The Naked Scientists Podcast

This week why whales get dandruff, what seabirds think of wind farms, the plight of coral reefs, we take a look at some giant sea spiders and look at water that can stay liquid below freezing temperature. Plus, we use science to perfect the recipe for a superior sandcastle... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Will wooly mammoths roam the tundra once more? This week we ask whether improvements in genetic technologies mean extinction is no longer the end, as well as meeting moss that came back to life after 2000 years buried in permafrost, and the million-year-old microbes lurking in the ice of Antarctica. Plus, news that our genes control who we make friends with, how fossil sea urchins hold the key to...

We celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission by asking, should we return to the moon? We discover what scientific knowledge is still to be gained by going back, what robot missions are being planned as part of the Google Lunar X prize, and do commercial companies hold the key to funding research? Plus, in the news, the electronic lables that can be printed by inkjet, the genes which...

Chimps use gestures, climate change stops fish finding friends, gut cells reprogrammed to make insulin, and people prefer shocks to thoughts! Plus Saddle Up! - we look at the science of cyling as the Tour de France comes to the UK, including seeing how long an amateur cyclist can sustain Tour de France speeds, hearing how the bike came by its spokes, and visiting a wind tunnel to learn about the a...

From levitating trains and humans to giant, climate-altering balloons, super-steels and earthquake-proof buildings, this month's live show panel reveal the latest advances in extreme engineering. Plus, we get engineering for ourselves, including taking a blowtorch to a paperclip to make metallurgy happen before your eyes... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

England might be out of the World Cup this week, but thousands of fans are still cheering their teams on across Brazil. But how does chanting change the behaviour of a football crowd? Why do free kicks and penalties still come down to good old physics? And how can economists use data from the pitch to see whether discrimination still exists in the beatuiful game? Plus, in the news, why scientists...

Alois Alzheimer, who described the first case of the disease now named after him, would have been 150 years old this week. But what have we discovered about the disease since he presented the first Alzheimer's case over 100 years ago? And how can fruit flies, arm hair and video games untangle the most significant threat to our generation? Plus, in the news, how making mosquitoes male could reduce...

Freeze Dried Blood! Every day the likes of probiotic "good" bacteria in yoghurts, and even the enzymes in washing powder, give us a helping hand. This week we investigate how scientists are designing new ways to protect and guard these tiny helpers, including new techniques to freeze-dry human blood. Plus, news of how sleep boosts learning, the effects of foetal nerve transplants for Parkinson's,...

Making brainwaves: from how babies' brains develop, to how children learn language and even unravelling the adolescent mind, this month's live show panel of guests walk us through how we learn to learn! Plus, popping balloons shows why teenagers take risks, and some practical tips to improve your short term memory Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We often hear about amazing new medical developments which could improve disease treatment. But what about the ethical considerations involved in deciding how to use these advances? Hannah Critchlow and Ginny Smith discuss how we decide which drugs we can afford and what the limits are on designer babies. Plus how DJ's help get you in the groove, the risk of dengue fever at the World Cup, and how...

This week we investigate green clean ups. Can nature's recyclers, bacteria and fungi, help us clean up man-made environmental problems from oil spills to mining slag heaps? Plus in the news, how the Gemini Planet Imager is helping astronomers 'see' exoplanets, why pregnant women are at a higher risk of a car crash and why don't octopuses get tied up in knots? Like this podcast? Please help us by s...

This week we look at how our power grids are going to be transformed. From technology which hopes to reduce our energy prices to new ways to include wind and solar power in the grid. Plus, in the news, what Google have up their sleeve for their next smartphone, the proposed takeover of the UK pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and why AM radio could be sending birds off course... Like this podcast?...

In front of a live audience at the Cambridge Science Centre, Chris Smith is joined by three paleontologists to discuss fascinating fossils! Alex Liu explains where the first animals evolved from, Stephanie Pierce describes how animals first crawled out of the oceans and Jon Tennant digs into how the dinosaurs died out. The team also answer questions like how big are fossilied spiders? Plus, Dave A...

With the demand for new homes ever increasing, we ask what will the buildings of the future be like? Will new materials like bamboo or plastic take a bigger place in our houses? And how can we make our accommodation greener? Plus, in the news, the first model of all of Earth's ecosystems, what a 115 year old can tell us about aging, how to improve cochlear implants, and what happens if you try and...

In a special show from Cambridge and New Zealand, Hannah Critchlow investigates the research into Huntington's Disease. How has the search to correct a single gene enhanced our understanding of how the brain functions? How are sheep helping to unpick the pizzle of the human mind? Plus we visit a brain bank to find out how tissue donors are supporting the scientific research. Like this podcast? Ple...

In this question and answer special, the Naked Scientists get stuck into your queries, like why are planets round? Why do we laugh when tickled? Does wearing glasses make your eyesight worse? And how many trees could offset carbon emissions? Plus, in the news, the app that could help you get over jet lag and the Heartbleed bug which could affect your internet security. Like this podcast? Please he...

Bigger, better and longer lasting - this week we go in search of the battery technology that will power the future as well as consider the shortcomings of our present technologies. We also try to tune-in to our own broadcast on a radio powered by moss! Plus, in the news, the genetic switch for spinal nerve regeneration, the ocean deep inside Enceladus, young-smoking dads condemn their sons to adul...

How handedness spans the scientific world, from the smallest particles in the Universe to the drugs that cure disease and even the way you hold a pen, goes under the microscope this week as we explore the realms of asymmetry. Plus, in the news, the world's first synthetic chromosome, the goo that stops bones breaking, is there a giant planet lurking beyond Pluto, aircraft black boxes and anti-aphr...

2014 is the Year of Code, with the UK even becoming the first major economy to introduce computer programming to the school timetable. This week we investigate why coding, and getting kids into computer science has become so important. Plus, in the news, why the estimated number of smells a human can detect has gone from 10,000 to a trillion, the astronomers who have detected primordial gravitatio...

Pit your wits against the combined brain power of the Naked Scientists, in this question and answer Special as the team try to find out the truth behind the age of the Milky Way? Whether plants die of old age, and how cats make their fur stand on end? Plus, in the news, contagious yawns, and how the number of takeaways on the way to work affects your risk of weight gain... Like this podcast? Pleas...

With climate change expected to bring more bouts of extreme weather and longer periods of drought and flooding, this week we take a look at ways to turn the tide on the looming water crisis. Plus, in the news, the schoolboy who's become the youngest person yet to achieve nuclear fusion, the pedicure-inspired tags which are helping track turtles, the new gene therapy breakthrough for treating HIV a...

Robots are under examination this week. Engineer Blaise Thomson, from Vocal IQ, designs speech systems for smartphones, Neil Bargh builds robots for science labs, and Airbus systems engineer Paul Meacham, who is building the next rover that will explore Mars, join Chris Smith, Dave Ansell and Ginny Smith to pit their wits against the assembled Cambridge public, answering questions like how would t...

Norovirus, the winter vomiting bug, affects 1 million people each year in the UK. But what is it, and how can you best protect yourself? Plus, in the news, how stress hormones depress the stock market, brain training that can improve vision on the baseball field, a new biological marker to diagnose those at risk of depression and artificial growth factors to speed up wound healing... Like this pod...

Should you raise your baby to be bilingual? Are video games rotting or rejuvenating children's brains? We find out! Plus in the news, personalised breast milk, modelling the brain with computers, how crude oil spills affect tuna and the next step towards nuclear fusion. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

UK Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, becomes his own radio presenter; here, on a tour organised by the UK's Science and Innovation Network, he charts his meetings with scientists and entrepreneurs in Chicago, including discovering how researchers are trying to develop new batteries, he meets MIRA the Argonne supercomputer, attends a synthetic biology convention, talks to technolog...