Recent Episodes
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Orwell Almost Didn't Get to Write 1984
Today's politics has me thinking about George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', the dystopian novel warning about the threat of totalitarianism. What I did not know was that Orwell volunteered to fight against General Francisco Franco's attempt to overthrow Spain's elected government back in nineteen thirty-six. He was seriously wounded which means the book was almost never written.
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Alopecia Gene
Hair loss is tough, but for people with alopecia areata, it's even harder. The autoimmune disease causes hair to fall out in patches, leaving many to rely on wigs or hair toppers. But now, a new treatment offers hope - a chance at a full head of hair. The disease can affect people differently. Some suffer complete hair loss on the scalp; others have no hair on their entire body.
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Designer IVF Babies - 0ne step closer
People undergoing in vitro fertilization or IVF screen have their embryos screened for genetic disease before choosing one. It's called preimplantation genetic testing. Now, a new test goes a step further.
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Cats and Smell
Does your cat spend a lot of time sniffing everything around her? Mine does—especially my shoes! Sniffing is a way cats explore, and now a new study from Tokyo helps us understand how they respond to scent.
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Where did the HIV Resistance Gene come FroM
A gene mutation that can cure AIDS is now linked to people who lived near the Black Sea between the Stone Age and Viking Age. That's up to nine thousand years ago. The gene, CCR-five delta thirty-two, codes for a protein on immune cells and is how HIV enters some of those cells.
