Health & Medicine Documentary

Every day millions of people in Britain take vitamin supplements.

It is an industry that is worth £300 million a year, but the pills are surrounded by controversy.

Some people claim that by taking them in large doses, th...

Horizon uncovers the secret world of our dreams. In a series of cutting-edge experiments and personal stories, we go in search of the science behind this most enduring mystery and ask: where do dreams come from? Do they ha...

We are bad at making decisions. According to science, our decisions are based on oversimplification, laziness and prejudice. And that's assuming that we haven't already been hijacked by our surroundings or led astray by ou...

How much is really known about the medicines we take, and can they be trusted to work?

Over a person's lifetime they are likely to be prescribed more than 14,000 pills. Antibiotics, cholesterol lowering tablets, anti-depr...

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and killing between 75 million and 200 million people.[1][2][3] Although there were several competing the...

"Bird flu" is a phrase similar to "swine flu," "dog flu," "horse flu," or "human flu" in that it refers to an illness caused by any of many different strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host. All k...

The Ebola virus was first associated with an outbreak of 318 cases of a hemorrhagic disease in Zaire. Of the 318 cases, 280 of them died—and died quickly. That same year, 1976, 284 people in Sudan also became infected with...

Series exploring topical scientific issues.

For centuries scientists have been attempting to come up with an elixir of youth. Now remarkable discoveries are suggesting that ageing is something flexible that can ultimately...

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the th...

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome didn't even have its name in February 2003, when it struck its first known victim, Johnny Cheng, in Hanoi, Vietnam. Within days, an international effort led by the World Health Organizatio...

A simple virus brewed in the belly of a dead bird is set to embark on a global killing spree. The likely culprit is H5N1 - a bird flu virus with the dangerous potential to mutate into the next pandemic flu virus.

A pandem...

Kathy Sykes, professor of Science and Society at Bristol, examines alternative therapies in Europe and the US. Half a million people in England use hypnotherapy every year. It's claimed it can help with addiction, phobias,...

For thousands of years, what we now think of as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) was the only medicine; now, traditional cures are being treated with a fresh respect. For BBC TWO, scientist Professor Kathy Syke...

Social anxiety is a discomfort or a fear when a person is in social interactions that involve a concern about being judged or evaluated by others.[1] It is typically characterized by an intense fear of what others are thin...

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. Organisms that have been genetically modified include micro-organisms such as bacteria and ...

Horizon's 'death zone' follows a team of doctors conducting a series of groundbreaking experiments as they climb Everest, the world's highest peak.

From their laboratory tents, pitched in -25°C conditions, the experts use...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most feared and misunderstood of all medical conditions. Despite over 200 scientific papers being published on this neurological condition every year, it remain...

Vigorous investigation of a topical issue. Panorama investigates concerns about the quality of surgical instruments being used on patients in the UK. Reporter Samantha Poling hears from those working inside the NHS who cla...

Horizon follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured.

Sophie is desperate to discover if there's a medical breakthrough which...

Can you think of 100 different uses for a sock? How would you cope with glasses that turn everything upside down? What's your emotional intelligence? Can you create a work of art in 10 minutes? Horizon takes seven people w...

Alternative cancer treatments describes alternative and complementary treatments for cancer that have not been approved by the government agencies responsible for the regulation of therapeutic goods. They include diet and ...