5 Live Science Podcast

Dr Dotun joins Dr Karl this week. They discuss exactly what causes a migraine, how plants work and give a definitive answer to the question "if a tree falls in a forest and there's no one to hear it, does it make a noise"?

Dr Chris discusses vaccines for cancer thanks to a gene from the gut bug Salmonella, and Sir Steve Redgrave pops in to launch a new science and sport initiative ahead of London 2012.

Dr Chris Smith from the Naked Scientists joins Rhod to find out what google and fishing have in common and what makes planets spin. Plenty of other questions answered too!

Dr Chris joins Rhod for the science phone-in this week. The cold weather is on our minds so; how do aeroplanes behave in the cold and why does the norovirus do so well?

Dr Chris & The Naked Scientists with the latest science news

Dr Chris sits in for Dr Karl and discusses the Northern Lights, global warming and microwaves among other things

Dr Karl answers listeners' questions about the weird and wonderful world of science, including; why there are groupings of metals in space. What are nature's best painkillers. And is it really alright to eat food you've dropped on the floor, if you pick it up within seconds.

Dr Chris Smith and colleagues with the latest science stories. This week; the deepest undersea vents ever discovered, why nicotine replacement therapies don't work and the controversy over making H5N1 jump species in the lab.

Does electricity flow and why do we get referred pain? Dr Chris Smith from the Naked Scientists sits in for Dr Karl who is on his holidays.

In this weeks Naked Scientists Dr Chris Smith looks at silk worms that spin spider silk, and a gene linked to human deafness.

Dr Chris of the Naked Scientists joins Rhod to answer our callers science questions. Will NASA's new mission to the Moon silence Apollo 11 doubters? Why do rats have such short lives and parrots such long ones and what's the point of vitamin tablets?

Dr Chris from the Naked Scientists is in the chair this week answering our caller's science questions. Chief amoung the queries; how do you treat cataracts, why do wheels seem to spin backward and how many colds can you have at once?

Dr Chris stands in for Dr Karl talking to Dotun about self-destructive viruses, the North star, pain & pleasure receptors & the sense of smell.

Dr Chris and colleagues explore what happens when stars collide, the tricks mosquitos use and the reasons why serving Brussels sprouts can be a risky business...

Of course we have some Higgs Boson questions and a host of other queries including are bubbles good for the washing up? Dr Chris Smith deputises for Dr Karl who is still on his hols.

Dr Chris and colleagues explain why bed bugs are making a come back; and how taxi-driving boosts the size of certain bits of your brain. Also the world’s oldest bed has been found.

Dr Chris stands in for Dr Karl, and among the questions he fields is.... why do pies in the oven burn from the outside in?

The naked scientists ask if taking headers can cause brain damage, how to spot digitally doctored pictures, and they go voyaging into outer space.

A look at Jim Lovell's life-saving calculations on board Apollo 13 a few hours after they got auctioned off.

This week Dr Karl is in the back of a car speeding north to a book signing. Undaunted, and slightly truncated, the good doctor offers his thoughts on Cherenkov radiation, cold fusion and neutrinos travelling faster than light.

Scientists have discovered a network of nerve cells that signal what's in what we've eaten and news of neutrinos that still appear to be travelling faster than light.

Details of a UK study called the Flu Survey aiming to work out how effective the flu jab is. Dr Chris and the team also look at a step forward in examining the primordial gas hypothesised by the Big Bang theory.

Dr Karl and Dr Rhod discuss the power of interpretative dance, parasites that could make you take risks and why gas cookers don't have flues.

Dr Karl and Dr Rhod discuss the fifth flavour, the ideal nap duration and the impossibility of perfect vacuums.

Dr Karl and Dr Rhod are joined by Alastair Reynolds, a sci fi author and former European Space Agency scientist. Topics under the spotlight are: the science of toenails, how being in space affects astronauts and what's the good of multi-vitamins?