Our bodies

Stories focus on everyday matters affecting our bodies, such as pills, carbs and viruses, then lead on to some of the biological concepts that underlie them – like enzymes, nerves and DNA.

2.20 Happiness

What we can learn from global surveys and research on hormones, genes and the brain

2.19 Ailments of the heart and blood system

What goes wrong and how it’s treated

2.18 The heart and blood system

How the system works

2.17 Memory

What it is and how it works (or fails to)

2.16 Dreaming and sleeping

The brain science of sleep, dreams and emotion

2.15 Feeling ill

The story of ‘malaise’: runny nose, fatigue, aches and pains

2.14 Species, breeds and cultivars

Chromosomes, genes and the taxonomic hierarchy

2.12 Immunity, vaccines and variants

The immune system and how vaccines stimulate it

2.11 Very small and very busy: life inside the cell

What goes on inside our human cells?

2.10 Drug and vaccine development

How scientists go about developing new drugs and vaccines

2.9 Mutation, genes and proteins

How genes provide the code for making proteins

2.7 COVID-19 part 1: Viruses, Lungs and Vaccines

The basic science of the Covid-10 pandemic

2.6 Sugar, carbs and type-2 diabetes

Investigating the substances behind the surge in diabetes 2

2.5 Vaccination and antibodies

What are antibodies and how does vaccination bring them on?

2.4 Enzymes

Familiar to dieters, brewers and cheesemakers, but what are they?

2.3 Brain, behaviour and learning

How the brain influences the way we learn and behave

2.2 Depression: the vital role of serotonin

The role the vital serotonin molecule plays in our nervous system

2.1 How do pills know where to go?

The shape and nature of drug molecules dictate where they act