Mosaic Science Podcast: Recent Episodes

Mosaic science

In-depth stories about the science of life. Each week, we tell a story about ideas, trends and people, and how science and medicine affect our lives, our health and our society. More at mosaicscience.com

Published by the Wellcome Trust.

View Details

More and more people are donating organs, but demand still far exceeds supply. What can the world learn from the country that does it best?

Written by Chris Baraniuk

Read and produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosa…ast/id964928211

RSS

mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Abortion, contraception, pregnancy: how women's bodies became a battlezone, by Sophie Cousins, also available as a podcast. 

View Details

One in three French people think vaccines are unsafe, but across the country vaccine coverage is rising. Alex Whiting looks at how France is fighting back against vaccine scepticism.

Written by Alex Whiting

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosa…ast/id964928211

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Violent crime is like infectious disease – and we know how to stop it spreading, by Samira Shackle, also available as a podcast.

View Details

E-cigarettes were invented by business, not medicine. But as more smokers make the switch, some health experts believe we’ve finally hit on something that could stub out smoking for good.

Written by Simon Usborne

Read by Brian Yim Lim

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

SoundCloud

@mosaicscience

RSS

mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Violent crime is like infectious disease – and we know how to stop it spreading, by Samira Shackle, also available as a podcast.

View Details

A million Rohingya refugees in crowded shelters with poor sanitation – ideal conditions for infections to spread. Here’s how to stop these deadly outbreaks.

Written and read by Gaia Vince.

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories or to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/mosaicscience

If you liked this story, we recommend Why we still haven't stopped cholera, by Rose George, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Smiling is one of the fundamental ways people communicate, so what happens if your face can’t do it?

Written by Neil Steinberg
Read by Charlotte Hussey
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend The engineer who fixed his own heart, by Geoff Watts, also available as a podcast.

View Details

You may not think of the buzz and whine of insects as musical, but the distinctive pitch of mosquito wingbeats could tell us how to fight malaria. Daniel A Gross meets the researchers who are pricking up their ears.

Written by Daniel A Gross

Read by Barry J Gibb

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories or to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/mosaicscience

If you liked this story we recommend How malaria defeats our drugs, by Ed Yong, also available as a podcast.

View Details

We now know there’s a cheap, safe treatment that could save thousands of lives each year. But those who need it can’t always access it.

Written by Samira Shackle

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

To read this story and more, go to mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS

http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Abortion, contraception, pregnancy: how women's bodies became a battle zone, by Sophie Cousins, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Researcher Áine Kelly is using her experience of growing up in care to help others in the system. What role does first-hand experience have in expertise, and how important is it in making health and social care better? Michael Regnier explores a new kind of expert.

Written and read by Michael Regnier

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS

http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend How going hungry affects children for their whole lives, by Chris Baraniuk, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Traditionally, expectant mothers have been excluded from clinical trials, but could this practice be doing more harm than good? Emily Anthes investigates.

Written by Emily Anthes

Read by Charlotte Hussey

Produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS

http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Give and take: the ethics of donating breast milk, by Carrie Arnold, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Food poverty is on the rise in rich countries. And evidence suggests the impact can last for years afterwards.

Written by Chris Baraniuk

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

To read this story and more, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS

http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Life and death under austerity, by Mary O'Hara, also available as a podcast.

View Details

What’s it like to hear voices? Are they hallucinations or a normal human experience? Chris Chapman explores what they are, why they happen and how they are being understood.

For more stories and to read the transcript, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS:

mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Postpartum psychosis: "I'm afraid of how you'll judge me, as a mother and as a person", by Catherine Carver, also available as a podcast.

View Details

General anaesthetic is supposed to make surgery painless. But now there’s evidence that one person in 20 may be awake when doctors think they’re under.

Written by David Robson

Read by Brian Yim Lim

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

To read this story and more, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS:

mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend The mind readers by Roger Highfield, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Twenty-five years after the discovery of the gene behind Huntington’s disease, Peter Forbes reports on the potential first treatment for this devastating condition.

Written by Peter Forbes

Read by Brian Yim Lim

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

To read this story and more, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS

http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we also recommend The DNA detectives hunting the causes of cancer, by Kat Arney, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Who would risk their own safety tending to the injured and recovering the dead in one of the most violent cities on earth? Samira Shackle rides along with a driver from the world’s largest voluntary ambulance service.

Written by Samira Shackle

Read by Michael Regnier

Produced by Barry J Gibb

To read this story and more, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211

RSS:
http://mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we also recommend Fear and loathing in Thet Kal Pyin: Myanmar's healthcare crisis by Mike Ives.

View Details

Nobuaki Nagashima has Werner syndrome, which causes his body to age at super speed. This condition is teaching us more about what controls our genes, and could eventually help us find a way to slow ageing – or stop it altogether.

Written by Erika Hayasaki. Read by Rebecca McIntosh. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

Read the story at mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend Can meditation really slow ageing? by Jo Marchant, also available as a podcast. 

View Details

When a gentle glow feels like a spotlight and everyday sounds hurt your ears, life can get anxious and painful. But, discovers Emma Young, there may be an upside to being highly sensitive.

Written by Emma Young
Read by Kirsten Irving
Produced by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the story, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend How the zebra got its stripes, with Alan Turing by Kat Arney, available as a podcast here: mosaicscience.com/story/how-zebra-…ipes-alan-turing

View Details

Emerging sign languages could reveal how all language evolved – but keeping these fragile languages isolated for research may mean the people who rely on them lose out.

Written by Michael Erard. Read by Michael Regnier. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

To read this on our website, go to www.mosaicscience.com

If you enjoyed this story, we recommend Why being bilingual helps keep your brain fit by Gaia Vince.

View Details

While it’s healthy to have a variety of bacteria in our guts, there’s one place where a single dominant type is best: the vagina. Meet the researchers trying to make the world healthier, one vagina at a time.

Written by Kendall Powell. Read by Kirsten Irving. Produced by Barry J Gibb.

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

For more stories about the science of life visit mosaicscience.com.

If you enjoyed this story, we recommend Abortion, contraception, pregnancy: how women’s bodies became a battlezone by Sophie Cousins, also available as an audio podcast.

View Details

The East African country’s campaign to end cervical cancer through the HPV vaccine has had to overcome cultural taboos and rumours about infertility – but it’s saving lives.

Written by Sophie Cousins. Read and produced by Graihagh Jackson.

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

To read the text of this story, head to mosaicscience.com.

If you enjoyed this story, we recommend Can America cope with a resurgence of tropical disease? by Carrie Arnold, also available as a podcast.

View Details

In the 1970s, radical scientists thought they could change the world – if they could change science first. As told to Alice Bell.

Written by Alice Bell. Read by Nick Dent. Produced by Barry J Gibb.

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

To read this story on our website, visit mosaicscience.com.

If you enjoyed this we recommend Reinventing the toilet by Lina Zeldovich, also available as a podcast.

View Details

For those with breast cancer, a mastectomy may seem the best option. Joanna Moorhead thought so – until the last minute. Now she’s glad she chose less extensive surgery.

Written and read by Joanna Moorhead. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

To read this story and others like it, head to mosaicscience.com.

If you enjoyed this, we recommend Making sense of a miscarriage by Holly Cave, also available as a podcast.

View Details

"I am so accustomed to thinking of wheelchair use in binary terms: you either use one or you don’t. Now I’m struggling to unlearn that notion."

In Canada, wheelchair basketball brings people together regardless of their abilities. Lesley Evans Ogden asks whether this kind of integration could help dispel stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about disability more widely.

Written by Lesley Evans Ogden, read by Kirsten Irving, audio editing by Jen Whyntie.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend City cycling: health versus hazard by Lesley Evans Ogden, also available as a podcast.

View Details

The rest of the world can learn from Puerto Rican communities rallying together to recover from a natural disaster fuelled by climate change.

Written by Jane Palmer. Read by Michael Regnier. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

To read the story online, head to mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, try Climate change is turning dehydration into a deadly epidemic by Jane Palmer, also available as an audio podcast.

View Details

The basic chemistry of hair dyes has changed little over the last century, but what do we know about the risks of colouring our hair, and why do we do it?

Written by Rebecca Guenard
Read by Rebecca McIntosh
Produced by Barry J Gibb

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

To read the full story visit mosaicscience.com. If you enjoyed this story, try When cuteness comes of age by Neil Steinberg.

View Details

Whether hair pulling, skin picking or cheek biting, body-focused repetitive behaviours blight many people’s lives. How can science help us understand and treat these distressing conditions better?

Written by Sara Talpos. Read by Kirsten Irving. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend My sudden synaesthesia: how I went blind and started hearing colours, also available as an audio podcast.

View Details

In East Harlem, four times as many adults have diabetes as in the neighbouring Upper East Side. Meera Senthilingam meets the New Yorkers stopping poverty being a death sentence.

Audio producer: Meera Senthilingam
Fact checker: Laura Dawes
Editor: Mun-Keat Looi

See an accompanying photo tour of Harlem and read a full transcript for this story on Mosaic.

For more stories visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend Voices in the dark: what it's like to hear voices, another Mosaic audio documentary also available on our podcast.

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Please leave us a rating and review.

View Details

The manufacture and distribution of medicines is a global industry, tainted by fake and substandard products. Not only might these drugs not work as expected, but some are even contributing to antimicrobial resistance. So, what’s in your medicine cabinet?

Written by Srinath Perur. Read by Charlotte Hussey. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

Read the story at mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend India is training "quacks" to do real medicine. This is why by Priyanka Pulla.

View Details

Ghana has plenty of water. So why do its people buy plastic pouches from street vendors? Shaun Raviv investigates.  

Written by Shaun Raviv. Read by Pip Mayo. Produced by Barry J Gibb. Audio editing by Geoff Marsh.  

Read the full text original and accompanying extras published on Mosaic. For more stories visit mosaicscience.com  

If you liked this story, we recommend How menstrual taboos are putting lives at risk by Rose George, also available on our podcast.  

View Details

Governments around the world were slow to get to grips with HIV/AIDS. But a big change came when they started understanding it not just as a health issue but as a security threat too.

Written by Alexandra Ossola. Read by Rebecca McIntosh. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

Read the story at mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend One virus, four lives: the reality of being HIV positive By Patrick Strudwick, also available as a podcast.

View Details

"The parasite has started to become resistant. The wonder drug is failing. It is the latest reprise of a decades-long theme: we attack malaria with a new drug, it mounts an evolutionary riposte."

In the war against malaria, one small corner of the globe has repeatedly turned the tide, rendering our best weapons moot and medicine on the brink of defeat. Ed Yong reports.

Written by Ed Yong, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend DIY Diagnosis: how an extreme athlete uncovered her genetic flaw by Ed Yong, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Cancer rates vary wildly across the world, and we don’t know why. To solve this mystery, scientists are tracking down causes of cancer by the fingerprints they leave in the genome.

Written and read by Kat Arney.

Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

To read the story, visit mosaicscience.com

If you like this story, we recommend Searching for a diagnosis: how scientists are untangling the mystery of developmental disorders by Linda Geddes.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Chrissie Giles on her generation’s climb to Peak Booze.

"I didn’t feel that I had a problem with alcohol, nor did any of my friends. We got drunk, sometimes too drunk, and then suffered the consequences. We were just doing what young people did. But recently, with getting on for 20 years of drinking under my belt, I started to wonder if my generation’s relationship with alcohol was abnormal. When I looked into the numbers I realised that it was. I discovered that 2004 was Peak Booze: the year when Brits drank more than they had done for a century, and more than they have done in the decade since. Leading the way to this alcoholic apogee were those of us born around 1980. No other generation drank so much in their early twenties. Why us?"

Written and read by Chrissie Giles, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Breaking Bad News by Chrissie Giles, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Becoming allergic to meat turns your life upside down. Known as alpha-gal allergy, the condition dictates what you can eat, wear, how you relax, and even which medicines are safe. Is research finally starting to catch up?

Editor: Chrissie Giles

Copyeditor: Rob Reddick

Art director: Charlie Hall

Photographer: Daniel Stier

Fact checker: Francine Almash

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story we recommend Sick building syndrome: is it the buildings or the people who need treatment? by Shayla Love.

View Details

In loving memory of Lyra McKee (1990-2019).

This episode was originally broadcast in April 2016.

In Northern Ireland, more people took their own lives in the 16 years after the Troubles than died during them. Why? Lyra McKee finds out.

Written by Lyra McKee
Read by Kirsten Irving
Produced by Barry J Gibb
Audio editing by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com where you can also find more of Lyra's magnificent writing.

View Details

In the early 2000s, when there were just two psychiatrists serving over 12 million people, Zimbabwe had to get creative to treat depression. Now, one bright idea – the Friendship Bench – is spreading far and wide.

Written by Alex Riley. Read by Kirsten Irving. Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

To read the story, visit mosaicscience.com

If you like this story, we recommend How To Get To A World Without Suicide by Simon Usborne.

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Can a grand vision of 4,000 free public gyms overcome inequality and fight Brazil’s health crisis? Catherine de Lange reports.

Written by Catherine de Lange, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend listening to City Cycling: Health Versus Hazard by Ian Birrell, also available as a podcast.

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2
RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

New biomedical techniques, like next-generation genome sequencing, are creating vast amounts of data and transforming the scientific landscape. They’re leading to unimaginable breakthroughs – but leaving researchers racing to keep up.

Editor: Rob Reddick Copyeditor: Tom Freeman Art director: Charlie Hall Fact checker: Francine Almash
Illustrator: Dávid Biró To read the story, visit mosaicscience.com. If you liked this story, we recommend 'The DNA detectives hunting the causes of cancer' by Kat Arney.

View Details

Boxers know they risk injury in the ring. But there’s a more insidious danger they don’t often talk about: the long-term brain damage that repeated blows to the head can cause. Lyra McKee meets the families who are breaking the silence.

Written by Lyra McKee.
Read by Kirsten Irving.
Illustrated by Gabby Laurent.
Produced by Barry J. Gibb.

To read the story, visit mosaicscience.com.

If you liked this story, we recommend 'The Alzheimer's Enigma' by Michael Regnier.

View Details

Millions of people are left dead or disabled by surgical complications each year when one simple piece of kit could have saved them. Jane Feinmann discovers how it has helped transform medicine in Mongolia.

Written by Jane Feinmann.
Read by Rebecca McIntosh.
Produced by Graihagh Jackson.

If you liked this story, we recommend DIY prosthetics: the extreme athlete who built a new knee by Rose Eveleth, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Is there real science in the spiritualism of meditation? Jo Marchant meets a Nobel Prize-winner who thinks so.

Written by Jo MarchantRead by Pip MayoProduced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read this story, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunesitunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSSmosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Mosaicscience – Secrets-of-the-strong-minded by Emma Young, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Half of people with Parkinson’s disease experience hallucinations, paranoia and delusions. Mary O’Hara reports on a new hope.

Written by Mary O'Hara

Read by Michael Regnier

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

View Details

Priyanka Pulla asks if there can ever be legitimacy in ‘quackery’.

Written by Priyanka Pulla, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh.

If you liked this story, we recommend Can meditation really slow ageing? by Mary Rose Abraham, also available as a podcast.

View Details

One in ten people struggle to recognise their emotions. New research suggests a vital link between our ability to sense our physical bodies and knowing how we feel.

Written by Emma Young

Read by Charlotte Hussey 

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

View Details

Why is asbestos still killing people? Nic Fleming finds out in a twisting tale of industry cover-ups and misinformation that spans decades.

Written by Nic Fleming, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb

View Details

A network of compassionate volunteers caring for their terminally ill neighbours is allowing more people in Kerala, India, to end their days at peace and at home. Jeremy Laurance meets the man leading the movement.

Written by Jeremy Laurance

Read by Graihagh Jackson

Produced by Graihagh Jackson 

If you liked this story, we recommend 'The sex workers who are stopping HIV', also available as an audiobook. 

View Details

Having stamped out a number of tropical diseases – including malaria – decades ago, is America today complacent about a rising wave of infectious disease? By Carrie Arnold.

Written by Carrie Arnold, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh

View Details

The need to mend broken hearts has never been greater. But what if we could simply manufacture a new one? Alex O’Brien studies the legacy of Texan surgeons and artificial hearts.

Written by Alex O'Brien, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Ellie Pinney.

View Details

An early halt to a trial of deep brain stimulation for depression reveals little about the treatment but more about the changing nature of clinical trials.

Written by David Dobbs

Read by Brian Yim Lim

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

View Details

Calories consumed minus calories burned: it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain. But dieters often find that it doesn’t work. Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of Gastropod investigate.

Written by Cynthia Graber, read by Charlotte Hussey, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend The fat city that declared war on obesity, by Ian Birrell, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Notoriously illegal and synonymous with hedonism, LSD and ecstasy started life as aids to psychotherapy. Sam Wong meets the band of psychiatrists who are looking to reclaim them for medicine again.

Written by Sam Wong, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend Saved: How addicts gained the power to reverse overdoses, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Telling cancer from non-cancer is tough for brain surgeons. Scorpions, Amazon.com and the legacy of a dying girl might change that, writes Alex O'Brien.

Written by Alex O'Brien, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

If you liked this story, we recommend listening to Decisions on a knife edge, by Charlotte Huff, also available as a podcast. 

View Details

Women’s reproductive rights are under attack across the globe. Sophie Cousins investigates the challenges women face in accessing abortion and contraception in two very different countries – India and the USA.

Written by Sophie Cousins

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

If you liked this story, we recommend Postpartum psychosis: "I'm afraid of how you'll judge me, as a mother and as a person", by Catherine Carver, also available as an audiobook.

View Details

Oklahoma has lost a million pounds of fat. Ian Birrell asks how – and whether declaring ‘war on obesity’ can really change a city’s infrastructure and encourage healthy living.

Written by Ian Birrell, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

If you liked this story, we recommend listening to Brazil's billion dollar gym experiment by Ian Birrell, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Headlines scream about “epidemics” of shootings and stabbings – but what if we took that literally? From Chicago to Glasgow, treating violence as a public health problem has produced great results.

Written by Samira Shackle

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'The women that kill, abuse and torture' by Katarine Quarmby, also available as a podcast. 

View Details

Applying mild electrical currents to your head could take away pain, help memory and improve attention – and the US military is very interested. Emma Young reports.

Written by Emma Young, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

If you liked this story, we recommend Can you think yourself into a different person? by Will Story, also available as a podcast.

View Details

In Finland, people whose sickness is linked to certain buildings fear being labelled as mentally ill, while scientists search for evidence that their condition is ‘real’.

Written by Shayla Love

Read by Graihagh Jackson

If you liked this story, we recommend Shayla Love's story 'Meet the dogs with OCD', also available as a podcast.

View Details

One nerve connects your vital organs, sensing and shaping your health. If we learn to control it, the future of medicine will be electric.

Written by Gaia Vince, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Mosaicscience – Can-you-supercharge-your-brain by Emma Young, also available as a podcast.

View Details

When doctors in rural Italy began to see a surge in cancer cases, they were baffled. Then they made the link with industrial waste being dumped by local crime syndicates. Ian Birrell learns about the tragic consequences.

Written by Ian Birrell

Read by Michael Regnier

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Brazil's cancer curse' by Sue Armstrong, also available as a podcast.

View Details

"Polio was unpredictable. Often no more harmful than any other childhood infection, it could on occasion ‘turn’ with swift, inexplicable savagery, destroying a child’s nerve cells and leaving him paralysed for life. If it damaged the nerves controlling his lungs they could freeze up and György would either die or spend the rest of his life inside an iron lung that breathed for him."

Trapped by the Cold War and scarred after a failed revolution, Hungary fought one of its greatest battles against polio.

Written by Penny Bailey, read by Pip Mayo, audio editor Geoff Marsh, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Mosaicscience – Prisoners-of-war, also available on our podcast.

View Details

Sex workers in Mozambique are providing health support to those at the margins of society. They face political and financial challenges, but against the odds they are helping thousands.

Written by Jules Montague

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'How HIV became a matter of international security' by Alexandra Ossola, available to read here.

View Details

"Losing enjoyment of food and drink is a common complaint for people who lose their sense of smell. You can taste sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami with your tongue. More complex flavours – like grapefruit or barbecued steak – depend on smell. But for Nick, as for many people who can’t smell, there’s another category of loss altogether."

Losing your sense of smell can fundamentally change the way you relate to other people.

Written by Emma Young, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Mosaicscience – Why-do-we-have-allergies by Carl Zimmer, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Melioidosis is a bacterial infection that quietly causes thousands of deaths each year. Meet the doctor who made it his mission to make the world take notice.

Written by Carrie Arnold

Read by Michael Regnier

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Hunting the silent killer' by Patrick Strudwick, also available as a podcast.

View Details

In a world obsessed with beauty, living with a facial disfigurement can be hard. Neil Steinberg explores the past and present to find out what it’s like to look different.

Written by Neil Steinberg

Read by Pip Mayo

Produced by Barry J Gibb

Edited by Geoff Marsh

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this podcast, we recommend, 'How far would you go to be able to smile' by Neil Steinberg.

View Details

Using sleep deprivation to lift people out of severe depression may seem counterintuitive, but for some people, it’s the only thing that works.

Written by Linda Geddes

Read by Rebecca McIntosh

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Why we still don't understand sleep, and why it matters', also available as a podcast.

View Details

How have the farm animals of today been shaped by centuries of domestication and selective breeding? Sujata Gupta investigates.

Written by Sujata Gupta, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Smiling is one of the fundamental ways people communicate, so what happens if your face can’t do it?

Written by Neil Steinberg
Read by Charlotte Hussey
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Women predisposed to ovarian cancer can reduce their risk with surgery, but with it comes early menopause. To avoid this, some doctors propose delaying part of the procedure. But is this safe? Charlotte Huff explores the costs of buying time.

Written by Charlotte Huff, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

A disease that killed millions in the 20th century still lingers – and with it the threat of a new epidemic. Why? The answer may have been staring us in the face all along, as Michael Regnier discovered when he travelled to Guinea with scientists searching for the key to a medical mystery.

Written by Michael Regnier, read by Michael Regnier, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Allergies such as peanut allergy and hay fever make millions of us miserable, but scientists aren’t even sure why they exist. Carl Zimmer talks to a master immunologist with a controversial answer.

Written by Carl Zimmer, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Twenty-five years after the discovery of the gene behind Huntington’s disease, Peter Forbes reports on the potential first treatment for this devastating condition.

Written by Peter Forbes, read by Brian Yim Lim, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

"We gaze into the eyes of a chimp and see a reflection of ourselves. We glance at a crow and see an alien being that under some jurisdictions can be exterminated with impunity - bringing a sinister second meaning to the phrase "a murder of crows". Such biases affect ordinary people and academic experts alike, skewing our understanding of what non-human intelligence looks like."

Do our thoughts and feelings distort the way we understand animal minds? Peter Aldhous argues that to grasp what intelligence is, we need to think differently.

Written by Peter Aldous, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

More and more people are donating organs, but demand still far exceeds supply. What can the world learn from the country that does it best? https://wellc.me/2mIsHDt

Written by Chris Baraniuk, narrated and produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2
RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

"Cholera has killed nearly 9,000 Haitians. More than 730,000 people have been infected. It is the worst outbreak of the disease, globally, in modern history. Hundreds of emergency and development workers have been working alongside the Haitian government for five years, trying to rid the country of cholera, and millions of dollars have been dispense in the fight to eradicate it. But it's still here. Why?"

Why have attempts to get cholera under control in Haiti failed? Rose George reports.

Written by Rose George, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes

RSS

If you liked this story, we recommend The cost of pure water by Shaun Raviv, also available as a podcast.

UPDATE: When we first published this story in July 2015, some people claimed that the United Nations was responsible for bringing cholera to Haiti in the 2010 outbreak – something that the organisation denied. However, in August 2016 the UN acknowledged that it played a role in the outbreak, which has since killed 10,000 people. You can read Mosaic’s shorter piece on the causes of the 2010 outbreak here.

View Details

Meet the scientists finding out how we can defeat our inner trolls and build more cooperative digital societies.

Written by Gaia Vince, narrated by Kirsten Irving, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

"As more Indians adopt more urban lives, chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease are on the rise, replacing malnutrition and infectious diseases as the country’s most urgent health worries. Reddy doesn’t want to risk his family’s health. He has decided that being healthy and poor is better than taking their chances in the modern, more developed, more open India."

Ill-health is the price rural Indians have to pay for seeking a better life in the city. Twenty-nine villages near Hyderabad are helping to explain why, Michael Regnier discovers.

Written by Michael Regnier, read by Michael Regnier, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend City cycling: health versus hazard by Lesley Evans Ogden, also available as a podcast.

View Details

Cognitive enhancement drugs are usually depicted as a distinctly contemporary phenomenon, however none of these drugs are new. Are we asking the right questions about smart drugs? Marek Kohn looks at what they can do for us – and what they can’t.

Written by Marek Kohn, narrated by Brian Yim Lim, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

To read the full story visit: mosaicscience.com/story/saved-how-…verse-overdoses/

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2
RSS: mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Naloxone can reverse an otherwise fatal heroin overdose within minutes. Carrie Arnold meets the doctors who put this remarkable drug in the hands of the police, families and addicts—and saved thousands of lives.

Written by Carrie Arnold, narrated by Kirsten Irving, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

To read the full story visit: mosaicscience.com/story/saved-how-…verse-overdoses/

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2
RSS: mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

A mysterious kidney disease is striking down labourers across the world and climate change is making it worse. Jane Palmer meets the doctors who are trying to understand it and stop it.

Written by Jane Palmer, narrated by Michael Regnier, produced by Graihagh Jackson.

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
RSS
SoundCloud

If you liked this story, we recommend reading 'How to survive climate change: a lesson from Hurricane Maria'

View Details

"Gomez is one of Achatz's regular patients at the A C Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil. He is extraordinarily susceptible to cancer. So too are many members of his extended family; cancer is so common among them - and premature death so painfully familiar - that until they learned very recently of the cause, some believed their family was cursed. Gomez's is not the only family affected. The 'cure' afflicts hundreds of thousands of people in Brazil."

The startling discovery that hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have a genetic mutation that undermines their ability to resist cancer is helping labs worldwide in their search for new treatments for the disease. Sue Armstrong reports."

Written by Sue Armstrong, read by Pip Mayo, audio editing by Jen Whyntie.

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Calories consumed minus calories burned: it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain. But dieters often find that it doesn’t work. Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of Gastropod investigate.

Written by Cynthia Graber, read by Charlotte Hussey, produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

"She packed up everything and moved to California to die. And she almost did. Less than a week after moving, Ellie was attacked by a swarm of Africanised bees."

Ellie Lobel was ready to die. Then she was attacked by bees. Christie Wilcox hears how venom can be a saviour.

Written by Christie Wilcox, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend Lovely grub: are insects the future of food? by Emily Anthes, also available as a podcast.

View Details

After his son’s suicide aged 18, Steve Mallen sees the world differently. Along with a growing number of mental health experts, he wants to reduce the rate of suicide across the world, and is aiming for zero.

Written by Simon Usborne

Read by Kirsten Irving

Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

They were the forgotten army. Taken captive during World War II, they lived lives of desperation and disease, internment and ingenuity. Long unspoken, their tale is now told through the voices of those who survived.

Audio producer: Chris Chapman
Sound designer: Eloise Whitmore
Assistant producer: Ellie Pinney
Fact checker: Laura Dawes
Editor: Mun-Keat Looi

Hear and read accompanying extras and a full transcript for this story on Mosaic: https://wellc.me/2wzmRfA

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Emma Young meets a woman with dissociative identity disorder and discovers what happens when you lose your sense of being an individual.

Written by Emma Young
Read by Kirsten Irving
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

To read the full story visit: https://wellc.me/2KqInpG

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast, free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic/id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

John Osborne has always hated the sound of whistling. But it wasn’t until a man whistling in a café infuriated him so much that he got up and left that he realised it was becoming a problem. Could he even be suffering from misophonia – a condition characterised by a strong dislike of certain sounds?

To get to the root of the issue, John embarks on a whimsical journey of self-discovery, diving headfirst into the worlds of professional whistling and psychology in an attempt to understand if he could ever learn to tolerate – or even love – the sound of whistling.

Narrated by John Osborne
Produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories, visit mosaicscience.com

For more audio documentaries and audiobooks, subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Marian Partington is working to forgive Rosemary West – one of her sister’s killers – because she thinks the only way to break the cycle of female violence is to understand it.

Written by Katharine Quarmby

Read by Kirsten Irving

To read the full story visit: https://mosaicscience.com/story/women-kill-abuse-torture-female-violence/

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast, free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

"Men have been circumcised for thousands of years, yet our thinking about the foreskin seems as muddled as ever. And a close examination of this muddle raises disturbing questions. Is American exceptionalism justified? Should we really be funding mass circumcision in Africa? Or by removing the foreskins of men, boys and newborns, are we actually committing a violation of human rights?"

Common in the US, rare in Europe and now championed in Africa, male circumcision is hotly debated. Jessica Wapner explores whether the gains are worth the loss.

Written by Jessica Wapner, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic/id964928211?mt=2itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend listening to Mosaicscience – The-future-of-sex by Emily Anthes, also available on our podcast.

View Details

Bringing genetics into medicine leads to more accuracy, better diagnosis and personalised treatment – but not for everyone. Carrie Arnold meets families for whom gene testing has led only to unanswered questions.

Written by Carrie Arnold
Read by Rebecca Macintosh
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more great stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Most of us would rather not think about what happens to our bodies after death. But that breakdown gives birth to new life in unexpected ways.

Written by Moheb Costandi
Read and produced by Barry J Gibb

This story was first published in May 2015.

For more great stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

For the first 20 years of his life, Henry Nicholls had a healthy relationship with sleep. Shortly after his 21st birthday, he began to experience symptoms of narcolepsy, a debilitating disorder that’s plagued him ever since. Sleep research is progressing, so why are he and others like him still waiting for a cure?

Written by Henry Nicholls
Read by Graihagh Jackson
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more great stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

Radioactivity stirs primal fears in many people, but Geoff Watts argues that an undue sense of its risks can cause real harm.

Written and read by Geoff Watts
Produced by Barry J Gibb

For more great stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

If you’re hit by lightning, there’s a nine in ten chance you’ll survive. But what are the lasting effects of being exposed to hundreds of millions of volts?

Written by Charlotte Huff.
Read by Kirsten Irving
Produced by Graihagh Jackson

For more great stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

View Details

In this special episode,Mosaic's Editor Chrissie Giles interviews the doctor and best-selling writer Atul Gawande about end-of-life care, the death of his father, and how we can create dignity for all of us as we age and at the end of life.

-

For more great stories visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to the Mosaic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your listens. Free to download and stream.

Apple Podcasts
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Read the feature, 'Breaking bad news': mosaicscience.com/story/breaking-bad-news

View Details

Traditional flush toilets aren’t an option in many parts of the world, but neither is leaving people with unsafe and unhygenic choices. Now, one company is piloting a new loo that's waterless, off-grid and able to charge your phone. Lina Zeldovich travels to Madagascar to witness the start of a lavatorial revolution.

Written by: Lina Zeldovich
Read by: Rebecca Mackintosh
Produced by: Graihagh Jackson For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com If you liked this story, we recommend 'Lovely grub: are insects the future of food?' by Emily Anthes https://mosaicscience.com/story/eating-insects/

View Details

"Almost 30 per cent of children in care in Australia come from an Aboriginal background: 'The Stolen Generation - when Aborigines were forcibly taken away from their families - may not just be a shameful part of Australia's history...'. 'Is this seriously happening, in 2014?' I wonder. Most Australians are aware of the Stolen Generation, when it was legal for the government to take Aboriginal children away from their families. But this forced separation, I thought, had ended decades before."

Healthcare in Australia’s Aboriginal communities is hindered by a long history of racial discord between very different cultures. Georgina Kenyon discovers the story of one young woman who died in the 1980s, and asks whether anything has changed since.

Written by Georgina Kenyon, read by Pip Mayo and produced by Barry J Gibb

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Blood speaks', Rose George's tale of menstrual taboo in Nepal and Bangladesh.

View Details

"What use, if any, is homesickness? 'It's purpose is the same today as it has been for millions of years - to deter us from leaving supportive groups and environments,' writes Mark Leary, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University in the USA, in Duke Magazine. 'Homesickness would have been relatively uncommon, occurring only when individuals were separated from supportive, familiar people.'"

What does it mean to be homesick in 2015, and does technology help or hinder us when we move to a new place? John Osborne revisits his past to find out.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend listening to 'Secrets of the strong-minded' by Emma Young, also available as a podcast.

View Details

After giving birth, Catherine Carver became convinced that her baby had been swapped and that social workers were plotting to kill her. She recounts her terrifying journey into postpartum psychosis, and how she found healing in unexpected ways.

Written by: Catherine Carver
Read by: Kirsten Irving
Produced by: Graihagh Jackson

To read the full story visit: mosaicscience.com/story/post-partu…l-health-babies/

Subscribe to our podcast:

iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Better spaces for mental health', available here:mosaicscience.com/story/better-spa…s-mental-health/

View Details

"Despite all the ridicule and aversion and shame, we can no longer deny the emerging power of poo. Perhaps it's time to push past the disgust and start giving a shit. And doing so proudly."

Brace yourself for the unbelievable next big thing in healthcare: faecal transplants.

Written by Bryn Nelson, read by Segun Akingbola, produced by Barry J Gibb.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2SPQebMqfZanxDcMJ0hzdz?si=EQw17wS7QF-ewiThJyrkiA

If you liked this story, we recommend 'This is what happens after you die' by Moheb Costandi, also available as a podcast. Link to the article: https://mosaicscience.com/story/what-happens-after-you-die/

View Details

Out of the blue, Vanessa Potter lost her sight. As she recovered, her senses mingled – hearing and touch changed the way she saw colours. Her quest to understand why introduced her to new tech that uses sound to help blind people see.

 Written by: Vanessa Potter

Read by: Charlotte Hussey

Produced by: Graihagh Jackson

If you enjoyed this story, you might enjoy 'In the blink of an eye' by Bryn Nelson which you can access here: mosaicscience.com/story/severe-eye-pain/

For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com.

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

And also now available on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2SPQebMqfZa…S7QF-ewiThJyrkiA

audiobook,brain,cognitive,deja,memory,mind,perception,philosophy,podcast,

View Details

"By the end of that day the September 11th Fund had been established by two major local charities. Donations poured in. Money first went on immediate aid - hot meals for rescue workers, emergency cheques for victims and their families - and then funds were made available for programmes to help New Yorkers to recover. The damage wasn't only physical, but psychological. Counsellors set up services in local churches, and psychiatrists came from around the country to offer their expertise and their insights. Thoughts turned to the city's children - how would they deal with the stress and trauma?"

Can children be made more psychologically ‘resilient’ to traumas like 9/11 – as well as the stress of everyday life? Emma Young meets a former school principal who believes they can.

Written by Emma Young, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh.

For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com

Subscribe to our podcast:
iTunes
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2

RSS
mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Now also available on Spotify.

If you liked this story, we recommend 'Can meditation really slow ageing' by Jo Marchant, also available as a podcast. Read the full story here: https://mosaicscience.com/story/can-meditation-really-slow-ageing/