The Naked Scientists Podcast

This episode marks the return of Titans of Science: full of in depth interviews with some of science's greats. To start us off, the astronaut and rockstar, Chris Hadfield. The conversation covers his upbringing in rural Canada, his time as an elite test pilot in the US military - the inspiration for his latest thriller novel 'The Defector' - and his multiple missions into space, culminating in a stint as commander of the International Space Station. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this edition of The Naked Scientists, What did we learn from Boris Johnson's appearance at the COVID inquiry? Then, we'll hear from the team that's developing a new drug in the fight against the United States' fentanyl crisis. And, We'll hear about the discovery and fate of an ancient woodland. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

If there were a pill you could take to reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart failure, obesity, diabetes, depression, anxiety and more by 20%, chances are you'd be interested in getting your hands on it. Studies continue to extol the virtues of living an active lifestyle, but a growing number of us consistently fail to meet recommended levels of physical exertion. In this episode, we speak with medical experts on why it is so important, whatever your level of fitness, to feel like you can make a positive change to your life through exercise... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this week's news pod, we preview the COP28 climate summit with Richard Black and get the latest on a confirmed case of a new strain of swine flu in the UK. Also, we speak to the researcher discovering the capacity for language learning in babies yet to be born, and hear from a scientist who has finally got their hands on a sample from the Bennu asteroid... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this episode of The Naked Scientists, we'll be taking a closer look at digital twins. What are they, and could they be the future of engineering, healthcare, and climate science? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week on The Naked Scientists, A damning indictment of our politicians' grasp of science emerges from the Covid Inquiry. Also, we'll ask who is behind the high-profile cyber hacks on the British Library. And, how researchers got to the bottom of why some of us get red-wine headaches? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week - following the revelation that a man with debilitating Parkinson's Disease has been helped to walk again with a special implant that stimulates nerves in his spinal cord - that's what we're going to look at in this half hour. We'll be hearing from the surgeon who performed the operation, and other experts seeking to understand more about the condition... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week on the Naked Scientists; why, after many years, chickenpox vaccines for children finally look set to become the norm in the UK. Also, will artificial intelligence beat our weather forecasters? And can comets seed the biological building blocks of life to planets like Earth? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're taking a look at the genetics of selective breeding, how it might be dooming certain breeds of dog but saving certain endangered species. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this edition of The Naked Scientists, the drug called Anastrozole can help prevent thousands of cases of breast cancer among older women: but at what cost? Also, climate change expert Mark Maslin on what we need to know about the forthcoming COP28 summit kicking off soon in Dubai. And, how the UK's hedgehogs have been going through a rough patch... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Today, we're helping you to get to know your microbiome, and hearing why a better understanding of it viewed by some as the next frontier in helping us to live longer, healthier lives. First, we explore the co-evolution of man and microbe, and the suite of modern techniques helping to clear up the remaining mysteries of the intestines. And, later on, how medicine is mobilsing the microbiome to ward of antibiotic resistant bacteria using faecal transplants and 'good' viruses... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As flu season starts to bite the Northern Hemisphere, we look into the efforts to develop the most effective vaccines. Also, an AI expert reviews the recent Safety Summit hosted at Bletchley Park, how chimps are demonstrating human battle tactics, why cockney accents are becoming less common amongst young people, and how one might go about bending a laser around the Moon... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, during the spookiest time of the year, we're going to look at the unfair portrayal that certain organisms get due to their reputation of being scary, dangerous, or gross, just like the ones above my head now. Instead, we will talk about what makes them great for both the planet and ourselves, as well as what we can do to protect them. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this edition of The Naked Scientists, new analysis on the prevalence of long COVID. How widespread is it? Also, could climate change be causing hurricanes in the Atlantic to get stronger? And, we ask if scientists have finally established how bees decide which flower to forage from next... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As winter creeps over the Northern hemisphere, many of us will be turning time backwards by an hour in aid of daylight saving time. But why do we do this? In this episode, we weigh up whether there's really a robust rationale for changing the clocks depending on the time of year, hearing from scientists and historians... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In the news pod, we speak to World Rugby's Chief Medical Officer to hear how they're making the professional game as safe as possible. Also, we explore the potential consequences of climate change on the world's stock of farmland, and hear why an increasing number of satellites means our atmosphere is filling up with potentially harmful chemicals. Then, we send a member of the team for an eye test, and find out whether swatting mosquitoes could impact selection pressures on the species... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, the beginning of the universe and the search for extraterrestrial life. We look at the technological marvel that is the James Webb Space Telescope. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week on The Naked Scientists, the rise of the bedbugs. Leading bedbug expert, James Logan, will tell us all we need to know. Also, could genetically modified pig kidneys soon be transplanted into humans? The clinical trial is now awaiting approval. Plus, why it might be time for us to reappraise the impact of the 1918 flu pandemic. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Medical professionals largely agree: the world is far more susceptible to a Covid level crisis than it ever has been. Mass urbanisation, political instability and climate change are among the factors contributing to an increased risk of diseases jumping from animals into people. We hear from scientists who demand action before the next coronavirus arises, likely to be within the decade... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In the news pod: the WHO have recommended the Oxford Covid jab for use - we talk to someone who helped design it. We also speak with the scientist who questions whether the Fukushima wastewater disposal plans are as controversial as some would have us believe, and there's a round up of this year's Nobel prizes... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this edition of The Naked Scientists, it's time for the conclusion of our summer series: Titans of Science. Chris Smith chats with England's former Chief Medical Officer and the current Master of Trinity College, Cambridge: Dame Sally Davies. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this episode of The Naked Scientists, A future proof covid jab that combats variants that don't even exist yet. Reassuringly for theoretical physics, signs that antimatter does obey the rules of gravity, and why one doomsday scenario is predicting we'll all be wiped out in 250 million years time, when plate tectonics give us a new supercontinent. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week's guest is a pioneer of IVF, award-winning broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords, Robert Winston. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week on The Naked Scientists: A breakthrough in treating spinal cord injuries, worrying news about red fire ants in Sicily, we look at what it means for us in the UK. Plus, NASA is sending a sample of an asteroid back to Earth - it arrives this weekend; find out what scientists are hoping to learn. All that and more on this week's show... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Time for the next installment in Titans of Science! This week's very special guest is the former chief medical advisor to the White House during the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci. He tells Chris Smith his fascinating story, from a boyhood flair on the basketball court, his rise to prominence handling an HIV crisis, to what it was like working with Donald Trump... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On the news pod, we ask whether an outright ban is the best way to deal with the health and environmental cost of sweet shop style vapes. Also on the programme; a new device for detecting Covid on patients' breath, the search for life elsewhere in the universe intensifies, and we pay tribute to Ian Wilmut, the 'father' of Dolly the sheep Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Part 2 of the extraordinary story of the first Briton in space. What was life like on a space station? How do you get back down? and what do you do afterwards? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this edition, can civil engineers help rescue the UK's crumbling schools and hospitals? Also, new initiative that is hoping to improve the treatment of sepsis, and how the scent of ancient Egypt has been replicated in a Danish museum... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Today's guest is Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space. Our conversation ranges from her early beginnings working in a chocolate factory - Mars, would you believe - to her run in with the then leader of the Soviet Union... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, London's latest ULEZ expansion - will it make much difference to air quality? The concerning impacts of poaching, and not just to endangered species, and the curious case of a woman with a worm in her brain. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're casting our eyes towards the brightest and largest object in our night sky: the Moon. As India becomes the 4th nation to achieve a successful soft landing on our only natural sateillite, we saw a fantastic opportunity to chart the history of how the Moon was formed and the many billions worth of missions invested in finding out more about it... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In the news this week, how can we understand the motivations of serial killers? Also, we ask a dermatologist to outline the early signs of melanoma, and find out about the initiative to reduce carbon emissions from the shipping industry using aeroplane wings. Plus, water voles are being reintroduced in the Lake District - we hear from the site manager in charge. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Eating. We all have to do it 3 times a day and there's a lot to consider every time we do: is what I'm eating good for me? Is it sustainable for the planet? Can I afford the time or the expense to prepare it? In this episode, we address all these concerns, but with a focus on why food brings us joy in the first place: taste and flavour! Join Chris as he embarks on a culinary challenge to achieve everything he wants from his dinner, without compromising on cooking something delicious. The adventure takes him to a top Cambridge restaurant, to hear how a local chef is making tasty dishes with... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In the news this week, we start by asking whether we should start preparing to combat election interference in the wake of the breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. A study is out this week linking lower levels of grey matter in the brain's frontel cortex with an increased likelihood of taking up smoking - we speak to one of the authors. Will Russia's first mission to the moon in 50 years be a success? Plus, an analysis of the impacts of climate change on butterrfly numbers in the UK, and our Question of the Week relates to the states of matter and their relationships with each other... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we'll explore the origins of nuclear weapons and how they have changed modern warfare. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we'll find out about preparations for the next pandemic and "disease X"; the link between a noticeably enlarged part of the human brain and obesity; and how honey sweetened the deal for an injured cricketer! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Another month, another brilliant panel, another romp through your mind bending questions. Physicists Tony Padilla and Toby Wiseman, archaeologist Emma Pomeroy and educator Andrew Morris help Chris Smith explain whether electricity in our bodies is the same as in our houses, how we can detect the collision of 2 black holes from here on Earth, and why Graham's number doesn't bear thinking about too deeply... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're turning to the subject of hydrogen and its potential to play a role as a cleaner fuel in future. Could hydrogen be the answer to our energy conundrum? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Sweltering temperatures wreak havoc across Europe and North America, so what needs to be done to bring them down? We hear from the Cambridge scientist who wants to create the largest ever DNA and health research programme for children and young people. And, did aliens crash-land on Mars? Strange pictures resembling a crash site have been circulating but is there a more mundane explanation? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's been quite the ride in the realm of artifical intelligence over the past year or so. As impressive as advancements in machine learning have been, however, few experts are worried about bots taking our jobs and threatening our safety as a species. The truth is, tools like ChatGPT are not the way AI is going to prove most helpful in the short term. We scratch below the surface to explain how, with more carefully trained programmes, the real potential of chatbots can and is being unlocked... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

A new drug in the fight against Alzheimer's disease: how does it work? Plus, we'll also have the latest on measles cases in London, look at the calls to reset the lunar clock, and could algae help people who are seeking to increase vitamin B12 in their diet? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We'll be exploring depression, what causes it, and whether antidepressants or other treatments hold the key to solving it. Amongst our guests is psychologist Gordon Harold, speaking on how depression manifests in patients, and we'll also hear from psychiatrists on both sides of the antidepressant debate: Hamish McAllister Williams and Joanna Moncrieff. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The mercury rises as record temperatures are recorded across the world. But what's driving them? Also ahead: the sound of silence. We'll be finding out why scientists think it's not just the absence of noise, we can actually perceive it. Plus, the Cambridge students who are hoping to boldly go where no other amateur European rocket group has been before... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's a Question and Answer special this week. You supply the questions and we pose them to a panel of expert guests. Joining us this time, biologist and author Tom Ireland, marine scientist Liberty Denman, chemistry writer Philip Broadwith, and comedien Rosie Wilby. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're diving into the fight to save the planet's oceans. We're looking at how humans are responsible for the effects on our planet's oceans, but also perhaps lesser known strategies that are currently being employed to protect the sea and its inhabitants. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

How an artificial-intelligence technology from Cambridge is helping cut cancer treatment waiting times, how the James Webb Space Telescope is shedding new light on the chemical building blocks of life, the universe and everything, and why Finland's become a hot spot for the world's computer scientists. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Many people don't recognise light pollution at night for what it is: pollution. Largely, we fail to see this harmful introduction into the environment because we have been conditioned to associated light with good and darkness with badness. It's time to change that. In this episode, we explore the various implications of artifical light at night and speak to the activists trying to put a stop to it. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this week's show, we speak to a former navy commander about the Titan sub, do our decision-makers ignore evidence when making scientific policy? And the new telescope that is hoping to explore the dark side of the cosmos... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

40 years since the identification of HIV, we look at where it came from, and how far are we from an effective vaccine... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The plan to beam-in solar power from space, ways to incentivise sharing trustworthy material on social media, and do ill fish run a fever like we do? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists