Discovery - Bodies, Brains And Computers

DISCOVERY - BODIES, BRAINS AND COMPUTERS (320kbs-m4a/61mb/26mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 17th July 2023

We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now.

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of the sensory innovators and technological pioneers who are developing human like-sensing technology. From skin patches that can read our sugar levels, to brain implants that could use our thoughts to control computers. This is the technology that could blur the boundary between body, mind, and computer chip.

We meet Jules Howard, a zoologist who uses VR to help us explore the anatomical worlds inside animals. Jules shows us the inner-workings of a ducks vagina. We meet Anagram, who's augmented reality experiences can visualise the inner-worlds of those experiencing schizophrenia and ADHD. We play with the health monitors and wearable tech that claim they could make us fitter, happier, and more productive humans. And meet Dr David Putrino, a clinician with Mount Sinai in New York, who's conducting some of the first medically-approved surgery for brain implants.

Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod
Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Image: Artificial intelligence robot and binary. Credit: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)