Podcasts Assorted

The History of Anaesthetics;

Charles Darwin described the horrors of surgery before anaesthetics like this: "I attended the operating theatre and saw two very bad operations... but I rushed away before they were completed. Nor did I ever attend again, for hardly any inducement would have been strong enough to make me do so; this being long before the blessed days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a long year." The suffering Darwin witnessed is almost unimaginable. In the 19th Century, a simple fracture often led to amputation carried out on a conscious patient, whose senses would be dulled only by brandy or perhaps some morphine. Many patients died of shock.

The properties of gases like nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” held out hope. The chemist Humphrey Davy in the 1790s described it as “highly pleasurable, thrilling”. He also noticed his toothache disappeared. But he failed to apply his observations and it wasn't until the 1840s that there was a major breakthrough in anaesthetics, when an enterprising dentist in Boston managed to anaesthetize a patient with ether. It became known as the “Yankee Dodge”. Ether had its drawbacks and the search for a suitable alternative continued until chloroform was tried in 1847, winning many admirers including Queen Victoria, the first English royal to use it.

So why did it take so long for inhaled gases to advance from providing merely recreational highs to providing an essential tool of humane surgery? What role did the development of the atomic bomb play in the development of anaesthetics? And how have society's changing attitudes to pain informed the debate?

Female orgasm
Professor Emerita Beverly Whipple from Rutgers University in New Jersey is co-author of the famous bestselling book The G Spot.

Satire Then and Now

Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation/Heart attack symptoms

Historical changes in sea level

How are ancient sea levels determined? It's with corals. They act as bathtub rings. Ancient reefs now exposed can be dated and placed in time. Sea level has been 100m higher than present, when there were no ice sheets, and about 120m lower than present during glacial periods. The whole mantle of the Earth adjusts as stresses change. The last time sea level was higher, it was 4-6 metres higher, and at that time, the arctic was 3-5 degrees hotter. 125,000 years ago, the reason was changes in the Earth's orbit. So if the same degree of warming was to occur this century, as predicted, a sea level rise of 4-6 metres would be expected. But this time, there'll be contributions from Antarctic melting as well.

The suspension of Pakistan's Chief Justice

A conversation with Don Stewart
Don Stewart (Retired Judge and Royal Commissioner, Author of "Recollections of an Unreasonable Man", published ABC Books)started his career as a police officer, went on to be a barrister, a judge, a royal commissioner and the founding chairman of the National Crime Authority. He has some amazing insights, some compelling stories and some surprising opinions

Coyle, Author, Says Economics Is Changing `Across the Board'

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Two views on teaching: dumbing down or just relevant
Educationalist Dr Kevin Donnelly has been leading a spirited charge against what he sees as political correctness in the classroom. His new book Dumbing Down takes on progressive theories and educational fads. In this talk, recorded at the Sydney Institute, Dr Donnelly puts forward his key thesis. In reply, we hear from Carol Baxter, one of Australia's leading genealogical researchers, with the case for relevance

Philippe Legrain: Your Country Needs Immigrants

Annual Manning Clark Lecture: Restoring the Primacy of Reason in an Age of Fundamentalism

Nursing homes and their 'aesthetics'

Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. He is the author of Authority in Islam, Theology of Discontent, and Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future

The Donor's Perspective
Lisa Jordan, Deputy Director, Global and Civil Society Unit, Ford Foundation

The legacy of the slave trade
On the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade Cecily Jones discusses the legacy of the trade and why an apology is necessary

Global Organised Crime

Post Budget debate: Does public spending give us enough bang for our buck? (On UK Budget)

"We Call It Subprime for a Reason"
Concerns about the subprime mortgage market have been making the news lately. In the last NABE Outlook, subprime mortgage lending was identified by the NABE forecasters as posing the greatest risk to financial markets. At the same time, other headlines point to increases in both late payments and defaults. Take a closer look at this issue from the viewpoint of the mortgage banking industry with Douglas Duncan, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association; from the standpoint of the credit ratings industry, with David Wyss, chief economist of Standard & Poor's; and from the standpoint of Fannie Mae, with chief economist David Berson.

The Libertarian Cultural Tradition, featuring Virginia Postrel
In Defense of Negative Liberty, featuring Tom G. Palmer
Are Libertarians in Intellectual Crisis?, featuring Tyler Cowen
On Radicals for Capitalism, featuring Brian Doherty

This Week from The Economist
George Bush and Congress; Germany's Muslims; Asia's economies; adultery around the world