Best Stemcell Podcasts (2025)

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CRISPR, stemcell banking, and a football world cup 36:16

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15d ago36:16

36:16

CRISPR technology has revolutionised biological research, and for the first time it’s out of the lab and into the NHS, as NICE has approved its use as cost effective. Kenneth Charles, senior lecturer in haematology at the University of the West Indies explains how the treatment works, and what concerns he has about it's implementation. Also this we…

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Borges's Library of Babel: Ctrl + F for meaning 1:00:28

2d ago1:00:28

1:00:28

The Do You Even Lit boys put down the heavy tomes and choose a short story. Well, we're not sure if it counts as a story. Maybe a thought experiment? This week we’re talking about one of our favourite authors: Jorge Luis Borges. We read The Library of Babel, Borges’s classic meditation on infinity (well, not infinity exactly — but an almost-might-a…

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Anna Karenina FINALE: Revenge of the Reddit Atheists 1:26:35

17d ago1:26:35

1:26:35

What an absolutely dogshit ending to an otherwise incredible book. We made it through 800 pages for this?? I still love you Tolstoy but seriously wtf bro. This discussion covers parts 6, 7, and 8 of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Anna's unhappy ending: Look how they massacred my girl. Is this a tale of a wanton harlot who got what was coming to her, …

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Anna Karenina part 2: I am begging you to touch grass 1:09:51

1M ago1:09:51

1:09:51

Levin is a turbo nerd who runs away from social awkwardness to theorise on agrarian economics or whatever. Sound like anyone you know?? Anyway he finally touches grass and gets the girl. Meanwhile we are falling out of love with Anna. It feels like something bad is gonna happen? The foreshadowing is very subtle, only experts in Media Literacy will …

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The pitfalls of home test kits 27:58

1M ago27:58

27:58

If you’ve been in a high street pharmacy or supermarket recently, chances are you’ll have seen home test kits for all sorts of indications; blood sugar level, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid function, and even some forms of cancer. A new series of article in The BMJ revealing serious concerns with the reliability of these home tests, and raises quest…

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The Future for Physician Associates? | Prof. Gillian Leng 52:53

1M ago52:53

52:53

Professor Gillian Leng, President of the Royal Society of Medicine was asked to carry out an independent review into the role of physician and anaesthetic associates. She sits down with Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of The BMJ, to discuss her findings. In the UK, the rollout of physician associates, NHS staff who took on some of the tasks of docto…

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Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: Real Housewives of Russia 1:16:53

2M ago1:16:53

1:16:53

Benny decided it was time for the boys to read Leo Tolstoy's 800 page whopper Anna Karenina. Today we discuss parts 1 and 2 of the novel. Rich immediately fell in love with all the characters. He wants be Levin, be with Anna, and be... something with that majestic horse Frou Frou. On the famous opening line: Are happy families alike? Are any of Tol…

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NHS 10 year plan dissected 42:26

2M ago42:26

42:26

This week we’re focusing on the NHS. On the 3rd of July the UK’s Prime Minister, Kier Starmer finally announced the NHS’ 10 year plan. His Labour government laid out a vision for where the healthcare service should head over the next decade. The announcement has been met with mixed responses. The plan has some good ideas - but a lack of vision comb…

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One Hundred Years of Solitude: The optimal amount of incest is non-zero 1:31:13

2M ago1:31:13

1:31:13

Everyone loves Gabriel García Márquez' 1967 genre-defining classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. At first we were charmed. But after trying to track a complex web of births and deaths and affairs and inc*stuous unions all taking place in the first 100 pages we found ourselves mired deep in the swamp. When we reached the halfway mark we recorded an…

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What 2025’s market turbulence means for investors 23:00

2M ago23:00

23:00

Investing in today’s climate means navigating constant geopolitical instability and emotions. BlueShore Financial investment advisor and Aviso Wealth portfolio manager Ilana Schonwetter joins the program to discuss prudent portfolio management and knowing when to say no. Whether it’s based on economic forces or personal conviction. This podcast is …

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What are doctors demanding? | New BMA Chair, Tom Dolphin 34:35

2M ago34:35

34:35

Rebecca Coombes interviews Dr. Tom Dolphin, consultant anaesthetist and newly elected chair of the BMA Council. Watch this interview on our YouTube.By The BMJ

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Time to rethink GP's advice on weightloss, and ticagrelor data doubts 33:38

2M ago33:38

33:38

Last December, The BMJ published an investigation into the 2009 PLATO trial - exposing serious problems with that study’s data analysis and reporting. Our follow up investigation has shown that those data problems extend to other key supporting evidence in AstraZeneca’s initial application to regulators. Peter Doshi, senior editor in the BMJ’s Inve…

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The plan for NHS league tables is bad, and will lead to unintended consequences 26:09

3M ago26:09

26:09

In this episode, we hear about ketamine addiction. It's in the news, but the rise in addiction amongst young people in the UK has caused concern for some time. Irene Guerrini and Nicola Kalk, both addiction psychiatrists from the National Addiction Centre, join us to explain why its become a problem. In November 2024 Wes Streeting, the UK’s health …

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Everything is Illuminated: Cultural Learnings of Trachimbrod for Make Benefit Glorious Book Club 1:57:21

3M ago1:57:21

1:57:21

we have very premium episode for you this week. welcoming special guest Nicole (@elocinationn), one of the great up-and-coming poasters of our time. We revisit one of her younger self's favourite books, Jonathan Safran Foer's ambitious 2002 novel Everything is Illuminated. On being disconnected from history: can you be traumatised by losing connect…

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Wellness industry lies, and preventative AI evaluation 38:53

3M ago38:53

38:53

Devi Sridhar's new book “How Not to Die (Too Soon) - The Lies We’ve Been Sold, and the Policies That Could Save Us” is focussing on the way wellness culture ignores the societal context in which health is really created. As a trained personal trainer and professor of global public health, Devi's straddling both of those worlds, and joins us to talk…

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Truth of Fact, Truth of Fiction: Is Ted Chiang a Luddite? 1:14:10

4M ago1:14:10

1:14:10

This week we tackle another short story by Ted Chiang: From his 2019 Exhalation collection Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling. Luddism and cognitive tool breakthroughs: we go through the pros and cons. Rich wants to go to the moon. We're not sure how much of a luddite, or dare we say relativist, we should make Chiang out to be. Fallible memories: just…

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Conflict in South Asia, and simplifying GRADE. 40:15

4M ago40:15

40:15

Recent escalations in the ever simmering tension between India and Pakistan brought us closer to conflict - conflict between two nuclear powers. For a long time doctors have campaigned for nuclear disarmament, and Chris Zielinski, president of the World Association of Medical Editors, makes the case for returning WHO's mandate to measure the potent…

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The Dispossessed part 2: Why would capitalism make me do this? 35:34

4M ago35:34

35:34

This week we wrap up our discussion of Ursula LeGuin's 1974 classic The Dispossessed. Simultaneity physics: just a mcguffin, or deeper thematic significance? How is it different to a block universe? Does this count as hard sci-fi? on the [redacted] scene: why would LeGuin include this? how are we supposed to feel about our hero Shevek? why would ca…

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Malaria free China, an academic medicine revolution, and retracted data's impact 36:36

4M ago36:36

36:36

China was declared malaria free in 2021 - and we'll hear how persistence was key to their success, and what new technologies are available to help the rest of the world become malaria free, from Regina Rabinovich, director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Sonia Saxena, professor of primary care at …

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Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed: Real anarchy has never been tried 1:23:10

4M ago1:23:10

1:23:10

A brilliant physicist grows disenchanted with the stifling anarchist society of his home planet, defecting to a capitalist world in the hopes of finding true freedom...but what he finds only horrifies him. Cam says Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 award-winning piece of sociological fiction is a leftist pamphlet. Benny and Rich call bs. who's right? let us…

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The problem of prognostication in assisted dying. 30:48

5M ago30:48

30:48

The UK government is debating legislation to allow assisted dying in England and Wales, which puts doctors at the forefront of deciding if their patient will be eligible for a medically assisted death - the key criteria being a 6 month prognosis. But is making a 6 month prognosis actually clinically reliable? To discuss we're joined by a panel of e…

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DeLillo's White Noise: psy-opping ourselves on death and po-mo 1:40:00

5M ago1:40:00

1:40:00

“All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots.” After a break, the boys jump into the 1980s po-mo White Noise by Don DeLillo. We talk about the denial of death, toxic airborne events, and Baudrillardian copies of copies of copies (of copies...) Simulacra: The boys shake off their reddit I Love Science teenage years and start to emb…

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Trump is trying to destroy universities - Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University 50:19

5M ago50:19

50:19

Kamran Abbasi interviews Professor Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University and former COVID-19 pandemic advisor to President Biden. Watch this interview on our YouTube. Trump’s second term has touched everything in the US political sphere - and health is no exception. With research funding for medicine and science weathering under Tru…

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Reducing benefits will not get disabled people back to work, and explaining overdiagnosis 32:35

5M ago32:35

32:35

The UK’s chancellor has announced a £5bn cut to benefits, much of which will be borne by those on long-term disability allowance. Gerry McCartney, professor of wellbeing economy at Glasgow University explains about why these cuts will not only hurt the most vulnerable, but will be counterproductive to the government's wish to get people back to wor…