The Conversation

Less than 0.001% of the deep ocean has been explored. Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to two women from South Africa and the US who have dedicated their careers to finding out more about our planet's most uncharted depths.Dr Katy Croff Bell is an American ocean explorer and deep-sea technologist. She has over 15 years of experience leading ground-breaking oceanographic and archaeological projects. Katy is the founder of the Ocean Discovery League, an organisation dedicated to expanding global access to deep-sea exploration by developing affordable, durable technology for scientists and researchers.Dr Zoleka Filander is an award-winning South African marine biologist with South Africa’s Department of Fisheries, Forestry, and Environment. She leads pioneering expeditions into uncharted marine territories, gathering crucial data to inform conservation strategies. Zoleka is passionate about sharing the deep ocean’s wonders to inspire public respect and a sense of urgency for its preservation.Produced by Emily Naylor(Image: (L) Katy Croff Bell courtesy of Katy Croff Bell. (R) Zoleka Filander credit Logan Lambert.)

Women fusing tech and agriculture to farm food - indoors, local and soil-free

The music industry is notoriously competitive, making it difficult for artists to break through. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two music scouts to find out what they look for when signing musicians to their labels and how to succeed in the business.Jane Abernethy is Managing Director at Omnian Music Group, a Brooklyn-based label group comprised of Captured Tracks, Sinderlyn and 2MR. Originally from Scotland she began her career music scouting in the UK before becoming the Director of A&R at the US label 4AD, where she signed groundbreaking artists like Grimes and contributed to the discovery of Bon Iver. Argentinian-born Laura Tesoriero has spent the last two decades working in music distribution for Latin American artists. She is the Senior Vice President for The Orchard, a music and entertainment company specialising in media distribution. Laura was the first female chair of the Latin GRAMMY board and is a Wonder Women of Latin 2020 honouree. Produced by Emily Naylor and Elena Angelides(Image: (L) Jane Abernethy credit Dan Bessini. (R) Laura Tesoriero credit Catalina Bartolome.)

According to the UN, the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global emissions. That's more than aviation and shipping combined. We talk to two women making climate-friendly clothes and developing innovative textiles in a bid to reduce the waste produced by fast fashion.Regina Polanco is the founder and CEO of Pyratex, a textile company making fabrics from seaweed, banana and orange peel for some of the biggest brands in fashion. Born in Vienna, she has also lived in Morocco, Mauritania and Switzerland but she returned to Spain, the country where she grew up, to found her company in 2014.Sasha McKinlay grew up in Singapore and moved to the United States to study architecture. Now a design researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she's developing so-called 'active' textiles. They're essentially textiles with embedded functionality without the need for electronic inputs. These include materials that can be either warm or cool depending on the weather, and garments that can be made in a single size and robotically tailored to fit the wearer or to be customised into new styles.Produced by Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Sasha McKinlay credit Katie Koskey. (R) Regina Polanco credit Pyratex.)