Discovery

• The Life Scientific: Mark O'Shea

  How do you feel about snakes? What about highly venomous ones?For Mark O’Shea, close encounters with the world’s most rare and deadly snakes are not only his profession, but his passion. Mark is a Professor of Herpetology - the area of zoology focusing on reptiles and amphibians - at the University of Wolverhampton.After dropping out of college in his teens, Mark's life could have taken a very different direction; but prompted by a fascination with reptiles that started with a childhood trip to the zoo, he's gone on to have a career spanning research, international expeditions and broadcasting. He's also worked with international medical teams, studying deadly species and helping to generate antidotes for some of the world’s deadliest venoms.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Mark reveals the challenges around generating antivenom for countries that need it, the pros and cons of keeping snakes as pets, and what you need to know if you ever get bitten...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor

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• Waking up with a different voice

  What’s it like to wake up with a brand new voice? For those with foreign accent syndrome, this is their reality. Patients who develop this rare speech disorder start speaking in a brand new accent that they often have no connection to.So how does losing the voice you’ve known your entire life shape, or break, your identity?Presenter Ella Hubber speaks to Althia Bryden, who developed foreign accent syndrome last year, and Sarah Colwill, who has lived with the condition for the past 15 years. They share the deep impact it has had on their identity and connection to those around them.And to understand what is happening in the brain to cause this complete change in accent, and whether it’s really even an accent at all, Ella speaks to professor Nicholas Miller, who has been unpicking the mystery of foreign accent syndrome for decades. Also, professor Stefanie Keulen shares that there are actually multiple types of the condition.Even though foreign accent syndrome is rare, it is found around the world, can affect anyone, and highlights just how deeply our voices influence all aspects of our lives.Presenter: Ella Hubber Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Ella Hubber Assistant Producer: Minnie Harrop Editor: Martin Smith

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• The animal employment agency

  We live in a time of automation and robotics; the machines run the factories, and AI will soon take all the jobs. Yet, even today, there are certain niche jobs where only an animal will do. Comedian and biologist Simon Watt meets some of them and the people who train them, study them, and love them. He starts with a business of ferrets (yes, that is their collective noun) at the National Ferret School in Derbyshire, who have swapped rabbit holes and trouser legs for drain-clearing, rewiring, and laying fibre optic cables. Ferret Trainer James McKay demonstrates why they are perfect for the job, as he casually folds one trainee into a tight pretzel.Simon visits the HQ of Medical Detection Dogs, a training facility in Milton Keynes where dogs are being trained to sniff the tell-tale signs of a host of diseases. You may have heard of their 'cancer dogs', but it goes much further - epilepsy, malaria, Parkinson's, even Covid-19. Dr Claire Guest explains.Although we have no real idea exactly how dogs do what they do, AI may be on the cusp of solving this puzzle for us. Simon speaks to Dr Andreas Mershin from start-up Realnose, which is developing “electronic noses".Finally, Simon meets some real heroes - HeroRats, to be precise. Not the same species that haunts our sewers, these are African Giant Pouched Rats, and their job as landmine detection specialists is saving lives across Thailand, Mozambique, Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Dr Cynthia Fast from UCLA trains them for the job.Presenter: Simon Watt Producer: Emily Knight

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• Bodies

  The London Anatomy Office accepts around 350 human bodies donated for medical research and education annually. You may imagine that these bodies are presevered in chemicals for medical students to study over weeks and months. And some are. But many are used - almost fresh - to train surgeons in the procedures which may one day save your life.Journalist Jenny Kleeman gains rare access to a surgical training course at Brighton and Sussex Medical School which uses these "fresh" donor bodies. She talks to the people who work with them every day and the surgeons who have come to be trained to find out how they feel about the people who have given the ultimate gift and if we still need real human cadavers in medical education.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Ella Hubber

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• The Life Scientific: Kevin Fong

  There can't be many people in the world who've saved lives in hospital emergency rooms and also helped care for the wellbeing of astronauts in space – but Kevin Fong’s career has followed a singular path: from astrophysics and trauma medicine, to working with NASA, to becoming an Air Ambulance doctor.Kevin is a consultant anaesthetist and professor of public engagement and innovation at University College London. He’s worked on the front line in hospitals, dealing with major incidents and helping shape policy; but he's also stayed true to his childhood passion for space, working on multiple projects with NASA and even going through the astronaut application process himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also become a well-known figure in science broadcasting through his various radio and TV shows.Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Kevin admits it hasn't always been an easy path – but his passion for both space and medicine have got him through. And today, he's channelling his energies into ensuring we protect the NHS's most precious commodity: its staff.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor Revised for World Service by Minnie Harrop

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