The Naked Scientists Podcast

Chemistry and lightning quick reactions are under discussion this week as Emma Schofield explains what a catalyst is, how catalytic converters work and how catalysts can help to clean up the atmosphere, and Fraser Armstrong discusses fuel cells, using hydrogen as a fuel and how enzymes naturally found in bacteria are making hydrogen a more realistic energy source for the future. In Kitchen Science...

Explaining how science can help us dig up the past is Lawrence Owens, who uses teeth and bones to uncover the life and sometimes gruesome death of mummies in Peru and Bolivia, and Harriet Allen describes how the pollen record and layers of lake sedimentation can reveal what the environment was like 10 000 years ago. Also on the show, Nick Brooks talks about how climate change in the Sahara may hav...

In the hot seat this week is Beverley Glover, who will describe how flowers warm their nectar to entice passing pollinators, real life weatherman John Law discusses weather predictions and how to calculate temperature days in advance, and Marcel Visser explains how warming weather and earlier springs spell disaster for migrating birds. Also on the show, we will hear from Katey Walter about a new s...

The Naked Scientists are back to answer all your burning science questions. Dr Chris, Dave and Helen tackle hot flushes, why spiders love living in our houses, how many stars are in the Milky Way, and why cows in a field always face in the same direction... We will also be connecting direct to Norwich, the host of this years British Association Science Festival, to hear about a world record attemp...

In our last show before the summer, Dr Chris, Dave and Derek answer all your questions on science, technology and medicine including why paintings fade in sunlight, why body hair grows at different rates, whether UV light poses a danger at the disco, how weightlessness can be experienced on Earth, and sticking with space, Steve Miller explains the origin of Jupiter's giant red spot and its smaller...

I predict a riot... or not. This week we're joined by crowd control experts Dr Clifford Stott, from Liverpool University, and Dr John Drury, from Sussex University, wholl be discussing why violence kicks off at football matches, how to spot a spat and the science of mass evacuation. Taking us on a flight of fancy, Dr Gay Gibson, from the University of Greenwich, who describes her research into the...

Marine biology and conservation specialist Dan Laffoley, from English Nature, and Chris Lynam, from the University of St Andrews join us to dissect the state of the worlds oceans and marine protected areas. From the conservation science institute in Alaska, Bruce Wright takes us on a tour of the world of salmon sharks, and in kitchen science we do battle against the atmosphere using a Magdeburg sp...

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory astrophysicist Chris Davis joins us to shed light on the structure and workings of the sun and the newly-launched STEREO mission, Cambridge University engineer Jeffery Lewins talks nuclear, and Anna Nicolaou asks why do some people burn whilst others turn brown? On a practical level, in kitchen science, Derek and Dave lift the lid on how suncream works. Like this pod...

In honour of the annual hoards if bleary-eyed hayfever sufferers, we are joined by Carrock Sewell who describes how the immune system works, what causes allergic reactions and how we might be able to cure them, and Mark Booth discusses parasites, how they suppress and evade the immune system and how the Matangini Project attempts to provide parasite-free water in Africa. Sticking with the African...

Breaking things down to the building blocks of life this week is Mark Ross, who discusses the evolution of sex chromosomes, genetics and genomes, Michael Traugott describes a novel way of using genetics to find out who is eating whom in underground food webs, and Derek Thorne gets fruity with Lucy Wheatley extracting DNA from a kiwi... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scie...

Answering all your questions on science, technology and medicine this week are Drs Chris, Dave and Kat, who will be revealing why spicy foods make you sweat, the highest possible temperature, the cause of labyrinthitis and why tissues turn black after receiving frostbite. Also on the show is Mark Skousen, a direct descendent of Benjamin Franklin, who will be talking about the life and work of this...

Scratching the itch of curiosity this week is William Foster, who will be talking about the evolution of social insects and his quest for social beetles in Thailand, Claire Rind flies in the face of current car safety technologies by using knowledge of collision avoidance in locusts, Matt Shardlow discusses how man-made wastelands can be a haven for rare invertebrates, and Derek Thorne joins Ed Tu...

This week we focus on the science of the very small - the microbial world of bacteria, viruses and fungi with Nottingham Universitys Liz Sockett and Cambridge Universitys Stacey Efstathiou and Ali Ashby. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Derek and Sheena explain how to make litmus paper from red cabbage, we meet a generation of miniature (dwarf) dinosaurs, and calculate the extra fuel cost of flying a fl...

Powering the generators for the show this week is Nicky White who describes how oil is formed, how we find and extract oil and how long oil supplies will last, Lynne Macaskie discusses how fuel cells can be run on hydrogen gas created by bacteria and sugary waste, and Peter Hughes explains how his Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp could soon be powering your street lamps. In Science Update, Bob and Chelse...

Answering all your science questions this week are Chris, Kat and Dave, including why some people are so prone to static electric shocks, whether humans will exceed the speed of light, how pain killers know where the pain is, and why cows get sunburnt in some places and not others... Also on the show, Bob and Chelsea provide the latest news from across the pond in Science Update, Felicia Huppert t...

Bringing music to our ears this week is Hugh Hunt who discusses the science of sound, how harmonics work and how to play music in a tea cup, Jez Wells describes the frontiers of music technology including recreating the sounds of a long lost cathedral, the secrets behind making a floboe, an instrument that is half oboe and half flute, and how to revive the sound of a castrati, a man with the voice...

As the ten-year ban on British beef is lifted, Tony Minson joins us to discuss what causes BSE, how it is spread and why it is such a problem, and with another example of how animal diseases pass to humans is Joanne Webster, who describes the life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii and its possible link to schizophrenia. Margaret Stanley provides some happier news and reveals the astounding success of a c...

This week we return to the lost world of the dinosaurs. Cambridge University palaeontologists Leslie Noe and Matt Wilkinson discuss the origins, life and demise of the dinosaurs including how they mastered the power of flight. And are the rules about fossils really set in stone - Mary Schweitzer describes the discovery of original dinosaur tissue from fossils,together with a new way to sex a dinos...

Brightening up the darker corners of your science knowledge this week are Chris, Phil and Kat, who look at colour-blindness in dogs, harnessing heat energy from the centre of the Earth, how glow in the dark motorbikes could save lives, and the erasable tattoos that wipe away the memory of the ex we would rather forget... Also on the show, Ron Hale-Evans talks about ways to improve memory, Michael...

Delving into the dark depths of science this week is Ron Douglas who describes the fascinating world of deep sea fish, bioluminescence and the sights from a deep sea sub, Jason Hall-Spencer talks about cold water corals and the threats posed by fishermen, and in slightly warmer waters David Kline reveals how Caribbean corals are suffering due to sugar pollution. Also in the show, Fran Beckerleg in...

Bringing a ray of sunshine to the studio this week is Alex Hill from the London Met Office, who will be describing how meteorologists predict the weather on a daily basis, Tim Palmer reveals how understanding seasonal weather patterns can help scientists to predict outbreaks of malaria, Emily Shuckburgh discusses how faraway oceans can affect our local weather, Fran Beckerleg braves the roof of th...

Picking apart the inner workings of our brains this week are Irene Tracey, who discusses the neurological origin of pain and how we can reduce pain, Philip Shaw reveals why having a bigger brain does not make you more intelligent, Kathleen Taylor talks about her new book on brainwashing, including whether brainwashing is a real phenomenon and how we can avoid it, and from brainwashing to the batht...

Answering all your burning science, technology and medicine questions this week are Drs Chris, Dave and Phil, who will be looking at why purifying seawater is not the answer to water shortages, how 3D glasses work and whether a man on a meteor would have to hold on tight or just soak up the stellar scenery. Also on the show, Daniel Scuka at the European Space Agency provides a Venus Express update...

Conservation and saving species go under the spotlight this week as Henry Nicholls draws attention ot the plight of Lonesome George, the last giant tortoise of his kind, David Aldridge discusses the problem of invasive species and how he is purging freshwater ecosystems of zebra mussels with a poison pill, Chris interviews Rick Shine about the wave of invasive cane toads legging it across Australi...

Time is very much the essence of this weeks show, as Russell Foster discusses the human body clock, where the body clock is and how it gives our bodies a daily rhythm, Karl-Arne Stokkan describes how reindeer body clocks adapt to twenty four hours of sunlight, Alex Webb talks about plant circadian rhythms and how they differ from animals, and Anna Lacey interviews Cynthia Kenyon about how to survi...