Survive • 2017 • episode "S1E2" • The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

59:05

Michael Mosley investigates the dramatic rise in e-cigarettes. They're everywhere these days, but what does the latest scientific research on them reveal? Michael reveals what e-cigarettes are really doing to your health. Are they really better for you than cigarettes? What is actually in them? Is passive vapour harmful? And can they really stop you from smoking? Michael meets some of the scientists around the world studying them, asks a group of volunteers to try to give up smoking regular cigarettes using them, and even takes up 'vaping' himself, smoking an e-cigarette every day for a month to see the effects on his own health - no easy task for such a committed non-smoker.

Horizon • 2016 • Health

53:06

Learn about the surprisingly recent invention of medicine that combats illness directly, such as antibiotics. From the accidental discovery of penicillin to today's hunt for antivirals, this history underpins work to find COVID-19 treatments.

S1E2 • Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer • 2021 • 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

46:59

Renegade researchers are fighting the medical establishment by exploring a controversial cure for our vices: psychedelic drugs.

S2E1 • Breakthrough National Geographic • 2017 • Health

59:48

Why are ultra-processed foods so irresistible, and how they have come to dominate food culture? Dr Chris van Tulleken features interviews with former food industry insiders who talk openly about the way in which popular foods have been designed to be irresistible. Food companies go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their products connect with consumers - from using brain scans to assess the deliciousness of ice cream to carefully engineering the sound of a crunch. Ultra-processed foods are hyper-delicious and super-convenient, have long shelf lives and are extremely cheap. But a growing body of evidence is linking these products to our declining health.

2024 • Health

58:41

Michael heads to Spain to search for some of the most powerful tastes on the planet, whilst James travels high in the Peruvian Andes to discover how a bitter potato - a cousin of the humble spud - has been tamed to help the inhabitants survive the extreme altitude. Using the latest imaging techniques to take us inside our food, right down to the molecular level, Michael and James offer us a whole new way of thinking about taste: far more than being just delicious, it's actually a matter of survival.

S1E2 • The Secrets of Your Food • 2017 • Health