Society

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