The Happy Pod: Fat Bear Week returns

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. So, uh, quick summer recap. Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, holding phones and a viral spinally challenge record. Yeah, I think that, uh, that covers it, right? I'm Thomas Germaine. I'm Jess Maddox, and the interface is back from its summer break. New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world in our lives. So before AI wipes out all of humanity? Uh, allegedly. Join us for the interface. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcast. They were taught to obey. People truly deeply respect him, but they learnt to resist. Not to stay silent, not to become another victim. In the new season of World of Secrets, our investigation follows a group of students as they fight to expose a dark secret inside their Islamic boarding school. I am not the only one. There are other girls too. We have to hold him accountable. World of Secrets, catching my teacher. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcast. This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs, and in this edition, it's back. I think people are really excited about it because it's something fun on the internet. It's positive, it's engaging, you get to learn about bears. The results of the annual Fat Bear Week are in. Also on this podcast, the tattoo artist helping people embrace their scars. It's huge responsibility, and it's huge fulfilment after all, because I make them feel different. I make them change what they're wearing. I make them buy you clothes. Plus, the grandmother, who is a world record holder, in streaming. And my grandson, when I said to him that I thought, "I would start streaming." He started laughing and said, "Nobody would really follow you, grad." And I thought, "I'll show you." And the doctors who are going on walks with their patients. Last week saw the return of a much-loved Fat Bear contest in the US state of Alaska. I'm not being rude, trust me. It's something affectionately known as Fat Bear Week. It's an annual tournament which celebrates the success of the bears preparing for hibernation. In other words, comparing which of the bears has gained the most weight. People who wish to take part can vote online, and last year, more than 1.7 million votes were cast from people in over 100 countries. This year, the winner is a bear called Backpack. Sarah Bruce is a park ranger, catmine national park and preserve, where the bears live. I called up with her and started by asking why it's important bears are fat. Bears are eating and eating and eating and eating for about four to six months throughout the summer, because they go into the den for about four to six months in the winter. So they are surviving off of their fat stores during their hibernative state in order to survive until the next season. So the bears do not eat when they're hibernating. They're metabolic rate drops and yeah, it's important for their survival to be fat. So how does voicing what? There's five or so different cameras set up along the length of Brooks River, and you can watch those basically 24/7 all summer long. And then the last week in September, we have Fat Bear Week where you can go to fatbearweek.org to cast your vote so there will be a poll there this year we've had multiple polls every day until Fat Bear Tuesday when we crown our winner. And the winner has been crowned. Backpack, could you tell me a bit about him? Yeah, bear 89. All of the bears have numbers. That's how we monitor the bears on the river. The same bears come back to the river every year because they know that it's a successful place to be. And so this bear is 89. He got his nickname backpack when he was just a first year cub. He had a injury to his paw. And so he would ride on his mother's back when she was swimming in the river. It looked like he was a little backpack on his mother's back. So that's how he got his name. And he's just been a really resilient, steady, reliable bear every year. He's not the most dominant, but he's not the least dominant bear either. Yes, and you mentioned backpack's mother. She's actually one it before, hasn't she? Yes, his mother 435 nicknamed Holly. She won in 2019 and she was a bear seen regularly on the river for a very long time. Yeah, she was a very successful bear. There's photos online of her just looking super super super fat. But she was very successful that year that she won in 2019. Because the next year she came out of the den with a cub. So that is always a sign of success for mother bears is when they are really fat. And then the next year they are that winter they're able to support a pregnancy and come back with cubs. I'm on it to share my name with a winner of the Fat Bear Week. I will say that. What do you think it was about backpack that won lots of votes? He is one of the bears that we've been able to watch since the webcams were put in in 2012. And I think people have been watching him for a very long time. He's 20. So he's moving up an age. He's a senior bear. The lifespan we expect is about 25 to 30 years. And people have just been watching him for a really long time. So he's got this big fan base. And I think folks were campaigning for him to win. And this competition is now in its 12th year. Why is it so successful? It's positive, it's engaging. You get to learn about bears, which not everybody has access to. Bears used to be all over the United States, but their range is shrinking to just like the northern areas and some parts of the contiguous 48 states. So bears are really endearing creatures. One term for these types of animals is the charismatic megafauna. So the big animals that people can see, you don't really have to go looking for them. They're engaging, they're fun to watch. And the cameras also just allow us to see them as individuals. So being able to see the bears as an individual creature within the context of the larger habitat, I think that's something that gets people excited because they don't have access to that in their own backyard. Sarah, how do you feel working on Fat Bear Week? I take a lot of pride in it. One of my colleagues at Explorer, we like to say that we didn't choose the Fat Bear Life, the Fat Bear Life, chose us. And I think that that's really true, where I started working at Katmai, not really interested in bears at first. And then the bears are just always around. You're living amongst these creatures. So you do start to become very interested in them. And then I also love the digital world and sharing the information about Katmai and doing education programs online for that accessibility. Katmai is really difficult to get to. And so being able to bring this really incredible park, these incredible bears into people's lives across the world with an internet connection, that's really meaningful to me. That was Sarah Bruce. Tatoo artists around the world are using ink to create artwork on top of people's scars to help them feel more comfortable in their skin. Carolina Shamiska is one of them. She covers marks left from things like surgery or self-harm. I caught up with her from her studio in Poland and throughout, you'll hear some people who she's helped. I have a huge responsibility for what I do because people who want to cover their scars, they're already, they don't like the placement that they have a scar on. That's why they come to me to cover it up. So it's huge responsibility and it's huge fulfillment after all because I make them feel different. I make them buy new clothes. I make them more confident. My name is Hannah. I've always been self-conscious and insecure about people seeing my scars. It got to a point that I avoided certain clothes and activities during the summer. Carolina's art didn't just cover my scars. It helped me reclaim my body and feel completely at peace in my own skin. I have lovely feedbacks that they write me or text me even after a year or so how they change the way they look at themselves. My name is Andrea and I like to talk about my scar to cover up. Many years ago, I had an operation on my upper arm to remove damaged tissue. This left me with a red scar, approximately 10 centimeters around my arm. Initially, I tried to show it but felt people staring and even children making innocent comments which made me paranoid. Over many years, I always wore clothes that would hide the scar. I struggled to conceive my second child and after five years of IVF, I finally had my son. I took him on his first holiday and again felt self-conscious and certain clothes in bearing my scar and swimmer. After doing a lot of research, I discovered scars can be tattooed over. On completion in healing is the design is perfect. I could see the outline of the scar but because I know it's there to anyone else that disappeared. I'm currently an Ibiza wearing dresses and swimwear bearing my arm and feeling more confident. It's been really life-changing and my confidence and credit to Caroliness and I can't think of enough. The most important things with covering it with a tattoo is that they create new connection, new emotional connection. It's not going to be only the traumatic event that happened or something they didn't like. It's something new. It's just some beauty that they want to show. How does that feel for you personally to know that your work has made people more confident and kind of changed the way they see themselves? It makes me feel very happy for them, especially that I also struggled with cell harm myself for some time in my life, so I know that having scars come with a lot of shame and it creates a lot of insecurities that makes people feel that they have scars on and that they just don't want to show their body parts. I have a lot of insecurities myself too and it makes me feel like I have a special connection with people. My name is Vanessa and I have two scar cover-up tattoos in January of 2022. I had a breast reduction surgery and even though I take great care of the scars, they just, I just don't scar well. I love the tattoos. Yeah, you can still see the scar underneath if you look closely but it does take the focus away from the scar. I love carrying her work on my body. What do you want people to feel when they look at their tattoo? It can make me nervous because I know that they came to get something that they're happy to look at. I would love them to feel happy in the studio during the same day because that makes me feel very good but they're always happy but it's not that everyone can adapt that quick. Is covering scars something that you've always wanted to do as a tattoo artist? It was not something that I chose to do at some point but it's something that makes me feel very fulfilled as an artist. So it was not nothing that I chose to do specifically when I started doing so I started to realize that that's actually something I would love to do. I would love to cover scars not because I want to do it only from artistic kind of view but also from the personal side of you that I can just make people really really happy and I would never imagine that someone can trust me so much and just I could never imagine that I can help people that way. What positive message do you think it sends when people do embrace their scars? The message that it can that can be shared from it is just to share their awareness that having a scar is not always meant to be hidden and if some people struggle with showing their scars and if they choose clothes basing on their scars because it takes away the confidence from people so even if someone would never notice they have a scar it's just a feeling the being aware that they have this scar and their life choices are based on having this scar. That's something that I want people to know that it's possible to change that and that I can help them with that and that can make both of us very happy and satisfy. So uh quick summer recap. Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones and new viral spinale challenge record. Yeah I think that uh that covers it right? I'm Thomas Germain. I'm Jess Maddox and the interface is back from its summer break. New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world and our lives. So before AI wipes out all of humanity, allegedly, join us for the interface. Listen on BBC dot com or wherever you get your podcast. They were taught to obey people truly deeply respect him but they learned to resist. In the new season of World of Secrets our investigation follows a group of students as they fight to expose a dark secret inside their Islamic boarding school. World of Secrets catching my teacher. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcast. Welcome to the haunted library. Have you come in search of a tale? This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From gothic masterpieces to pulpy penny dreadfuls. Join me, Colin Morgan with new episodes twice a week. Find the haunted library wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to The Happy Part. A 78 year old woman from Scotland has just been named as the world's oldest female fortnight streamer by Guinness World Records. Cath Bowie livestreams herself playing the video game and people can join in or watch in real time. She has gained tens of thousands of followers since she started playing in 2017. I had the joy of catching up with Cath and began by asking her what made her want to start. When it came out nine years ago, I had a 17 year old grandson and I had walked into his room where he had his PS4 and saw him with this game and saw the island, saw his little character running about, you know, it just appealed to me right away and when I said to him, "Gosh, what's this? This is a new game." He then said, "Yes, Epic actually released this week and I have been playing it constantly since that week." And that was it. Do you play it with your grandson? No, I never really did actually. Holly, I carried on playing on his account on his PS4. For a few months and then by that time, I was totally hooked. So I kept thinking to myself, shall I buy myself a PS4 or is it going to be a waste of money? However, on the following April, I decided no. I was completely hooked by this type and then decided I would buy my own PS4. Set up my own account and I played by myself and solos, got accustomed to the game and played sometimes with what they call random squads. Fork you don't know. I like chat and default, get into no folk. So I made up another account which was GrumpyGround1948, the one that I play now, meaning to keep my other account for just some personal play. But however, I never went back to because GrumpyGround1948 took off and I started streaming, not really knowing Holly what I was doing. You know, I just decided and my grandson, when I said to him that I thought I would start streaming, he started laughing and said that nobody would really follow you, Grant. And I thought I'll show you if I can do it. And of course, Holly, I did show him, didn't I? Well, Kath, I have to ask, who is better at Fortnite, you or your grandson? He does not play Fortnite now. He's into more, well, I call it sophisticated games, but you know, all that type of games, you know. But if I did play with him, no, no. I think probably that unless it was somebody that was a complete newbie to the game, I would think everybody could play better than me. But that is not important to me. So that never worries me as long as I go in there and enjoy myself. That's all that matters to me. That's a lovely motto. But I back you, Kath, I think your way better at it than you're letting on. You said there that you are playing with random people. Have you made any friends through Fortnite? Yes. Oh, a lot of friends. I stopped playing with random people once I got and created my stream. At this moment, at this moment, I am standing at over 26,000 followers, right? Wow. But for a lady of 78, you know, it's, it's, it's okay, right? It's more than okay. It's very impressive. It's okay. And within that, I have this group of people that are with me constantly, every time I stream and two comments from USA and I'm obviously from Scotland and I have two from England. No, that's not the only ones that comes in. You know, there's a better movement. You've got folk coming into your chart and I welcome everybody that comes into my stream and into my chart, personally. So they all get an acknowledgement from me. Fifteen minutes, I am before I start stream and I'm setting up my PS5 because I advanced the PS5. Now you see? And I start actually looking forward to going on and meeting my friends. It's, you know, I never sit and think, Oh, I don't want to do this today. How much joy does it bring you? A lot of joy, yes. I just can't explain to you just how pleasurable it is to me, actually. But it just was so instant my like for it. And that was it, Holly. I just every day is a pleasure to stream or to play just off stream with my friends. Yeah. Now you've been recognized. nice with a world record. How does that feel? Well, gosh, yes, I was astonished at that. The goal of the Guinness Book of Records, I think, to begin with, when is out, is I was growing up. You know, I used to always get it as a part of my Christmas, right? It would never, never have occurred to me. Not even a few years ago, that I could pick up this book, open it up and see my face. You know, see a plenty of me that I could actually see in the book was beyond belief. You must be a bit of a local celebrity. No, I don't think so. I tried to play in that, no, no, actually, I'm just me. What is next for GrumpyGrand1948? What I'm now really challenging myself to do is to keep well enough to see if I can still be playing and streaming when I'm 80, but two years away, so we'll see. Calf, I want you back on the happy pod on your 80th birthday. So find out. That was Calf Bowie. I've come outside for our next story because it's about a concept called Walk with a Dog. As the name suggests, it's a weekly walk with a local doctor. Dr David Sabgear started it in 2005 in the US state of Ohio. He decided to set it up when he realised his patients weren't following an exercise plan he suggested to them. So I was really frustrated with my ability to motivate my patients to be physically active. I invited a patient to go for a walk with my family in the park that Saturday and that's where all the wonderful stuff started happening. Our first walk was six months later, we had over a hundred people and we knew that we were on to something. It's just really a wonderful way to connect, but it's also important, I think, for our community members. If they do want to talk about whether or not they should take a cholesterol medicine. It's nice maybe to have the ear of a physician and see what she or he says, out in the park, we're all on the same ground. The doctors are wearing baseball hats and shorts. We now have rapidly grown to 735 chapters in 42 countries, which is super exciting. Our patients that are going to the walk, they feel more empowered, they feel more educated. We did an informal survey and we saw that over 90% of our respondents increased their level of exercise. We have an incredible global community, thousands of physicians. Everyone is a volunteer. The reward of being with our community outside the sterile walls of a medical office are so rewarding that it's something I'll be doing and our global physicians will be doing for a very long time. That was Dr David Sabgear and as he said there, it has spread across the world. Jacob Thorpe has been to a walk with a doc meetup in Hungary. It's 8.30 in the morning in Vesprim, a city in Western Hungary. I'm standing in a hotel car park as a crowd gathers. They are greeted by Dr Borvála Stán, known by the group as Boris. Dr Stán heads the local branch of walk with a doc. Around once a month she leads a group on a walk and talk through the city. There's around 20 walkers ranging from energetic children to older adults. We make our way down into the shade valley. Above us Vesprim Castle's wide-clustered walls shine in the morning sun. I joined Dr Stán, who's walking at the front of the group. She tells me she started this group in July 2024. She was interested in holistic medicine. The lifestyle medicine has six pillars. They are the nutrition, exercise, sleep, social connection, stress management and avoiding harmful substances. With a walk with the doc we can deliver three of six pillars and we have an extra bonus the time in the nature. We continue along the green path next to shade stream. I get talking to Laszlo, who is 75. I don't know if I should go to the embassies. People need to be part of a community. Unfortunately, I lost my wife 12 years ago, so I live alone. So in order to live properly, you need to go to programs and activities. That's very important. You mustn't just sit at home. A little further ahead, I fell into step next to Georges Goyerch, a retired maths teacher, who tells me she started coming last year. I like the fact that doctors step outside the confines of the operating theatre and the doctors surgery and that in a freer, more informal setting, you have the opportunity to ask questions if you want to. As we walk in the shade of popular oak and chestnut trees, I ask Dr Stán how she got involved with walk with a doc. She tells me she first heard about it when living and working in Spain and set up brunch in Valencia. But when she returned to Hungary, she realised there were just two branches in the whole country. One of the things holding them back was that all the resources were in English. Hungarians generally aren't very good at foreign languages and we also have several older walk leaders. Even though they are doctors, English isn't so easy for them. We didn't want them to be excluded from the walks and we wanted to reach as many people as possible. So Dr Stán worked with David and his US team to create a Hungarian registration form that connects with the central organisation. They also launched a Hungarian social media account to spread the message. Within a year they had expanded to 38 branches. One of the newer branches is run by on the theme air. We joined us on the walk. I've been running the programme in my hometown since 2025. It's a small town of around 20,000 people and we get between 20 and 60 people on the monthly walks. Some of them are regular, but there are always three or four new walkers as well, ranging from very young children to elderly people. As a GP, I was worried that I'd effectively be opening up an extra surgery session, but fortunately that hasn't proved to be the case. When people come on these walks, they don't want to talk about their illnesses. They're more interested in talking about being healthy and for us too, it's something that recharges our batteries and gives us a sense that what we do is worthwhile. As we head up to the carpark, the group is in great spirits. As we say our goodbyes, Dr Stán leaves me with a parting thought. I think it is much more than a walk. It is social connection, education, but I think the most important thing is the genuine care of the doctor. Without that, I think it couldn't work. Jakob Thorpe reporting and for more on that story, just search for people fixing the world wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Have you ever heard an elephant rumble? Well, a new study suggests the noise they make help the animal stay in tune with one another. The BBC's science correspondent Victoria Gill has been listening and trying to understand choruses of African elephant rumbles. There are lots of reasons why herds of elephants produce these deep vocalizations. There are greeting rumbles. There's a collective calming or koo rumble to comfort nervousium calves. And this one, so brief and deep, it's barely audible, is the matriarch telling the herd it's time to move. Elephants tend to rumble together in a chorus, so it's difficult to study, like trying to pick out a meaningful chat at a noisy party, but this team of Kenyan and US scientists studying the elephant said amber celly national park in Kenya has revealed new clues about the meaning in these exchanges. Here's one of the lead research is Dr. Sarah Keen from the organization The Earth Species Project. We had recordings collected by an expert elephant researcher that she collected across her career over 40 years, and we developed a machine learning tool that was able to predict the behavior that was occurring while the sounds were being made by the elephants. So, with the help of AI to analyse the sound, researchers were able to predict whether the animals were greeting each other, comforting a young one or deciding to move just from their rumbles. The study also picked up a surprising insight into elephant agreement. In some circumstances, each member of the herd would start making their own individual rumbling sound, and then the chorus would, as the scientists put it, converge, so gradually the animals would tune in to rumble at the same frequency. Here's Dr. Keen again. We saw that they start to sound more alike or in other radices, like they're kind of getting in tune, only in certain behavioral situations, and it seems to be creating a shared plan of action or maybe consensus building. So we think that maybe converging or sounding more similar might be a way to show agreement. Understanding how elephants communicate, especially how they coordinate their movements could help identify important habitats for them and reveal how they move around and use a landscape. Tuning into these rumbling choruses researchers say, might even help humans and elephants to share that landscape and to co-exist more peacefully. That was Victoria Gill. And that's all from the happy pod for now. We'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is global podcast at bbc.co.uk. The editor of this edition is Karen Martin. I'm Holly Gibbs. Until next time, goodbye. So, quick summer recap. Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones, and a viral spinally challenged record. Yeah, I think that covers it, right? I'm Thomas Germain. New season, new co-hosts, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world and our lives. So, before AI wipes out all of humanity, allegedly, join us for the interface. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcast.