Mosaic Science Podcast

"Losing enjoyment of food and drink is a common complaint for people who lose their sense of smell. You can taste sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami with your tongue. More complex flavours – like grapefruit or barbecued steak – depend on smell. But for Nick, as for many people who can’t smell, there’s another category of loss altogether." Losing your sense of smell can fundamentally change the way you relate to other people. Written by Emma Young, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss If you liked this story, we recommend Mosaicscience – Why-do-we-have-allergies by Carl Zimmer, also available as a podcast.  

Melioidosis is a bacterial infection that quietly causes thousands of deaths each year. Meet the doctor who made it his mission to make the world take notice. Written by Carrie Arnold Read by Michael Regnier Produced by Graihagh Jackson For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: Apple Podcasts itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss If you liked this story, we recommend 'Hunting the silent killer' by Patrick Strudwick, also available as a podcast. 

In a world obsessed with beauty, living with a facial disfigurement can be hard. Neil Steinberg explores the past and present to find out what it’s like to look different. Written by Neil Steinberg Read by Pip Mayo Produced by Barry J Gibb Edited by Geoff Marsh Subscribe to our podcast: Apple Podcasts itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss If you liked this podcast, we recommend, 'How far would you go to be able to smile' by Neil Steinberg. 

Using sleep deprivation to lift people out of severe depression may seem counterintuitive, but for some people, it’s the only thing that works.  Written by Linda Geddes Read by Rebecca McIntosh  Produced by Graihagh Jackson For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: Apple Podcasts itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss If you liked this story, we recommend 'Why we still don't understand sleep, and why it matters', also available as a podcast. 

How have the farm animals of today been shaped by centuries of domestication and selective breeding? Sujata Gupta investigates. Written by Sujata Gupta, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb, edited by Geoff Marsh For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Smiling is one of the fundamental ways people communicate, so what happens if your face can’t do it? Written by Neil Steinberg Read by Charlotte Hussey Produced by Graihagh Jackson For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: Apple Podcasts itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Women predisposed to ovarian cancer can reduce their risk with surgery, but with it comes early menopause. To avoid this, some doctors propose delaying part of the procedure. But is this safe? Charlotte Huff explores the costs of buying time. Written by Charlotte Huff, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss      

A disease that killed millions in the 20th century still lingers – and with it the threat of a new epidemic. Why? The answer may have been staring us in the face all along, as Michael Regnier discovered when he travelled to Guinea with scientists searching for the key to a medical mystery. Written by Michael Regnier, read by Michael Regnier, produced by Graihagh Jackson. For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Allergies such as peanut allergy and hay fever make millions of us miserable, but scientists aren’t even sure why they exist. Carl Zimmer talks to a master immunologist with a controversial answer. Written by Carl Zimmer, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Twenty-five years after the discovery of the gene behind Huntington’s disease, Peter Forbes reports on the potential first treatment for this devastating condition. Written by Peter Forbes, read by Brian Yim Lim, produced by Graihagh Jackson. For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com. Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2  RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

"We gaze into the eyes of a chimp and see a reflection of ourselves. We glance at a crow and see an alien being that under some jurisdictions can be exterminated with impunity - bringing a sinister second meaning to the phrase "a murder of crows". Such biases affect ordinary people and academic experts alike, skewing our understanding of what non-human intelligence looks like." Do our thoughts and feelings distort the way we understand animal minds? Peter Aldhous argues that to grasp what intelligence is, we need to think differently. Written by Peter Aldous, read by Kirsten Irving, produced by Barry J Gibb For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2  RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss  

More and more people are donating organs, but demand still far exceeds supply. What can the world learn from the country that does it best? https://wellc.me/2mIsHDt  Written by Chris Baraniuk, narrated and produced by Graihagh Jackson.  For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

"Cholera has killed nearly 9,000 Haitians. More than 730,000 people have been infected. It is the worst outbreak of the disease, globally, in modern history. Hundreds of emergency and development workers have been working alongside the Haitian government for five years, trying to rid the country of cholera, and millions of dollars have been dispense in the fight to eradicate it. But it's still here. Why?" Why have attempts to get cholera under control in Haiti failed? Rose George reports. Written by Rose George, read by Pip Mayo, produced by Barry J Gibb For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes RSS If you liked this story, we recommend The cost of pure water by Shaun Raviv, also available as a podcast. UPDATE: When we first published this story in July 2015, some people claimed that the United Nations was responsible for bringing cholera to Haiti in the 2010 outbreak – something that the organisation denied. However, in August 2016 the UN acknow

Meet the scientists finding out how we can defeat our inner trolls and build more cooperative digital societies. Written by Gaia Vince, narrated by Kirsten Irving, produced by Graihagh Jackson. For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2  RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

"As more Indians adopt more urban lives, chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease are on the rise, replacing malnutrition and infectious diseases as the country’s most urgent health worries. Reddy doesn’t want to risk his family’s health. He has decided that being healthy and poor is better than taking their chances in the modern, more developed, more open India." Ill-health is the price rural Indians have to pay for seeking a better life in the city. Twenty-nine villages near Hyderabad are helping to explain why, Michael Regnier discovers. Written by Michael Regnier, read by Michael Regnier, produced by Barry J Gibb, audio editing by Geoff Marsh For more stories and to read the text original, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss If you liked this story, we recommend City cycling: health versus hazard by Lesley Evans Ogden, also available as a podcast.  

Cognitive enhancement drugs are usually depicted as a distinctly contemporary phenomenon, however none of these drugs are new. Are we asking the right questions about smart drugs? Marek Kohn looks at what they can do for us – and what they can’t. Written by Marek Kohn, narrated by Brian Yim Lim, produced by Graihagh Jackson. To read the full story visit: mosaicscience.com/story/saved-how-…verse-overdoses/ Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2 RSS: mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Naloxone can reverse an otherwise fatal heroin overdose within minutes. Carrie Arnold meets the doctors who put this remarkable drug in the hands of the police, families and addicts—and saved thousands of lives. Written by Carrie Arnold, narrated by Kirsten Irving, produced by Graihagh Jackson. To read the full story visit: mosaicscience.com/story/saved-how-…verse-overdoses/ Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS: mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

A mysterious kidney disease is striking down labourers across the world and climate change is making it worse. Jane Palmer meets the doctors who are trying to understand it and stop it. Written by Jane Palmer, narrated by Michael Regnier, produced by Graihagh Jackson. For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes RSS SoundCloud If you liked this story, we recommend reading 'How to survive climate change: a lesson from Hurricane Maria'  

"Gomez is one of Achatz's regular patients at the A C Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil. He is extraordinarily susceptible to cancer. So too are many members of his extended family; cancer is so common among them - and premature death so painfully familiar - that until they learned very recently of the cause, some believed their family was cursed. Gomez's is not the only family affected. The 'cure' afflicts hundreds of thousands of people in Brazil." The startling discovery that hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have a genetic mutation that undermines their ability to resist cancer is helping labs worldwide in their search for new treatments for the disease. Sue Armstrong reports." Written by Sue Armstrong, read by Pip Mayo, audio editing by Jen Whyntie. For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss

Calories consumed minus calories burned: it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain. But dieters often find that it doesn’t work. Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of Gastropod investigate. Written by Cynthia Graber, read by Charlotte Hussey, produced by Graihagh Jackson For more stories and to read the original text, visit mosaicscience.com Subscribe to our podcast: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosaic-science-podcast/id964928211?mt=2itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mosai…id964928211?mt=2 RSS mosaicscience.libsyn.com/rss