PRI's The World: Technology from BBC/PRI/WGBH

WhatsApp, used by millions of people around the world, says its users were hacked by the Paragon Solutions spyware company. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, about the continuing threat of sophisticated spyware.

The post WhatsApp identifies dozens of users hacked by Paragon spyware company appeared first on The World from PRX .

In Russia, the Kremlin has been steadily cracking down on the internet. Surveillance and censorship have increased, especially since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has cut off access to many of the most popular websites and apps. The latest target is YouTube.

The post Kremlin’s internet crackdown is taking on YouTube appeared first on The World from PRX .

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, people have been evacuating and safeguarding Ukrainian works of art and museum pieces. Now, a team of conservators and students are also creating permanent, 3D records of buildings and objects that can’t be moved in case they are damaged or destroyed.

The post Conservators scan Ukraine’s wooden churches to help preserve them appeared first on The World from PRX .

Back in February, Dylan went to the Philippines for what he thought would be a great Chinese Lunar New Year vacation. Then he found himself held hostage in a gang-run scamming compound. Here's one man’s story about getting out and what the Philippines is doing to shut these operations down.

The post Escape from Bamban: One man’s scam farm nightmare in the Philippines appeared first on The World from PRX .

After nearly 1,000 days, Russia's war against Ukraine is causing mental health issues for soldiers and civilians, including anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD. Ukraine’s Health Ministry estimates that 15 million people will need psychological support in the future.

The post ‘We have to care for every soldier, for every civilian’: Ukraine faces major mental health challenges as a result of war trauma appeared first on The World from PRX .

An Israeli food tech startup, Forsea, is working with Japanese partners to develop artificially grown eel cells, intended to yield edible unagi eventually. Experts hope mass-produced cultivated meat and seafood can help prevent the next pandemic. Host Marco Werman reports.

The post Seafood cultivated in a lab could help mitigate the next pandemic appeared first on The World from PRX .

In Namibia, MycoHAB is hoping to solve two issues for the price of one: make use of a pesky plant known as the encroacher bush and deal with the country's housing crisis. By harvesting the water-intensive weeds that encroach on farmland and combining them with a mushroom byproduct known as mycelium, MycoHAB founder and architect Chris Maurer creates bricks to build homes. The World's Carolyn Beeler spoke to Maurer to learn more.

The post New project seeks to solve housing crisis using mushroom byproduct and troublesome weed appeared first on The World from PRX .

An anonymous group of researchers known as Antibot4Navalny are striking a blow against Russian disinformation campaigns by finding and identifying them on Twitter, now known as X. And, as Dina Temple-Raston from the "Click Here" podcast reports, publicizing these Kremlin-backed operations has allowed the group to punch way above its weight.

The post Meet Antibot4Navalny: the mysterious researchers exposing Russia’s war on truth appeared first on The World from PRX .