Health Check Podcast
1) Have we found a better alternative to aspirin?
Millions of us take aspirin daily to ward off heart attack or stroke, but a new study has found an alternative blood thinner, clopidogrel, could be more effective. We find out how it compares.An oral ...Show More
2) A breakthrough in treating chronic pain
One in five of us suffer with chronic pain globally and the exact cause of it is often unknown making it very hard to treat. However, in what has been hailed as a remarkable breakthrough, a gene has b...Show More
3) Using AI to discover new antibiotics
AI models have helped to discover new potential antibiotics to treat drug resistant infections of gonorrhoea and MRSA. We speak to Professor Jim Collins from MIT to understand what’s next for his mach...Show More
4) How plastic harms health
As negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty are due to conclude at the United Nations, we check in on whether health is on the agenda with Dr Cressida Bowyer, Associate Professor in Arts and Sustaina...Show More
5) Malnutrition in Gaza
UN-backed experts – the IPC - say the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza and that there is mounting evidence that widespread malnutrition is driving a rapid rise in hunge...Show More
6) Making human blood deadly to mosquitoes
Antiparasitic drug Ivermectin has been shown to reduce malaria transmission by making the blood of treated persons deadly to the mosquitoes that carry the disease. Journalist Layal Liverpool explores ...Show More
7) Do you really have a penicillin allergy?
Penicillin is the go-to antibiotic for many common infections - but in the UK more than 1-in-15 adults have a penicillin allergy label on their medical record. New research suggests that many with the...Show More
8) HIV prevention drug Lenacapavir recommended by WHO
Lenacapavir has been incredibly promising in trials and now the World Health Organisation have officially recommended the drug for HIV prevention. Smitha Mundasad explains the difference this bi-annua...Show More
9) First malaria treatment approved for newborns
Until now there has been no approved treatment for malaria in newborns and infants weighing less than 4.5kg. We hear from families and clinicians firsthand what this new formulation, due to be approve...Show More
10) Can bacteria-eating viruses be used to fight superbugs?
Phages are viruses that only infect bacteria. How might they help us tackle antimicrobial resistance? Franklin Nobrega and Esme Brinsden from the University of Southampton explain how their citizen sc...Show More