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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

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Woman's Hour

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Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Jenni Murray

Gillian Clarke

Wanda Austin

Mahlet Zimeta

Elisa Segrave

Eimear Brannigan

Woman's Hour: Space; Gillian Clarke; Vaginal seeding; Old diaries

Factual

Space; Gillian Clarke; Vaginal seeding; Old diaries

12/05/2016

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Space; Gillian Clarke; Vaginal seeding; Old diaries

Dr Wanda Austin, National Poet of Wales, the microbiome effect, diary dilemmas.

Dr Wanda Austin, CEO of Aerospace Corporation and Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales. Plus how a baby's birth may affect its future health, and reading someone else's diary.

As she prepares to stand down after eight years as the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke performs live for Woman's Hour and talks to Jenni about the publication of selected poems from her ten collections.

'Microbirthing' or 'Vaginal Seeding' - giving babies a swab of vaginal fluid after they have been born by caesarean - is said to be gaining popularity. It apparently helps the baby's immune system. Jenni talks to Toni Harman, author of 'The Microbiome Effect' and Dr Eimear Brannigan, consultant in infectious diseases and infection prevention at Charing Cross Hospital, London about how your baby's birth MAY have an impact on their future health.

Dr Wanda Austin, CEO of the Aerospace Corporation, a research centre for the US national security space programme talks to Jenni about her rise to the top, using her background as a black female to promote STEM subjects and her work to manage debris in space.

Diary Dilemmas: What would you do if you found someone else's diary? What if it was written by a much loved deceased parent? Burn it? Dive in and devour from cover to cover? Philosopher, Dr Mahlet Zimeta and writer Elisa Segrave discuss the consequences of reading - or not reading.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Space; Gillian Clarke; Vaginal seeding; Old diaries

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