The Naked Scientists Podcast

Half a million genomes. That's how many the UK Biobank has, stored as blood samples in freezers up in Manchester. And in September 2019 they announced a project to sequence every single one of them. It's the obvious next step for the UK Biobank, the research study that began in 2006 and now consists of an enormous biological database: the personal and medical information of its 500,000 volunteers....

It's Q&A time! This week - is AI a threat to humanity? What's a panic attack? And why does being scared make your legs wobble? We're answering your questions about science, technology, and medicine with our panel of experts. We've got university of Cambridge AI specialist Beth Singler; Naked Scientist and host of Naked Genetics Phil Sansom; Olivia Remes to chat to us about anxiety and mental h...

This week - gene therapy. We talk to researchers using DNA technology to prevent blindness, halt muscular dystrophy, and even potentially cure HIV. Plus, what climate change means for the state of the world's oceans, a new satellite to take the Earth's temperature, and scientists discover the world's first baby bottles - and the milk that was in them - from thousands of years ago... Like this podc...

This month, doctors doing U-turns: the medical practices without much evidence to prop them up, wind-tunnel experiments reveal how geese fly at extreme altitudes, why mating makes bees go blind, stress remodelling the brain's myelin, and what goes on during a stint aboard the International Space Station? Join Chris Smith for a look inside the latest papers in eLife... Like this podcast? Please hel...

This week, we're taking a look through the window, or rather, at the window: we're looking at glass! Coming up, how do you make glass, how does stained glass work, and is bullet-proof glass really bulletproof? And in the news: Why birds are in big trouble, swimming the channel, scratching an itch, and treating tinnitus... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We're making codes and breaking ciphers this week as we look at the world of cryptography! Coming up, Cold War spy rings, and how does your computer keep your data secure? Plus in the news, why it's hard to keep the weight off when you get older, and seagulls are stealing more than our chips, they're stealing our superbugs... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week: How long can someone hold their breath and can you train for this? Who are fitter - footballers or rugby players? And what's the most intelligent insect? We've assembled an expert panel to take on your science questions - University of York animal behaviour scientist Eleanor Drinkwater, exercise physiologist Dan Gordon from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University physicist Fran D...

We're stripping down sexual health and sexually transmitted infections! Coming up, will we soon have a vaccine for chlamydia? And what happens in a sexual health check up? And in the news, the fires in the Amazon rainforest, and a new weapon against malaria... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week: How does the internet affect us? What does it mean for our security, our wallets, and ourselves. We're taking a deep dive into the world of all things cyber... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Chris Smith and Izzie Clarke explore the helpful materials that keep us healthy. How are dental implants made and fitted? Bacteria-resistant plastic coatings; and what hip implants have in common with plastic bags. Plus, in the latest science news, why pancreatic cancer is so aggressive - and how we might stop it, signs that something ten times the size of the Earth slammed into Jupiter...

In this month's QnA show we're asking: why are fridges harder to open again after you just closed them? What's the best way to wipe the memory of a smart phone? And what might climate change mean for chocolate? We're answering your questions with the help of an expert panel - neuroscientist Duncan Astle, techxpert Peter Cowley, food security expert Nadia Radzman and engineer Livia Souza... Like th...

This week we're taking a spin around the electron! How does a fridge magnet stay stuck? And how can quantum physics help us in battling cancer? We'll find out. Plus in the news, the chemistry of breaking down microplastics, exploring bacterial infections resistant to last line antibiotics, and we're going back to school P.E lessons! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scienti...

This week, The Naked Scientists are taking off into the future of aviation: will flights get faster? Could we see a fully electric plane? And can a Naked Scientist land a commercial aircraft? Izzie Clarke and Adam Murphy find out... Plus, in the news, a new way of disguising cancer drugs as fat, sharks are in danger, and how do you make a bad joke funnier? Like this podcast? Please help us by supp...

This week a special show celebrating 50 years since man first walked on the Moon! How did we get there, what happened on the Moon, and will we ever go back? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, could we be living in The Matrix? We're talking about the power of computer simulations, and we're asking are we all living in one! Plus, in the news  - making diabetes treatment smarter; diagnosis by an electronic doctor - would you be comfortable with that? And the world's first robot that picks lettuces... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Alzheimer's Disease goes under the microscope: What is it? Why do people get it, and can we cure it? Plus in the news, why the planet needs more trees, a breakthrough in storing computer data, and the science of a good excuse! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We're rounding off our month of extreme shows with some extremely high science - coping with altitude, flying over Everest, high energy physics and screaming in space! Plus, sniffing out Methane on Mars, and the scientists making sweet music with proteins... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Extremes month continues, and this week we're going extremely deep; Chris Smith takes a trip to one of the world's deepest mines in search of gold. Plus, in the news, the GM mosquito that wipes out its own population, and would you return a lost wallet if you found one? We hear which is the most honest country in the world, and who's the least honest. Like this podcast? Please help us by supportin...

For extremes month we have an extreme QnA! This week we're joined by astronomer Carolin Crawford, nanoscientist Colm Durkan, Haydn Belfield from the Centre for Existential Risk, and chemist Ljiljana Fruk. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're continuing our month of science at the extremes, by looking at extreme cold. Including expeditions to the poles, what happens at absolute zero, and the animals that can survive temperatures we never could. Plus, in the news, the massive death risk from climate change, a prize for mapping the sea bed, and a new piece of the puzzle in the story of human migration... Like this podcas...

This week, we're kicking off a month of science at the extremes. From fast acting venom to vehicles, speedy space to tennis serves... We're getting up to speed on Extreme Speed. Plus, in the news, weaponising a fungus to stamp out malaria, the smart glove that's taking a hold of touch technology and we celebrate an important centenary in the world of physics. Like this podcast? Please help us by s...

Safer, cleaner, and more efficient. That's the aim for the roads of tomorrow, but are we there yet? This week, Katie Haylor hits the road on a journey to discover how science is helping us build the highways of the future... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're putting on our swimsuits and diving deep into the choppy waters of the world of vaccines, how do they help us, and why are people becoming so hesitant to get them. Plus in the news, A new kind of Moon lander, the true cost of streaming videos, and how good are we at spotting postnatal depression in men! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week - the mysterious stuff that's passing through you right now, and it literally holds the galaxy together... but we have no idea what it is. We talk to the scientists trying to find out. Plus in the news, the 100 year old technology that's helping us fight infections we can't currently treat. And evidence that wasps can size things up... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the...

It's Q&A time: We've got a panel of scientists ready and waiting to tackle the questions you've been sending in. Izzie Clarke was joined by plant ecologist Howard Giffiths, chemist and writer Kit Chapman, reproductive physiologist Bill Colledge, and physicist Ben McAllister. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists