How does asthma work? - Christopher E. Gaw
AdultsHealthHumanScienceMore than 300 million people around the world suffer from asthma, and around 250,000 people die from it each year. But why do people get asthma, and how can this disease be deadly? Christopher E. Gaw describes the main symptoms and treatments of asthma.
What humans will look like in 1,000 years
AdultsFutureHumanScienceHealthThere will eventually be a day where prosthetics are no longer just for the disabled. However, it's not just our outside appearance that will change - our genes will also evolve on microscopic levels to aid our survival. For example, an Oxford-led study discovered a group of HIV-infected children in South Africa living healthy lives. It turns out, they have a built-in defense against HIV that prevents the virus from advancing to AIDS.
Oxygen's surprisingly complex journey through your body - Enda Butler
AdultsBiologyHumanScienceHealthOxygen forms about 21% of the air around us. In your body, oxygen forms a vital role in the production of energy in most cells. But if gases can only efficiently diffuse across tiny distances, how does oxygen reach the cells deep inside your body? Enda Butler tracks the surprisingly complex journey of oxygen through your body.
Your Brain Changes all the time, but Being a Mom Changes It Forever
AdultsFamilyHumanNeuroscienceHealthMother's bodies go through tons of changes before and after giving birth, but so do their brains! What really makes a mom's brain different?
Using GPS to Get Around Is Making Us Dumber
AdultsHumanScienceTechnologyPsychologySocietyGPS services have made getting from point A to point B a lot easier, but what effects does this have on our brains?
Why Some Old People Act Half Their Age: It's in the Brain
AdultsHumanMental HealthScienceScientists are studying people over 80 whose memories are just as good as someone in their 50s. What sets these 'SuperAgers' apart?
Why humans are so bad at thinking about climate change
AdultsGlobal WarmingHumanPsychologyEnvironmentThe biggest problem for the climate change fight isn't technology - it's human psychology.
Why Some People Don't Feel Pain
AdultsHealthHumanNeuroscienceBiologyPain helps us survive, and yet some people are born without the ability to feel pain, how?
Dogs and Humans: A 30,000-Year Friendship
AdultsHistoryHumanPetsAnimalsPsychologyOf all the species that humans have domesticated, dogs are our oldest animal friends. But how did a group of wolves become the furry pup at the end of the bed? New research is finally unlocking the paw-in-hand evolution of dogs and humans. In this episode we're answering one big question: Did we domesticate dogs, or did dogs domesticate us?
Why do we itch? - Emma Bryce
AdultsBiologyHumanScienceHealthThe average person experiences dozens of individual itches each day. We've all experienced the annoyance of an inconvenient itch - but have you ever pondered why we itch in the first place? Is there actually an evolutionary purpose to the itch, or is it simply there to annoy us? Emma Bryce digs deep into the skin to find out.
5-Yr-Old Pool Prodigy
AdultsHumanSportsFamilyLifeMeet Keith O'Dell, a bonafide pool playing prodigy. At just five years old, Keith pockets balls like a pro. The sport is in Keith's genes - his parents play pool, his grandparents play pool, the family even eats dinner on the pool table. His father says Keith was "born to play pool." The question is, how will his incredible talent effect the life ahead of him?
How does your body know what time it is? - Marco A. Sotomayor
AdultsHumanMental HealthScienceNeuroscienceBeing able to sense time helps us do everything from waking and sleeping to knowing precisely when to catch a ball that's hurtling towards us. And we owe all these abilities to an interconnected system of timekeepers in our brains. But how do they work? Marco A. Sotomayor details how human bodies naturally tell time.