Mosaic

The people who help you die better
A network of compassionate volunteers caring for their terminally ill neighbours is allowing more people in Kerala, India, to end their days at peace and at home. Jeremy Laurance meets the man leading the movement.
“I help people to live until that very last moment” (5 min)
In this short film, we meet four British end-of-life doulas

Print your own body parts
For people who are missing limbs, 3D printing can make new prosthetics – faster, cheaper and better. It could transform mobility for millions around the world, reports Ian Birrell.
Me and my left hand (3 mins)
How one man made his dream of becoming a concert pianist reality.

The little yellow box that’s made thousands of operations safer
Millions of people are left dead or disabled by surgical complications each year when one simple piece of kit could have saved them. Jane Feinmann discovers how it has helped transform medicine in Mongolia.

Kangaroo care – why keeping baby close is better for everyone
A shortage of incubators and a hunch about marsupials inspired a Colombian doctor to try something radical to save premature babies’ lives: constant skin-to-skin contact with parents. It’s cheaper than high-tech neonatal care – and it may be better, too. Lena Corner reports.

This week’s podcast: The mirror man
Phantom pain, experienced in missing limbs, tortures amputees and puzzles scientists. A man in Cambodia treats it with mirrors.
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Iceland knows how to stop teen substance abuse but the rest of the world isn’t listening
Teenage smoking, drinking and drug use have been radically cut in the past 20 years. How?

Mosaic archive
We've published over 150 in-depth stories. Browse our archive here, and don't miss our video and audio pieces.

You can train your body into thinking it's had medicine
Jo Marchant asks if we can harness the mind to reduce side-effects and slash drug costs.
Why the calorie is broken
Calories consumed minus calories burned: it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain. But dieters often find that it doesn’t work.
Why being bilingual keeps your brain fit
Most people in the world speak more than one language, suggesting the human brain evolved to work in multiple tongues. If so, asks Gaia Vince, are those who speak only one language missing out?

Why do we have blood types?
More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t really know what blood types are for.
How has the world's health changed in your lifetime?
Put yourself at the centre of the story in our Global Health Check interactive infographic.
This is what happens after you die
Exploring how the breakdown of our bodies after death gives birth to new life.