Does eating processed foods make us put on weight?

The lab experiment comparing nutritionally matched diets of processed food with fresh food

• 26 mins

Defining the limits of human endurance

New research which reveals the physiological limits on maximum human energy expenditure

• 26 mins

A new treatment for arachnophobia

Using arachnophobes’ heartbeats to help them overcome their fear of spiders

• 26 mins

How successful are Chinese vaccination programmes?

They are hailed as a great success with 95% coverage rates, but what is the true picture?

• 26 mins

A new unique discovery about Parkinson’s

Research uncovering the earliest signs of the disease, years before symptoms begin

• 26 mins

Lighting the brain after birth

The infra-red device that can detect brain damage within minutes of a baby being born

• 26 mins

The small, but increasing risk of stillbirth past term

The largest study of its kind provides precise estimates of potential risks of stillbirth

• 26 mins

The psychology of motivation and procrastination

Does willpower work? And why being a chronic procrastinator is bad for your health

• 26 mins

France to axe homeopathy funding

French plan to end homeopathy funding bitter pill for supporters to swallow

• 26 mins

Autism: the problems of fitting in

Many people with autism learn strategies to help them blend in: but there can be costs

• 26 mins

Postponing the menopause?

Are ovarian tissue implants the answer to the menopause?

• 26 mins

When social media harms teen mental health

Social media harms teen mental health if it eats into sleep time and lets in cyberbullies

• 26 mins

A tale of recovery from a former footballer

Ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle on his struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts

• 26 mins

Daily 4-in-1 pill protects the heart

Is a ‘polypill’ the answer to reducing heart attacks and strokes worldwide?

• 26 mins

Lack of sleep boosts heart attack risk

Too little or too much sleep can increase your risk of heart disease

• 26 mins

Malaria eradication within a generation?

Can the world be rid of malaria by 2050?

• 26 mins

Are you suffering parental burnout?

Being a parent can be tiring and stressful. But what happens when parents burnout?

• 26 mins

Is vaginal delivery risky after c-section?

A new study is trying to help women make a more informed decision

• 26 mins

How athletes prepared for Doha heat

Many athletes struggled with heat and humidity in Doha. How did they prepare?

• 26 mins

Abuse of women in childbirth

Women in childbirth verbally and physically abused

• 26 mins

Cheap drug cuts head injuries deaths

Hope for head injuries from clotting drug

• 26 mins

Is drug addiction a criminal or public health issue?

What’s the best way to get addicts off drugs?

• 26 mins

How the weather influences pain

Cloudy with a chance of pain: how humidity makes arthritic joints hurt more

• 26 mins

How the smog in Delhi is harming people’s health

Hospital admissions up in Delhi because of seasonal smog

• 26 mins

What’s behind the vaping deaths in the US?

Illicit cannabis behind vaping deaths in United States

• 26 mins

Risk of depression higher in LGBT teens

Half of LGBT teens in British study experience depression

• 26 mins

The global scale of corruption in healthcare

How widespread is corruption in healthcare?

• 26 mins

When should you have a cholesterol test?

Could cholesterol tests in our 30s cut heart attack and stroke risk?

• 26 mins

Mobile phones and head injuries

Risking head injuries by using a mobile phone on the go

• 26 mins

Malnutrition – you can be fat or thin

Emergency food supplies help starving children – but may fuel obesity

• 26 mins

The importance of play in childhood

Why play matters: balancing time spent on video games with time outside, being active

• 26 mins

A doctor’s tale of stress at work

An ex-doctor and a psychologist offer tips on how to avoid stress at work

• 26 mins

Alarm Over Mysterious Respiratory Illness in China

The scientist who solved the mystery of a killer brain disease and a shrew

• 26 mins

Rising depression amid Hong Kong unrest

Is unrest in Hong Kong linked to a rise in depression?

• 26 mins

Touch Special

Claudia Hammond launches a major new study investigating the role of touch

• 26 mins

Latest on the Chinese coronavirus

Will quarantines help to stop the spread of the Chinese new coronavirus?

• 26 mins

Fighting the new coronavirus alongside other infections

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world

• 26 mins

The latest on the spread of Coronavirus

A new test being developed could help track the spread of coronavirus

• 26 mins

Why is Covid spreading so quickly on cruise ships?

First case of Covid in Africa reported as virus spreads rapidly on cruise ship near Japan

• 26 mins

How life drawing helps us to understand anatomy

Looking beneath a model’s skin to draw their skeleton and muscles

• 26 mins

The maths of coronavirus

Coronavirus in the US, the maths of epidemics, and coughs that last for years and years

• 26 mins

Alcohol: How drinking less will help you live longer

COVID-19 update, how to cut your alcohol intake and how Alexa could keep you healthy

• 26 mins

What have we learnt from Sars?

The history of Sars, what was done to conquer it and what can we learn to fight Covid-19?

• 26 mins

Coronavirus update

As South Africa goes into lockdown what measures are they taking? Plus big data in Taiwan

• 26 mins

Tracking diseases like Covid-19 that leap from animals into humans

Learning from scientists in Vietnam tracking diseases that jump from animals to humans

• 26 mins

The retired doctor who’d want to die at home if he got Covid-19

The latest on the spread of Covid-19 in the USA

• 26 mins

The impact on doctors and nurses of making difficult medical decisions

The “moral injury” felt by staff making difficult decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic

• 26 mins

Covid-19 in Italy

Why was Covid-19 so deadly in Italy?

• 26 mins

Smoking and Covid-19

Could nicotine reduce Covid-19 severity?

• 26 mins

Should we wear face masks?

Does the wearing of face masks by the public prevent the spread of coronavirus?

• 26 mins

Stem cell therapies unproven for Covid-19

Buyer Beware! Stem cell therapies unproven against Covid-19

• 26 mins

Escalating Covid-19 infections across Brazil

How are Brazilians reacting to mixed messages on restrictions, as virus deaths increase?

• 26 mins

Covid-19 in DRC

Covid-19 and Ebola in DRC

• 26 mins

Pain and the brain

New understanding about pain

• 26 mins

Covid-19: Second waves

Are increases in Covid cases signs of second waves?

• 26 mins

Covid-19: Steroid drug reduces deaths

Trials of a steroid show it can reduce the deaths of those on ventilators by one third

• 26 mins

Faster cheaper Covid testing in Rwanda

Rwandan scientists on their pooled testing approach to Covid which slashes costs and time

• 26 mins

Double threat of Covid-19 and flu

Flu vaccine orders up as US anticipates winter Covid surge

• 26 mins

Cancer deaths rise predicted after Covid-19

Experts warn cancer deaths will rise because of the pandemic lockdown

• 26 mins

Incredible tale of Covid family survival in Spain

Three generations of a family hospitalised in Spain because of Covid

• 26 mins

What’s behind a drop in premature births during lockdown?

Irish and Danish doctors spot a fall in premature births during Covid pandemic

• 26 mins

Covid testing cuts Apache death rate

Covid testing in homes of White Mountain Apaches helps reduce death rate from Covid-19

• 26 mins

Choirs and Covid

Do choirs spread coronavirus?

• 26 mins

Women’s reproductive rights threatened by Covid

Improvements to women’s lives because of birth control advances are put at risk by Covid

• 26 mins

Covid immunity clues from a fishing boat in the Pacific

How a type of antibody found in three fishermen is helping Covid-19 research

• 26 mins

Newborn deaths in US

Black newborn deaths in the US

• 26 mins

Covid-19 sniffer dogs being trained

How a smelly t-shirt could help dogs sniff out coronavirus

• 26 mins

What is Wellness and does it make you healthy?

Where does the idea of Wellness come from? And who stands to gain from it?

• 26 mins

Have we reached the peak of Wellness?

Could doctors learn a trick or two from Wellness?

• 26 mins

How long should Covid quarantine last?

Does cutting quarantine to a week increase the risk of missing cases of Covid-19?

• 26 mins

Touch Test results

World's largest study on the topic of touch

• 26 mins

Have you ever hugged your doctor?

What role does touch play in health care?

• 26 mins

Covid-19 plasma therapy trial results ‘disappointing’

Indian trial finds that convalescent plasma therapy has little benefit against Covid-19

• 37 mins

Covid-19 vaccines: Unknowns and dilemmas

What we will not know when the first Covid-19 vaccines are deployed

• 35 mins

Covid vaccine ‘90% effective’

How big a deal is the ‘90% effective’ coronavirus vaccine?

• 26 mins

Measles outbreak threat due to Covid

Disruption to measles immunisation raises the risk of large outbreaks in Africa

• 35 mins

Another week, another Covid-19 vaccine success

Good news about Covid vaccines keeps coming but can everyone benefit from the successes?

• 35 mins

Milestone in HIV prevention for women

African clinical study finds an injection every 8 weeks protects women from HIV infection

• 35 mins

Gene therapy for sickle cell disease

Gene therapy has transformed the lives of six young people with sickle cell disease

• 36 mins

In Iran, one in five infected by coronavirus

Study reveals prevalence of coronavirus infection across Iran, with 72 percent in one city

• 30 mins

Ambiguous loss: a different kind of grief

Have you lost a loved one who is still a part of your life in some way?

• 26 mins

How children think about maths and time

Doughnuts today or tomorrow? How 4 year olds understand time

• 27 mins

The first year of the pandemic

The show looks back at the pandemic exactly one year since we first reported its start

• 39 mins

WHO warns against vaccine rollout unfairness

Are poorer countries missing out in the global vaccine rollout? A warning from the WHO

• 34 mins

First days of India’s Covid vaccination programme

India’s Covid mass vaccination begins. But there are questions

• 36 mins

Brazilian city’s Covid crisis: ‘It’s like Hell’

Health system meltdown as coronavirus infections surge in Manaus for a second time

• 38 mins

Covid-19 vaccines prevent 100% of deaths

With a new slew of good Covid vaccine trial results, a remarkable trend emerges

• 33 mins

Vaccinating Africa against Covid-19

Vaccinating Africa’s 1.2 billion people against Covid-19 & simple sanitation solutions

• 26 mins

Covid vaccines: bad news, good news

AstraZeneca vaccine disappoints in South Africa but may reduce virus spread elsewhere

• 38 mins

Superbugs and superfoods

How to combat antibiotic resistance and the truth about the health claims of coconut oil

• 26 mins

Covid surge in Mozambique

Doctor in Mozambique’s largest hospital on the massive surge in Covid cases and deaths

• 32 mins

Sexual health, Covid-19 vaccines

A neglected area of reproductive health and concerns over Covid-19 vaccination in Africa

• 26 mins

Long Covid: solving the mysteries

The UK has launched four major research programmes into Long Covid

• 35 mins

Africa’s blood shortage

Why don’t people want to give blood?

• 26 mins

Pregnancy and Covid-19 vaccination

Health Check examines the issues around Covid-19 vaccines and pregnancy

• 30 mins

Modern medicine versus the spirits

Can traditional treatments, including calling on ancestors, help with serious ailments?

• 26 mins

Do vaccines cure Long Covid?

Long Covid and vaccines, blood transfusion myths, and Migraines

• 26 mins

Covid-19 vaccination in Africa

How the roll out of vaccines is progressing

• 26 mins

Vaccine and blood clots

Covid vaccines and blood clots, Tanzania’s hidden epidemic? Haitian healthcare in Chile

• 26 mins