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The human body is the battleground where our most fundamental ideas about the way the world is come into sharp focus.

When we think and talk about the body, we are suddenly very aware of that pattern of thinking which frames concepts in opposition, divides the world up between dark and light, material and immaterial, technology and humanity, invisible and visible, mind and body, body and soul.

In this ten part series, academic and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts traces how human knowledge of anatomy has grown and changed over time, and how this changing understanding has in turn affected our understanding of who we are.

Episode 10: Visible and Invisible - where the body ends

Professor Alice Roberts ends her journey through the history of anatomy. From pre-history until the 20th century, the story was broadly the transformation of a conception of the body as a mysterious black box into the body as a machine. But now we seem on the cusp of a new era – with technology profoundly changing the ways we view our bodies both metaphorically and practically.

Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd

A Made in Manchester production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4