When governments need to raise money, they promise a reward in return for your investment. But how much - or how little - they're promising says a lot about the country, and if investors perceive it as risky to invest in or not. But why are analysts so obsessed over something called the bond yield curve? Pippa Malmgren, policy analyst, says at the moment there's nothing to be afraid of from what the curve tells us. Russ Mould from AJ Bell on the other hand says we should be careful. We try to make sense of this confusing curve.

(Image: A man stares at a confusing illustration of graphs on a blackboard. Credit: francescoch/ Getty Creative)

Overrun by bots and identity thieves, does the worldwide web need a fundamental overhaul?

Ed Butler reports from the Future in Review tech conference in Utah, where he speaks to two entrepreneurs offering partial solutions. Denise Hayman-Loa's firm Carii offers corporations safe spaces for secure online collaboration, while Steve Shillingford's Anonyome Labs helps citizens keep their personal data secret when active online.

But do such solutions go far enough, or does the internet a complete redesign? Ed speaks to one of its original architects, Larry Smarr of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, as well as Berit Anderson, founder of the future tech media company Scout.

(Picture: Tangled network cables on white background; Credit: joxxxxjo/Getty Images)

Why has there been so little political fall-out from allegations by the New York Times that the US President and his family dodged hundreds of millions of dollars in tax, in some cases through outright fraud?

Manuela Saragosa speaks to Susanne Craig - one of the journalists making the claims after 18 months of painstaking research. Yet the US public remains unmoved. Bloomberg editor John Authers fears for what that says about the breakdown in trust in modern Western society.

Plus Pippa Malmgren, a former advisor to President George W Bush, explains why she thinks the tax investigation may represent a bigger threat to Donald Trump than the much-reported Mueller investigation.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Donald Trump; Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The private sector is muscling in on space exploration, and the biggest commercial opportunity could be tourism.

Ed Butler meets the star-gazers at the Future in Review conference of tech entrepreneurs in Utah. Ariel Ekblaw, who founded the Space Exploration Initiative at MIT, discusses the logic of self-assembling space hotels. Nasa chief scientist Dennis Bushnell talks cosmic beach combing.

And Chris Lewicki, head of space mining start-up Planetary Resources, explains why he thinks it makes more sense to mine water on asteroids than bring it with us from Earth.

(Picture: Fictional space station with astronauts and space ships; Credit: ZargonDesign/Getty Images)

Are new forms of 'artificial' meat about to change the food industry? Regan Morris goes to California to taste a chicken nugget its makers hope will be on restaurant menus by the end of this year. Josh Tetrick is the boss of Just - the company behind it. She also hears from Mark Post, the maker of the first lab-grown burger, and Tom Mastrobuoni from Tyson Ventures, the meat processing company that wants to be the world's largest 'protein' company. That's fine but just don't call it "meat" says Lia Biondo from the US Cattlemen's Association.

(Photo: Chicken nuggets made from meat, Credit: Getty Images)

Does STEM still have a problem with women? Manuela Saragosa speaks to Dr Jess Wade, a physicist at Imperial College in London, and soil microbial ecologist Kelly Ramirez, co-founder of 500 Women Scientists. Rebekah Higgitt, a lecturer in history of science at the University of Kent in the UK, explains the marginalisation of women in science.

(Photo: Female scientist, Credit: Getty Images)

Rome and Brussels look set to clash over the Italian government's spending plans. What's at stake for the rest of the EU? Manuela Saragosa speaks to Claudio Borghi, economic spokesman of the Lega party, the right wing party now part of Italy's coalition government, and Jeremy Cliffe, columnist at The Economist.

(Photo: A 'debt clock' screen displays Italy's public debt at the Rome's Termini central station, Credit: Getty Images)

Tsunamis, earthquakes and a sinking capital - not all of Indonesia's problems are down to Mother Nature.

Jonathan Bithrey reports from this blighted archipelago on the Pacific ring of fire. 14 years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, why was the country so ill-prepared for the tidal wave that hit Palu this week? And what is being done to stop Jakarta slowly sinking into the sea under the weight of poor planning and overdevelopment?

(Picture: A woman looks for salvageable items among the debris in following the earthquake in Sulawesi; Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Whatever the fate of the heavily indebted Tesla Motors, is the electric vehicle revolution now set to sweep the world? And despite his Twitter antics and legal problems, has the company's chief executive earned the right to be brash?

Justin Rowlatt speaks to Gene Munster of tech investors Loup Ventures and to the author and tech prophet Tony Seba. Plus what is the future for fossil fuel companies in an electrified world? We ask Shell's vice president for new fuels, Matthew Tipper.

Producer: Laurence Knight

Image: Elon Musk (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Instagram and social media are transforming the food industry, but is the fixation on visual aesthetics destroying the dining experience?

Elizabeth Hotson explores the nexus between our stomachs and our smartphone screens, with help from sandwich blogger Xander Fletcher, cake decorator Georgia Green, online food and drink reviewer Rebecca Milford, food writer Natalie Seldon and restaurateur Cokey Sulkin, among others. Producer: Elizabeth Hotson

(Picture: Cake decorated by Georgia Green; Credit: Elizabeth Hotson)

Bill Gates speaks to Manuela Saragosa about the future of Africa and the urgent need for the world to invest in the continent's exploding youth population.

It comes as the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder launches the second annual conference in New York of his Goalkeepers initiative - a network of activists from across the world who aim to ensure that their governments fulfil the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

But why is it that the number of children born per woman in Africa remains so stubbornly high? We ask Olufunke Baruwa, a gender and development practitioner in Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria. And are the attempts of wealthy outsiders to solve Africa's problems misguided? Teddy Ruge, an outspoken Ugandan activist and entrepreneur, tells us it's time to let a new generation of Africans take over the controls.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Bill and Melinda Gates introduce the 2018 Goalkeepers event at the Lincoln Center on in New York; Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP)

Most companies around the world exist with some form of hierarchy. Usually it is a vertical structure, with executive above management, which is in turn above the workforce. But there is another form, a “flat” hierarchy. Long promulgated by tech companies and start-ups in particular, flat or horizontally-structured companies operate on the principle of “Be your own boss.” Everyone chooses their agenda, their pace and in principle there is no boss to upbraid you if you make a mistake. So does it work? David Heinemeier Hansson is a founder and partner at the web services company Basecamp, a company with a “flat as possible” structure. He gives his thoughts on being the boss of people when they are their own boss. We also hear from Drew Dudley, author of This is Day One and André Spicer, professor of organisational behaviour at Cass Business School, on the potential pitfalls of flat hierarchies.

Image: Silhouetted faces in a boardroom (Credit: Getty Images)