Season 10

1989 · 13 episodes

Episodes

1The Battle of the SexesIf you thought that women's liberation had ended the arguments, forget it. Ever since anyone can remember, men and women have been at each other's throats. But are the sexes basically the same underneath; or are there really fundamental differences between us? With the men led by Stuart Hall and the women under Faith Brown's guidance, Q.E.D. decided to find out - by making the sexes fight it out in a series of special games, designed to test all kinds of abilities. The psychologists reckon they know who will win what; but will they be proved right? If you want to find out if yours is the superior sex - join the fun and the heat of the battle; and see how comfortably you can accept the revealing results.
2The Man Who Believes in Body TransplantsAt the Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital, Dr Robert White is the popular genius whose brain surgery saves countless lives. But to the anti-vivisectionists who bombard him with obscene letters and phone calls, he is the infamous research scientist who once transplanted one monkey's body on to another monkey's head. The hybrid creature survived for over a week. Dr White now believes that the next 50 years will see the first human body transplants. David Filkin went to America to find out more about Dr White and his extraordinary ideas.
3Racing with the SunForget the turbochargers; leave the normally aspirated cars at home. For this race, you couldn't even use petrol. To get from Darwin to Adelaide, across the sun-baked interior of Australia, the rules said you had to rely on whatever energy was freely available. The hippies from Hawaii expected wind as well as sun, while the most sophisticated car had an armadillo's coat of gallium arsenide. The competition was fierce but friendly, the journey full of unexpected trials and tribulations. But everyone enjoyed racing with the sun.
4An Everday Miracle 1: A Completely Bad Luck SituationFirst of two programmes A Completely Bad Luck Situation Desperately sick babies are given a last chance to live by the doctors and nurses at London's Brompton Hospital. When newborn Dale Bruin was rushed into their care last summer, his parents learned that the baby's only hope was a new and risky operation which might fail. This extraordinary film follows their story as the Brompton fought for the life of baby Dale.
5An Everday Miracle 2: Back to the MendersAn Everyday Miracle 2: Back to the Menders After their newborn baby's open heart surgery, Mandy and Jeff Bruin watch anxiously as the specialist nurses of Brompton Hospital s Paediatric intensive care unit work around the clock to Preserve the tiny life swinging in the balance. In these critical hours, no one knows what the outcome will be.
6The Mystery of TearsWhy do we feel better after a good weep? What makes us cry for joy, or grief, or triumph? What use are tears? If we knew why we cry, perhaps we could find new ways to treat dry-eye disease or handle stress. Dr Bill Frey is looking for the causes of crying at his Dry Eye and Tear Research Centre in Minnesota. But before he starts work, he faces a major problem - how can he get people to weep when he wants?
7John's Not MadJohn Davidson, calls his mother a slut, he swears at policemen, and he spits habitually. When 16-year-old John walks down the high street of his home town, Galashiels, local people turn away or cross the road to avoid him. John has Tourette syndrome, a rare nervous disorder whose symptoms are what 'normal' people regard as abusive and antisocial behaviour. As John turns from boy to man, how will he cope with a disease that isolates him so distinctively from the rest of society? This intimate portrait follows John and his family through their daily struggle with an illness that makes everyday social contact a battleground.
8The Riddle of the Turin ShroudA programme from the BBC's factual series Q.E.D. which looked at the background to the famous Shroud of Turin. The programme interviewed doctors and scientists who both supported and were opposed to claims that the Shroud was the burial cloth of Christ. The programme followed up an earlier 1982 programme by examining the results of Carbon 14 testing of the Shroud and other tests that had been made on it to verify that it was a medieval forgery. It was narrated by Professor Anthony Clare.
9The Morgan TreatmentWeightlifter David Morgan , Commonwealth Champion and record holder, was as keen as anyone for his brother Tony to try to follow in his footsteps; not just for the fame and glory, but because he had a hunch it might help cure a problem. Tony suffered from epilepsy. Weightlifting has changed Tony's life. His athletic career took off and he became the youngest British champion ever. And at the same time the number of epileptic fits decreased steadily. Tony has now not had any since 1985. Q.E.D. sought specialist help to try to discover whether weightlifting could really be responsible for keeping his epilepsy under control.
10Simon's TriumphQ.E.D.'s latest look at the life of a Falklands soldier. Simon Weston 's war was over when the Argentinian bombs struck the Sir Galahad. He had been burnt over 46 per cent of his body. He was terribly scarred but his own personal war against his injuries had only just begun. Simon's initial struggle was charted in two award-winning Q.E.D. films, Simon's War and Simon 's Peace. Now, filmed over the last three years, Simon's Triumph marks the emergence of a very different character, who no longer looks back. 'I am no war hero,' he says. 'I'm just Simon Weston , scars and all.'
11The Write StuffYou can pick a good astronaut, they say, by knowing 'the right stuff when you see it. But can you pick a top executive just as surely by merely studying his writing? More and more British firms are using graphology secretly to help them select their managers; yet many scientists would say that this art of interpreting handwriting is about as sensible as reading tea leaves. Q.E.D. ran a special series of tests to find out the truth. Should your future career depend on how you dot the 'i's and cross the 't's?
12Keyhole Surgery'You can imagine you're an underwater explorer wandering through reefs of red seaweed.' But you're not - you're an orthopaedic surgeon repairing a torn cartilage. Surgery has changed direction. With the help of the magical telescope, x-rays and ultrasound, 'keyhole surgery' are no longer dirty words but a highly desirable goal.
13A Case of Spontaneous Human Combustion?Is it possible for a person to burst into flames and be reduced to ashes without sign of struggle or panic and without damaging any of the surrounding materials? Could there be some chemical or electrical imbalance in the body which leads to a kind of spontaneous combustion? But if the fire does not start inside the body, how can traditional science explain away the development of a blaze hot enough to reduce bone to ash without damaging a house? Q.E.D. meets firemen and police officers who have discovered the bizarre remains after these puzzling deaths; and scientists who attempt to set up experiments that might explain the phenomenon.