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Our lifespan is increasing by 2.5 years every decade - and a third of all babies born today can expect to live to 100. But living longer can come at a cost. Old age itself brings with it a range of debilitating illnesses, many of which are the result of accumulating damage during our lifetime. Three diseases in particular have become the main killers in the developed world - cancer, heart disease and dementia. But a revolution in bio-medicine is now offering new hope for the treatment of these ailments, and the potential to extend our lives still further. Methods such as gene editing and stem cell therapies are transforming the way medicine can conquer disease today. These extreme frontiers of medicine do, however, also come with a range of ethical dilemmas - when is the right time to try out an experimental technique on a patient? Should we gene edit human embryos? And is it right to use cells from aborted foetuses for medical treatments?
This time, we meet a man who feels no pain, a woman who can smell Parkinson's disease, a man who can remember every face he has ever seen and a survivor of a head injury who woke up to find he could suddenly play the piano. These remarkable cases are shedding new light on one of the most mysterious parts of the human body - our brain.
3/6 • Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston's Casebook • 2017 • Health
At an extraordinary moment in the history of one of the world’s oldest and most controversial drugs, Horizon investigates the very latest medical and scientific research into the effects of cannabis on the brain and the body. Medicinal cannabis became legal in the UK on 1 November 2018, but it is still shrouded in controversy. A&E doctor Javid Abdelmoneim wants to find out whether it will help or harm patients. Javid meets the young epilepsy patient responsible for changing the law around medicinal cannabis in the UK and sees the remarkable effects it has on his condition. He visits a medicinal cannabis farm in Denmark to learn how a company known for growing the recreational drug are now producing medicinal cannabis to be exported all over Europe. He travels to Israel, to find out why they have been using cannabis as a medicine for over 20 years and meets the scientists studying the safety and effectiveness of cannabis in treating pain. And he meets the so-called godfather of cannabis, who at 88 years old is still an active research scientist and considered the world’s leading cannabis expert. In the UK Javid encounters the first British patient to be prescribed intoxicating herbal cannabis to treat her chronic condition. He meets psychiatrists at King’s College London who reveal their new study linking cannabis more strongly than ever to alarming mental health problems. And he takes part in a groundbreaking trial looking at the effects of the different chemicals in cannabis on the brain.
The story of a human life, from first cry to final breath, told from within the body. This documentary film combines state-of-the-art special effects, pioneering CGI, startling realistic models and real in-body photography. Exploring human physiology from birth, through the drama of puberty, into adulthood, and finally old age, the programme offers a visually-stunning insight into how our bodies function. Throughout life we undergo a continuous second-by-second transformation, every move we make and every outside stimulus triggers a reaction through the skin, bones, organs, muscles and cells. We breathe on average 700 million breaths in a lifetime, an adult skeleton is replaced every seven to 10 years, we shed as many as 30,000 dead skin cells every minute, and the food we eat travels 30 feet on its journey through our bodies. The Living Body takes you beneath the skin to reveal how our bodies evolve from birth to old age, and the amazing biological systems we need to thrive. Embark on an incredible journey tracing the story of one everywoman using milestones to examine the everyday workings of a living, functioning body in ways not seen before. Cutting-edge miniature endoscopic HD cameras delve deep inside the mouth, throat, heart, lungs, digestive tract, brain and reproductive organs to shed new light on how and why our bodies do what they do. Stunning photography reveals universal moments in human development at the most minute level, providing insight into both our own individual metamorphosis and our shared human experiences.
Naked Science • 2015 • Health
Michael Mosley reveals what happens during the middle weeks in the womb, a period when faces form, skin takes on its colour, brains are being organised and personalities start to take shape. Told through a series of inspirational human stories, the path to becoming unique human beings is very complex.
2/3 • Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You • 2015 • Health
A hormone is a class of regulatory biochemicals that is produced in all multicellular organisms by glands, and transported by the circulatory system to a distant target organ to coordinate its physiology and behavior. Hormones serve as a major form of communication between different organs and tissues.