The Conversation

Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to an ex-circus performer from Bulgaria and a skydiver from France to find out what it takes to achieve some of the world’s most extreme records. Bulgarian Getti Kehayova grew up performing in the circus alongside her world-record-holding family. Inspired by her sister, who once held the record for spinning 97 hula hoops at once, Getti wanted a record of her own. After a year of intense training, she earned the Guinness World Record for spinning the largest hula hoop ever for a female: 5.18 metres (17 feet) wide. Domitille Kiger is a French world champion skydiver who has been involved in ten world records. She led the largest mixed-gender head-down free-fall formation of 96 skydivers and took part in a record-setting night jump with a 42-person team. Every member had fireworks strapped to their feet. Produced by Emily Naylor (Image: (L) Getti Kehayova courtesy Getti Kehayova. (R) Domitille Kiger credit zerOGravity.)

Whitley Fund for Nature 2025 winners from Brazil and Nepal tell Datshiane Navanayagam about their efforts to save the plants and animals they love from extinction. Reshu Bashyal is working to stop illegal poaching of wild orchids and Maire’s Yew trees in Nepal. Both plants are prized for their medicinal properties. Reshu is the research lead at Kathmandu-based Greenhood Nepal and has interviewed hundreds of yew harvesters to understand their motivations and harvest techniques. She is now restoring 1,000 hectares of habitat for orchids and Maire’s Yews, creating a community forest to promote best practices and developing an app for law enforcers to identify 100 plants that are trafficked. Dr Yara Barros has revived jaguars from the brink of extinction in Iguacu National Park in Brazil where numbers plunged to just 11 individuals. Her solutions include setting up a 24/7 rapid response unit where local people can report sightings or attacks by jaguars. Yara started her career working with the last Spix's Macaw in the wild before going to work in a zoo. A face-to-face encounter with a male jaguar called 'Croissant' convinced her to devote the rest of her career to protecting the apex predators. Produced by Jane Thurlow (Image: (L) Reshu Bashyal credit Whitley Fund for Nature. (R) Yara Barros credit Whitley Awards.)

What happens when children break the law - and how does juvenile punishment vary across countries? Ella Al-Shamahi speaks with two women from the Netherlands and Finland about what’s working, what isn’t and what needs to change to better support young people in the justice system. Marlen Salonen from Finland used to be a personal trainer but two years ago became a prison officer at Vantaa Prison in Finland, a remand facility for male prisoners awaiting trial or sentencing. She works on the juvenile ward supporting boys held in custody. Fleur Souverein is a psychologist from the Netherlands. She currently works as a senior researcher at the Academic Collaborative Centre for Youth at Risk and as a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research focuses on youth delinquency - particularly organized crime - youth justice institutions, restorative justice and the impact of inequality and institutional racism within the justice system. Produced by Emily Naylor (Image: (L) Marlen Salonen courtesy Marlen Salonen. (R) Fleur Souverein courtesy Fleur Souverein.)

Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to professional wrestlers Xia Zhao from China and Divya Aale from India about their passion for the sport and what it’s like to be a woman in this industry. Xia Zhao from China started martial arts at eight years old and later became a professional athlete in Chinese martial arts, known as wushu, including kung fu and kick-boxing. In 2016, she attended wrestling try-outs in Shanghai, which led her to move to the US and become the first Chinese woman to compete in a WWE ring. Her stage name today is Lei Ying Lee, and she was formerly known as Xia Li. Divya Aale from India has been captivated by American wrestling since she was four years old. In her early twenties, she trained at the Continental Wrestling Entertainment academy in India, founded by former WWE star Dalip Singh Rana - better known as The Great Khali. She was the only woman living at the academy alongside 200 male wrestlers. Today Divya teaches women's wrestling in Singapore. Produced by Elena Angelides (Image: (L) Divya Aale credit Najwan Noor. (R) Lei Ying Lee credit Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from Nigeria and the UK who are trying to ensure what we throw away doesn’t go to waste. Esther Fagbo is a partner at Wecyclers in Nigeria – a for-profit social enterprise that pays waste pickers and households for their recyclable rubbish in densely populated Lagos. Alongside her work at Wecyclers she has carried out projects with Fair Plastic Alliance, an NGO that supports the health and livelihood of waste workers, including a 2024 documentary Heroes of Recycling. Maxine Mayhew is chief operating officer, collections and specialist services at Biffa, one of the UK's largest waste-management companies. They work out what can be recycled and deliver to recycling centres. Maxine oversees collections and sorting of household waste for local authorities, as well as all industrial and commercial collection and waste from construction and demolitions. She also heads up the company shop group which stops goods that could be in the food chain going to landfill, so that they can instead go to those facing food poverty. Produced by Jane Thurlow (Image: (L) Maxine Mayhew credit Biffa. (R) Esther Fagbo credit Fotovillager/Asere Oluwatunmise Samuel.)