fine gael. he's set to become the republic of ireland's youngest prime minister — at the age of 37 —— after leo varadkar�*s surprise resignation. now on bbc news, click. this week, nick's at south by southwest, where assistive tech is helping one artist with muscular dystrophy crack the music scene. what do you think about this from a fashion perspective? oh, yeah, definitely, it can't cramp my style. chris suits up... they've gone to get me a bigger size. . ..eventually, to see how our old four—legged friend spot is helping with the decommissioning of a nuclear power station. and we travel to miami to see what sd printing might mean for marine wildlife. every march, thousands of musicians, movie stars and media moguls from all over the world descend on austin, texas. it's time for south by southwest. and this year, one musician made quite a splash on this global stage thanks to a life—changing innovation. and nick kwek travelled with him as he made his us debut. this is eli's story. # ..tears on the sand...# my name's eli crosley. i'm 16 years old. i am currently in year 12. i'm a musician. i'm the singer in the band askew. we play a mixture of original music and cover songs... # i need to be myself...# they're basically alljust my really good friends and we just get together and enjoy playing music. and if we could do that as like a job, that would be the dream. eli has duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive condition that gradually weakens his muscles. # ah—ah—ah...# he was three and _ a half when he was diagnosed. the doctors basically. told us that he would be in a wheelchair by - the age of nine or ten. and the life expectancyl was early 20s and there was really very little that could be done. | plays piano music, i think, helped me with ambitions in life. it's kind of picked me up and it kind of helped me forget about my condition with something that i just absolutely love. # the trust we put in you...# i've got sam fender here. one of his songs, "seventeen going under," iwent through a phase of absolutely loving him. as each day passes and eli loses his mobility, he's been testing an assistive technology that has the potential to keep him playing music longer. it's fine — i can do this bit. simple things such as drinking and lifting a cup when i don't have any support for my arm is something very difficult and it's really, really frustrating. the smart suit aims to help with that arm function. it helps to lift your arms up and basicallyjust help you achieve some of the normal everyday things, such as brushing teeth, such as drinking water, such as eating food that people without disabilities can do. that's why i use this ring. if i pull it up... gentle whirring yeah. if i pull it up... look - it keeps going up and that is a pretty good position that helps support my arm, and then if you press the other way, it goes down. it could be slightly more comfortable, but i feel like it's definitely got a lot better than the first prototype. things are always improving, which is definitely a positive. the exoskeleton is being developed by his mum's charity, which she started after eli was diagnosed. is that the size you want? ok, i'll press - a and b together. yep. hold on. what i wanted was to find a cure for duchenne - so we wouldn't even be having to have this conversation. - but it didn't happen- because medical research happens slowly, and duchenne is a tricky disease to treat. - when i see him testing the suit, it does feel. a bit bittersweet. as the disease has gotten worse, i think every- incremental gain that- you can get, as his mum i'm so grateful for. i see that this is going to be incremental, yet profound l in terms of allowing himi to keep doing the things that he loves. hopefully, it could be even cooler and look like a gold ring or something. what do you think about this from a fashion perspective? oh, yeah, definitely, it can't cramp my style. when you're in the business of designing assistive products, you're often in the business of designing products that people don't want to have to use. and that's a tricky scenario, right? that's a tricky situation. hayley has spent the last 20 years designing assistive technologies. if you've got a condition that's holding you back from being able to do the things that you love, that's something that we want to overcome with technology. the team are looking to integrate artificial intelligence with the suit, so it will automatically adjust for different tasks. so they would go to lift a drink, maybe not as fast as they would normally lift it, or perhaps in a slightly different way as they'd normally lift it. the suit knows — "no, this is normally how you drink," and just steps in, gives you that extra strength and you can make the drink. the idea being to lessen the mental load on the user. if i'm playing every single night or if i want to hold the microphone at any point, the smart suit would really help with that. but this innovation is notjust about eli. sometimes needing your parents to help you kind of pour water into your mouth is really not a nice thing, and ijust hope they can kind of experience it and it can help them as much as it can help me. and i really hope that it will help the whole community. i love this. with grant funding from british council and arts council england, eli has been given the chance to cross the atlantic and perform at america's mega music, film and tech festival. ready to go. the fact that we're going - to showcase not only the work of the charity in the suit, but also eli's incredible l musical talent isjust... ..really incredible i and ijust can't wait. how are you feeling about it, eli? you know, it'sjust a day in the life, really! in here we put on stormzy in 2016 and we put on ezra collective. amy winehouse�*s first us shows around the time of back to black. so, this area here in terms of international presence for uk music is incredibly important. crispin has been taking talent to texas for over two decades. he's got eli a slot on the day stage. their careers, they can meet agents, the labels, the pr people, the people who can sync their music to the hollywood movies. they're all going to descend on this town in the next few days. it's so funny that this little corner of almost nowhere in america is a place that's been so important for uk bands. i think he's going to love it. and now it's eli's time to shine and show the world his talent, as well as the smart suit that will help keep his dream alive. but first, they've got to draw a crowd. there you go. thank you so much. # i can't give you...# mum, be quiet, please. the dream is maybe someone, you know, ends up seeing me. the end goal is to get a music contract with my band, askew. tech industry has ignored . disability for all these years and now we're going to change it by building an assistive arm i device, and my son's playing. i'm playing at the international day stage at 2:00. hope you can come. coot _ thank you. wednesday, i mean! for eli to really make it in showbiz, he's got to learn how to party like a rock star and master the art of small talk. i'm a bit intimidated. they're coming back now to talk to you again. - news travels fast here, and eli is soon invited for a headliner interview. welcome to the studio, eli crossley. even the head honcho turns up to meet the budding star. you've welcomed him over here, making his dream come true. he's making our dream come true to be able to showcase _ the up—and—coming talent. that's what we always do at south by southwest, l but incredibly happy— that we can provide a platform for him to tell his story, i to inspire others, to give others hope and optimism about the future. - then a very special guest dropped by to offer some sage advice... jon bonjovi. no! jon bonjovi? jon bonjovi. you're joking. i'm notjoking. when? nothing else matters unless you write. - everything else is second to writing cos you got - to write the song. what?! no... but that wasn't the only surprise. paddy dunning of temple lane studios, who's recorded with everyone from westlife to rem, was at the festival. when i heard that you want to be in the music industry, we had to do something together. so, what we've done with the giant project is, what we've done is, we've organised a recording session in ireland. and this is from the giant project, right, which is the building of the biggest moving statue in the world, which celebrates giants. ok, so when you're in ireland, we're going to scan you and we're going to keep your avatar and you are going to be put up onto the giant. i'm looking forward to you coming over. thank you so much. yay. great, great. thank you so much. great _ that's amazing. so, i hearyou're a fan of sam fender. no way. yeah, yeah. no, no, no, no, no. please, no, don't do it to me. sam has recorded with us... no, don't do it to me. sam has recorded with us and we're going to do a face time in on the recording session. so, sam and dean and the guys... i don't know what to say. are you looking - forward to wednesday? terrified. terrified? so nervous. why nervous? people are going to show up, i don't know what it will be like. i don't know. but, yeah, i'm excited. # you will set us free... i'm not afraid of dying any more. i'm not. it's something that happens to everyone, and ijust am hopeful that i can do as much as i can in my life. my biggest fear is leaving the world without accomplishing everything i want to accomplish. # itjust takes honesty. thank you so much, everyone. cheering and applause time for a look at this week's tech news. uber has agreed to pay over 270 million australian dollars to settle a lawsuit in the country. filed on behalf of thousands of taxidrivers, the class action alleged income had been lost when the ride—hailing giant moved into australia. uber said it hoped that with this settlement these issues were now in the past. nvidia has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence chip, which it claims can do some tasks 30 times faster faster than its predecesser. computing has run out of steam. we need another way of doing computing so that we can continue to scale. the firm also says its b200 blackwell chip will reduce cost and energy consumption. youtube has announced it now requires creators to disclose when realistic videos are made using artificial intelligence. the change is part of a broader effort to be more transparent about content that could confuse or mislead viewers. and, finally, initial results from a project that we covered on click last year have been revealed. the trial at a scottish hospital used an ai tool to help diagnose early—stage breast cancer. although the results are still to be peer—reviewed, they suggest that the tool has led to the diagnosis of 12% more cancers than would usually have been spotted by humans. most of britain's nuclear power stations were built in the 1950s or �*60s, and at the time, very little thought went into what would happen to them when they reached the end of their useful life. and now, across the uk, many of them are in various stages of decommissioning and chris vallance has been to dounreay in the far north of scotland to find out how its engineers are using robots to help in the process. the ruggedly beautiful and windswept coast of scotland. in the 1950s, this remote spot was chosen as the test site for a new technology — fast breeder nuclear reactors, capable of producing more fuel than they consumed. the steel sphere is there for a reason. if things went seriously wrong inside, it's designed to contain any radioactive contamination. the plant closed in the 1990s and is in the process of being decommissioned. it's a huge site, nearly 200 separate facilities, over a quarter of which contain a bewildering array of radioactive materials. dismantling dounreay is a huge challenge, but it's also become a test—bed for new technology. but before we can go inside and see it, we need to dress for the occasion. they've gone to get me a bigger size. chris, welcome. this is the dounreay fast reactor. well, would you look at that? goodness, what a thing. it's a big metal ball, a containment ball, that was built here away back in the �*50s. it's a couple of inches thick of metal, sealed, that's housing a reactor that sits over here. and the reactor is slowly being taken down? slowly decommissioned, yes,. we want to put it back to what it was, previous to what it was in 1955. doing that will take a long time, but they do have help. you've probably seen these four legged robots before. here, with the help of expert operators, spot has been used to map out areas of the plant and measure radiation levels — information that will be vital when it comes to taking it apart. but for now, spot's mission is to take me to its owner. there we are. we've got spot, the boston dynamics�* spot. why this robot for this place? why this robot? well, it's very, very common in the field of robotics to say that if a job is dull, dirty or dangerous, send a robot in. he went into a fuel cell that hadn't been explored for 25 years. we don't have a whole lot of information about this facility before we go in. it's like going into another world, in terms of then having to explore that for the first time. so, you take your first tentative steps in there as the robot enters this completely unilluminated but highly complex environment. we're able to start building up this image of where the radiation is, so then, at the end of it, we can produce a 3d model that then gives the engineers just this amazing data set that informs how they're going to decommission this whole facility. it's interesting — spot is wearing protective clothing, like we're wearing protective clothing. you see that on the film and you see it here. that's right. so, spot is currently in our contamination control suit. when spot has been put to work, has been used for, it was a period of five days, multiple deployments. at the end of that, we can then clean the suit, we can remove the suit, and then spot is totally safe to then come away from site having got no contamination on it. operating an expensive robot inside a nuclear reactor is a bit nerve—racking, but surprisingly simple. ok, so this isjust a regular tablet, isn't it? regular tablet, yep. so your left stick, if you move that forwards. so you push up like that? so you tap and push it upwards and the robot will move forward. it's the same for backwards as well. and then if we turn this one to the side. which way? to the right is fine. over to the right and then it rotates. that's amazing. good dog! they're proving very useful and they're very cute. but the decommissioning and clean up at dounreay is a huge task. i've got three nuclear reactor plants from the very dawn of the nuclear age. i've got a whole reprocessing plant for taking the fuel and dissolving it and reprocessing it and dealing with the waste. i've got waste storage facilities that i have to transport the waste. we have an awful lot of infrastructure that comes in lots of bits and pieces. decommissioning everything on the site will take decades and it's been estimated it will be 300 years before the land is safe for re—use. well, that's for the site is completely clear. the intermediate level waste has gone to long term repository. we think we'll have this place down — 40, 50 years is our latest estimate. but there's huge variability to that. nobody�*s ever done this, you know. and projecting things forward, we know how fast technology is developing. so we're really excited that the technology can help us. we've shown the benefit that these robotics can bring. i think that even if we look into the very immediate future, that it is absolutely credible within highly technical industries that we'll have robots walking around autonomously, carrying out their missions, and people will see them just as business as usual. well, it's been a fascinating visit. when this place was built, it was pioneering nuclear technology, and now new technology is being used to help with the decommissioning and the clean up. it's time to leave... automated voice: measuring. ..but before i go, i have to make sure i don't take anything radioactive with me. monitoring complete. please leave. - all clear. spotless, you might say. now, what's your favourite 3d printed thing that you've seen? my reading glasses. they are the one thing that makes me feel better about my ageing eyesight. oh, no. is that what you look like? yes, it is. bleurgh! scary! how about you ? i think it's either the 3d printed house that i saw last year or this little helter skelter that i made for my son's marble run about ten years ago. sweet. so, you can 3d print all shapes and all sizes, and pretty much anywhere these days, but what about underwater? yes. alasdair keane has been to see one start up that's hoping to protect the oceans from coastal construction. is this one of the most satisfying bits of tech to watch? but this 3d printer isn'tjust pleasing on the eye. the walls it's creating have the potential to change our impact on the planet. one of the big challenges of our city, miami, and all coastal cities, is rising sea levels and flooding. traditionally, cities have addressed this by building sea walls, which you see all around us, even here. the problem with traditional sea walls is that they destroy marine habitats. traditional sea walls leach chemicals, and very simply, they're flat. when you have a flat sea wall, the organisms that live by the coast, they can't attach to this flat surface, so they migrate. and there is where they want to be eating all the toxins in the water. so once the sea life and the organisms migrate, no—one�*s there to eat the toxins and the quality of water goes down 50% within one year of installation. the challenge for kind designs was coming up with something that was economical for communities but will also enhance the underwater ecosystem and they think they've got it. these are the walls that you create. talk us through some of the features. ok, so there's three really important features why these walls are so great for marine life attachment. one, you have these little micro textures on the wall. and so if you imagine a rock climber, if they're trying to climb on a flat wall, it's impossible, right? so, same for sea life attachment. then, just the nature of the 3d printing process, you have all of these layers — all in the wall. so these layers are great, actually, for coral growth. and then lastly, you're not just having your kind of bottom of the food chain on these walls, but because of these caves, you get so much more biodiversity. so every species, their number one thing is that they want to survive, which makes sense. us, too. yeah, us included! and with these caves, as you can see, they're really deep. i can put my whole arm in here. so that's where your larger organisms can hide from predators, and that's what really, really encourages sea life attachment and the amount of biodiversity that you couldn't get anywhere else but a natural coastal ecosystem. it takes just under one hour for a wall panel to appear before us — much quicker than traditional moulding and setting of concrete. but this way of manufacturing also brings design flexibility. we have the highest resolution 3d printer in the world, so our layers are one inch thick, which allows us to create this design or anything else. and so, since we're just producing in florida right now, we're keeping this design, but as we expand nationally and globally, we can alter our design to make it fit the coastal habitat in any region of the world. you're printing with concrete, which is still one of the most un—environmentally friendly materials there is. are you looking at other materials or is concrete the only answer here? we are using concrete because concrete sea walls are mandated in many areas. you can use vinyl sea walls — basically plastic sea walls. the problem with them is microplastics are leaching in the water so also a problem. and you can only use them in areas that are very low impact, like a river in orlando or lakes. the difference between traditional concrete and ours, is ours is nontoxic, so it doesn't leach. there's no chlorides, there's no metals, and it's also mixed at a 30% lower temperature than traditional concrete, further decreasing the carbon footprint. and that's just a starting point. as we democratise this product and have more of a margin, we will incorporate more and more components to our materials that keep pushing the limit on how environmentally friendly the concrete mix is. this start—up are installing their first walls in florida now. studying their impact will be vital in assessing if they make a positive difference and in what direction the designs will go next. and that's all we have time for this week. thanks for watching. we shall be back next week. see you. hello there. sunday didn't turn out too badly with a bit of spring sunshine, just 1—2 showers. but through the next few days, the weather is looking quite changeable, decidedly unsettled, spells of rain, often windy, and it will be cold enough for snow over high ground in scotland. now let's take a look at the rainfall we're expecting to accumulate over the next five days. wet for hills in the west, very wet for eastern scotland. but, while i say rainfall, actually some of this will fall as snow across scotland, because certainly over the next couple of days, we”ll hold on to some rather cold air across this northern half of scotland. in the short term, well, through this evening and tonight, we see cloud and rain spreading from the west across northern ireland, western england, wales, pushing its way a little bit further northwards and eastwards. ahead of that, a slice of clear sky, 1—2 mist patches, and temperatures dropping away — but out towards the west, as the night wears on, those temperatures will climb a little bit. so, nine celsius in plymouth, for example, as we start monday morning with the cloud, with the outbreaks of rain, all associated with this area of low pressure, and a frontal system swirling its way in from the west. now, i think there will be parts of east anglia and the southeast that stay dry with some hazy sunshine throughout the day. northern scotland will hold on to some spells of sunshine, 1—2 wintry showers, but elsewhere we see the cloud, we see the outbreaks of rain moving quite erratically northwards. temperatures on monday afternoon across south wales, southern england, 10—12 celsius, but northern scotland, just 5—7 celsius — and it's as the wet weather runs into that cold air that we will start to see some quite significant snow. overfairly modest hills i think we could see snow, but above 300 metres elevation we could be looking at 20 centimetres of snow — and at low levels close to the east coast, parts of aberdeenshire, angus, fife, maybe up to 50 millimetres of rain. so that brings with it the risk of flooding and disruption. and the weather across scotland on tuesday only very slowly improving, the snow levels lifting, the rain and snow tending to peter outjust a little bit. windy in the far north, really cold, as well, struggling to get above freezing for some. further south, northern ireland, england and wales, sunny spells, the odd shower, highs of 11. temperatures climbing a little bit, actually, through the week ahead, into the easter weekend, but there will still be some rain at times. live from london, this is bbc news. the head of the un agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza. russia's president putin lights a candle for victims of the concert hall attack where 137 people were killed. ireland is set to have its youngest—ever prime minister, with 37—year—old simon harris declared as fine gael leader. hello. i'm nicky schiller. welcome to the programme. we start this hour in the middle east. the head of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees says israel has told him it will no longer approve its food convoys to enter northern gaza.