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Brings together in a single hour The Why Factor; More or Less and Trending.

The Thought Show: Death Row

Factual: Life Stories

Death Row

28/05/2015

BBC World Service - The Thought Show, Death Row

Spending life on death row in the US, social media and PTSD, and the Y chromosome

Why most people sentenced to death in the US are never executed. The links between violent online content and PTSD, and the Y chromosome.

Lawyer Bryan Stephenson recently claimed that for every nine people executed in the US, there is one person who has been exonerated. More or Less asks if this is true and how the numbers differ from state to state. 

New research suggests watching violent online content could lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder – a serious psychological condition that usually affects those who have experienced violence first hand, like soldiers. BBC Trending weighs up the evidence. And, is what women really want a dad’s bod, or a daddy’s body, which is ‘a nice balance between a beer gut and working out’. Mike Wendling, the proud owner of Dad’s body, tests the theory out on the streets of London. 

The Why Factor puts the Y chromosome under the microscope. Jo Fidgen finds out how it transforms a female embryo into a male one, and what it can tell us about the differences between men and women. She speaks to a teenage boy who has not just one Y chromosome, but two, and meets the scientist who turned a female mouse male.

(Photo: Corridor in an abandoned penitentiary. Credit: Shutterstock)

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