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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Presented by Alok Jha, Produced by Iain Chambers

Science Weekly podcast: Transplants and the future of intensive care

This week, we're focusing on some pivotal stories from the history of science and medicine.

First up are human-to-human transplants and intensive care medicine. These are among the greatest successes of post-war medicine, but they also raise some of the most profound ethical questions. Ahead of a discussion at the Royal Institution in London, Kevin Fong, an anaesthetist and physiology lecturer at University College London, and medical historian Richard Barnett came into the studio to discuss how these important medical interventions started and, crucially, where they are heading.

The debates will be held at the Royal Institution on 28 February. "From iron lungs to intensive care", "Hearts to hearts" will be on 15 February.

The Observer's science editor, Robin McKie, was on hand to delve into the secrets of the Piltdown Hoax of 1912. The discovery that the Piltdown Man remains were not all they seemed rocked the scientific establishment of the time, and now a new generation of researchers wants to find out the truth. Who was behind the hoax?

And finally … with Nature and Science voluntarily suspending their publication of studies into bird flu, we ask: should scientific research ever be censored?

Subscribe for free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).

Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science.

Email scienceweeklypodcast@gmail.com.

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