRI monitors whether logging has taken place. And out of these 81 villages, 15 are entitled to the biggest discount, which is 70%. Only three out of the 81 villages don't currently receive any discount at all. Matt is happy he gets a discount for the health care, but I wondered how he felt about others having to pay full price for the same treatment. It's not just people who have contributed to logging themselves who have to pay more. It's actually anyone who lives in a village where trees have been cut down recently.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

This is to encourage us to stop logging. And it is good. We risk things when we cut down trees, for example floods. That is why we were willing to change. I guess if the advice makes sense, we'll take it.

[Ella Bicknell]

It's also important to point out that the clinic doesn't require payment immediately and nobody is ever turned away if they don't have the money up front. Patients are also able to pay with whatever they can. A few meters from the clinic, ASRI are collecting payment in the form of seedlings from another recent visitor to the clinic. 42 year old Mardelina. Mardalena has been paying for medical treatment for herself and her family in this way for over 10 years. It all began when my daughter was sick and we went to see a doctor at ASRI and I actually didn't have any money. Mardelina was terrified. Her nine year old daughter had an abscess the size of an egg at the back of her neck. And the other local healthcare options could even be dangerous. In the past, people in small villages like this would go see a witch doctor. When I was feeling sick with a stomachache or headache, I was told I was possessed by an evil spirit. Madalina wanted to ensure that her daughter got the very best treatment possible. But when she arrived at the ASHRI clinic, she wasn't sure whether they would be able to help. The cashier said to me, you can pay with seedlings if you don't have cash. So I did. I'm a single mother. So I said to myself, if there was an alternative to cash, I would do it so that my daughter could receive the treatment she needed. Mardelina says that she's collected more than 10,000 seedlings in total from the nearby forest. A steady supply of seedlings means she has credit in the bank. Anytime either she or a family member is unwell and needs to visit the clinic.

[Dominic Hughes]

Ade Mardiati and you can hear more on People Fixing the World. A scientific breakthrough has allowed a paralyzed woman to Turn her thoughts into speech almost instantly. Ann Johnson, who's from Regina in Canada, had a catastrophic stroke in 2005 when she was just 30, leaving her unable to move or talk. She's become the first person to benefit from a brain implant that fluently converts the words she says in her mind into computer generated speech as she thinks them. Rather than waiting for complete sentences, it enables her to hold conversations and avoid being interrupted. The system uses a voice generated from old recordings of Anne and sounds like there. My colleague Anna Foster spoke to Gopala Anuman Chipali, an assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who's part of the research team.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

She was very excited to first hear her own voice in the first place, but now she actually reports being able to volitionally control the speech synthesis, meaning she feels like it's an embodiment of herself. That kind of embodiment is very important for technology like this to be actually be useful for them, so that it's like second nature to them to be able to use this. And then, of course, you know, the brain has its own mechanisms of learning to use it better. Like how you're working with a new gadget. You may not be very good in the first place, but then as you keep using it, you get better.

[Holly Gibbs]

How is she able to differentiate between what is said out loud and what stays in her head? Because we've all got this internal dialogue, and I think that the speed of it might make people think, well, how.

[Oliver Conway]

Can I stop everything that I think from just, just coming out and people hearing it all?

[Holly Gibbs]

How can she switch between the two?

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

As we speak, we have all these stages in converting what we want to say to actually choosing the words to say and making all the right movements with our mouth and your lips and the tongue and the jaw and hearing the sound itself, right. So in someone who is paralyzed but with intact cortical function, like Ann here, she has chosen what to say. She. She knows the words, she wants to make those movements, and now she's trying to make them. Except the pathways that take her neural command to her mouth are now broken down. So that's what we are augmenting, right. So we are really not tapping into her thinking or inner speech or anything just yet. It's the intention to move, and that's a very strong signal. Very different from like general thinking.

[Holly Gibbs]

As you said that there was just this moment of enlightenment for me. So actually the way that she doesn't blurt things out is exactly the same.

[Oliver Conway]

Way that we all don't blurt things out.

[Holly Gibbs]

Yeah, the pattern, the activity in the brain is exactly the same.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Yeah, that is exactly right.

[Holly Gibbs]

Can the technology be replicated at scale? Could this be available to anybody who needs it?

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

So this is an experimental study which is really on exemption to just verify whether this kind of technology for neural implantation would work in someone who is paralyzed. Right. To that end, this is a research study, but there are still some milestones in making this more mainstream to have it be available with a low power consumption, not be able to be wireless. And actually someone can be sent home with.

[Dominic Hughes]

Gopala Anuman Chipali from the University of California, Berkeley. Finally, many of us like a practical joke. But what about when it's a whole country trying to fool another? Well, that's what happened on social media when thousands of British users attempted to convince Americans about the supposed tea time alarm that goes off here every day at 4:00 to let us know it's time for tea. Ella Bicknell takes up the story.

[Holly Gibbs]

It's hardly a secret. Brits love a cup of tea. Whether it be a mug of strong English breakfast or a milky brew of Earl Grey, it's a quintessential part of British culture. So imagine UK based TikTokers exploiting that stereotype to trick Americans across the pond. My mum's gone out and it's about to be.

[Dominic Hughes]

The tear on the tea time alarm's just gone off.

[Holly Gibbs]

What's up, Americans?

[Dominic Hughes]

It's very, very real.

[Holly Gibbs]

We're not joking.

[Dominic Hughes]

The tea time alarm is in fact a thing.

[Holly Gibbs]

Videos show people being caught off guard by a daily alarm, dropping what they're doing, whether they be at a football match, on a zipline or even on the London underground.

[Oliver Conway]

When making your tea, please mind the.

[Dominic Hughes]

Drip between the bag and the cup.

[Holly Gibbs]

The trend has gone viral, with people finding creative ways to explain the alarm and the fines that supposedly come to those who ignore it. Basically, the lampposts in our streets double up as alarms. If you miss this alarm, there is a fine you will get given. I'm not quite sure, like, how much, because I think it depends on your age and income. I'm pretty sure. And it's safe to say that it's left some Americans quite confused when the.

[Dr. Tefera Agizu]

Tea time alarm goes off. Genuinely, I want to know what you do.

[Oliver Conway]

I'm so curious about tea time.

[Ella Bicknell]

I need to know the truth. Is it a real thing? Is it just a big joke on us Americans?

[Holly Gibbs]

The trend's even been spurred on by the official TikTok account of the UK government and well known UK brands. This is the UK's official tea time announcement. All airport services will pause temporarily while colleagues enjoy a mandatory tea break. Yes, it might be a bit of Internet nonsense, but it's a clever combination of the British self deprecating humor and our reputation for strange rules and customs. And we at the BBC are no different. Ah, perfect timing. Anybody want a cuppa?

[Dominic Hughes]

Yes, I better go and stick the kettle on. Ella Bicknell there reporting. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. But if you have any cheerful stories for us, email globalpodcastbc.co.uk and you can see some of our interviews interviews on YouTube by searching for the Happy Pod. This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons and produced by Holly Gibbs and Harry Bly. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time. Goodbye.

[Oliver Conway]

On our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire, we explain how the world's billionaires made all their money.

[Holly Gibbs]

Pop stars and tech titans, founders and filmmakers, inventors and investors. We cover them all. And for the first time, we're talking about a video game designer.

[Oliver Conway]

Yep, we're talking about Markus Persson, the Swedish coding king who programmed the world's most successful game, Minecraft, all by himself.

[Holly Gibbs]

He made a billion. But is he good, bad or just another billionaire? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on the BBC app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Oliver Conway]

On our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire, we explain how the world's billionaires made all their money.

[Holly Gibbs]

Pop stars and tech titans, founders and filmmakers, inventors and investors. We cover them all. And for the first time, we're talking about a video game designer.

[Oliver Conway]

Yep, we're talking about Marcus Persson, the Swedish coding king who programmed the world's most successful game, Minecraft, all by himself.

[Holly Gibbs]

He made a billion. But is he good, bad or just another billionaire? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire Listen on the BBC app or wherever you get your podcasts.