Society

The world we’re living in today

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Maybe he’s born with it: exploring male pattern baldness
Rhodri Marsden tries to untangle the genetic causes of male pattern baldness.
11 October 2017
- Society, Identity
Abortion, contraception, pregnancy: how women’s bodies became a battlezone
The challenges people face accessing abortion and contraception in two very different countries – India and the USA.
12 September 2017
- Society, Crime and justice
Skin lightening: the dangerous obsession that’s worth billions
Millions of people across the world want to make their skin lighter – but the treatments they use can be dangerous. Mary-Rose Abraham meets beauticians, dermatologists and their clients to walk the line between aesthetic choice and racial prejudice.
29 August 2017
- Society, Identity
The uncertain future of genetic testing
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.
18 July 2017
- Society, Ethics
We need to change the way we think about genetic variation
Genetic variants that cause disease are rare, but this does not mean that all rare variants cause disease. So should we change the way we manage uncertainty in genetic testing?
17 July 2017
- Society, Ethics
Most care leavers say they survived the system… I survived because of the system
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? Michael Regnier meets her to find out.
09 May 2017
- Society, Family
“I just want to know how my sons died” – bringing home Bosnia’s dead
Thousands of families are still waiting for news of missing loved ones, 25 years after the bloody Balkans war. Ed Vulliamy meets the scientists piecing together the evidence from mass graves, and the relatives hoping for justice – and a body to bury
06 December 2016
- Society, Crime and justice
Intersex: seeking the beauty in difference
Martha Henriques finds out what it’s like growing up intersex and meets the people fighting to improve intersex rights.
04 October 2016
- Society, Identity
My life with hypospadias
In this audio piece, three men talk about living with a condition that affects how the penis looks and works.
03 October 2016
- Society, Identity
The man who gave himself away
How discovering an equation for altruism cost George Price everything.
13 September 2016
- Society, Inequality
Messing with our heads
Like many balding men, Rhodri Marsden has learned to accept losing his hair. But male stoicism and other coping strategies – from hats and wigs to dark humour – often mask deep distress, and even suicidal feelings. Will modern medicine ever find a ‘cure’ – or does the solution lie elsewhere?
04 September 2016
- Society, Identity
Raising my HIV family
When one Romanian doctor became ‘father’ to 16 HIV-positive orphans in 1999, many thought there was no hope for them – or for the thousands of other children infected. What followed was something of a miracle. Geta Roman tells their story.
30 August 2016
- Society, Family