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A 'functional' cure for HIV?

Almost four decades after the first HIV treatment was approved, have we found a ‘functional’ cure? And how a volcano eruption triggered events leading to the black death.

Almost 40 years ago, the first treatment was approved for HIV, but it came with a warning: “This is not a cure.” On the week of World AIDS Day, Kate Bishop, principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, tells us how science may now have finally found a “functional” cure for the virus that causes AIDS.

How are tree rings, volcanoes, trade routes and Europe’s deadly Black Death pandemic connected? Professor Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge explains how matching tree ring data with historical records shows that Italian city-states importing grain accidentally introduced the Black Death to Europe.

Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss her favourite new scientific discoveries.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, and Hannah Fisher
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

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28 minutes

Last on

Mon 8 Dec 2025 20:30
BBC Radio 4

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