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Pill Poppers

   2010    Medicine
Over a person's lifetime they are likely to be prescribed more than 14,000 pills. Antibiotics, cholesterol lowering tablets, anti-depressants, painkillers, even tablets to extend youth and improve performance in bed. These drugs perform minor miracles day after day, but how much is really known about them? Drug discovery often owes as much to serendipity as to science, and that means much is learnt about how medicines work, or even what they do, when they're taken. By investigating some of the most popular pills people pop, Horizon asks, how much can they be trusted to do what they are supposed to?

The Irrational Health Service

       Medicine
Richard Dawkins examines the growing suspicion the public has for science-based medicine, despite its track record of successes like the germ theory of disease, vaccines, antibiotics and increased lifespan. He notes a fifth of British children are currently not immunised against measles, mumps and rubella, attributing it to fears arising from a highly controversial report linking the vaccine with autism. Dawkins criticizes the growing field of alternative medicine which does not pass the same objective and statistical rigour as scientifically derived treatments using controlled double-blind studies. Without verifiable evidence, alternative therapies must rely on biased anecdotes and word of mouth to perpetuate. Dawkins observes these treatments have fanciful rationales and rituals behind them, with many alternative treatments employing pseudoscientific jargon such as "energy", "vibration" or "quantum theory" to give themselves greater credence to patients.
Series: Enemies of Reason

Fixing a Broken Heart

   2019    Medicine    HD
Heart disease is the number one cause of deaths worldwide, killing more than eight million people each year. Cardiac infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack, can happen without warning, killing heart muscle cells immediately. Even if the patient recovers, the damage to their heart may not.
But there are researchers frantically working to change that. Meet the people inventing the future of cardiac health, from new ways of imaging the body, to the possibility of 3D printing a functioning heart.
Series: Breakthrough

Curing Cancer

   2017    Medicine
A thought-provoking and imaginative perspective on a scientific discovery. Follow maverick doctors who supercharge killer T cells, creating a breakthrough treatment for cancer.

Can We Cheat Death

   2017    Medicine
Death is life's greatest certainty. But that may be about to change. Scientists have discovered an immortal animal that may hold the secret of endless regeneration. They're on the brink of editing our DNA so that we can cure ageing like a disease. Or is dying necessary for the survival of our species?
Series: Through the Wormhole Season 8

Meditation Can It Change You

   2017    Medicine
Reporter Dr. Graham Phillips examines the effects of meditation in his own life, and the medical evidence of how it affects those who practice it. Can meditation literally make your brain younger?
Series: Catalyst
Wonders Of The Universe

Wonders Of The Universe

2011  Science
Space Deepest Secrets

Space Deepest Secrets

2020  Science
The Crime of the Century

The Crime of the Century

2021  Medicine
Cooked

Cooked

2016  Culture
Shine a Light

Shine a Light

2008  Art
Follow This

Follow This

2018  Medicine