this wea land plagued by mosquito-borne disease. but can these insects be renderer harmless? inin romania, we cheheck out e boomining live-cam industry. what is it that draws young people to this work? and in britain, we meet people suffering from loneliness. it's on the rise. we find out why. today we're more connected than ever before.

at the drop of a hat, we can link up with friends, relatives, and even strangers. yet despite social media, we are more isolated and lonelier than ever. loneliness affects all age groups, and experts warn that it can cause health problems. for instance, it's linked to depression. britain, too, is facing an epidemic of loneliness. since the start of the year, the country has had a government minister charged with tackling the issue. reporter: away from the bright lights, hustle and bustle and pomp and pageantry of central london, it can be a grey, glum, and lonely city. age u.k. is a charity that helps the elderly. it's known for providing home-help services, but also for its friendship centers where pensioners can meet up.

almost one in five british seniors has contact with other people less than four times a month. half of the country's overer-7s live alone. women, in particular, feel lonely. felicity: sometimes i say i don't want to live. that's happening now. i suppppose it's oldld age. things change, and maybe health-w-wise, sometething like that, and you can't do what you want to do. then you fall asleep during the day, and the worst thing you can do is sleep during t the day ad wake up and you feel terrible, not worth it. it pays to stay awake until it's time to go to bed. reporter: isolation isn't just a problem among older people. robyn also wishes she had more social conontact. rerebecca isn't a close frien. she's a complete stranger, her hug therapist.

robyn lives on her own in a detached house in the countryside. she also works from home, organizing events for people to make new friends. but ironically, she herself feels lonely. robyn: i enjoy my own space, but then it gets to a point where you actually realize that you've had too much of your own space. and then you c can't just suddey magic up friends that you've built a relationship with. it's that small talk, i ththin. so then you suddenly realize that on a saturday night you've got no one to go out and have a few drinks with. reporter: robyn is single, but she's not the shy type. she's a seself-confident w worg woman. but the traffic speeding past on the motorway behind her home sums up how she feels. robyn: a lot of my conversations take place on whatsapp messenger. we even leave voice messages for each other. it's not even like you have a quick conversation. you just leave a voice message,

but you're not building anything sustainable. so you're still going home at the end of the day lonely. reporter: she has to take a one-hour train journey to london for her customized cuddling sessions. loneliness is also a matter of physical health. studies indicate that loneliness can be as detrimental to your wellbeing as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. those findings prompted the british government to follow up on the recommendations of a special commission and add a new ministerial department, tasked with measuring social isolation and helping those afflicted by it. julianne: but also i think society is changing. and issues like socialal medi, people working from home -- and not just from home, working from vans. perhaps there's less church, people have got less institutions. loneliness is not a niche issue. it's not a health issue. it's not anything else. this is about how we change our society. reporter: rebecca charges 65 pounds for a one-hour hug session, and has an average of three clients a day. robyn knows that others might be

skeptical, but the sessions help her, and she thinks they're worth it. robyn: in your heaead you've gt that thing which is like, so are peoplele going to think i'm ma? is it realally sad that you actually have to pay to come and see someone? but it t is pure. if you're lonelyly, and it hels you. but yeah, ununfortunately we dot all get whwhat we want for fre. reporter: and robyn is, of course, not alone in her isolatioion. the sasame commission reported that in the u.k. alone, nine million people are suffering from loneliness. host: loneliness is a bibig iss, anand like many big issues, its also proving a big business opportunity. like for the live-cam industry. one leading provider boasts up to 40 million visitors a day. estimates suggest that the global live-cam industry raked

in over 2.5 billion euros in 2016. and in poorer countries like romania, many young people are eager to get in on that cash. scott: hello, guys. how are you today? reporter: scott and arielle are waiting for customers. they're trying to o entice rih americans who are just arriving home from work. once a customer has taken the bait and requested a private chat session, they can end up paying up to seven euros per minutete. sct: you likike my muscles? you u want your customers to forget about what they actually want, so that they stay online longnger. if they want t to see your but, you show it to them, but also engage them m in a conversatio. arielle: i tease the men.. i dance, i smimile and flirt. that's how you e earn the momt money.

i talk to my c customers, liken a first date. reporter: scott and arielle live in romania, one of the poorest countries in the eu, and home to europe's biggest sex-cam industry. over 5000 studios have sprung up in recent years. arielle: i tease the men. it's estimated that more than 200,000 romanians work in the adult live-cam business. 24-year-old arielle begins her day in the studio's own beauty salon. arielle: i try to be natural. i don't put on an act. i want to develop a relationship with my customers, to become friends. sometimes it's like being their psychologist. reporter: the manager shows us the plans for her compmpany's fourth studio, and explains the industry's boom in romania. maria: i think the market is growing, every year with 10%, 15% of members. we have a very g good internet connection.

second of all, we have very smart girls, and they speak very good e english. and then because we have beautiful women over here. this is the secret. reporter: arielle shows us around the chat rooms. she's given up on medical school. young doctors in romania earn 500 euros a month. a webcam model can earn over 25,000 euros a month. arielle: a lot of my customers work for big companies, and don't have time for dates and a family. that makes me the perfect solution, a consolation. sometimes they need a girlfriend, sometimes a lover. theyey tell me wt t they've ed for didinner. sometimes they even cook for me in front of the camera. arielle: a lot of my customers i often get asked to masturbate. i tell thehem what i'm willing d not willing to do.

reporter: we have to leave when she gets asked for a private chat. laura also used to be webcam model, but she's ashamed of her past and doesn't want to be recognized. laura: masturbating in front of the camera all the time is degrading. but you do it for the money. fine, if you masturbrbate you n earn your first 1000 euros. that's a lot in romania. what other options are there? working in a supermarket for 200 euros? reporterer: laura worked from home. her boyfriend made himself her pimp and would beat her. a harsh reality for many sex-cam models who don't make it big. laura: all the girls are vulnerable, especially if they work from home.. at some point, a man will come into your life, find out what you do, get greedy and start to abuse you or blackmail you. reporter: instead of being a

major earner, laura gets just 300 euros a month from her parents, and has gone back to college. the government has largely turned a blind eye to the sex-chat industry. prostitution is illegal in romania, so the models are working in a legal gray zone, with no transparency. many studios bill themselves as call centers. ana tudorache would like to see laws brought in to regulate the booming sex-chat business. she owns a studio for male models. laws brought in to regulate the ana: some don't have the possibibility to t talk to fri. some d don't want ththeir secreo be known by their acquaintances. some come because they're horny.

reporter: as more studios open up, the competition for models intensifies. ana: don't move the camera like this. reporter: scott started three months ago. ana: being more playful with the camera. reporter: he's receiving camera training and english lessons at the same time. scott has to give over a third of his earnings to the studio. but the former fitness trainer earns ten times what he used to. still, he doesn't t tell anyoe where he's working. scscott: i t thought about telg my parents thehe truth, but im afraid to. at first, it was hard to get naked because i didn't know how to k keep my customers watchin. but w,w, it's .. at first, it was harard to get reporter: the sex-cam industry is keeping scott, arielle and their colleagues in romamania. they are not part of the exodus that's hurting the country. one in five of their generioion s ememigrated becacause of the

widespread poverty. arielle takes us to her new artment. she has a boyfrienbubut he doesn't want to be interviewew. they're afraid that revenues will drop if chat customers get jealous. arielle: i'm very proud that i have my own apartment at 24. i want to buy a car by the end of the year, and then later, i'll buy a house. that's my biggest dream. reporter: arielle doesn't want to live like her parents, working for decades, and then unable to afford anything. hundreds of thousands of young romanians desperate to avoid the poverty trap end up satisfying the desires of the wealthy. host: china's sex doll industry poverty trap end up satisfying is also alall about provovidingh longed-foror intimacy. but foet blow-w- rubber dos. one of the world's larst

eyes and as, a andven engagecor tinimimple nversasaon. aintetelligence onene day be leo producucers is kititting its ms out wiwith artificiaial inlllligence. recreate those, too? reporter: in the future, will it be normal for humans to have sex th robots?s? here in rcelelona, dr.r. ser santos is developingng a new sx robot. he used to be a successful researcher in the fields of nanotech, biotech, and materials science. now he's using his knowledge to breathe life into silicone dolls. sergi: so i have an architecture of emotion. that was my core. i have a brain, i have the architecture of a brain that can express emotions in a given way that i thohought. and then i thought, do i have a humanoid system? i found a humanoid system in the sex doll industry, and then i said, okay, now i need computers that are available, ready to assemble, and i need technology

that i can use to put all these together. reporter: the robot reacts to verbal and physical stimuli. santos has attached sensors to the doll's body. the sensor data is interpreted by the artificial brain. the robot then simulates various emotions, depending on how the user is talking to it or touching it. the robot can react in a friendly, romantic, or sexy fashion. although these robots are still in the beginning phase, scientists are already considering the consequences. the university of st. gallen, a training ground for future captains of industry. that sex with robots is an issue here is surprising. but ethics professor thomas beschorner is convinced that

digitization and robotics are important topics that don't stop when it comes to sexuality. surveys show that sex with robots is more than just a fetish. thomas: up to 40% of all men in europe can imagine having sex with a robot. somewhwhat fewer womenen are interested, but there's potential there, too. reporter: professor kathleen richardson is a vehement opponent of f sex robots.. kathleenen: my name isis kathn richardsdson, and i'm m the dirr of the campaign against sex robobots. and i don't view human beings as objects. i don't see this as interchangeable, that you can replace a human with a machine and they'll do the same things, because i think human beings are different from things. reporter: martina mara is a robo-psychologist. she's also critical of tendencies in the sex robot industry. martina: it has to be said that

95% of the sex robots that are currently available on the market are female stereotypes, stereotypically passive. so on the one hand, they objectify the human, and often the female body. and on the other hand, these robots represent stereotypical relationship patterns, stereotypes that are then carried into the bedroom. sex robots are always a kind of slave. reporter: in barcelona, the first sex doll bordello has opopened its doors to the publ. experts agree, sex with robots is here to stay. will we develop feelelin for these manoid machihines? thomasas: my guess is s that wel very quickly develop personal relationships with these devices.

i'm pretetty sure thatat the pe who will b buy them willll givem names. they'll dress them up, buy them nice clothes, and they'll talk to them. reporter: sergi santos sells his responsive robots for a few thousand euros. but he's much more interested in its artificial brain, and what makes us human. santos: the sense of the self. responsive robots for a few thousand euros. who am i? why do i think i am myself? what makes me decide that this is me? this is one of the things that has always interested me. and that made me think of an architecture for a brain. host: mosquiuitoes are by y fae most dangerorous animals foror humans oeaearth. up to a millioion peop dieie eh

year of mosquito-bororne diseas like z zika, maria, , yellow fever, and dengue fever. according to the w.h.o., 390 million people a year contract dengue fever, a disease common in tropical and subtropical host: mosquitoes are by far the regions. brazil is among those countries particularly affected. our reporter robert richter went to rio de janeiro to meet some scientists tackling the plague by mobilizing the mosquitoes themselves. reporter: rio de janeiro is waking up. early morning is the best time to release mosquitoes. the ones in these cylinders have been bred in the laboratory and fected with a certain kikind of bactcteria. wolbachia bacteria preventhehe reicatation of virususesn the mosquitoeses that cause e disean humans. dengue fever, for example. ththe longer-tererm plan of thte scientisists at the woworld squo ogram is to infect wild mosqbacteria awewell.chi

gabriel: so,o, fighting agagat dedengue is impoportant to avd people d dying. so, we knoththat eve timime we have an epidemic in,n, like, gabriel: so,o, fighting agagat dedengue is impoportant to avd tropical couountries, we k knowt mamany, many peoeople die bece they have other prproblems, thy havethther heah prproble. reporter: this is what a vecto of dgue e fer looks like. tropic countries, we know that it's an aedes aegypti, and it's most active during daylight. luan ferreira worries ababout s baby dauaughter luna.. dengue i is most dangegerous in infants and can often le t to mplilicatis. e 25-year-r-old is an ambabassar fofor the world d mosquito prom and spends a lot of time raingng awenesess inis neieighrhood.

there are ambassadors like h in allhe r regio wherere re-engineerered mosquitoeses e bebeen released.d. an: there has been resistance e wawanted to knowow why more mosquitoeses were being g reled into the environment when there are manany bing us s alady. thth's understandable, off course. why y introduce eveven ? at's the benefit for the coununity? h doeoes itork? reportrter: but now w they'e understood t the point off replacing ththe natural popopulg squitoes w with geneticacally modidified ones. dengue f fever is debibilitat. asassad zidan n has had itit . each time, it was caused baa dierenent stin of f vis. assad: with dengue you get hea.

evevyone around here has had it. anand then chikukungun arrivede, too.o. reporter: : his sister a amira a bad case o of chikungunynya andk a long timime to recoverer. she e had a fever r for days d suffereded from joint t pain r months. amira: dengugue is prerarable o she e haikungunya.r for days d that a a diseaseou h havtoin r respect. i wouldn't wish on n anyo. i'm terrified of it. rertrter: thgoalal of e ientists at thisososquitfarm to elimate mosqto-borne i'm tedidisease. it. ththis is where e they inft te insects with wolbachia bacteria. the females are fed with blood disesease. from c conserves pasast ther insects exexpiration datate.ria. the stafaff call thehe lab thed mosquiuito factory.. the workrkflows have b been optimized so that a maximum mbmber of squiuitoesan be e br herere. the fefemales lay ththeir eggn water cu lined with paper.

they're recognizable as blkk flks o on thpaper.r. ththey will evenentually devep into l larvae and momosquies. gabriel: we love them. carare out them. we produce theinin a w that casusurvivin theheield and does not tnsmimit seases.ation frepoerer: inhe neieiboringd lab,ylylinde are f fled with the lly y deveped momosquito larvae. they continue m mature thehe tubes, eventually growing wings. 1.5 millllion mosquitotoes ared every week.. whenen they are rereleased, tho on to o mate with ththe wild momosquito popululation, whichch carries didisease viruses.s.

the e prscientiststs.nched in 100 pepeople work hehere today. luciano:o: at first ngngue washe on proroblem. then we hahad zika cining, chikungunya. nonow yellow fever is around, o llllow fev is s not urbanan disease sisince 194242, but it becomemes one. ththere is potenential for aes egtiti, the me v vectocouldd tranit yelelw fever c cities whwhich will be e very complic. ralth clinics are already atsef yellow fbrbreakingointnt.a there is a yellow fever vaccin but ly 6 60% obrazililia are vaccinated.. reporterer: overcrowdiding is a serious problem in the favelas of rio. defective water tanks and overflowing rubbish dumps are idideal breedingng grounds foror mosquitotoes. nters in brazil are cool and drdry.

the mosqsquitoes take e longeo grow. en so, it doesn't take gabrielsm larvaeae. gabriel:l: we should b be war. eife havevehanges iclclimatielsm we c c have dengue, zi, ikungunya, more spread, like hahave pea all o over the yea. so it is eveven worse thanan to. reporter: local shopndnd house owowners do theieir bit for thte project. the mosquito traps scacattered about the city are emptied reregularly and d their contents later exexamined in ththe lab. the scientists have established th in n thareas whwherthe ininfected mosququitoes have n leleased io ththe environmenen, wolbhia bacteria end up present in the bulk of the mosquito populatn.n. now, t scientists have to wa until the e next epidemimic of mosqsquitoorne diseases inin

humans to o see if therere is a rereduction in i infection ratn ththose areas. gabriel: e every time whwhen wo for like meeting inside a mmmmunity o hahave hlth agagts arouou, they say that e heheal clins, we are workinclosose, theyeyre receiviving less cass than t the other onenes, whe wolbacachia is not e establis. reporterer: the first t posite reresults of a p project that t eveventually be e intruced i in wocities around the world,lis. babanishing dengngue, zika, anad chikikungunya to t the past. host: who cares abt t the flow indury's's destructiveve impac? >> i i do. hostst: who cares s about lgbt rights in australia? >> i do. host: who cares about homeless people living on the streets of los angeles? >> i d do. all: a and that's whwhy i follw global society. host: and that's all from us this week. we love heing fromom you, though, so do write to us,

global3000@dw.com, or visit us on facebook, dw global society. see you next time. bye for now. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

narrator: 2008, discontent turns ininto confrontationon. araround the world people e tako the streets. ♪ music momar: they use tear gas, electric batons, plastic bullets. it was a very, very hard day. narrator: protests like these in dakar and senegal spread to many other cities. there were similar riots in egypt and in india. in haiti the president was overthrown. the reason? high food prices. one of the major causes: climate change. villagers are leaving their homes simply to survive.