The Naked Scientists Podcast

With the New Year, there's often a resolution or two to make a new you. But what makes you, you? Given that we share over 99.9% of our genes with each other, there's a lot of variety in that 0.01%. Just look around you now - no two people are alike! Is it just your genes or is there something else at play? In this edition of The Naked Scientists, Graihagh Jackson goes in search of what makes a per...

Remember that time that Ginny made Kat eat chocolate spread from a nappy? Or when Georgia broke the drone? It's the end of 2015 and what a year it's been for science! Whilst Chris and Kat take a well deserved break, producers Connie Orbach and Graihagh Jackson have hijacked the show to take you through all their favourite bits of the last 12 months. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting...

The Naked Scientists have Christmas unwrapped with a look at the science behind our favourite festive traditions, including how to pick the perfect present, the psychology behind board games and how to avoid hangovers. Plus, Star Wars science, a chocolate-covered PhD and Santa's tech-upgrade! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, the United Nations published its much-anticipated report on the state of the world's soils and the results are not good. We'll be asking why, and taking a down-to-earth look at the consequences to see what we can do to reverse the trend. Plus in the news: why life drawing improves self-esteem; how the asteroid Ceres might be an invader from outer space; and the looming antibiotic apoca...

How will you be receiving your presents this year - a CD, a voucher for iTunes or maybe even a Spotify membership? In 2014, streaming services made more money than CD sales for the first time ever and that trend is continuing. But it's not just the distribution of music that is changing; how musicians make music is also evolving rapidly. This week, we explore the influence of technology on one of...

Extreme weather events are becoming more common, and sea levels are set to rise. So could we be about to find ourselves in very deep water? This week we're exploring how to spot where and when floods will occur, and how to avert disaster. Plus, in the news, a GM mosquito to fight malaria, what really killed the dinosaurs, and general relativity 100 years on... Like this podcast? Please help us by...

This week, is sugar the enemy? Difficult as it is to digest, one person in every four in the UK is obese, and treating the condition as well as its knock-on effects, costs the health service 5.1 billion per year. Some say sugar is to blame, but is it the only guilty party? Plus, in the news, pigeons detecting cancer, half of museum specimens might be mislabelled, and how science journals are being...

More pieces of data have been produced in the last five years than in all of human history put together before then. But what's driving this big data revelation? We'll discover what opportunities it opens up, and we'll uncover the pitfalls we might be facing. Plus, news that scientists uncover the first water on Earth, and we talk to the team who raced a solar powered car 3,000 kilometres across A...

The Naked Scientists and some special guests team up to tackle your science questions head-on. Do squirrels ever lose their nuts? Is cracking your knuckles bad for you? And could your gut bugs turn you to crime? Plus, a look at this week's science news. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

London and many other European cities face the prospect of a 300 million penalty every year over bad air. Engineers say part of the solution lies with electric transport, so this week the Naked Scientists are getting under the hoods of a new generation of vehicles ranging from the first electric buses to tomorrow's supercars. Plus, news about how scientists are making objects levitate in the lab -...

The Naked Scientists have been on a trip to Mars but we forgot to ask one BIG question, should we even be going at all? We complete the series with a debate featuring a space politician, a geologist, an astronomer and a would-be Mars pioneer. Plus, in the news, will faecal transplants change your personality, and how sci-fi has been predicting technology for years. Like this podcast? Please help u...

In episode three of our series Destination Mars, we finally arrive at the Red Planet - but what is waiting for us when we get there? We examine possible solutions to the challenges of building a home on an alien planet, including a Star Trek-inspired health scanner and bacteria that can be engineered to grow rocket fuel. Plus, the science headlines from around the world: a brain scan for epilepsy,...

To rocket engineers, the idea of transporting humans to Mars is a one colossal headache. Compared to inert satellites and probes, humans are highly unpredictable, needy and fragile. Radiation is our body's kryptonite; microgravity renders the bones thin and weak and if you broke a leg, it could take months to fix. These are just a few of the hundreds of problems scientists are grappling with when...

Destination Mars: this month we're launching a series of programmes to probe what it's going to take to send people to the Red Planet. We'll be looking at rocket technology, how to keep people fed and watered away from Earth and whether we really can hope to exist sustainably on Mars. This week we're focusing on the space pioneers who will take the first steps towards getting us there. Plus, in th...

We take on your science questions: Can animals feel guilty? Could drones detect landmines? What's the furthest a paper plane could fly, and why don't spiders get stuck on their webs? Plus, a look at this week's science news - a development for Europe's Extra Large telescope, and the health challenges faced at the Rugby World Cup. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we find out what it takes to save a life, from doctors performing open chest surgery in the street to helping people recover in the longer term from severe brain injuries. Plus, news of a real invisibility cloak, how caffeine gives us a boost, and why scientists need you to quiz your dog. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Climate change - and concerns about rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - are often in the headlines. However, looking back in the history of the earth, it's clear that this isn't the first time carbon dioxide levels have risen. So why should we worry now? We delve into the past to explore the effects climate change can have on the oceans and how that, in turn, can impact the climate...

This week we're asking whether scientists and technologists are in short supply, and how the way that we teach science in schools is changing: some classrooms are pumping out published papers! Plus, in the news, a 2 metre-long scorpion, seabirds with stomachs stuffed with plastic, and the facts behind fat - is butter really all that bad for you? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the...

This week is a very special, edition of the Naked Scientists as we dedicate a whole hour to the world's favourite dwarf planet - Pluto. But how did it get there in the first place? What has the New Horizons probe uncovered? And what's beyond Pluto? Graihagh Jackson puts the mission under the microscope, talking some of the leading scientists from the New Horizons operation and taking a trip to the...

On the face of it, symmetry may seem simple, but diving beneath the surface reveals a whole new world. Over the last 100 years, the mathematical idea of symmetry has proved to be a guiding light for the world of physics. But what does a mathematician mean by symmetry? How does this link in with the world around us? And could it be the key to the mysterious 'Theory of Everything'? Plus, in the news...

We delve into the disgusting to discover the emotion of disgust and how it affects our lives. From cockroaches dipped in juice to the importance of sanitation, no topic is off limits as we find out about the psychology of this most powerful of emotions and its applications. Plus, in the news, a universal flu therapy, why zebras have stripes, and the robot that can jump on water. Like this podcast?...

Hundreds of times stronger than steel, transparent, an excellent electrical conductor, and weighing next to nothing, graphene is hailed as a wonder material. But what is it doing for us now? And where will it take us in future? This week graphene goes under the microscope. We hear how industry can mass produce it, we uncover how it can clean up air in cities, produce the world's fastest lasers, re...

Hormones are the driving force behind reproduction and are what make us keen to go make babies. We follow some of these hormones to hear how they have an influence from birth to death, and also the unexpected consequences they have on society, including causing the stock market to crash. Plus what Philae has revealed about the comet it landed on, how the bugs in your guts might be making you moody...

From why scientists so often use the word "so" to the feasibility of charging a human by USB, how much Silly Putty it would it take to cover the entire Earth, and whether we could genetic engineer super-abilities into humans, we answer your burning science questions... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're investigating the Millennium Prize Problems - a set of mathematical equations that, if solved, will not only nab the lucky winner a million, but also revolutionise the world. Plus, the headlines from the world of science and technology, including why screams are so alarming, how fat fish help the human fight against flab, and what's the future of money? Like this podcast? Please h...