Click Season 22, Episode 49: Leap into the Metaverse

Click at 20

Recorded in front of a live online audience of Click fans from around the world, Spencer Kelly and Lara Lewington invite Click reporters, old and new, to pick their favourite moments from the last twenty years of cutting-edge technology covered on the show. Featuring underwater drones, invisibility cloaks, electric cars and robots that walk where humans fear to tread. Every reporter has a story to tell but not all of their predictions about the future have come to fruition - yet.

23 min

The Virtual Race

Click looks at virtual cycling and explores the issue of cheating in the world of online racing.

30 min

Click ‘Visits’ CES 2021

Usually, CES, the world's biggest tech show, takes place in Las Vegas at the beginning of January. This year, the show has been forced to go online. We look at what this means for the tech industry and what trends and gadgets might emerge from the virtual show floor. From wearable tech to smart homes, we explore the latest gadgets and gizmos that will be 'virtually' on show and explore whether the conference of the future may be online.

30 min

What's Next For Big Tech?

On Click this week we ask what will President Joe Biden mean for the future of social media? We speak to a number of key insiders who are helping to shape policy around this issue. We also speak to Facebook's oversight board on concerns for free speech and talk with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales on what Wikipedia has to teach others in terms of the handling culture wars online.

30 min

Health and Whisky

As remote medicine becomes more commonplace, Click looks at easy-to-use, medical-grade, diagnostic devices that are becoming available so family physicians can provide a full consultation remotely. They also visit a hospital in Madrid where AI is helping Covid patients in the ICU, who are in a coma, with pain management. The teams also look at a new breed of whiskies that are mixed and aged by AI.

30 min

Perfect Posture

Click looks at the truth about wearable tech that promises to fix your posture. Plus recoding stem cells and a 'flush cord' that ends your video calls.

30 min

Behind the Mask

Paul Carter looks at robots to help autistic children, and Click’s own Cupid Omar Mehtab looks for apps to help couples rekindle the fire in their relationships.

30 min

Clubhouse, Combat and Cardboard

Click looks at the new audio app Clubhouse which has been getting a lot of buzz in Silicon Valley. Is it really the future of podcasts and audio more generally, or another overinflated fad which fizzles and dies? The show investigates. The team also looks at the start-up which is trying to revolutionise training within the ranks of Britain's military - creating a virtual landscape to create simulations in virtual reality. It is starting to get noticed at the highest levels and Click gets access to its final assessment session. And the BBC Micro turns 40 this year. The team looks at how The National Museum of Computing is dusting off the old machine to enthuse the next generation of computing pioneers.

30 min

Digital Models and Fungi Fashion

The week, meet the striking digital models sporting 100% digital outfits. As London Fashion Week shifts online, we dive into the industry designing clothing that will never be physically worn. Leather alternatives are also busting out of the lab. We get hands-on with fungi materials and enter a lab growing real animal hides for luxury fashion. And to complete the look, we test out the latest beauty tech. Smart glasses and makeup matching apps are using artificial intelligence to help you look your best.

30 min

The Next Level

Click looks at how gaming has helped people with their mental health through the pandemic. The team also talks to legendary filmmaker James Cameron, and sees how augmented reality is bringing extinct species back to life.

30 min

When Art Goes Digital

Click looks at a new way of buying and authenticating assets online. The team follow a million-dollar digital art sale at Christies and see if this way of transacting online can completely change how we buy, sell and own properties in the future. Also a look at how the tech could impact trading sports cards and embrace performance capture with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

30 min

Taking on the Covid Scammers

Click investigates how crooks have used the pandemic to con people out of thousands of pounds and talks to the man charged with protecting the NHS and vaccine supplies from cyber-attack. Plus, a look at the cutting-edge visual effects in Zack Snyder's upcoming blockbuster, Justice League.

30 min

Movie Monsters and Mental Health

Click meets the Australian community torn apart by suicide, and learns how tech can offer support. Plus behind the scenes of Zack Synder's Justice League.

30 min

A New Dawn

Click celebrates its 21st birthday! We also take a look at how the gaming industry has thrived during the pandemic and discover a robot that builds other robots.

30 min

Spot The Dog?

Click takes a robot dog for a remote walk around San Francisco and looks at the latest developments in cloud gaming.

30 min

Is AI Biased?

We explore how biases built into everyday technologies impact people's lives and how the tech industry is trying to address it. We go behind the scenes looking at how facial recognition algorithms work. And in a world where machines help recruiters find candidates for jobs, how do we make sure certain communities don't end up disadvantaged?

30 min

Seeing is Believing

Click looks at what you can believe on the web and the open source tools that can help to track down the truth. Plus Click chats to the investigative journalism website Bellingcat and goes behind the scenes with the Oscar-winning visual effects team behind Tenet.

30 min

Beating the Bike Thieves

Click tests the tech hoping to keep your bike safe, and we visit a smart shop that tries to imagine what the future of shopping might be.

30 min

Hacking Your Health

Can tech turn back time? Click meets a community of biohackers who believe they can use data to stop ageing in its tracks and live on to well beyond 100. The show also looks at new brain-tracking tools that may aid early diagnoses of dementia and related diseases like Alzheimer's.

30 min

Shooting for the Stars

Click looks at how you can capture stunning images of the night sky with your smartphone.

30 min

Go, Go, Go!

Click heads to a race track with a dashboard device which might help you drive like Lewis Hamilton. Plus how advances in music technology could help people with dementia.

30 min

A Very Tall Tale

Click is in Ireland to explore plans to create a series of giant tech statues, and we report from the Hay Literary Festival in Wales and test out the UK's first flying theatre ride.

30 min

The Future of Transport

Click explores the future of transport. Companies are betting big on autonomous, electric and connected mobility, but innovation is rife across the board. Find out about the radical ways aeroplanes are being redesigned to become more sustainable and watch passenger pods being shot through tubes at the speed of an aircraft.

30 min

Online-only E3

The year’s most-anticipated video games convention, E3, has gone digital for 2021. Click takes a look at the standout stories and biggest announcements from the event.

30 min

Battling Brain Trauma

Click looks at the technology tracking brain trauma caused by heading footballs. Plus Easy Life talk about developing their in-game Fortnite concert.

30 min

I am not a Robot, or am I?

Click tours Mobile World Congress, but through the eyes of a robot. Plus Duran Duran explain how they used AI to create their latest music video.

30 min

High-Res Hajj

Click experiences Islamic pilgrimage Hajj through digital art. Plus 3D-printed houses in the USA and how AI is helping wine production in Australia.

30 min

Racing to Victory

Click hits the racetrack to meet a motorsport team with a difference. Team Brit is made up of six disabled drivers using bespoke, specially adapted cars to compete in races against non-disabled drivers on a level playing field. And Spencer takes a high-speed ride with Sam Schmidt, a former Indycar racer, paralysed in a crash, who has developed technology which allows him to race again.

30 min

The Future is Now

Click looks at how online shopping has exploded in the pandemic and how social media companies want a piece of the action. They are now turning their platforms into shopping destinations. But online shopping isn't just about products – content creators are starting to paywall their content.

30 min

Hacking Electric Car Chargers

Click investigates how electric vehicle charging points can be targeted by hackers. Plus drones being tested on an erupting volcano in Iceland, with a view to deploy them on Mars.

30 min

Can AI Save the NHS?

The UK's National Health Service has been under strain for years - and then the pandemic hit. Could artificial intelligence and its applications be the NHS's saviour?

30 min

Finding Footballers with AI

Click looks at whether artificial intelligence could help to find the next Harry Kane. Plus Ryan Reynolds talks about his new movie set within the world of a videogame and Click tests out some summer gadgets.

30 min

28/08/2021

Back to School

As children go back to school, Click looks at the tech that could help to revolutionise education for students, parents and teachers.

30 min

Mind-Controlled Machines

Click looks at an emerging way of controlling things with your mind. Also, Click investigates the metaverse, and if it is likely to live up to the hype.

30 min

Extremism Online

Gaming is a place where many of us play, but the gaming space is also where extremists hang out, socialise and influence other gamers. Click investigates.

30 min

What's On The Menu?

As technology powers forward, Click looks at some of the advances in food technology that could change the way we eat forever.

30 min

Inside Your DNA

Click looks at our DNA and how new scientific techniques may help improve our health and even solve decades old crimes.

30 min

Ready for Arrival?

Click looks at the growing Right to Repair movement, which is trying to ensure there are ways of keeping our gadgets alive for longer and to make our tech more sustainable.

30 min

Wikipedia: The Fight for Facts

Click investigates the suspension of seven pro-China editors from Wikipedia, which turns 20 this year, and if the platform can remain free of state propaganda.

30 min

The Greatest Show, Man!

Click is in Dubai where we get a glimpse of the future at Expo 2020 and visit the Middle East's biggest tech fair - Gitex.

30 min

We All Scream for… Carbon Ice Cream?

Click digs into carbon capture and sustainable technology ahead of COP26.

30 min

Can Tech Save the World?

In this Cop26 special, Click checks out the latest innovations focused on the climate crisis, showcasing solutions that you can embrace, including some serious food for thought. Featuring live demos, a studio audience and Magenta the cow.

30 min

Sustainable Buildings

In the third of Click's special shows about the ways in which tech can help save the planet, we focus on construction - one of the biggest carbon emitters. We look at efforts to rethink building from the ground up. In Sweden, attempts are being made to manufacture CO2-free steel. In Finland, robots can help recycle building materials. And in Orkney, we witness the latest developments in making energy from sea waves.

30 min

Brain Surgery

Click discovers how VR could help parents decide whether to go through with potentially life-changing surgeries for their children, James Clayton looks at whether whistle-blowing in silicon valley may become more common, and Jen Copestake heads to Pompeii where image recognition AI is being used to help re-build mosaics.

30 min

Ice Ice Baby

Click finds out how Iceland is playing an unlikely role in the mission to Mars, a trip to The Mobile Phone Museum, and a forest full of NFTrees.

30 min

EV Sounds Good

Click talks to the musicians creating soundscapes for electric cars. We also head to the Top Gear track with an autonomous electric van and chat poetry with a robot.

30 min

Autonomous Weapons: a Threat to Humanity?

AI and autonomous weaponry may be the biggest leap in military technology since the advent of nuclear weapons. Should they be banned? The debate is heating up.

30 min

Merry Clickmas

Click explores some Christmas-related gadgets and looks back at some of our highlights from the year.

30 min