The Human Cell Atlas is a project that has 3000 researchers in over 94 countries working to collect samples of every single cell in the human body.

The idea is that an interactive map of the body will be created. It will be a reference for what every kind of normal human cell should look like. But that will also vary depending on who you are and where you live.

It will give doctors a tool to measure illness and disease and make diagnosis and treatment much quicker.

The database will enable any doctor, anywhere in the world, with the right kind of interface, to access the information.

It could be ground-breaking for the treatment of disease and the democratisation of healthcare.

Contributors: Dr Aviv Regev, one of the co-chairs of the Human Cell Atlas Dr Sarah Teichmann from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge Dr Piero Carninci, Geneticist, Transcriptome Technology and RIKEN Centre Sean Bendall, Associate Professor of pathology and immunology at Stanford University

Presented by Tanya Beckett Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Edited by Tara McDermott Technical Producer is Richard Hannaford Production Co-ordinator is Jordan King

Image: Medical Technology Stock Photo by Kentoh via Getty Images

After violence erupted between Hamas and Israel, President Biden flew to Tel Aviv to offer his ‘staunch’ ally US support.

In a very public embrace of Israel, he reinforced a relationship that goes back decades to Israel's foundation.

But does the US have the diplomatic influence to bring peace to the region?

This week on the Inquiry: what can US diplomacy achieve in the Middle East.

Contributors:

David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent and senior writer for The New York Times Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Emma Ashford, senior fellow at the Stimson Center Brian Katulis, vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute

Presented by Gary O’Donoghue Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson Co-ordinated by Jordan King

Image: (Photo by GPO/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Climate change and the war in Ukraine is transforming the geopolitics of the Arctic.

Melting ice opens up the possibility of new trade routes making the region more valuable.

Tensions in the area are rising as Russia turns to China for cooperation. China in return wants to position itself as a major power in the region.

Geopolitical tensions mean that any disputes become harder to resolve and potentially more dangerous. And in a region that’s vulnerable to climate change science is also suffering – without cooperation between countries valuable data is being lost.

Contributors: Andreas Østhagen, Senior Researcher at Fridtjof Nansens Institute

Stefan Hedlund, Professor of Russian and East European Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden

Matthew Funaiole, senior fellow of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Sophie Arts, from the Geostrategy North team at the German Marshall Fund of the United States

Presented by Emily Wither Produced by Louise Clarke and Ravi Naik Researched by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Mixed by Craig Boardman The Editor is Tara McDermott The production co-ordinator is Jordan King

Image: Tourists with Russian nuclear icebreaker on way to North Pole - Per Breiehagen (Getty Images)

Europe’s migration crisis began back in 2015, with the arrival of over a million refugees, the majority from the war in Syria. Many thousands more from different countries have since sought refuge on European shores for one reason or another, whilst the tightening of external borders and asylum laws have proved ineffective in stopping the boats.

There have been years of disagreements over migration amongst the member states of the European Union, which have caused damage to the bloc’s unity. In recent months, however, it looked like some progress had been made towards a fairer and more uniform migration system, but a proposal to relocate people to different parts of Europe was met with opposition.

As the flow of people into frontline countries like Italy, Greece and Spain looks set to continue in the future, it appears that collective action from the member states, looks further away.

This week on The Inquiry we’re asking ‘Can Europe solve its migrant crisis?’

Contributors:

Hanne Beirens, Director, Migration Policy Institute Europe, Brussels

Cathryn Costello, Full Professor of Global Refugee and Migration Law, UCD Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland

Charles Kenny, Senior Fellow, Centre for Global Development, Washington DC. USA

Martin Ruhs, Chair in Migration Studies and Deputy Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Technical Producer: James Bradshaw Production Co-ordinator: Jordan King Editor: Tara McDermott

Photo: MSF Ship GEO Barents rescues migrants off the Libyan coast in the central Mediterranean Credit: Reuters

The German government was elected with a plan to build 400,000 new homes a year – but it fell short last year by over 100,000. The country’s house building industry is in crisis, with hundreds of companies going into liquidation this year as order books are emptying and demand for new homes has fallen. So why can’t Germany build enough homes?

A combination of high construction costs caused by inflation since the Covid pandemic, and increases in interest rates in recent years has produced a difficult business environment for a construction sector that is a significant part of the German economy. Along with falling demand, industry experts fear that regulations and bureaucracy are a factor in causing the crisis.

Charmaine Cozier hears from: Dirk Salewski President of the German Housebuilding Federation who attended a recent summit hosted by Chancellor Olaf Scholz when the government announced a 14 point plan to revive housing construction. Alice Pitinni is the research director at Housing Europe, the European Federation of Public Co-operative and Social Housing and says there is a growing affordable housing crisis in Europe. Ireland has endured it's own housing crisis in the past - Michelle Norris, is professor of social policy at University College Dublin, and says Ireland has repeated some of Germany’s mistakes. Jens Boysen-Hogrefe is a senior economist at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy – he says the country faces a tough situation, that worse is yet to come, but it is not a repeat of the post-reunification boom and bust of the 1990s.

CREDITS Presenter - Charmaine Cozier Producer - Phil Reevell. Researcher - Matt Toulson Editor - Tara McDermott

(Photo: A construction worker is seen on the roofing for a new residential building in Dortmund, western Germany, on April 18, 2023) (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)

At the recent BRICS economic summit in South Africa, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping had a rare face-to-face meeting. For years these two world powers have been in dispute over their ill-defined border in the Himalayan region. A military escalation of this dispute in 1962 led to the creation of the ‘line of actual control’ or the LAC, the de facto border between the two countries.

Down the years there have been a number of clashes along the LAC and its commonly agreed that relations now are at their lowest point since 1962.

And whilst India has taken steps to reduce its economic dependence on China in a bid to engage in trade relations on an equal footing, they are both competing to become the dominant power in the global south with financial aid and infrastructure projects.

Both sides agreed at their BRICS meeting to intensify efforts to de-escalate border tensions. Can China and India fix their relationship?’

Contributors: Shibani Mehta, senior research analyst with the Security Studies Programme, Carnegie India, New Delhi Dr Ivan Lidarev, visiting fellow at LSE IDEAS, the London School of Economics’ foreign policy think tank and Asia security expert Dr Geeta Kochhar, assistant professor, Centre for Chinese and South-East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Steve Tsang, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the SOAS China Institute, London

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott

(Photo: China’s President Xi Jinping (L) and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Credit: Mike Hutchings/AFP)

The life expectancy of Americans has fallen in recent years after a long period when it had been increasing. There are a number of factors which contribute to the fall. The Covid pandemic, with over 1m deaths, made a significant impact on lowering the average life expectancy. In comparison with other peer countries, the USA also did not return to pre-Covid levels at the same rate. However there are also other important factors driving this, namely gun deaths and drug deaths as a result of opioid overdoses. And another major contributor to lower life expectancy in the States is inequality in the US healthcare system. In this edition of The Inquiry Tanya Beckett explores why US life expectancy is falling. She hears from Jeremy Ney an adjunct professor at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco and author of American Inequality, a data project that highlights US inequality and regional divides. Dr. Mark Rosenberg helped set up the Centre for Disease Control’s National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) and is a key proponent of research that examines how to reduce gun violence. He explains how gun deaths among young people have a big influence on the average life expectancy numbers. Dr. Judith Feinberg, is a professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine - her experience of working with communities with high levels of opioid problems makes her an authority on the extent to which drug overdose deaths impact average life expectancy. Ellen Marra is a professor of health economics at Harvard University - she says that diseases such as cancer and cardio deaths are big factors in lower life expectancy, compared with the number of gun and opioid deaths.

CREDITS Presenter Tanya Beckett Producer Phil Reevell. Researcher Bisi Adebayo Editor Tom Bigwood

Image: USA Birthday Cake, Credit: Getty Images

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is ageing and his ruling Fatah party is deeply unpopular. There have been protests against him and the Palestinian Authority. Many Palestinians feel the PA has lost legitimacy.

There’s no plan for how to choose a successor to Mahmoud Abbas and any candidate is likely to be controversial. There’s a risk that an unpopular replacement may throw the occupied territories into chaos, even violence, and have major implications for the future goals of Palestinian people.

Contributors: Dalia Hatuqa, independent Palestinian journalist. Khalil Shikaki, Professor of Political Science and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. Ahmad Khalidi, political analyst and writer on Palestinian and Middle East political and strategic affairs. Ines Abdel Razak, executive director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy.

Presenter: Emily Wither Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Sound engineer: Jack Wood

(Photo: Palestinians celebrate vote. Credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

How much do you think about your gut? Are you taking a probiotic or prebiotic? If so, you’re not alone as globally we spend billions of dollars on soothing our stomachs.

Our guts do so much more than just digest our food and there’s a very special connection to our brain.

So how exactly does our gut work? And what do we need to do in order to keep it healthy?

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Matt Toulson Sound engineer: Nicky Edwards

Contributors: Geoff Preidis, a gastroenterologist at Baylor college of medicine at Texas children’s hospital in Houston Dr Jane Foster, Professor of Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern Medical Center Martin Ham, Business Development Manager, NIZO Dr. Gail Hecht is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology, and Gastroenterology and Nutrition

(Photo: Man bites in to cheeseburger. Credit: Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)

In July 2023 a group of lawmakers in the US held a session to explore evidence of extra-terrestrial life. The evidence included the famous Tic Tac videos of mysterious objects flying through the sky.

Pilots described encounters with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon – or UAPs. Congress also heard of a secret US government programme that retrieves and reverse engineers materials made by non-humans, including crashed and intact craft – and possibly the remains of the entities that piloted them.

So does this mean we are not alone in the universe? Do sightings and hearsay provide enough scientific data to answer a question that has been asked by humans for thousands of years – are we alone in the universe?

Contributors: Greg Eghigian is professor of history and bioethics at Penn State University in the US. Leslie Kean is an investigative reporter. Adam Frank is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, and author of The Little Book of Aliens. Dr Chelsea Haramia is a member of the UK SETI Research Network Post-detection Hub.

Presented by Charmaine Cozier Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson and Bisi Adebayo Editor Tom Bigwood Mixed by Kelly Young

(UFO crash site sign in Roswell, New Mexico USA / Getty Images)

Working from home became the norm for millions of us around the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic, but now three years on some major employers are insisting on their employees returning to the office, for at least some part of the working week.

The levels of working from home currently vary, depending on the country and its culture. The Netherlands are looking at legislation to allow employees the ability to work remotely, whilst in Japanese culture the preference for employees tends to be going into the office. So how do we navigate a future where both business and personnel needs are met to provide a good work life balance.

This week on the Inquiry we’re asking ‘Is work from home working?’

Contributors: Jose Maria Barrero, Assistant Professor of Finance at ITAM Business School, Mexico and Co-Founder of WFH Research project Dr Saori Sugeno, Lecturer in Corporate Governance and International Business, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey Román Gil, Partner in law firm Sagardoy Abogadas, the Spanish firm of Ius Laboris, global employment law alliance for multinational companies. Dr Wladislaw Rivkin, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Trinity Business School, Dublin, Ireland

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tom Bigwood Technical Producer: Kelly Young Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown

(A working from home environment / Getty images)

About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil and it is home to more than 300 indigenous groups. But for centuries both the rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants have been under threat, from deforestation, agri-business, mining and politics. Brazil’s current president, Luis Ignácio de Silva, has made the future security of the Amazon and its peoples a key policy pledge. So far, the president has appointed a new minister for indigenous peoples and according to government figures, the first six months of this year saw a 33 percent drop in deforestation.

But at the recent Amazon Summit in Belém, the president failed to commit to zero-deforestation, to the disappointment of indigenous leaders. They are calling for more protection for their land and their way of life, which they say is crucial to the future preservation of the Amazon and a matter for the whole world. This week on The Inquiry we are asking ‘Can Brazil’s indigenous population save the Amazon?’ Contributors: Pedro Cesarino, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sao Paolo and Writer, Brazil Carlos Peres, Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of East Anglia, England Ana Carolina Alfinito, Legal Advisor at the NGO Amazon Watch Kawá Huni Kuin, Indigenous leader and representative from the Huni Kuin/Kaxinawá people, in the State of Acre, Brazil.

Presenter: David Baker Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tom Bigwood Technical Producer: Kelly Young Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown

(Image: Kawá Huni Kuin, Photo Credit: Bimi Huni Kuin)