Stripped from CBC Radio

What happens when we die? We don't have a clue. But we do have some idea about what can happen to our bodies. Take it from a dead body, someone who thought they were dead, and others, in this, the final episode of Stripped.

A Japanese artist re-imagines the vagina. An erotic fiction writer wrestles with words. A broadcaster discovers what the rest of his body can do after he loses penile motor function. They, and others, shed new light on our private parts.

It's a vital life force. It's a metaphor for unbreakable family ties. But just how powerful is it? With help from blood-drinkers, switched siblings, and others, we explore the potency of blood.

Roxane Gay, George Saunders, and others weigh in on what we crave, and how we fill the void within us.

Throughout time, men have styled their facial hair as a way to mark themselves as insiders and outsiders, rebels and conformists. Sometimes these distinctions can be taken to extremes.

Take it from Benjamin Liu, once Andy Warhol’s personal assistant: “Feet speak volumes about a person, actually.” From gender politics to an exploitative industry, Benjamin and others help uncover the unexpected beauty - and ugliness - of feet.

A voice can be as identifying as a fingerprint, but is it really that important to who we are? In this episode, we explore the value of the voice, and what is lost when it is gone.

They're not just what you use to chomp your food. Teeth say a lot about your status in society. With help from Slick Rick, Just-Ice, Kim Thuy, and others, we take a look at what's on (and in) our teeth, and what happens when you lose them altogether.

It may be our last line of defence, but our skin can also leave us pretty vulnerable. Take it from the head nurse of a burn unit, a Tanzanian with albinism, and a maker of bulletproof skin. So just how tough is our skin, really?

From a shopkeeper held at gunpoint, to an unapologetic exporter, to the consumers who buy human hair, meet some of the characters that make up this global - and sometimes dangerous - economy, as we comb through the big business of big hair.

Get a glimpse of some of the stories that will be featured on CBC Radio One's new summer series Stripped.