voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. this week... james is racing across the globe testing the latest ai translation tools. we're in miami to see the data behind basketball. whilst you're there, why not grab yourself a beer... ..and turn it into leather? she sings

and we're on the stage helping musicians get used to what it feels like to get a standing ovation or a slow clap. silence how did it do that? thank you! i think we've heard enough. yeah. she does voice exercises ladies and gentlemen, this is your call to take your places i for the performance. . places, please. places. 0k, they're ready for you. good luck. thank you. your heart is racing. the adrenaline is flowing. this is your moment. applause it's time to conquer your nerves, face the crowd,

and let all that practice pay off. # sweeter than roses... # some say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert, and forjosephine shaw, this performance is part of thatjourney, as she blows our socks off with a rendition of sweeter than roses to a very unusual audience. she trills i've always loved singing. my parents say i was a bit of an annoying child growing up. i was making lots of weird noises and apparently would hum myself to sleep. so, eventually, they were like, "let's put this into something useful," and, um, got me some singing lessons. talk to me about nerves. do you get them? and how do you get over them? um, yeah, i get nervous

all the time. getting over them, it's always a tricky balance. sometimes the adrenaline helps you, but also you don't want the nerves to affect your singing or your technique if you're getting all tense. music distorting, cutting out researchers here at the royal college of music in london say that practising and then performing is very different to practising performing. and so while it's difficult to get regular access to the real theatres and venues, they can simulate the experience here in their performance laboratory. and that simulation begins before they step out into the lights. one of the things we've learned from our research is that our body's stress response to performance can be as, if not more, powerful backstage than it is onstage. it's that anticipation of performance where anxiety can really hit, and this helps us tailor our training to make sure we're not only preparing them for what happens onstage, under the lights, in front of the audience's eyes, but also how they're coping

backstage. how do they manage that anxiety? how do they get themselves physically and mentally into a place where they're ready to walk out onstage and give their best performance? the parallel to that in the surgical world would be allowing surgical students to go through the process of gowning up, washing up, doing a preoperative briefing with their team and making sure that they're all on the same page. and once the students are onstage, george waddell can control everything. he can change the venue. he can change the reaction to make the night go as well... silence ..or as badly as he wants. the performance laboratory is running in unreal engine, the video game software. each member of the audience is an individual video games character. they all behave independently and they don't all always show up. i got lucky tonight! and what's really interesting about this space as well is there are 64 speakers hidden in the walls and ceilings, so if you change the venue, that changes the acoustics,

which forces you to change your performance. getting that sense of the acoustic makes it not so huge a jump when you're then performing onstage, compared to in all the practice rooms we have, which tend to be a much drier sound. so when it's suddenly a much bigger space that you have to fill, it's great to get a little bit of an experience of what it might sound like ahead of time. so, there's the prep, there's the lights, there's the sound. but let's talk about that audience. it's a weird crowd in tonight, i can tell you. we want to test our performers' focus. we want to make sure they can hold it together. so that might be very subtle. a little cough, perhaps. soft coughing and it might be more dramatic. phone rings audience shushes the performer is expected to ignore this, i guess. that's right. and even if there's a momentary lapse, it's about then

continuing after that. i mean, performers make mistakes. it's how they react after that mistake that sets apart the professional. for many of our performers, it's not actually this full house that is the most intimidating to them. it's perhaps when the marketing hasn't gone so well... spencer laughs ..and there are just a rare few in the audience. this can be quite intimidating, trying to bring that energy to a sparse crowd. i've been there! well, i think we all have, unfortunately. but this new multimillion—pound performance lab isjust part of the work the college has been undertaking to help prepare students for the real thing. heart rate and breathing monitors measure activity and stress levels, and special glasses can even track the musicians' eye movements to find out if they're being distracted mid—performance. he plays sorcerer's apprentice they also measure how dilated your pupils are, which can be another

indicator of anxiety. now, it is possible to practise more than just musical performances here — public speaking, business presentations. the venue and the audience are ready for any type of rehearsal. and then there's this lot. yes, you can even simulate an audition panel. george can make each of thejudges purr like sharon osbourne or sneer like simon cowell. so what are they going to make of this little stand—up routine i knocked up with the help of chatgpt? good evening. how's everyone doing tonight? i mean, have you seen those vocal processers? they can turn a voice that sounds like a dying cat into something that could rival freddie mercury. how did it do that? thank you! — i think we've heard enough. yeah. yeah, i think i'll leave it to the experts. # is love to me. # applause and cheering oh, thank you.

applause and cheering # oh, i'm living my best life # best life... # welcome to miami, a city of golden beaches, glamour and entertainment... # wanting it, wanting more... # ..and the home of the miami heat basketball team. # i just want to celebrate life's too short # tonight i'm joining fans for a match. it's an experience not to miss when visiting this city — as much about the pre—game entertainment as it is about the sport. but this isn'tjust a sports team. this is a tech start—up. most people wouldn't think of this when thinking of a professional sports team, but we have a very robust

technology operation. as spectators move around the venue, data is carefully being gathered about everything they do and purchase, before being analysed on the team's own data platform that they call 601 analytics. we knew that we had reached an inflection point and this was roughly eight, nine years ago, where we have all of this technology in the building and we wanted to know what the technology was telling us. and so we went to market to see if there was anything out there. we couldn't find anything, so we started building it for ourselves. after a few years, we found it really impacted our business. so think about from the time you walk into a building, the time you purchase a ticket, you purchase something at food and beverage. i can even see when folks scan into the building what gates they're coming in from, so if we need to redeploy staff and release the bottleneck. we can see what people are doing in the arena. we can see whether they're transacting with us, whatjerseys they're buying, where they're buying them at our fingertips.

it's like having an app for your entire business. not only does the 601 analytics platform create individual fan profiles, it can also be used to analyse historical data and make predictions about future games. this allows the team to bring in the right resources, potentially saving money. it's perhaps not a surprise that data about all these transactions is being gathered. but what strikes me is that this is a sports club taking the tech into their own hands and spinning out a successful start—up. it is an interesting model, but i think that's what contributes to our success. because if you think of a tech company and the customers that they serve, how many tech companies actually live in the customers' world day in and day out and get their questions and their asks and understand their problems? now their services are being used by more than 20% of nba teams,

and their market is growing, with customers beyond just the main basketball league. so, our clients range from sports teams in the nba all the way over to venue operators that are hosting concerts, comedy shows, different art events and things like that. we found something that we needed. like we said, we built something that we could use ourselves, and other teams were just kind of knowledge—sharing with us and asking us, "hey, you know, what are you guys doing over there?" we realised this is actually something that other teams can benefit from, so why not share the wealth of knowledge? now this start—up are taking their product outside of the us too — theirfirst venue using this tech in the uk opening in manchester this year. but back to miami, and the data being gathered at this stadium is helping in some slightly more unusual places. you might think everything here is about the action on the court, but this is miami, so of course there's a nightclub underneath the stand.

# so, baby, why don't you dance with me? # baby # wanna see ya dance with me # closer... # it's a straight—up nightclub. it's ultra lounge, nightclub. loud music, lights going everywhere, cryo effects, confetti and stuff like that. so that's kind of what we do here. data is even helping you choose the music for the nightclub? it helps us put together music platforms that, you know, are very, very, very broad, you know? so, pre—game experience, given the fact of what our demographic breakdown is, i know that we need to play music that is going to cater, you know, from all the way from the �*60s all the way up to current music. with the game about to start, the fans are packing into the stadium, but do they realise just how much data is being gathered about them?

you don't realise it, but you are aware, because when you log into your amazon account and it remembers the kind of paper towel that you last ordered, that's a piece of data on you, but you find it relevant and you find it helpful. we try to do the same thing, and we're doing it because the fans expect it. with technology now impacting every aspect of running a business, i'm sure it won't be long before more sports teams are following the start—up model of miami heat. thank you. time for a look at this week? tech neighbours. presidentjoe biden has signed a bill that could see tiktok banned in america unless its chinese owner bytedance sell the stake in the firm within nine months. the bill was passed through congress earlier in the week. tiktok said the law is unconstitutional and it will challenge it in course. ==

unconstitutional and it will challenge it in course. -- in court. challenge it in course. -- in court- if _ challenge it in course. -- in court. if this _ challenge it in course. -- in court. if this bill— challenge it in course. -- in court. if this bill becomes l challenge it in course. -- in l court. if this bill becomes law it is not like tiktok will disappear from it is not like tiktok will disappearfrom our apps in the us, it will be unavailable for download or update which means that apple becomes slower, more clunky and it will eventually be unable to use.— clunky and it will eventually be unable to use. lgbtq plus datin: be unable to use. lgbtq plus dating app — be unable to use. lgbtq plus dating app grindr _ be unable to use. lgbtq plus dating app grindr is _ be unable to use. lgbtq plus dating app grindr is being - be unable to use. lgbtq plusl dating app grindr is being sued for allegedly sharing information with third parties, a claim lodged in london's mackay court says information such as people's hiv status was allegedly shared with advertisers. grindrsaid allegedly shared with advertisers. grindr said it will respond vigorously to the claim. and after five will respond vigorously to the claim. and afterfive months, nasa says it's voyager one spacecraft has begun beaming usable data back to earth. the 46—year—old probe started spouting gibberish in november due to a fault, but has since started communicating more sense with the scientists after a successful fix.

sense with the scientists after i really, really wish that i could, but unfortunately i can't speak any other languages fluently other than english. in chinese: in french: what if i could speak...polish? he speaks in polish artificial intelligence is making it far more easy to communicate in any language, from budget options... ai translates his speech ..to some pretty high—end versions aimed at the corporate sector. the implications of this tech are huge, but how good is it, and does it really work? this is how we are able to recreate an accurate... ...creation of your head. the first company we're reviewing is called heygen. now, heygen didn't want to be interviewed as part of this piece, but we've reviewed them anyway.

it's simple. try to make sure you look straight to the camera and do not look anywhere else during the recording. you upload a video of yourself, and then you just simply wait for the al to translate that video into pretty much any language that you choose. the key thing that you have to remember is you have to leave... i do a quick video of myself, upload it onto heygen and wait, and then out pops a video of me speaking the language that i chose — in this case, spanish. in spanish: and here's the really cool bit. when 0mar, the producer on this piece, got into the shot, it detected his voice was different to mine and translated his voice too. you are in shot, my friend. in spanish: i've actually managed to fool some friends using this. it really is impressive. in london, there's one company that's trying to make an absolute killing out of this technology.

synthesia was one of the very few minted unicorns last year in europe, a company worth more than a billion dollars. it's based in london, and it makes avatars designed to be used by corporate clients. but before my avatar is made, the system has to learn what i look like and what i sound like. my name is james clayton and this video recording... the idea is that you can generate a video of yourself saying anything in any language that can quickly be sent to employees, like a sort of visual email. if you think of tiktok�*s interface, there's almost no text unless you click on the comment section. you're literally swiping through videos, right? and i think that as video becomes so easy to produce, i think we'll see that more and more of our online experiences is going to be kind of video first. with my avatar created, i had a play around with it. creating the video itself is easy, it's like making a powerpoint presentation. today we celebrate world book day.

ai translates his speech yeah, so that that feels to me like what i'm saying. my hand movement is right. roughly, my facial expression is right, but at the same time, you can still definitely tell that that's an ai—generated avatar but, at the same time... ..is that better than just words on a page? and, actually, for a lot of people, particularly visual people, considering that that's only taken five minutes, perhaps that is quite useful. i wanted to see what victor thought of my take. i played around with it and it looks like me, but i don't think anyone will be fooled into thinking that it actually was me. what would you say to that? i think you're right. i think by the end of this year, if not before, we'll definitely get there. but i think what we have seen in basically all modalities, really, with al, right, is that we can all see that it's very impressive, but it's not really there, right? like, gpt technology is still...

these technologies are still not one to one on par with a real person. that said, i can see why this tech is sparking so much interest. the applications for it goes way beyond corporate videos. we've seen that with, like, ngos all over the world where they can produce video content instead of written content for people who may have a difficult time reading if you do it in local languages. sojust this kind of dissemination of information in people's native language via video and audio is very, very powerful. ground control law... as it gets easier and easier to change the words that come out of our mouths, there's also a worry that this kind of technology could increase the amount of misinformation on the internet. i still believe... but when it comes to translating educational videos or sending a message to someone in their own language... in german: at kernel brewery in london's bermondsey, something unusual is brewing.

this grain left over from beer production is commonly used for animalfeed or can even end up in landfill, but here it's getting a new lease of life. it's going to be transformed into a leather alternative known as new grain — no animals, no plastic. and now it's time for all of this to head back to arda biomaterials' lab around the corner. once these sacks arrive at the lab, it's time for the process to begin. first of all, it's emptied out into a container like this, and then an alkaline solution is added. that's stirred for about an hour to extract the protein from the grain. then the husk will be separated, and the protein liquid will move along to the next stage, where some natural ingredients will be added. this will be stirred for

another couple of hours, and at this point protein strings start to develop, and that means that it's ready to be poured into the trays. now, this tray here has got a pretty smooth finish, so that will create something that looks like a lot of natural leathers. if you want something even smoother than that — well, there's a tray for that too. and for something that's a bit more of a crocodile look, well, you've even got a version like that. varying the beer that the grain comes from by, say, using stout, will result in different final colours. after the material's been sitting in the tray for a day, it's ready to peel off. that's so smooth. that's like pvc. yeah. no, we've. .. it's completely shiny because it's unbacked. and now thatjust needs its sustainable backing added. one of the big environmental issues with leather production is actually the tanning process, though — and arda is hoping for a solution. we are exploring using natural colouring agents, so there's actually a lot of deep tradition in old tanning before the advent of petrochemicals or chromium tanning. so we're exploring these old dyes that are naturally derived and work with the environment and biodegrade.

and now for a look at some of the finished product. we've got a whole roll of it here. it looks very much like leather. this one's quite soft. we've got some here that have been dyed. it's external companies that do that, because that's not actually done here. but there are different textures. this is a bit harder, a bit more like a leather that maybe you'd have on a sofa. now, if i smell it, because i know that is the instinct with leather... ..it doesn't smell of much — a bit like a new car maybe, which i guess could be the smell of leather. it's not quite the same, but they are looking at being able to customise it to smell however somebody might want it to — or of nothing, possibly. these two are made from different types of beer, so the colour is authentic. they do feel less like leather to me, i think because they're harder and more solid. the more flexible ones that are used for something like a handbag feel more like leather, and they've just got that movement to them. on a big sheet here —

this could make a bag that could actually fit my laptop — that feels a lot softer. it moves around more like leather does. but i think the main point is there's a lot of flexibility as to how the finish is going to end up looking and what can be done to it afterwards. there's competition, though. there are lots of other leather alternatives that are coming online, and they each have different positives and negatives. our solution offers a way to scale. do you think it's going to be cheaper than leather? yes. how much cheaper? well, currently, a lot of the breweries we work with at the moment give away their grain forfree, so our feedstock is coming in at an extremely low value. some of the bigger breweries sell it. it's quite low. so, at scale, we calculate that we can undercut leather and plastic leather. and when do you think i'm going to be able to go out and buy a handbag made out of this? hopefully, this time next year. and it's going to be a cheap handbag? it'll start as a small collection to certain clients, and then into luxury, and then slowly moving down the luxury market

into more commodity and high street. and what's worth having if there isn't a queue or a waiting list? and that's it from us in the performance lab at the royal college of music in london. hope you've enjoyed the show. we're about to find out whether this lot have. thanks for watching, and we will see you soon. cheering and applause oh! oh! oh, thank you! thank you, thank you! hello. after what has been a mixed and decidedly chilly week of weather, things are not going to warm up an awful lot through the weekend. staying chilly, some rain at times, but it is going to turn warmer next week. however, not completely dry.

still some wet weather in the forecast. certainly some wet weather for the weekend, all driven by this area of low pressure pushing up from the south. this frontal system here bringing rain northwards across southern england into wales, the midlands and east anglia. to the north of that, some sunny spells to start the day. a cold start with a frost across northern england, northern ireland and scotland. it will be another sunshine and showers day. the showers wintry over high ground in scotland. some hefty showers breaking out for southern counties, and then some more persistent rain heading in from the south by the end of the afternoon, temperatures generally around 10—13 degrees. and then through saturday night, this rain will push its way northwards, covering large parts of england, clipping into the east of wales. further north and west, some clear spells. another relatively chilly night, there'll be a frost for some. further south and east, not as cold because of the extra cloud, because of the outbreaks of rain, all driven by this area of low pressure which will be sliding its way northwards through the day on sunday. some parts of england

are going to have a lot of rain through the day, heavy and persistent rain that will make it feel decidedly chilly. some rain fringing into east wales, turning wet in eastern scotland, rather windy for some of these eastern coasts, but eventually brightening up for southwest england, for wales, parts of north—west england, northern ireland and western scotland seeing some sunshine as well. temperatures still stubbornly stuck in that range between 9—11! degrees, but temperatures will start to lift on monday. a frontal system pushing in from the west. outbreaks of rain for some, but ahead of that, a southerly wind bringing a warmer feel. temperatures back up really to where they should be for late april, 12—16 degrees. and it'll turn warmer still as the week wears on. this area of low pressure tending to roll away southwards as all these different weather systems reorientate themselves. well, the wind direction will change, we'll pick up something of an easterly flow from the near continent, and that will bring some warmer air. highs potentially up to 19, maybe the low 20s celsius. but with that, there will still be some rain at times.

live from washington. this is bbc news the us's top diplomat tells the bbc his country is prepared to take steps against china if it continues to support russia's war effort donald trump's former assistant takes the stand as the first full week of testimony in his criminal trial comes to a close. and — we speak to a founder of the metoo movement, afterfilm producer harvey weinstein�*s rape conviction is overturned in new york. hello i'm carl nasman. we start with a meeting between two global superpowers. us secretary of state antony blinken was in china for talks with the chinese president xijinping on friday. the us's top diplomat said there has been progress in some areas. he praised beijing for its efforts to stop the supply of fentanyl from reaching the us and the increase in military—to—military communication.

president xi agreed the two sides had "made some positive