What does knowledge mean in an age of AI, deepfakes, and disinformation? When information is everywhere, the real challenge is distinguishing insight from noise.

In this episode of the World Bank’s Development Podcast, host Toni Karasanyi explores how knowledge is evolving in a world where machines can generate convincing arguments and personalized realities shape how we consume information.

Tech journalist Jamie Bartlett, author of How to Talk to AI (And How Not To), explains how individuals can use AI tools without being misled — and why critical thinking matters more than ever.

Paschal Donohoe, the World Bank Group’s Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer, discusses how the Bank is turning more than 80 years of global development experience into practical knowledge that helps countries tackle challenges, including creating jobs and scale solutions in a fast-changing world.

Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical chokepoints for oil, gas, and fertilizer shipments, are already pushing up energy and agricultural input costs worldwide. Because energy and fertilizer markets are closely linked to food production, these shocks can quickly spread through global agrifood systems. 

In the short term, measures such as diversifying trade routes, strengthening market monitoring, supporting farmers, and providing targeted assistance to vulnerable countries can help stabilize supply chains.

Diplomatic efforts to ensure the safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz also remain critical for protecting global energy markets and food security.

This special episode of the podcast The Work We Do by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization delves into the global implications of the current Middle East crisis.  

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming workplaces across the globe, enhancing productivity and reshaping tasks in many occupations. But its effects are not gender neutral. A new report by the International Labour Organization finds that women are more exposed than men to the risks linked to this technology.

In this episode of the ILO Future of Work podcast, Anam Butt, technical specialist on gender equality and
non-discrimination at the ILO and co-author of the report, explores why women are overrepresented in jobs where tasks can be automated, why they remain underrepresented in AI and STEM occupations, and how AI systems can reproduce existing biases and stereotypes.

She also discusses how policymakers can ensure that digital transformation advances, rather than undermines, gender equality at work.

As global debates on food, equity and resilience accelerate, one story highlights who must be at the center. This episode of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Work We Do podcast highlights why women and youth are essential to transforming agrifood systems.

Lauren Phillips, FAO’s Director of Partnerships and UN Collaboration, discusses findings from FAO flagship reports on women’s central roles, persistent gaps in land, finance and opportunities, and why progress remains uneven. The conversation explores the International Year of the Woman Farmer, youth participation amid high global youth unemployment, and the financing gap. It makes the case for investing in women and youth as drivers of inclusive growth, resilience and food security.

Polio once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children every year, striking fear into families across the world. Thanks to global vaccination efforts, cases have fallen by 99.9% since 1988. But polio is not gone yet.

In this episode of the podcast Science in 5, we speak with Dr. Jamal Ahmad about why polio eradication still matters, how close the world truly is to ending this disease forever, and what's at stake if we don't finish the job.

Polio spreads easily, respects no borders, and remains a threat as long as it exists anywhere. With only a few cases left in two countries, the tools, knowledge, and partnerships are stronger than ever—but sustained political commitment and global cooperation are essential.

Ending polio would mean no child is ever paralyzed by this disease again—and billions saved for health systems worldwide.

In Sudan, the conflict between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged the country into widespread bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe. 

The devastating civil war began in April 2023 and is expanding beyond the western Darfur region into central Kordofan, taking its toll on civilians and particularly the most vulnerable, including children.

Eva Hinds, Spokesperson for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Sudan, describes how the agency is supporting boys and girls amid the brutal conflict and ongoing cuts to aid budgets.

In a new episode of the Future of Work podcast, we unpack the International Labour Organization’s new Employment and Social Trends 2026 report with its lead author, Stefan Kühn, and ILO trade expert Marva Corley. Together, they explore why labour markets look stable yet remain fragile – and what this means for job quality, inequality, and the future of work.

Bintou Keita knows instinctively that some moments call for a more human response than words alone can offer. Once, at a ceremony to mark the end of the devastating Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, she found herself hesitating to deliver her pre-prepared statement to a grief-stricken crowd.

“I have my statement, but I can't deliver [it] because there's something else I have to do before. And in that moment, what came to me was humming, so I did it. And at that moment, the tears - my own, the tears in the audience - came out. These people were grieving, were still mourning.”

Bintou has retired after 36 years with the UN, most recently the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and head of the peacekeeping mission there. In this episode, she reflects on times when peacekeepers saved thousands of lives, on how women can lead the way out of devastating conflicts, and shares why she has learned to never say never.

Photo: ©UN Photo/Ilyas Ahmed

“Leaving young people at the sidelines of how we find solutions is not the way. It's really bringing them [in], because on many of the things, the solutions will come from them.”

A medical doctor by training, Dr. Felipe Paullier is a passionate advocate for young people. Two years ago, aged just 32, his life took a new turn when he became the first-ever Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, the youngest senior appointment in the history of the United Nations.

“I've heard this from the Secretary General. You know, power, in essence, is not to be given, it's to be taken. ”

The UN Youth Office believes that positive change is rooted in empowering young people to meaningfully participate in decisions that impact their lives and futures. In this episode of Awake at Night, Felipe reflects on youth demands for peace and opportunity, on the stubborn barriers to change, and shares why he always prescribes reconnecting with nature as a cure for digital overwhelm.

Photo: ©YuWaah (GenU India)

After enlisting at 18, Cheryl Pearce battled rigid gender barriers to rise through the military ranks. Now the UN’s Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations, the Australian-born Lieutenant General is the highest ranking woman in uniform within the United Nations.

“Peace for me, is seeing communities having food security, having water security, education, knowing, you know, as a mum myself, knowing that my children can grow up to feel like that. They can have a life and a future and fulfill their dreams and goals.”

Lieutenant General Pearce knows what it takes to serve in some of the most difficult places on earth, from East Timor to Afghanistan. In this episode, she reflects on the sources of her mental and physical resilience, on making a robust case for peacekeeping in an age of disinformation, and shares why her family wants her to show her chaotic side once in a while.

“I don't believe in a world without peacekeeping. I truly believe in what we do and that we do make a difference. There is so much good about who we are and what we do.”

Photo: ©CMDR Kylie Robson

Jean-Martin Bauer was just a teenager when a visit to his uncle’s Haitian rice farm planted the seed of his life-long passion for food security. Now Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis at the World Food Programme (WFP) he works to feed hungry people worldwide.

“Even now, even during these dark times … there are opportunities to sow seeds for a better future.”

The world faces a global hunger crisis, with a record 319 million people currently not getting enough to eat. The author of a recent book on hunger in the Twenty-First Century, Jean-Martin Bauer reflects in this episode on the human cost of famine in Gaza and Sudan, the impact of funding cuts on the most vulnerable, and explains why the best solutions are those closest to home.

“That island in the south of Haiti was a great message of hope for everyone in the country, because the farmers of Haiti can feed themselves. They can feed the nation if given a chance.”

Photo: © WFP/Theresa Piorr

Former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock is a new face at the United Nations. Sworn in as President of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025, she brings experience and energy at a time of challenges and new beginnings – including the selection of the next Secretary-General.

“We need this place where countries, big and small, rich and poor, are coming together and have an equal say and an equal vote.”

Shaped by her nation’s turbulent past and successful reunification Annalena Baerbock entered politics at a young age. In this episode of Awake at Night, she reflects on the importance of female pioneers, the impact of online harassment and shares why the UN Charter can still move her to tears.

“It meant really a lot to me, personally to be sworn in on the original document of the charter. And if people could see, I was too afraid to touch the charter. So my hand was kind of one centimeter above it.”

Photo: ©UN Photo/Manuel Elías

Did you know that you can save three lives in just ten minutes with the gift of your blood? What do countries need to do to have safe blood donation systems ? WHO’s Dr. Yuyun Maryuningsih explains all you need to know to donate blood in Science in 5. 

Filippo Grandi has devoted more than three decades to easing the suffering of refugees: “My pride after all these years is that the center of this effort of my lifetime has been on people, and especially on the people that suffer most in the world, including refugees.” 

Now, shortly before his term comes to an end, and as more than 117 million people worldwide remain forcibly displaced, the long-serving UN High Commissioner for Refugees is welcoming a rare moment of hope for one of the world’s largest refugee populations. “Home means your house, your family, your friends, your work, your school, and it is fantastic when, like in Syria […] people can go back to their homes. This is what most refugees want.”

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, not only helps those who flee war and persecution, but also those who choose to go home when peace returns. Appearing on Awake at Night for a second time, Filippo Grandi reflects on the dangers of divisive politics, the human cost of painful budget and staff cuts, and shares his hopes and dreams for life after the UN.