Witness History – GLP-1: A breakthrough for diabetes and obesity
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In the 1980s, scientists made a discovery that would eventually lead to the development of drugs today used around the world to treat diabetes and help people manage obesity with weight-loss injections. Svetlana Mojsov is one of the main scientists behind this breakthrough. She discovered that a hormone called GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) plays an important role in how our bodies respond to food. Svetlana’s work laid the foundation for a pharmaceutical company that was able to develop treatments based on GLP-1, first for type 2 diabetes and then for weight loss. She tells her story to Gill Kearsley. Eyewitness accounts brought to life by the archives. Witness History is for those who are fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that shaped our world through the eyes of the people who participated in them. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and around the world, examining wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to the famous turtle Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We examine the lives of some of history’s most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities, including: Eva Peron – Evita from Argentina; President Ronald Reagan and his famous “Tear down this wall” speech; Thomas Keneally explains why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, the French “rock star” philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the swimming civil rights protest; the disastrous rehearsal of D-Day; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages. (Photo: Injector Pens. Credit: Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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