4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Microbiomes are a multi-million-pound industry. Every week, many people send off poop samples to be examined so we can learn about our own ecosystems of bacteria, virus and fungi that live in our guts, with a view to improving health. But how accurate are these tests? Microbiologist Prof Jacques Ravel is calling for better controls in what is currently an unregulated industry. He joins us along with Prof Tim Spector, scientific co-founder of personalised nutrition app ZOE, to discuss the areas of concern, and potential benefits, of this direct-to-consumer model.
Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman has died at the age of 90. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most influential psychologists, his many years of study centred on how and why we make the decisions we do. In 2011, his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, which summarizes much of his research, was published and became a best seller. We’re joined by presenter and author Claudia Hammond to unpick his legacy.
The price of lab monkeys has plummeted. Used for drug development and testing, their value skyrocketed during the vaccine development period of the pandemic. But when the boom for vaccines died, the demand for (and value of) these monkeys plunged. Journalist Eleanor Olcott provides the full picture.
Are there alternatives to animal testing? Marnie visits a lab in Cambridge to find out about neural organoids, cellular clumps grown from stem cells made to replicate the brain. Developmental biologist Prof Madeline Lancaster shows her around and Dr Sarah Chan from the University of Edinburgh digs into the ethics of this cutting-edge branch of science.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Florian Bohr, Hannah Robins, Louise Orchard and Imaan Moin Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
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0:00.0 | My name is Mikita Oliver and I'm Lily Allen. In our new podcast we talk about the big issues and the little ones and everything in between in the way that only best friends do with brutal brutal honesty. |
0:14.0 | We'll be talking about things like early crushes, techno and ambition. |
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0:35.0 | Hello, well done for downloading the podcast of BBC Inside Science, |
0:40.0 | first broadcast on Thursday the 28th of March 2024. |
0:44.0 | Hello, welcome to another week of science with more than a medical tinge. |
0:49.0 | As more consumers buy kits to test the zoo of bacteria that live in our guts, we ask whether |
0:55.2 | there's any science to back up these tests, and find out what links the price of monkeys |
1:00.8 | to an inside science outing to see some lab-grown brain blobs. |
1:05.5 | We'll also be reflecting on the life of Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. |
1:11.6 | First up, the Microbiome biome I think increasing numbers of us are aware that we're not |
1:17.2 | just individual homosapians we're also home to a zoo of trillions of |
1:22.2 | tiny things that live in ecosystems on our skin, in our |
1:26.0 | intestines, mouths, vaginas, everywhere scientists look really. |
1:31.5 | These collections of bacteria, fungi, viruses and occasionally parasites produce |
1:36.0 | a range of chemicals which can have a huge impact on our health. That's why you may have seen |
1:41.4 | probiotics and gut-friendly foods appearing in the supermarket. |
1:45.0 | It's a rapidly advancing research area and that research has turned into a multi-million pound industry, |
1:52.0 | including testing your own microbiome. |
1:56.0 | Often the deal is that in exchange for a sample of your poo, |
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