Vastly superior to any artificial mechanical pump, a human heart beats without pause for an entire human lifetime and is exquisitely tuned to the body's changing needs from moment to moment.
In this special edition of the podcast Guardian science correspondent Alok Jha and Kevin Fong, an anaesthetist and media fellow at the Wellcome Trust, discuss the physiology, chemistry and dynamics of this remarkable organ and how research into tissue regeneration is opening up a new frontier in the treatment of damaged hearts.
There are contributions from heart experts Prof Michael Shattock from King's College London, cardiologist Prof Raymond MacAllister of University College Hospital and cardiac stem cell researcher Prof Paul Riley from the University of Oxford.
The show also features music specially composed for this heart-themed edition by Pascal Wyse.
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