Alexandra Morton-Hayward is a former undertaker turned forensic anthropologist. She reveals the secret behind brains that are thousands of years old while her own betrays her.
Every night Ally Morton-Hayward has a headache so painful it wakes her up. She says it makes her feel like a werewolf. But by day she is unlocking the secrets of other human brains.
Ally was at university when she started feeling a shocking and extraordinary pain in her head - 'cluster headaches' - which became so debilitating she had to drop out. While the rest of her friends were finishing their degrees, Alexandra decided to do something different - she got a job as an undertaker. It was at the mortuary that Ally held her first human brain and observed its delicate texture. When she began reading about ancient human brains that had been found intact around the world, she was amazed - how could something usually so delicate survive for thousands of years? Today she's leading the effort from Oxford University to understand how this is possible, whilst her own brain pushes her to become a master of pain and resilience.
Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: May Cameron
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(Photo: Alexandra Morton-Hayward. Credit: Alexandra Morton-Hayward)
