Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut • 2024

58:54

Fresh or processed, white or red - how does meat measure up? It's been getting a lot of bad press recently with new links to cancer and heart disease. But 98 per cent of us in the UK are still meat eaters. Chris Bavin, a greengrocer by trade and a carnivore by nature, wants to know if he can keep meat in his diet and stay healthy. He teams up with top scientists to put meat under the microscope and examine it as never before. They follow 40 volunteers on a groundbreaking study to find out exactly how much meat is good for us, test whether paying more for chicken makes it any better for us, discover a way to dramatically reduce the health risks associated with processed meats and reveal an unlikely lean supermeat that won't break the bank.

2016 • Health

45:23

Coined medicine for the soul by LSD inventor Albert Hoffman, this drug is back in the spotlights. After the widespread use in the 60’s where young kids tried to free their minds by going on psychedelic adventures and the banning of the drug that followed, any scientific research was halted. Yet, LSD was the raft that took people to the brink of enlightenment, madness, life-lasting wonderment and revolutionary insights into reality. This short unbiased documentary gives us a quick history of the use and banning of LSD and the potential it still holds today. Can it be used as a smart drug? Can it cure mental illnesses?

Health

29:00

BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell fell off his bike in June 2023. Alone on a country road with broken bones, he feared for his life and felt he'd had a lucky escape when help came his way. But six weeks after his accident, just as he was getting ready to go back to work, he had a seizure. He was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, turning his world as he knew it upside down. In this film, Glenn shares his experience of living with a brain tumour and explores why treatments for the condition have barely changed in many years. Early in his cancer journey, Glenn realised there was nothing he could do to change his health outcomes, but the one thing he could do was tell his story. Glenn says, 'It's a golden rule as a journalist not to become the story, but in this case, I just felt that it was worth sharing my personal experience as a way of putting a bit of a spotlight on this most difficult of cancers.' Supported by family, friends and colleagues, Glenn has documented his story during what has been a very difficult year of gruelling treatment and endless uncertainty. Following surgery, which saw his malignant tumour removed successfully, he embarked on radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He also lives with the constant threat of seizures and has made the decision to share some very personal footage filmed while in the midst of one such episode. Brain cancer is the biggest cancer killer of people under 40. Every day, 33 people in the UK are diagnosed with a brain tumour. Motivated by his own shortened lifespan and the stories of friends made in the cancer community, Glenn has spent a huge amount of time and energy in the past year raising awareness of this often-misunderstood cancer. In this intimate film, we see the committed newsman in a different light as he faces down his mortality and considers what matters most in life. Sitting on the beach at Machir Bay on Islay – the island he hails from – he reflects: 'You realise what really matters, and maybe what doesn't quite so much. What really matters is family and friends and good times and making memories, and what maybe doesn't matter is the hubbub of everyday life, work and chores. I think being told you've got a life-limiting condition really puts that into perspective.'

2024 • Health

20:41

Renowned geneticist and author Spencer Wells reveals how changes in our genetic code have fueled major changes in our appearance and capabilities over time, and why scientists believe we're continuing to rapidly evolve today. By understanding these changes, we are better prepared for the future.

2018 • Health

102:34

This documentary film explores the development of the growing fetus from conception to delivery. Open a window into the hidden world of the foetus and explore each trimester in amazing detail. It’s meant to be a joyous event, but in reality, it's a gripping battle for survival. Using cutting edge technology, we go inside the womb and follow the incredible nine month journey from conception to birth, showing how the struggle for life turns into the miracle of birth. Enhanced by poet Roger McGough’s reading of a series of poems written for the occasion.

2015 • Health

18:41

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened -- and has become a powerful voice for brain recovery.

2012 • Health