Anaesthesia: Unwrapping oblivion

Are we entering an era when robots will finally liberate people, and particularly women, from the drudgery of housework? There is certainly a buzz around domestic robots right now and every month seems to bring us a new autonomous machine that can fold your clothes or stack your ...  Show more

One of the first recorded examples of a marriage ceremony is dated more than 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. And it seems that through the ages, weddings have never lost their appeal. The global wedding industry is today worth billions of dollars, and it is one that keeps on growi ...  Show more

The use of general anesthesia is less than 200 years old. Before doctors were able to cause unconsciousness in patients, surgery was brutal for all involved. But despite this advancement in medicine, science still has no idea how it works.

All physicians are taught, “First do no harm.” But what happens when a doctor does harm his patients?Dr. Robert Henderson was a veteran spinal surgeon in Dallas when he got an unusual phone call from a local hospital: a new surgeon had operated so poorly that a patient who’d walk ...  Show more

This episode will render you oblivious, conked out and blissfully unaware. It’s about anaesthetics: those potent potions that send you into a deep, deathly sleep. Listener Alicia wants to know how they work, so our sleuths call on the expertise of consultant anaesthetist Dr Fiona ...  Show more

During World War I, thousands of soldiers suffered catastrophic facial injuries. If these soldiers survived their injuries, they were often shunned once they got back home. Some were forced to sit on brightly painted blue benches so that the public knew not to look at them. Many ...  Show more