For many years the Russian health system has been isolated from developments in the West, through lack of research papers published in Russian.

It has not yet caught up.

In state-run hospitals treatments are offered that are seen as obsolete or strange by Western scientific medicine.

How has the Russian health system changed with the social political changes?

 Listen to this special edition of Health Check

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Space science is traditionally one of Russia's strongest scientific sectors.

Richard Hollingham is given a tour of simulated spacecraft where six cosmonauts will live for 500 days at the beginning of 2009. It is hoped that this experiment will provide valuable medical and psychological information about the rigours of prolonged space flight.

Richard also meets a young cosmonaut who hopes to be part of the first manned mission to Mars.

 Listen to this special edition of Discovery - part one

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Richard Hollingham investigates how science is recovering after the political and economic turmoil of the 1990s.

At the Science Park at Moscow State University, young scientists are being encouraged to become entrepreneurs and turn their ideas into useful products.

Can Russia find a way to develop more applied areas of science, such as IT, renewable fuels and nanotechnology, without sacrificing its traditional strengths in blue skies research?

 Listen to this special edition of Discovery - part two

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