Original version

BBC World Service News Internet

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

CS_TheHandMaid'sTale_Getty1.jpg

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

CrowdScience: Global infertility: Could The Handmaid’s Tale become reality?

Discussion & Talk

Global infertility - Could The Handmaid’s Tale Become Reality?

Global infertility: Could The Handmaid’s Tale become reality?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Global infertility: Could The Handmaid’s Tale become reality?

What could cause mass infertility? Marnie Chesterton investigates

Award-winning author Margaret Atwood has left a paper trail for us to follow in her novel. There’s a ream of possible causes so Marnie Chesterton investigates which ring true.

CrowdScience listeners Mark and Jess have been watching TV series, The Handmaid’s Tale. It's an adaptation of a book by Margaret Atwood and depicts a dystopian future where many have become infertile. The remaining few fertile women, known as Handmaids, are forced into child-bearing servitude. Why so many have become infertile isn’t clear but the series hints at several possible causes, from radiation to environmental pollutants.
 
All of which got Mark and Jess wondering… What could cause mass infertility? Would we descend into a political landscape akin to Gilead? Award-winning author Margaret Atwood has left a paper trail for us to follow in the pages of her novel. There’s a ream of possible causes, and so Marnie Chesterton investigates which ring true. 
 
Presented by Marnie Chesterton. Produced by Graihagh Jackson for the BBC World Service.

(Photo: Filming of the Handmaid's Tale. Credit: Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Global infertility: Could The Handmaid’s Tale become reality?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service News Internet

About BBC World Service