logo
episode-header-image
Sep 27
27m 28s

The Happy Pod: Hope for people with Hunt...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

For the first time ever, a successful treatment has been found for the devastating brain disease, Huntington's. The inherited condition, which resembles a combination of dementia, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease, affects hundreds of thousands of people in the US and Europe. The scientists who developed the new gene therapy, and people who have the disease, say its a huge breakthrough that could give people a better quality of life for decades.

Also: we meet the teacher who's launched a Happiness Project to help her pupils learn about what really matters, and is encouraging others to do the same. We find out about the small actions that have transformed how people feel about a living in a huge public housing complex in Mumbai, bringing a true sense of community. It's Fat Bear Week in Alaska - a time to celebrate weight gain as the beautiful inhabitants of Katmai National Park prepare to hibernate. Plus a new way to bring more poetry into your life; the dogs getting to swim in German public pools; and the man cycling hundreds of miles dressed as a paramedic gorilla. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.

Presenter: Oliver Conway. Music composed by Iona Hampson

Up next
Today
The Global Story: The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal
<p>The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally binding i ... Show More
27m 20s
Today
COP30 deal fails to mention fossil fuels
<p>The UN climate summit in Brazil has closed with a commitment to triple adaptation funding for developing countries, but there was no explicit mention of the fossil fuels that drive climate change. A bitter row at COP30 saw oil-rich nations led by Saudi Arabia overcome more tha ... Show More
32m 27s
Yesterday
The Happy Pod: Donating my kidney transformed a child's life
<p>We hear about a rare meeting between a living organ donor and the child whose life was transformed by receiving her kidney. Aly Coyle says she was delighted to see 5-year-old Xavier happy and healthy after the transplant. His parents tracked her down through social media to sa ... Show More
25m 52s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
05 NOVEMBER 2024: Election Day 2024 — Good News Edition
<p><strong><a href= "https://donate.stripe.com/3csaEWg0i6rn7XGfYY">Donate (no account necessary)</a> | <a href= "https://wrightreport.substack.com/">Subscribe (account required)</a></strong></p> <p>Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he dives into today's to ... Show More
17m 36s
May 2025
The Gene-Editing Breakthrough That Saved a Baby’s Life
Last year, Kyle and Nicole Muldoon welcomed their baby KJ into the world. Almost immediately, doctors realized something was wrong. KJ had been born with a genetic mutation that made it impossible to regulate the amount of ammonia in his system. The rare disease had the potential ... Show More
49m 20s
Jan 2025
Are GLP-1 Drugs "the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of the 21st Century"?
In the past few years, we've learned that GLP-1 drugs don’t just help with diabetes or increase people’s feelings of fullness to help them lose weight. They have broad effects on substance abuse and behavior. They even seem to help with otherwise incurable illnesses, like Alzheim ... Show More
1h 2m
Oct 2024
What a 'consequence of success' means for life expectancy
Headlines: Australia’s fertility rate hits record low, 50 aid trucks have entered the north of Gaza, ACT Opposition Leader apologises for flipping the bird at journalist and Jerry Seinfeld walks back comments about the left ruining comedy. Deep Dive: With the speed at which techn ... Show More
23m 50s
Dec 2022
New Season of I am BIO; plus Hope for Alzheimer's (Redux)
I am BIO will begin a new season of exciting topics on Feb 28. During our hiatus, we are bringing back some of our most popular episodes beginning with “Hope for Alzheimer's.”Alzheimer’s disease is a heartbreaking diagnosis and tragically there is no cure. But every day, research ... Show More
22m 47s
Feb 2025
Patricia A. Roos, "Surviving Alex: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss, and Addiction" (Rutgers UP, 2024)
In 2015, Patricia Roos’s twenty-five-year-old son Alex died of a heroin overdose. Turning her grief into action, Roos, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, began to research the social factors and institutional failures that contributed to his death. Surviving Alex: A ... Show More
1h 13m
Jan 2025
A White Christmas for Annabelle
For Lisa Hover and her husband Andy, life on the Hampshire Dorset border with their family of four children seemed idyllic. Even when a routine sight test on their young daughter Annabelle picked up an abnormality, it all seemed manageable. But the abnormality turned out to be ea ... Show More
29 m