Show Notes
Ronnie Helvy is on his way for a screening test. He's in his sixties and wants an assessment to check for a variety of cancers. He isn't currently displaying any symptoms but is seeking reassurance. His blood will undergo a series of tests in exchange for over a thousand pounds. The outcome might be able to determine whether he is susceptible to cancers that some of his family have died from. It sounds like a good thing. Or is it? Advances in health screening have allowed us to see far into our bodies' future. During the pandemic home testing became an everyday routine. The same technology has helped develop new tools that can sequence our DNA quickly. Simple tests are making the process less intrusive than ever before. These improvements have also seen the development of a number of major national screening programmes. Including Our Future Health and the UK Biobank. Both of these are large scale research studies to help researchers prevent chronic health conditions. They could also inform the NHS on how to implement generalised screening across more of the population. Private health clinics are also offering health check-ups -- tests that could spot future warning signs. Home-testing kits can be ordered from the internet. But what does this information tell us? And is it information we can trust? We look at whether the private industry is acting responsibly when it comes to genetic testing. The BBC's Health Correspondent Matthew Hill finds out whether screening programmes can really help us live both better and longer lives. And he asks: can diagnosing conditions decades before they might affect us cause more harm than good? The promise of diagnosing conditions early is an exciting one. But there are fears among some health professionals that more screening might not be entirely helpful. We take a look at what lessons from the past could tell us about the current surge in screening. And we consider some of the dilemmas it might present us with. Presenter: Matthew Hill Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings Contributors: Dr Paul Cornes, Oncologist and International Advisor on cancer Prof. Clare Turnbull, Division of Genetics and Epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research Helen Wallace, Deputy Director of GeneWatch UK Prof Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford and the UK’s Life Sciences Champion
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Meter tampering means altering a meter to prevent it from fully recording how much electricity or gas is being used, or bypassing the meter completely to energy usage being recorded at all. It may seem like a great idea, but there are consequences. It’s dangerous and it is a criminal offence. Its classified as theft and can lead to prison sentences and heavy fines. The number of people illegally bypassing the grid to save money is increasing at an alarming rate. Its disturbingly simple to do but the consequences can be tragic. In May 2021, two-year-old George Hinds was killed when a gas explosion caused by tampering destroyed his home in Heysham, Lancs. The explosion was triggered by a neighbour cutting through pipes with an angle grinder. He was jailed last year for 15 years for manslaughter.
There Is a club that no high school principal in the USA wants to join, but they are all incredibly grateful that its there. Because in the event of the worst possible scenario happening, they will need it The 'Principal Recovery Network' is made up of school leaders who have lived through the horror of a shooting in their hallways and classrooms. And in the hours after an incident they are on the phone helping the next school principal through their trauma Sam Walker moved her family from Manchester to Arizona seven years ago and she still can't get used to her kids going through regular lockdown drills so they know what to do if their school is attacked Sam meets some of the principals who have been through it and have come together to offer support - and now activism. Presenter: Sam Walker Production: Sam Walker and Richard McIlroy Image: Frank DeAngelis, the former Principal of Columbine High School
In the mountains of Latakia, Syria, Mudar Salimeh devotes much of his time to searching for butterflies. A geologist, artist, and nature lover, Mudar's fascination with butterflies began in the spring of 2018 when a great number of caterpillars appeared in his art studio. Over time, the caterpillars transformed into a cloud of white butterflies, sparking Mudar's quest to find and document these beautiful, elusive creatures. Syria's civil war has caused extensive ecological damage, affecting far more than just human lives. Then, in February 2023, an earthquake struck the region of Latakia. Spring 2024 arrives and butterflies start to emerge, we join Mudar as he creates an encyclopedia of the different butterfly species in Western Syria - a task made challenging by the shadows of war. Photo credit: Mudar Salimeh From his blog: https://syrianbutterflies.wordpress.com/ Field Recordings by Mudar Salimeh Music by Samer Saem Eldahr a.k.a. Hello Psychaleppo https://www.psychaleppo.com/ Lepidoptera Sound Recordings: Maria Brænder Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
Every 17 years in the eastern United States, a roaring mass of millions of black-bodied, red-eyed, thumb-length insects erupt from the ground. For a few glorious weeks the periodical cicadas cover the trees and the air vibrates with their chorus of come-hither calls. Then they leave a billion eggs to hatch and burrow into the dirt, beginning the seventeen year cycle all over again. Sing. Fly. Mate. Die. This is Brood X or the Great Eastern Brood. It’s an event which, for the residents of a dozen or so US states, is the abiding memory of four, maybe five, summers of their lives. In a programme that’s both a natural and a cultural history of the Great Eastern Brood we re-visit four Brood X years....1970, 1987, 2004 and 2021…. to capture the stories of the summers when the cicadas came to town. Princeton University's Class of 1970 remember the cicadas’ appearance at their graduation ceremony, during a time of student unrest and protest against the Vietnam War; a bride looks back to the uninvited - but welcome - cicada guests attending her wedding; a musician recalls making al fresco music with Brood X; and an entomologist considers the extraordinary life cycle of an insect which is seems to possess both great patience and the ability to count to seventeen. Brood X cicadas spend 17 years underground, each insect alone, waiting and listening. In 2021, as Brood X stirred and the air began to thicken with the cicadas’ love songs, we all shared with them that sense of emerging from the isolation of lockdown and making a new beginning. Featuring: Elias Bonaros, Liz Dugan, Anisa George, Ray Gibbons, Peter Kuper, Gene Kritsky, Gregg Lange, David Rothenberg, Gil Schrage and Gaye Williams Producer: Jeremy Grange Cicada audio recorded by Cicada Mania and David Rothenberg Programme Image: Prof. Gene Kritsky
When Bury FC was expelled from the Football League after 125 years, the government commissioned a fan-led review of football's financial stability. Centring the importance of football clubs to hundreds of local communities, it recommended tough new rules about governance and ownership of football clubs. Five years on and with both Labour and the Conservatives supporting the creation of a new regulator, Scunthorpe United has become a case study for why politicians think they need to step in. A succession of owners, a string of relegations and a more than gloomy balance book left the North Lincolnshire town wondering what life without its football club might look like. But the efforts of the local community led to a small piece of hope. For Radio 4, lifelong Scunthorpe fan and BBC political journalist (in that order) Jack Fenwick tells the inside story of how it all went so wrong and what happened next. Presenter and producer: Jack Fenwick