大象传媒

Henrietta Lacks was only 31 years old when she died from cervical cancer in 1951. While she was in hospital in the USA, her cells were harvested without her knowledge which, since being replicated infinitely, have gone on to enable research into cancer, dementia and Parkinson鈥檚. As well as contributing to the development of vaccines for polio and COVID-19. Her family have fought for decades to get justice for the 鈥渟tolen鈥� cells, and this week reached a settlement with Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

The United Nations says we now live in the era of "global boiling". As temperatures continue to soar across the southern USA, the 大象传媒鈥檚 Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher heads to a high-tech heated chamber in the UK, on a mission to find out how hot is too hot for our bodies to cope with.

In Sweden, dentist Dr Nivetha Natarajan Gavriilidou tells Claudia Hammond about her work using the bone structure of the jaw to predict how we might get shorter as we age. Could it lead to dentists working closer with GPs? It鈥檚 a question we also put to our studio guest family doctor Ann Robinson. Who brings us new research from the USA that could lead to better treatment for children鈥檚 runny noses. And potentially some good news if you鈥檙e struggling to shave seconds off your 5KM PB. Could beating your time be down to your genes?

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Clare Salisbury