Main content

Hormones

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay of chemical signals that keep our bodies going from moment to moment throughout our lives without us being immediately aware

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss some of the chemical signals coursing through our bodies throughout our lives, produced in separate areas and spreading via the bloodstream. We call these 'hormones' and we produce more than 80 of them of which the best known are arguably oestrogen, testosterone, adrenalin, insulin and cortisol. On the whole hormones operate without us being immediately conscious of them as their goal is homeostasis, maintaining the levels of everything in the body as required without us having to think about them first. Their actions are vital for our health and wellbeing and influence many different aspects of the way our bodies work.

With

Sadaf Farooqi
Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge

Rebecca Reynolds
Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh

And

Andrew Bicknell
Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading

Produced by Victoria Brignell

Reading list:

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (first published 1962; Penguin Classics, 2000)

Stephen Nussey and Saffron Whitehead, Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach (BIOS Scientific Publishers; 2001)

Aylinr Y. Yilmaz, Comprehensive Introduction to Endocrinology for Novices (Independently published, 2023)

Available now

50 minutes

Last on

Thu 8 Feb 2024 21:30

Featured

  • .

Guests and related links

Contributors:

-Μύof the University of Reading

- of the University of CambridgeΜύ

- of the University of Edinburgh


Related links:

-ΜύΜύ

- Society for Endocrinology

Broadcasts

  • Thu 8 Feb 2024 09:00
  • Thu 8 Feb 2024 21:30

Featured in...

In Our Time podcasts

Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.

The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10

If you’re new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.

Arts and Ideas podcast

Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.

Podcast