Alkira Reinfrank - Producer, CNN Global Features Team
Alkira Reinfrank
Producer, CNN Global Features Team
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• Video 2:24Video Magnecko and RoBoa: rescue robots are here 2:24Oct 24, 2025In a Swiss military training center, robots built by students and startups are being put to the test in simulated disaster scenarios. -
• Video 5:01Video This ‘backpack’ is unlocking how hawks see the world 5:01Sep 30, 2025Students at the University of Oxford have designed a custom “backpack” for hawks, which contains a camera and computer, to decode how birds of prey see and navigate their environment. Their findings could one day be used to help make robots, such as drones, more efficient. -
• Video 7:08Video Robot snakes and tortoises? Meet the reptiles of the future 7:08Sep 30, 2025Students at DGIST in South Korea have developed a host of robot animals that could one day be used in space and in search and rescue missions. -
This bumblebee-like robot might one day pollinate plants on MarsSep 4, 2025Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers are working on a new generation of tiny bots inspired by creepy crawlies. -
• Video 1:55Video This tiny robot insect could one day pollinate crops 1:55Sep 4, 2025Students at MIT are designing and developing robots that weigh less than one gram, and could one day perform artificial pollination, inspections, and environmental monitoring. -
• Video 2:37Video This tiny robot spins blood clots away 2:37Sep 2, 2025CNN catches up with Stanford University assistant professor Renee Zhao, who has developed a micro magnetic device, called the milli-spinner, which she hopes could one day revolutionise treatment for stroke patients. -
• Video 23:00Video Call to Earth: Searching for super coral 23:00Jun 24, 2025CNN joins marine biologist Dr. Emma Camp on a mission to find the world’s toughest coral as she works to save the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. -
• Video 1:30Video One of the scariest airports in the world is now a giant stadium 1:30Apr 18, 2025Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport was once famed for its notoriously challenging landing. Today, the site is home to a 50,000-seat stadium. CNN’s Alkira Reinfrank visits to see the transformation. -
‘Sea women’ and sacred waterfalls: Exploring one of Japan’s most stunning secretsJan 10, 2025Surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean, Japan’s Ise-Shima region is a place where ancient traditions, spirituality and the great outdoors collide. -
• Video 1:55Video The birthplace of Japanese soy sauce 1:55Dec 20, 2024CNN’s Will Ripley travels to the town of Yuasa, where soy sauce has been made for hundreds of years. He learns how to make the condiment at family-run business Kadocho. -
• Video 2:31Video This Japanese calligraphy ink has been made by foot for almost 450 years 2:31Dec 19, 2024In Nara, craftspeople have been making calligraphy ink using their feet for centuries. CNN’s Will Ripley visits Kobaien, one of Japan’s oldest ink makers, to learn more. -
• Video 1:44Video Watch this CNN reporter try an ancient waterfall meditation ritual in Japan 1:44Dec 19, 2024CNN’s Will Ripley tries the Buddhist ritual “takigyo,” or waterfall mediation, in the Ise-Shima National Park. -
• Video 1:45Video Explore Koyasan – one of Japan’s most sacred places 1:45Dec 19, 2024CNN’s Will Ripley visits the ancient temple complex of Koyasan in the mountains of Wakayama Prefecture and experiences monastic life at Ekoin Temple. -
• Video 1:36Video Japan’s last ‘Ama’ sea women 1:36Dec 19, 2024For centuries, women known as Ama divers have collected seafood off the coast of the Kii Peninsula without the use of breathing equipment. CNN meets some of the women carrying on this tradition. -
He served with the US Army in Iraq. Now he’s one of Asia’s top chefs and a Netflix ‘Culinary Class Wars’ judgeOct 18, 2024From a warzone in Iraq to a Michelin-starred kitchen and a hit Netflix show, chef Sung Anh’s path to the top of Asia’s fine dining scene has been anything but ordinary. -
Meet SpaceHopper, a three-legged hopping asteroid explorerOct 3, 2024Created by students at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, the bouncy bot is designed for exploring microgravity environments, such as asteroids. -
• Video 2:59Video Meet the three-legged asteroid explorer 2:59Oct 3, 2024SpaceHopper was designed by university students in Switzerland for exploring microgravity environments, such as asteroids and planetary bodies. -
• Video 4:47Video How ‘swarm robots’ could help explore our solar system 4:47Oct 2, 2024Students in Canada have developed “backpacks” that can attach to different types of robots, enabling them to work autonomously as a team. -
• Video 6:31Video ‘This is high stakes’: students test high-tech rocket-recovery system 6:31Oct 2, 2024Students in Switzerland have developed a reusable rocket called NICOLLIER that uses a guided recovery system to steer back to Earth. -
• Video 4:36Video This Mars rover with a robotic arm was made by students 4:36Oct 2, 2024For the last two years, students in Japan have been building the ARES 7 Mars development rover that can navigate rough terrain and collect soil samples.
About
Alkira Reinfrank is a Producer for CNN’s Global Features Team based at the network’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. She creates longform, multi-platform content across the region for CNN International’s TV, digital and social channels, covering everything from travel to technology.
Before CNN, she worked as a senior video producer and journalist at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she led their flagship interview series Talking Post. The monthly show featured global newsmakers, such as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, primatologist Jane Goodall, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and fashion icon Vera Wang.
Before moving to Hong Kong, Reinfrank worked as a multi-platform journalist at ABC News in Canberra, Australia. Her work has also appeared on BBC World News, BBC World Service and The Project (Australia).
Her work has been recognized by the Asia Podcast Awards, winning Best Entertainment Podcast in 2019 for the Eat Drink Asia food and culture podcast.
Reinfrank graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Media Arts and Production and a Bachelor of Arts. She undertook her degrees across Australia, the United States, Sweden and India. She was the recipient of the WIN News Peter Leonard Scholarship for journalism in 2014.
