The Engineers: Exploring the human

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

Engineering has moved inside the body to innovate like never before. In neuro-science, brain implants can provide ‘psychic’ communication for people with locked-in syndrome. In medication a new technology aims to deliver chemo therapy and other drugs directly to the parts that need them by bubbles in the blood stream. And ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease by sending antibody-directing messages straight from the gut to the brain. The BBC and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 have come together to stage a special event. Presenter Caroline Steel is joined by Tom Oxley, professorial fellow at Melbourne Medical School; Eleanor Stride, OBE, professor of Biomaterials at the University of Oxford; Khalil Ramadi, director of the Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuro-engineering and Translational Medicine in Abu Dhabi; Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, New York University.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Caroline Steele and welcome to the
0:06.7	engineers exploring the human. Engineering is changing medicine. In neuroscience, brain implants are
0:13.1	translating thoughts into words. In medication, a new technology may deliver drugs to targeted areas of
0:19.2	the body via bubbles in the bloodstream.
0:22.4	Meanwhile, ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease with signals from the gut.
0:27.6	To find out more, we went to the Royal Geographical Society in London,
0:31.3	and with our partners, the Royal Commission 1851,
0:34.0	we brought together three world-leading pioneers,
0:37.0	who are navigating the body in new ways and
0:39.3	breaking fresh ground in biomedicine. And to help us explore the work of these fascinating engineers,
0:44.9	we were joined by a live audience. Thank you.
0:55.6	Surgery can be invasive.
0:57.3	Pills are a blunt tool.
1:00.3	But what if we could borrow the body's neural pathways and electrically nudge its response to MS or diabetes?
1:04.2	And what if we could guide drugs through our veins
1:06.7	to deliver them to exactly where they're needed?
1:09.5	Paralysis can leave some people with locked-in syndrome, where they can't communicate.
1:13.8	What if there was a non-invasive way to turn their thoughts into words?
1:18.2	Thanks to our three world-leading engineers, these scenarios are becoming new realities.
1:23.9	Tom Oxley, originally from Australia, is a neural engineer and professorial fellow at Melbourne
1:28.5	Medical School. He is also founding CEO of Synchron, which has successfully implanted brain
1:34.2	computer interfaces in 10 patients worldwide. Ellen Estride is from the UK. She is professor
	...

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