Harnessing the power of mobile phones and big data for global health
Infectious diseases rank among the gravest threats to human health alongside global warming and terrorism. New strains continue to evolve every year and can spread rapidly. The consequences can be devastating. The 1918 Spanish flu killed an estimated....
More details | Watch nowEverest, the first ascent: the untold story of the man who made it possible
The conquest of Everest by a British team in 1953 has always been celebrated as a triumph of heroic leadership, team work and courageous climbing, but the vital role that scientific innovation played in the success of the expedition has never been wi....
More details | Watch nowWinning and losing the fight against infectious diseases
Human infectious diseases will be eliminated and replaced by chronic ÒlifestyleÓ diseases as fertility falls, life expectancy increases, and populations grow older and wealthier. This is the standard story of the epidemiologic transition, but it is....
More details | Watch nowThe art of stealth: a virus in my liver
The liver is a vital organ that works like a chemical factory every day to keep you alive. But what exactly does it do and how do viruses exploit it to hide from the immune system? With help from volunteers, Dr Zania Stamataki will demonstrate some....
More details | Watch nowMedical myths and misconceptions
Can a cold land you in hot water? ÊCan you live without your liver? ÊCan you tell medical fact from fiction? WeÕve all been told to eat our crusts, that an apple a day keeps the doctor away and that weÕll catch a cold if we go outside with wet ha....
More details | Watch nowStem cells: a cure for blindness?
Retinal degeneration is a leading cause of blindness in the western world. Drug treatments currently available only serve to slow the diseaseÕs progress and are not always successful. Rachael Pearson has helped develop a novel therapeutic approach t....
More details | Watch nowWhen will we understand Autism Spectrum Disorders?
It is agonising for a parent, troubling for a clinician, and puzzling for a researcher when a young child seems oblivious to people, is fixated on spinning objects, and shows no sign of communicating. An adult who finds their own inner states opaque,....
More details | Watch nowThe mechanics of memory
How does the brain store and recall memories? A critical neural component of memory is the synapse, a specialist junction where one nerve cell releases a transmitter chemical to influence the excitability of another. Memorable events are thought to i....
More details | Watch nowPlagues and Parasites
Contagions, or infectious diseases, which kill both fascinate and frighten us. Far from receding in importance as was expected fifty years ago in the heyday of new antibiotic discovery, infectious diseases remain a major cause of suffering and death ....
More details | Watch nowCognitive enhancing drugs: neuroethical issues
Cognitive enhancing drugs are used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These drugs improve the quality of life and wellbeing for patients and their families.
More details | Watch nowBrain function: synesthesia and phantom limbs
Professor Ramachandran examines problems that lie at the interface between neurology and psychiatry. He explains how phantom limbs may be used as a probe to understand brain functions and will also discuss synesthesia, a condition in which sounds and....
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