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29th Mar 2009

The History of Medicine


Kat Arney

Diana O'Carroll
Galileo by Leoni - engraving

This week we hark back to the days before NHS patient records and find out how illnesses in ancient Rome, Victorian London and 17th century Italy were treated. We also explore how the modern history of medicine is being recorded as it happens and how methods used to track DNA mutations can be used to the trace the evolution of ancient manuscripts.

Transcript
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News

It’s Alive – Artificial DNA

Scientists have turned the basic structure of DNA on its head: taking it from 4 bases to 12. This 12 base system has already been implemented in developing new forms of personalised medicine but now the researchers want to see if this more complex DNA can be self-sustaining. Fifty-six years ago,...

(c) Cancer Research UK

Test to Identify Relatives at Risk

The key to treating cancer successfully is catching it as early as possible. This is particularly true in the case of bowel cancer, where around eight out of ten people will survive if their cancer is caught at an early stage, but sadly only about one in ten cancers are actually caught this early. ...

(c) Professor. Z. L. Wang and Dr. X. D. Wang, Georgia Institute of Technology

Truly Juicy Couture

Charging your mobile phone could be done just by waving your arms and legs about a bit, according to scientists in the US.  Zhong Lin Wang and colleagues have used millions of nanowires made from zinc oxide to generate electric currents from simple body movements, such as walking or even the fl...

(c) Janice Carr

Structural studies shed light on TB treatments

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a growing problem around the world, and it's on the rise in Western countries as well as in the developing world – it's thought that someone somewhere is being infected with TB every single second. Now researchers in the US have made a discovery that could help scientists to ...


QotW

(c) AllanMcC

Why are Aussie snakes so toxic?

Why is it that Aussie snakes have such a bad reputation?


Interviews

South Africa Escapades

Much of the Naked Scientists team is down in South Africa this week. We had a chance to catch up with Meera to find out what they're up to.

(c) MykReeve

Bodysnatching and the Medical History of London

Richard Barnett takes us on a tour of some of the places, characters and events of medical London.

(c) NLM

Galenus of Pergamon and Roman Medicine

Vivian Nutton explains how medical discoveries and investigations were conducted over 1,800 years ago in the Classical World.

(c) Dr. Marcus Gossler

Do manuscripts drift like DNA?

Chris Howe explains how methods used to analyse mutations in DNA across generations can be applied to ancient manuscripts.

(c) ProteinBoxBot

Making Modern Medical History

Tilli Tansey takes us through the process of making medical history from the last century; including the breakthroughs of chemotherapy, haemophilia treatments and acquiring your very own home freezer.

(c) Leoni

Why Galileo lost his sight

Opthalmologist, Peter Watson, has taken a fresh look at portraits of Galileo which point to a swelling around his eye that may have been partly responsible for his deteriorating eyesight.





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