Ebola - The Search for a Cure

134:20

Xand van Tulleken, Raksha Dave and John Sergeant discover the parallels of the Great Plague of 1665 with the Covid-19 pandemic. Ch1. Outbreak The epidemic is traced back to its source in the parish of St Giles in the Fields, now at the heart of London's theatre district. The program also examines the symptoms of the disease and uncovers new research into the plague bacteria that could overthrow accepted ideas about how the infection was spread. Ch2. Decimation Xand heads to St Barts hospital to look back at historical records which show that nursing staff stayed behind and risked their lives to help the sick. Elsewhere, John investigates why infection rates were so different between the rich and poor, examining clothes typical for each group in the 17th century. Ch3. Aftermath Xand visits Samuel Pepys' parish church and discovers the sad tale of the Poole family, who within 11 days lost all five of their children. He also heads to Eyam in Derbyshire, revealing the heroic story of self-sacrifice that saw all 700 villagers lock themselves in to try to stop the disease from spreading to surrounding areas. Raksha Dave trials 17th-century disinfection methods and reveal a surprising substitute that can be just as effective as modern antibacterial cleaners.

2020 • Health

138:09

Michael Mosley takes a journey around the human body, putting his own to the test to help viewers understand their own. Chapter 1: Michael meets tremors-sufferer Thomas who is about to undergo pioneering brain surgery, and Allen, who finds out if his experimental cancer treatment has been a success. Chapter 2: Michael heads to Snowdonia, on a mission to demonstrate what stress does inside all our bodies, and in Durham, cameras reveal that we all possess an incredible hidden ability. Plus, a woman explains how she learned to see again by using echolocation. Chapter 3: Michael meets a community group in Glasgow, and reveals the best way to keep our brains young as we age. At Royal Papworth Hospital, cameras follow a life-saving procedure to treat Clifford, who has developed dangerous blood clots in his lungs. And a woman shares the secret of how she is long-distance running well into her seventies.

2024 • Health

45:07

On the island of Sardinia, the people live in harmony with the land and with one another. Learn about this effortless lifestyle where work and play seem to be united and the result is longevity. Can the same be true in an American suburb?

S1E2 • Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones • 2023 • Health

52:30

Through the lens of a boxer, a first responder, a cell tower climber and a man with a bionic limb, go deep into the universe of the most powerful machine on earth: the human brain and the vast nervous system it controls.

S1E6 • Human: The World Within • 2021 • Health

59:12

For hundreds of years, psychiatry has treated voices and hallucinations as an enemy - regarding them as 'insanity' or 'madness' and seeing them as something to be quashed and even frightened of. But today, new scientific and psychological insights into how the brain works are leading to a radical rethink on what such experiences are - and how they should be treated. Horizon follows three people living with voices, hallucinations and paranoia, to explore what causes this kind of phenomena. Providing a rare first-hand insight into these experiences, they reveal just what it is like to live with them day to day. They examine the impact of social, biological and environmental influences on conditions traditionally associated with insanity, such as schizophrenia and psychosis, and within the film they look at how new ways of understanding the brain are leading to a dramatic change in treatments and approaches, and examine whether targeting the root causes of psychosis can lead to recovery. Above all, they try to uncover why it happened to them - and whether it could happen to you.

Horizon • 2017 • Health

58:56

In recent years, researchers have started to understand why people love the foods they do, and that there may be a way to make snacks taste sweeter without adding any extra sugar – and it's all down to a trick that happens in the brain. This film meets a scientist who has grown a tomato that is sweeter and juicier than anything likely to be found on a supermarket shelf, and follows those hoping to become elite, professional tasters.

Health