Science Friction is a new four-part documentary series on RTÉ One, featuring compelling subjects where science and society collide.
The series will be presented by Liz Bonnin, who received a degree in biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin before embarking on her television career. In each episode Liz will take the viewer on a voyage of discovery, meeting some of the leading scientists working in that field and the ordinary people whose lives are being directly affected by their research.
Episode One: THE FAT FIGHT
As the percentage of Irish people who are obese reaches 18%, Science Friction goes behind the scenes at the Weight Management Clinic at St. Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown to meet the morbidly obese patients currently awaiting gastric by-pass surgery. Liz travels to Cambridge to meet the scientists who are leading the search for the ‘fat gene’ that could change the way we treat obesity in the future – a team headed up by Irish scientist Prof. Stephen O’Rahilly.
This programme asks if science can help us in the battle against the bulge. It explains why people are getting fatter, how we have an evolutionary predisposition to storing fat and how our modern lifestyles are out of kilter with the way our bodies are designed to work. It explains why obesity kills.
The documentary follows patients who are attending the Weight Management Clinic in St. Columcille’s Hospital. We receive unprecedented access to the most radical and high risk form of obesity treatment currently available: gastric by-pass surgery.
The programme looks at scientific research that suggests there are genetic factors for why some people put on weight easier than others and meet scientists who are at the cutting edge of research in this field: the search for our ‘fat genes’ and the techniques needed to repair them.