The Documentary Podcast Folgen

For centuries we've made sacrifices, sent prayers to gods and summoned witches, in an attempt to bend the weather to our will. Science suggests now we might actually be able to do it. Weather modifiers are employed to make it rain, suppress hail and enhance snow packs. It is big business, from the UAE to Chile, Thailand to China, interest and investment is global. Kim Chakanetsa asks what the weather changers are actually doing, if it really works and if so, is it problem free?

Americans are preparing to vote in their midterm elections. The rising cost of living, abortion, immigration, crime and gun rights are all issues that may affect decisions at the ballot box. We bring together two women from Massachusetts: Christine, a self-employed dog walker and Sheena, a single mother of four children aged three, five, seven and 13, who are struggling to afford essentials. In several states, the right to abortion will be on the ballot. We hear from two centres running clinics for women. We also get advice on how to ‘disagree well’ from couples where the partners have different political opinions.

Until Roe vs Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June, sweeping away Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, no one gave much thought to Safe Haven laws. These allow a mother to give up her new-born baby for adoption, at a designated site, anonymously and without risk of prosecution. Safe Haven legislation first appeared in the US in 1999 in Texas, in response to a rise in the number of abandoned babies. Now it exists in every state. These laws were never intended as an alternative to abortion. But as the options for unhappily pregnant women diminish, some are anticipating an increase in the number of babies left by desperate mothers in hospitals and specially designed Baby Boxes at local fire stations. Ahead of the US midterm elections, and with the abortion debate still polarising the nation, Assignment reports from Arizona on America’s ‘dropbox babies’. Reporter: Linda Pressly Producer: Tim Mansel