Aspergillosis in chicks

Tracking Adverse Medication Events and Drug:Drug Interactions

Stanford big data techno-optimist and internist Russ Altman shows us how the power of machine learning in drug development is helping us understand adverse medication effects.

Breaking Thought Cycles Using Mindfulness

Psychiatrist and addiction expert Judson Brewer shares groundbreaking research on the mechanism of mindfulness practices that effectively help quell cravings of all kinds, including smoking.

The Art of Saving Life

Global public health worker and communications expert Christine McNab illuminates the story of how she combined her passions and partnered with the Gates Foundation to create what might be the most artistically crafted vaccine promotion campaign ever.

Prescribe Happiness to Improve Our Health

At 37 years old, physician, public health advocate, entrepreneur and grassroots organizer Vivek Murthy is one of the youngest U.S. Surgeon Generals in our nation’s history, and the first one of Indian descent. Prior to his confirmation, he was a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Hospitalist Attending and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was President and cofounder of Doctors for America, a national grassroots organization of 15,000 medical students and physicians advocating for high-quality and equitable health care.

What Happens When Patients Lead the Health Team?

Who knows better how to heal a community than those who inhabit it? America Bracho’s Latino Health Access trains local promotoras to teach neighbors and friends how to be healthy.

Food for Thought: How Gut Microbes Change Your Mind

The state of your mind might be dependent on the state of your gut

Fungi Can Combat Livestock Parasites

Using soil fungi to combat livestock parasites in Australia. Ugandan smallholder dairy farmers show signs of comeback. New systems of aquaculture to benefit fish farmers in Thailand.

Fungi Can Combat Livestock Parasites

BBC World Service 1996

The beginning of the end for Rice Blast Fungus?

The rice blast fungus genome has been sequenced and will be used to develop resistant strains of rice. Nasa’s Spitzer telescope has found an asteroid around a sun like our own – but are there planets, too? As the hurricane seasons approaches in Amercia, scientists are trying to predict how bad it will be. Why “don’t worry, be happy” is practical medical advice.

The beginning of the end for Rice Blast Fungus?

Ash Dieback Fungus

In a few years, 70 million trees could be lost in the UK to ash dieback. Kew Gardens scientists are collecting samples from infected trees, to understand whether genes in ash may harbour resistance to the disease.

Nobel Prizes 2014; Gauge; Genetics and Diabetes; UK Fungus Day

UK Fungus Day
October 12th is UK Fungus Day, a chance for us to celebrate these cryptic, often microscopic, but essential organisms. Usually hidden away inside plants or in soil (or if you’re unlucky, in between your toes), fungi have largely been growing below scientists’ radars for centuries. Mycologists still don’t know anything close to the true number of fungi that exist on the planet. About a hundred thousand have been formally identified, but it’s estimated that anywhere from half a million to ten million species may exist. This dwarfs, by several orders of magnitude, how many mammals there are on Earth. And, increasingly, we’re realising quite how crucial fungi are to the functioning of our ecosystems. Head of Mycology at The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Bryn Dentinger, explains how valuable fungi really are.

Nobel Prizes 2014; Gauge; Genetics and Diabetes; UK Fungus Day

BBC Radio 4 2014