Discovery

How fixed are our moral beliefs? Can these beliefs be reduced to neurochemistry?While we may believe that our moral principles are rigid and based on rational motives, psychological and neuroscientific research is starting to demonstrate that this might not actually be the case.In this edition of Discovery, Dr Carinne Piekema investigates how scientific studies are starting to shed light on how our social behaviour is affected by our environment and neurochemistry. She discusses with Carol Dweck about how people's moral opinions can be modified through behavioural techniques, and with Molly Crockett and Paul Zak about how similar effects can be brought about by directly altering brain chemistry.While this knowledge might have future benefits, the ability to alter people's behaviour and attitudes towards others also raises potential ethical issues. In the final part, Carinne talks with neuroethicist Neil Levy who invites us to consider the philosophical questions raised by such advances.

Exploring the impact of nutrition and environment during the first 1000 days of life on adult health, with insights into the Barker Theory linking poor nutrition in the womb to long-term health issues. Research on the Dutch Famine revealing lasting health risks, and the influence of paternal diet on offspring's metabolic health. Highlighting the importance of early development in preventing chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes.

One hundred years ago, the first humans reached the South Pole of this planet. More than 40 years ago, man first walked on the moon. When will our species first set foot to explore the planet Mars? Kevin Fong seeks a likely launch date, and asks who will get us there and why we really need to explore the Red Planet.

Delve into the parallels between Antarctic exploration and space travel, exploring the significance of returning to the Moon. Uncover the Moon's geological record and its implications for understanding the solar system. Examine the geopolitical influences on the Apollo program and the scientific advancements it drove. Explore the complexities of lunar exploration, including competition and collaboration between nations for Mars missions.

Kevin Fong looks beyond the failure of Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole and focuses instead on the scientific legacy of Scott's explorations of Antarctica between 1901 and 1912.In recent years, much has been written about Scott the polar loser and bungler. But that personalised focus ignores the pioneering scientific research and discoveries. The revelations transformed Antarctica from an unknown quantity on the map into a profoundly important continent in the Earth's past and present. Before Scott and Shackleton trekked across the vast ice sheets in the early 1900s, no-one was sure whether there was even a continent there. Some geographers had suggested Antarctica was merely a vast raft of ice anchored to a scattering of islands. The science teams on Scott's expeditions made fundamental discoveries about Antarctic weather and began to realise the frozen continent's fundamental role in global climate and ocean circulation. They discovered rocks and fossils which showed Antarctica was once a balmy forested place. They mapped the magnetism around the South Pole for both science and navigators. They found many new species of animals and revealed the extraordinary winter breeding habits of the penguins. The dedication to scientific discovery is most poignantly revealed by fossils that Scott's party collected after their disappointment of being beaten by Amundsen and a few weeks before they froze to death trudging across the Ross ice shelf. They found a particular plant fossil which had been one of the Holy Grails on the early explorations of Antarctica's interior. Its discovery proved an hypothesis raised by Darwin among others that all the southern continents were once linked together by a landmass that would lain where Antarctica is today. The fossils were also important evidence to support the new and controversial theory of Continental Drift - a theory which now underpins the entirety of modern Earth science.(Image: Historical image of the team of the Terra Nova Expedition standing by a Norwegian tent at the South Pole. Credit: Science Photo Library)

To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the BBC's Sean Coughlan narrates one of the most authentic versions of events in existence. Using voice synthesis to re-create the strange, twitter-like, mechanical brevity of the original Morse code, this programme brings to life the tragedy through the ears of the wireless operators in the area that night.On the night of the disaster, the network of young Marconi wireless operators on different ships and land stations frantically communicated with each other across the cold expanses of the North Atlantic in an effort to mount a rescue for the doomed vessel. All these messages were recorded at the time in copper-plate handwriting, now scattered across the world in different collections, but together forming a unique archive. Conceived and created by Susanne Weber.Producer: Alex Mansfield

In the last of the Global Body series, Lynne Malcolm is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the future of the health of the human body.Lynne is joined by, Tony McMichael – Professor of Population Health at the Australian National University in Canberra; Professor Maxine Whittaker, form the Australian centre for International and Tropical Health at the University of Queensland and Professor Robyn Norton, Director of the George Institute and Professor of public health at the University of Sydney and Professor of Global Health and James Martin Professorial Fellow, University of Oxford.(Image: Computer artwork of the blood circulation system in a human figure. Credit: Science Photo Library)

As part of the BBC World Service's Human Race season, ABC in Australia's Lynne Malcolm explores how Homo sapiens have adapted to changes in their environment, economy and social structures; how health is affected by new environments and lifestyles; and what might happen to the human race in the future? Is the 'Hollywood Dream' of a city of beautiful, fit, wealthy people anything near the truth for this huge city? It's a city with a long history of immigrants settling from all over the world. Lynne Malcolm explores how some of these inhabitants have adapted biologically to their new environment over time, and what the impact is on their health and bodies. BBC Correspondent, Valeria Perasso, discovers however, that it's not all good news, with obesity on the rise in the city and there are also massive discrepancies in the standards of health, and quality of life amongst its inhabitants.(Image: a female face surrounded by a distorted DNA autoradiogram. Credit: Science Photo Library)

As part of the BBC World Service's Human Race season, ABC in Australia's Lynne Malcolm explores how Homo sapiens have adapted to changes in their environment, economy and social structures; how health is affected by new environments and lifestyles; and what might happen to the human race in the future? Lured by the bright lights, or driven from the countryside by political and economic turmoil, population pressures, and environmental vulnerability, billions of people have been migrating to the cities in the developing world. The BBC's correspondent in Manila Kate McGeown, discovers what happens to our human bodies when we leave the fields and shorelines and head into the big city. She reports back to Lynne, how traffic, pollution, smoking, overcrowding and lack of affordable fresh food is sparking an epidemic of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancers. Often outweighing the benefits of higher wages, better access to healthcare and education.

As part of the Human Race season on the BBC, Discovery starts its exploration into the Global Body. Over the next 4 weeks, Lynne Malcolm finds out how the modern world is affecting our biology. The series starts in Sri Lanka, where it asks whether the predominantly rural lifestyle of fishermen and farmers is well suited to the human body. BBC Correspondent Charles Haviland takes us to the shores of Sri Lanka to see what life is like for fishermen and to the mountains where people live off the variety of crops they grow for themselves. These populations are pretty healthy. But he also discovers that some of the rural inhabitants – the tea pickers – have a much harder time. There’s a report on how an inherited disease, thalassaemia, that makes people debilitated, and is quite common amongst Asian people is treated in Sri Lanka. And the programme discovers that thalassaemia survives because it confers resistance to malaria.(Image: Conceptual computer artwork of a male figure seen against autoradiograms of genetic sequences. Credit: Science Photo Library)