Episode description

More than 8 million unregistered SIM cards have been blocked in Ghana. The Ministry of Communications and Digitisation set a final deadline for mobile phone users to link their SIM card to their identification cards and now those who have not been able to register cannot use their SIMS. Opposition parties and civil liberties groups are protesting as the SIM needs to be registered with the biometric Ghana Card. The scheme has been full of delays, but it looks as though the government is standing firm this time. BBC reporter in Accra Thomas Naadi is on the show.

Heart attack on a chip Researchers at the University of Southern California have developed a “heart attack on a chip” to ultimately test new drugs and even personalise medicines. Prof Megan McCain and Dr Megan Rexius-Hall speak to Gareth about how the chip can monitor oxygen imbalances that happen in the heart during an attack. The heart muscle doesn’t regenerate as well as other tissue in the body, meaning patients are often tired and do not recover to the previous levels of fitness. The chip will allow researchers to watch a ‘heart attack’ as it happens, which isn’t possible in animals, and see how damage is being done. They hope to be able to monitor and see how the cells on the chip respond to different concentrations of oxygen as this too cannot be studied in animals or humans.

The end of hard copy games? Nowadays, video games are getting so big, that you can't even fit them onto a CD anymore! In fact physical copies of the latest Call of Duty Game - Modern Warfare II, were essentially links to download the game, which is a massive 130 gigabytes! Our gaming reporter Chris Berrow has been finding out if it really is the end of physical games.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz Studio Manager: Michael Millham

(Photo: SIM cards. Credit: Getty Images)