Start the Week - Genes: Our medical inheritance

On Start the Week Andrew Marr traces the quest to decipher the human genome. The idea of a 'unit of heredity' first emerged at the end of the 19th century: cancer physician Siddhartha Mukherjee recounts the history of the gene and the latest research into genetic heredity and mutation. Giles Yeo looks at what genes can tell us about body weight, while Aarathi Prasad explores how India practises medicine - from cutting-edge science to traditional healing. The historian Emily Mayhew traces the medical breakthroughs that have emerged from the battlefield, from World War I to the conflict in Afghanistan. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Start the Week - Genes: Our medical inheritance

On Start the Week Andrew Marr traces the quest to decipher the human genome. The idea of a 'unit of heredity' first emerged at the end of the 19th century: cancer physician Siddhartha Mukherjee recounts the history of the gene and the latest research into genetic heredity and mutation. Giles Yeo looks at what genes can tell us about body weight, while Aarathi Prasad explores how India practises medicine - from cutting-edge science to traditional healing. The historian Emily Mayhew traces the medical breakthroughs that have emerged from the battlefield, from World War I to the conflict in Afghanistan. Producer: Katy Hickman.

The Gist - Tim Heidecker Is Tired of Being Meta

On The Gist, comedian and musician Tim Heidecker. He attracted a cult following with Adult Swim television hits such as Decker and Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Some of the same deadpan observations can be heard in his music. Heidecker’s first solo album is In Glendale. For the Spiel, elections make us all relativists. 

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The Gist - The Myth of Kitty Genovese’s Murder

On The Gist, filmmaker James Solomon discusses his documentary The Witness, which reinvestigates the death of Kitty Genovese—whose reported murder became emblematic of New York City indifference. In the film, Kitty’s brother Bill goes on a quest to figure out what really happened and finds little truth in the earliest newspaper accounts. For the Spiel, Siri runs away with your radio.

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The Gist - Ghost Bluster

On The Gist, 2015 MacArthur fellow Matthew Desmond talks about moving into a trailer park to document life in poverty and what he calls an eviction epidemic. Desmond is the author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. For the Spiel, revisiting Ghostbusters—that is, revisiting the movie that’s revisiting Ghostbusters

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Start the Week - Hay Festival: Spooks, war and genocide

Start the Week is at Hay Literary Festival this week discussing war and intelligence. Michael Hayden is a former Air Force four-star general who became director of the US National Security Agency and then the CIA. He talks to Tom Sutcliffe about the decisions made during America's war on terror: from rendition and interrogation to widespread surveillance. Harry Parker was in his twenties when he signed up to join the British Army - he uses the paraphernalia and weaponry of war to tell the story of conflict; while the journalist Janine di Giovanni reports on ordinary people caught up in the fighting in Syria. The human rights lawyer Philippe Sands looks back at his own family's history to make sense of crimes against humanity. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Start the Week - Hay Festival: Spooks, war and genocide

Start the Week is at Hay Literary Festival this week discussing war and intelligence. Michael Hayden is a former Air Force four-star general who became director of the US National Security Agency and then the CIA. He talks to Tom Sutcliffe about the decisions made during America's war on terror: from rendition and interrogation to widespread surveillance. Harry Parker was in his twenties when he signed up to join the British Army - he uses the paraphernalia and weaponry of war to tell the story of conflict; while the journalist Janine di Giovanni reports on ordinary people caught up in the fighting in Syria. The human rights lawyer Philippe Sands looks back at his own family's history to make sense of crimes against humanity. Producer: Katy Hickman.