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What next for sunscreen in Australia?
Health Check
Apr 1, 2026

In Australia last year, it was discovered that hardly any sunscreen products actually offered the protection listed on the bottle. Now the Australian regulator has finally proposed sweeping reforms in the country known to be a skin cancer hotspot. Dr Michelle Wong, chemist and science communicator of LabMuffin Beauty Science explains what impact the changes might make.

Northern Cyprus is one of the cheapest places to get IVF treatment. However, a British couple have recently discovered their children, conceived at a clinic in the country, are not biologically related despite the couple requesting the same sperm donor for both children. We find out more about what happened and how IVF clinics are regulated globally.

How mosquitoes could be used to vaccinate bats against rabies and nipah, and the potential benefit to human health.

In Ghana, Pakistan, Rwanda, and South Africa more than half of patients with serious injuries failed to reach medical care within an hour of being injured according to new research. Dr Leila Ghalichi, Senior Researcher at Department of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham explains what could be done to improve the situation.

And, how sperm behaves in space, and what that means for colonising other planets.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Hannah Robins Assistant Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

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Apr 22, 2026
Making surgery safer for infants

We learn about a new injectable microgel to help reduce bleeding in infants who require surgical care. In a mice model, it reduced bleeding by at least 50%. Ashley Brown, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill tells presenter Claudia Hammond more about this new material her team has designed.

Joined by Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at Boston University in the US, Dr Matthew Fox, Claudia hears about a mystery illness that is being investigated by health officials in Burundi, which has caused five deaths and sickened thirty-five people. So far lab analysis of the illness - which causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea - has been negative for Ebola and Marburg viruses, Rift Valley fever, and others.

We hear about influential analysis from Cochrane which has concluded that "breakthrough" Alzheimer's drugs are unlikely to benefit patients. Researchers said the impact was "well below" what was needed to make a difference to dementia patients' lives. However, their report has also provoked a vicious backlash from equally esteemed scientists who label it as fundamentally flawed.

We’re joined by health journalist Katie Silver in Mexico, who brings us the news that the President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has announced the details of a plan to introduce universal healthcare – no mean feat in country of 130 million people.

And we hear about an experiment that was done by academics to see if they could trick AI chatbots into believing in an entirely fake disease.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell


26min 28sec

What next for sunscreen in Australia?

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