Electricity is central to life from the moment of conception – when the egg turbo-powers the sperm so it can penetrate its wall, to the moment of death – when electrical activity ceases in the brain. All action is governed by tiny electrical impulses, travelling around our body.

Frances Ashcroft is one of the world's experts on how the body channels electrical charges. What implications does that have for disease and cures, insulin secretion and diabetes?

She has revolutionised the lives of people living with neonatal diabetes – a condition which, thanks to her work, no longer needs treating with insulin. Her current research could affect the lives of many millions now threatened with type two diabetes all around the world.

Frances Ashcroft is a fellow of the Royal Society, Research Professor at the Laboratory of Physiology at Oxford University and L’Oreal Unesco Women in Science Laureate. Anthony Grayling, and an audience at the Wellcome collection in London plus a Skype audience from around the world, asked her about her research into electrical signals and the scourge of diabetes. Show less