The Naked Scientists Podcast

This week, we investigate infertility and In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). We find out how a new high resolution temperature monitor conceived in Cambridge can help couples get pregnant, and explore new ways to improve the success of fertility treatment. Plus, a new extra-fast and super-cheap way to sequence the human genome, the science of eating slowly, and fish dining out at the Shark Cafe. Also, we find out how newborns cry with an accent and examine the inner workings of an egg... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The most distant object ever discovered as well as the events of National Pathology week feature in this week's show as we take on your science questions! We investigate whysocks go missing in the wash, whether light from the sun is a continuous beam and whether numerous vaccines can be given together in one dose. We also find out how higher heels make for a better runner and reveal the world's fastest camera. Plus, we find out why we get a better signal when holding an aerial and show you how to make a helicopter using card and pencils! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're showcasing a new bimonthly programme strand which we're making in collaboration with the folks at Diamond, the UK's Synchrotron Light Source. In this episode, we dig deep into the world of archaeology to learn how scientists at Diamond are investigating our cultural heritage. We find out how scanning samples of the Dead Sea Scrolls can help decipher them, how probing timber from the Mary Rose can improve its conservation and how studying pigments in paintings could protect major pieces of art! Find out more at www.thenakedscientists.com/diamond. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We explore the basis of brain diseases on this week's Naked Scientists. We find out what happens to the brain in Huntington's disease, discover the genes behind Alzheimers and a potential treatment for autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis or MS. Also, the nerve cells in the ear that make loud sounds painful, the extraordinary eyes of the Mantis Shrimp and the world's largest web spinning spider. Plus, how spiders make glue from silk and snot, and in Kitchen Science, we show you a way to fool your brain into making your body do something unexpected. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We reach for the skies on this week's Naked Scientists, with High Altitude Adventures. We find out how the body reacts to the low oxygen at high altitudes, and join Laura Soul testing the theories on a trek up to Everest base camp. Plus, we find out how the continental collisions that made mountains may have plunged the Earth into an ice age. We also hear how the rate of mutation changes in lab-bench evolution, how looming sounds make our vision more sensitive, why poking a stem cell can change its fate and the chemistry behind the taste of fizz. In Kitchen Science, we make a mountain... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Nobel prizes feature on the Naked Scientists this week alongside a bumper crop of your science questions! We find out why water expands when it freezes, whether animals have regional accents, and how many rockets you would need to crash into the moon to knock it off course. Plus, how the insects splattered on windscreens are helping scientists to study biodiversity, the virus linked to chronic fatigue syndrome and the prospect of a paper-thin digital camera. Also, We find out how India is coping with the IT boom, and show you how to make a spud gun from stationery! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we catch up with the latest from the front line of cancer research. Kat Arney reports from the National Cancer Research Institute's annual conference, we find out how proton therapy is promising for targeting tumours and look at the hormones and stem cells involved in breast cancer. Also, the role of aspirin in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, how recession could be healthy and tuning in to the Earth's vibrations. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we show you how to see using sound! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We bring you the highlights from European Researchers Night 2009, which filled the Great North Museum with explosions, music and laughter. We meet Brainiac's Jon Tickle to discuss the physics of custard, find out why My Little Ponies belong in a museum and explore the murder mystery of the Lindow Man. Also, how embryology inspired fashion design and how Spanish rocks point to North Sea oil. Plus, we rock out with the Punk Scientists... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Join us in a peek at the secret lives of birds. We find out just how a cuckoo convinces others to care for it's young, and the tragic outcome for the cuckoo chick when the rouse is discovered. We meet the clever corvids, capable of problem solving feats that may even outfox the great apes. Also, how green tea makes strong bones,the genes involved in prostate cancer and online robotic surgeons. Plus, in Kitchen Science we find out how Dave Ansell spent his schooldays - making stationery fly! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we find out about bionic bodies. We discover whether it's possible to mend a broken heart with stem cells as well as investigate if soft nanobots could soon be delivering drugs around our bodies. We also bring you the highlights from this years British Science Festival. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we hit the kitchen to investigate one of natures composite materials - a chicken bone! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're taking on the questions you've waited all summer to find the answers to. We find out whether humans can run faster on the moon than here on Earth, if tea tastes better in china cups, and if talking to plants can help them grow. Plus we look into the world of statistics to learn how many ants it would take to carry a human and discover how many people in the world are having sex right at this moment! Plus, in Kitchen Science, we bring you a watery way to measure upthrust. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Diana and Meera select their favourite bits of Naked Science, including parajetting over the Himalayas, digging up Greek brothels and making the perfect cup of tea scientifically. Plus, Dr Hal blows up an ostrich egg and blasts a 'barking dog' down a seven-foot test tube. *No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast* Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Ben and Dave select their favourite bits of Naked Science: from taking an MRI of outer space to orange fireballs and chocolate teapots. We explore the boys' best Naked capers. Plus, we join Dr Hal for a gassy set of explosive experiments. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's big, it's blue, it's where life began and life certainly wouldn't be the same without it: yes, that's right, it's the sea. This week Helen Scales is taking the show underwater to explore her favourite realm. Among the marine menagerie she'll be revisiting the incredible story of squid that see with their entire body, once again be meeting the humming toadfish, which is teaching us a thing or two about making music, and we'll catch up with the colourful clownfish that, just like Nemo, might soon be needing some help finding their way home... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Kat Arney has been through the archives and picked out her personal Naked highlights, including making experimental jelly, sneezing at computer screens, stabbing potatoes and Ben dancing (badly) in the studio. She looks back on advances in cancer therapy, developments in making people bionic and how new diseases emerge, as well as reliving the chance to meet Alan Titchmarsh, for a chat about the importance of ponds. Plus, we have a brand new bit of the Naked Scientists, where we're looking at Chemistry in its element. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

What happens if you urinate on an electric fence? We find out the answer to this and some of your other science questions on this week's Naked Scientists, including why chilli peppers are red, how does squinting help you see further and what's the best way to align your laundry with the wind? Plus, why blue food colouring could reduce the damage of spinal injury, how shrimps could catalyse biodiesel production and the physics behind the regularity of raindrops... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We dig deep into the science of rubbish, refuse, waste and recycling... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The latest in the science of fertility, IVF and pregnancy... We find out how pre-implantation tests could improve the success of IVF and how stress during pregnancy affects foetal development. Plus, why knowledge is its own reward, how a jockey's posture makes horses run faster and how science publishing on the web is about to change. In Kitchen Science, Dave finds out how a bag of liquid cushions a developing baby inside it's mother! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Award winning Canadian hip hop artist Baba Brinkman brings us his Rap Guide to Evolution, an hour of clever, witty and scientifically accurate rhymes that will have you seeing Darwin from a whole new perspective. Baba explores the history and current understanding of Darwin's theory, combining hilarious remixes of popular rap songs with clever lyrical storytelling that covers Natural Selection, Artificial Selection, Sexual Selection, Group Selection, Unity of Common Descent, and Evolutionary Psychology. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We seek the Science of Sight on this week's Naked Scientists, discovering how deep sea fish use clever bioluminescence and biological mirrors to cope with the darkness of the deep. We hear how our brains choose what sights to pay attention to, and what a bees brain can teach us about how we see optical illusions. Plus, salt-tolerant GM crops, statins stalled by sluggish blood and how the turtle got it's shell. In Kitchen Science, we fool our eyes into seeing confusing colours... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're taking on your science brainteasers! We find out why toothpaste ruins other flavours, whether humans have a mating season and why food goes in multicoloured, but comes out brown... Plus, fighting Fido's fleas with fungus, stressed men take more risks, and predicting if hepatitis B will lead to liver cancer. In Kitchen Science, we make a fruity fireball with orange peel. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we look into new ways of putting a tiger in your tank! We find out how pond life could help make eco-friendly biodiesel and how new types of batteries can power electric cars for further than ever before without running out of juice. Plus, how Margaret Thatcher's face can tell us how monkeys recognize each other, what sharks have in common with serial killers and why dolphins are a bit like jet fighters. And in Kitchen Science, we see how batteries work in Arctic conditions. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we dig into into the science of farming and food production. We find out how transgenic plants can help us dispense with the need for chemical pesticides and how giant greenhouses at the shoreline can be home to super-efficient farms of their own. We explore the problems faced by our sweet honey bee and in Kitchen Science we do some plant modification of our own - no transgenics knowledge needed, just food colouring... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On this Naked Scientists Question and Answer show, we discover how storms create slow earthquakes and how a local star, betelgeuse, could explode very soon. We also hear of an accurate way to date pottery and explore the physics of helicopter seeds. Plus, why hurricanes rotate in opposite directions either side of the equator, the ultimate fate of stars and how to boil your fishtank without harming the fish. All this and in Kitchen Science we snap some spaghetti to seek the physics of pasta! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we seek the science of Architecture. We find out how rapid prototyping technology could help us print out entire houses, and how natural light and ventilation could cut our energy bills. Plus, giggling gorillas tell us how laughter evolved and birds that learn from their neighbours. In Kitchen Science, Dave challenges you to build the best bridge, using only a single sheet of A4 paper! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

How does nature inspire technology and engineering? We find out how bamboo may make effective wind turbines, and how the material that makes up locust tendons could soon be in your shoes and electronics! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Science gets under your skin on this week's Naked Scientists, where we find out how human skin colour evolved to make the best of our sunlight. We explain why albino people have no skin pigment at all and how to heal wounds without leaving scars. Also, the nano-scale media storage that will last a billion years, the toxic bite of the komodo dragon and the biological link between cancer and depression. Plus, we shine a light on jaundice phototherapy, with the help of a urinating glass baby! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We're open to your questions on the Naked Scientists this week, finding out how photosynthesis works underwater, exploring the sex lives of barnacles and discussing if rockets punch holes in the ozone layer. Plus, a viral cause of hypertension, how bees stick to petals like velcro, and a new, super-dense deuterium - 130,000 times denser than water! We hear about the new generation of eBook readers, and in Kitchen Science Dave vacuums his bathroom scales to weigh the air! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're diving into the science of clean water, finding out why rivers and ponds are essential for wildlife, and how alien invaders are colonising our waterways. Plus, how a diet of glycerol makes yeast live longer, how microbes in mosquitoes can block malaria and how planting trees could reduce your electricity bills. We hear about the European Space Agency's Planck and Herschel missions to study the formation of galaxies and the fate of the universe, and in Kitchen Science, we explore the carbonated chemistry of fizzy water! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On this week's Naked Scientists, we explore the engineering and materials science that will give rise to the future of transport! We find out how jet engine parts grown as a single crystal of superalloy will make flights more efficient, and how clever computer control make it easier for trucks to turn. Plus, pain-free injections for the needle-phobic, Boogie with birds and the synthesised sound of Swine Flu proteins. In Kitchen Science, Ben and Dave look back over 7000 years to seek the science of the wheel... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this week's atmospheric Naked Scientists, we're putting the air that we breathe under the microscope. We find out how air quality is monitored, how new technology could help you plan the least polluted walk to work and why seaweed might be responsible for making it rain! Also, we find out why dolphins spit for their dinner, how every cloud may have a lead lining and how the pesky mosquito's inspired a portable artificial pancreas. Plus, we get the low-down on the latest pandemic candidate - swine flu. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we find out how a giant parachute could help avoid satellite collisions, why the schizophrenic brain can't see a popular optical illusion and discover that all octopodes (or octopuses?) are poisonous! Plus, we take on your science questions, discussing cycling on the moon, electric fences and couples getting tazered together. In Kitchen Science, we make a sprinkler from a spinning straw! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This special Naked Scientists comes to you from the MTN Sciencentre in Cape Town, South Africa, with some of the highlights of SciFest Africa. Meera goes on safari to find out how the Born Free Foundation re-home mistreated lions while Chris tracks the Black Rhino to discover how to conserve this critically endangered species. We find out how the Naked Scientists live science show, Crisp Packet Fireworks, wowed and inspired the festival's visitors. Plus, the story of the Coelacanth, tackling TB and Ben and Dave have an explosive Kitchen Science! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we hark back to the days before NHS patient records and find out how illnesses in ancient Rome, Victorian London and 17th century Italy were treated. We also explore how the modern history of medicine is being recorded as it happens and how methods used to track DNA mutations can be used to the trace the evolution of ancient manuscripts. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we'll strip computer science down to it's components and find out what we should expect to see in the next 5 years. We find out about the thinking behind artificial intelligence, what the future holds for Second Life and how neuroscience can help us build truly intelligent computers. Plus, get your sunglasses out early this year for Kitchen Science where we make an LCD monitor vanish. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Get festive with the Naked Scientists at the Cambridge Science Festival! We sniff out the sizzling science of our food, explore the workings of a mobile phone and hear the songs of the Cavendish Society for the first time since the 1930s. Plus, insights into the neurological basis of dyslexia, toxic airborne copper dust and paint that heals its own scratches. Dr Ben Goldacre joins us to explain why abuse of statistics could make you a suspected terrorist or falsely suggest you have HIV. In Kitchen Science, Dave plugs a pickled gherkin into the national grid! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We get to the point of cutting edge Naked Science this week, answering your science questions and exploring the science of sword swallowing. We find out how the Amazon rainforest could become a carbon criminal, learn how to predict the extent of an avalanche, and celebrate the passing of DD45 - an object that floated past the Earth within the orbit of the Moon. Plus, we find out if you can catch foot odour, if a bath full of vodka would get you drunk, and the delights of Liver A L'Orange! Meera Senthilingam takes a 'thinking walk' with Sir David Attenborough to learn about Charles Darwin,... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're seeking the science of laughter and music. We're speaking to comedian Robin Ince about how geneticists and astronomers can inspire stand up comedy, listening to the music of the world's first online science music festival, and genetically profiling comedienne Kathryn Ryan. We also get the giggles to find out what happens in your brain to make laughter so addictive. Plus, we'll follow the footprints of human evolution, find out how Jupiter and Saturn acted as celestial bulldozers, and discover how a cheeky octopus left an aquarium knee deep in water! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On this week's stellar Naked Scientists we're staring out into space. We find out how technology developed to see inside your body can give a whole new dimension to pictures of deep space, we celebrate the launch of the International Year of Astronomy and discover a new type of dwarf galaxy formed from ancient primordial gas clouds. Also in the mix, overcoming peanut allergies, fat dinosaurs and disguised meningitis bacteria. Plus, we answer Sir David Attenborough's Question of the Week and Ben and Dave build a telescope! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Happy Valentines Day! We may not be sending you a card, flowers or chocolates, but we love all our listeners. This week's show is all about the science of love and bonding, we'll be exploring the molecules that mediate monogamy, finding out how women subconsciously advertise their fertility, and looking at the evolutionary basis for falling in love. Plus, in Kitchen Science, Ben and Dave make invisible ink for sending secret love letters... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On this weeks snow-bound Naked Scientists, we're taking on your science questions! We discover the caterpillar that tricks it's ant hosts into treating it like royalty, find out why fish get lost in acidic seas and why the gravitational pull of tonnes of ice may lead to greater sea level rise than predicted. Plus, we find out what happens to salt after it's spread on roads to avoid ice, what processes make the sea salty and how scientists weight the moon. In Kitchen Science, it's 'on your marks' for a microwave race - will water boil before ice melts? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're studying the science of the seriously small - nanotechnology. We'll find out how tiny, flexible electronics could be implanted under the skin to restore lost sensation, and how tiny protein covered silicon "diving boards" can show us how superbugs evade antibiotics. Also, how sheets of carbon just one atom thick can be used to read the entire human genome in just a couple of hours, and how nanotech "motherships" can deliver exactly the right amount of drug, directly to where it's needed. Plus, the plant genome that could solve the food crisis, how our fingerprints help us to... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We get Smart on this week's Naked Scientists with the science of self-healing, self-sensing and self-cleaning materials. We hear how carbon fibre polymers could lead to self-healing spacecraft, why a titanium coating keeps windows clean and kills superbugs, and how helicopters can warn you when they're damaged. Also, how gut bugs tell the story of our ancestors' migration into Australia and beyond, how RNA housekeeping allows humans to function with fewer genes than a banana, and how molecular metal cages safely store hydrogen, or sieve out carbon dioxide. Plus, we mix borax and glue to... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Is obesity in your genes? This week we find out how hormones, genetics and even your mother's diet contribute to your chances of becoming obese and succumbing to obesity-related diseases. We also take a look into the surgical way to lose weight fast - liposuction, figure out how the lengths of your fingers predicts your financial prowess and uncover a new source of antibiotics from the sea. Plus, is there life on Mars? We talk with the NASA scientist who recently discovered methane on the red planet to find out what this might mean, and in a fruity edition of Kitchen Science we explore the... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Happy New Year! For our first show of 2009, we take on your science questions. We find out how earthworms can get airborne, why people get cramp and why Dr Chris' hypnic jerk frightens people on the bus. We also listen to the flirtatious duet between two mosquitoes, find out how rocks are arranged on Mars, and how stem cells bring sight back to blind mice. Plus, we find out how to make indoor snow and explain why all of these snowflakes are identical, and in kitchen science Dave explains the science of sneezing on your computer screen! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

There's no Naked Scientists show this week, so why not try "Ask the Naked Scientists" - our weekly phone in show with Sue Marchant. This week, we answer qustions like why do we have Adam's Apples? Do other primates have them? When we find new species are they due to evolution? Why do we get sleep in our eyes? Plus, we reveal the healthiest type of olive oil, investigate spinal surgeries and look into the rare condition of Morgellons Disease. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

There's no Naked Scientists Show this week, but we're proud to introduce a new series of podcasts, starring our own Diana O'Carroll: Naked Archaeology This episode features the tale of TB's earliest victims, the science of archaeology underwater and the first shamanic burial all go under the trowel in this month's Naked Archaeology. We also uncover where all the dirt comes from that buries the past, and in this month's Backyard Archaeology Irving Finkel takes us on a tour of the Babylon exhibition at the British Museum. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We look back on the greatest science news of the year, discuss our top science facts and take on your festive questions in this festive edition of the Naked Scientists. We find out how scientists can recreate a picture as you're looking at it, just by reading your thoughts, why shape-memory metal could make bridges earthquake-proof and how a simple process could make the cheapest, nastiest wine palatable. Plus, we look into the science of champagne to find out if the bubbles really do go straight to your head and in Kitchen Science, we build a vortex cannon from a plastic bottle, then use it... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

New and Emerging diseases go under the microscope in this week's Naked Scientists, as we discover how new diseases arise, cross species barriers and spread throughout the population. We hear about the origins of HIV, the conditions that create hotspots for new pathogens and a fatal new virus found in Africa. Also, we find out why some people are genetically pre-disposed to AIDS, how the giardia bug changes coats to trick the immune system and why captive elephants live shorter lives than in the wild. Plus, in Kitchen Science, Ben takes the Tabasco Temperature Test to see how mints and chilli... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The science of sight submits to the scrutiny of the Naked Scientists this week as we look at lens replacement surgery, the genetics of degenerative eye diseases such as macular degeneration, and find out whether gene therapy and stem cells can repair the damaged retina. Ben undergoes a laser-vision correction test to discover how corneal re-shaping can be used to correct poor vision, and Meera meets a man to uncover the basis of blinking and the composition of tears. Plus, how we hear how seashells have inspired tough new ceramics, uncover a signal that links food to body fat, and hear how a... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists