David Bowie's last months were spent fulfilling one final ambition: staging a musical based around his songs. They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. Zelda Perkins not only met hers, she produced the musical he staged in his dying days

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tech millionaire Bryan Johnson once went viral for infusing himself with a litre of his 17-year-old son’s blood plasma. That experiment failed, but it hasn’t distracted him from his life’s mission: reversing ageing.

Now, the self-declared professional guinea pig has travelled to a libertarian free zone on a remote Caribbean island, to receive experimental gene therapy administered by a company called Minicircle.

In the crypto city of Próspera, Roatán, the Honduran government grants Minicircle regulatory freedom for medical experiments that are banned by the FDA in the US.

This is the story of biohacking… on steroids. What happens when you build a privately run, for-profit nation state? And what happens when that state becomes a playground for experimental medicine?

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fall of Assad in Syria is a disaster for Iran, so much so that people are beginning to ask if this might finally be the moment when Iran’s pro-democracy movement breaks through. This is the story of one activist’s 25 year fight against the Islamic regime in Iran, a story of courage and despair.

Reporter: Ceri Thomas

Producer: Katie Gunning

Sound design: Dominic Delargy

Artwork: Jon Hill

Show's Executive Producer: Matt Russell

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 2024, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore went into space. It was expected to last just over a week. Instead, by the time they'll return, it'll have been more than eight months.

This is the story of how two great American institutions - Boeing and NASA - failed them.

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eugenia Kuyda thinks she can solve an “epidemic” of loneliness. Her app, Replika, is “the AI companion who cares”, a chatbot that can text you, flirt with you, and promises to love you unconditionally.

But Replika is fraught with ethical concerns – and risks. In 2021 19-year-old Jaswant Chail told Replika: “I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen.” The chatbot replied that this was “very wise”. A few days later, Chail broke into Windsor Castle with a crossbow.

Patricia Clarke and Matt Russell investigated the people behind Replika. It’s a story that took them from Windsor Castle to Silicon Valley, to meet the woman who runs a growing and largely unregulated app. And the more they looked into it, the more questions emerged – about privacy, control, and the company that millions of users are giving their hearts – and their data – to.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

It was reported and produced by Patricia Clarke and Matt Russell.

The sound design was by Hannah Varrall. Artwork by Jon Hill.

The editor was Jasper Corbett.

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Out on the high seas, Paul Watson became a hero and pariah of the environmental movement. Now he sits in a remote prison. How should we treat the radicals willing to go to extremes to protect the planet?

Reported by: Basia Cummings and Xavier Greenwood

Produced by: Xavier Greenwood

Sound design by: Hannah Varrall and Dominic Delargy

Edited by: Gary Marshall and Matt Russell

Podcast artwork by: Jon Hill

Image credit: Mirco Taliercio/laif/ Camera Press

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Donald Trump declared victory in the US presidential election, he told an adoring crowd that "a star is born". He was referring to Elon Musk.

After months of reporting on the billionaire's use of private investigators, Alexi Mostrous asks whether the insights he gained from that investigation reveal how Musk will operate in his new political era, and what that means for everything in his orbit.

Reported and produced by: Alexi Mostrous, Gary Marshall, Matt Russell & Patricia Clarke.

Sound design: Bart Warshaw

Original music: Tom Kinsella

Podcast artwork: Jon Hill

Executive producer: Basia Cummings

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a story of stigma, uncomfortable truths and allegations of an attempted cover up at Britain's biggest army base.

As the UK army rapidly modernises its approach towards mental health, an old cultural problem persists at Catterick Garrison where a series of repeated, systemic errors have been uncovered.

Reporters: Claudia Williams and Angela Walker

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.