The Naked Scientists Podcast

Smart sensors can open a window into the environment. In this week's Naked Scientists Podcast we find out how networks of sensors around Heathrow airport can study how planes alter the atmosphere, and how a similar network can monitor an Oxfordshire floodplain. Plus, we find out how the tools of a surgeon are helping to keep jet engines in flying form. In the news, we hear how gut bugs promote blood vessel growth, why fresh fruit and veg gives you a healthy hue and how scientists are analysing antimatter with microwaves... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

11 Maalis 201259min

How can we extract energy from waste? In this week's Naked Scientists we explore the technology that turns muck into methane and consider the fertile issue of nutrient overload resulting from returning the finished products to farmland. And what about water? Why do we individually use ten times more water than we actually need, and what's the solution for a drought-stricken Britain? Plus, in the news, how astronomers have discovered evidence of life in the universe, but only down here on Earth, and the "ungentlemanly" conduct of the upper classes... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

4 Maalis 201259min

What's the point of earwax? Does WiFi damage the brain? Can a mobile phone in a trouser pocket dent a man's fertility? In this week's science Q and A show we also brush up on how they get the stripes in toothpaste, discover whether dropped food follows the 5 second rule and shed light on why some forms of EM radiation more damaging than others. Plus, news of a new microscopic MRI machine for molecules, how computer games can alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia and why what a woman eats, even before becoming pregnant, can have a lifelong genetic legacy for her offspring... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

26 Helmi 201259min

A new liquid crystal laser that can dial-up any wavelength of light you need, a laser-powered projector technology that turns any surface into a touch-screen, and a laser that fires salvoes of X-rays to make light work of unlocking the molecular fabric of matter are the focus of this week's laser-led show. We also meet HECToR, one of the world's fastest computers that just got a tenfold power boost, and David Braben unveils the credit-card sized Raspberry Pi, the world's smallest home micro he's helped to invent... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

19 Helmi 201259min

Over two-thirds of the energy in the fuel you put into your car is wasted, most of it in the form of heat that exits along the exhaust pipe. The same is true of large-scale power stations, which are only 50% efficient at best. But now researchers are bringing 200 year old physics to bear against the problem by developing thermoelectric generators (TEGs) that can turn waste heat into useful electricity and this week we find out how. Plus, news that disguising cancer cells as Salmonella could hold the key to producing effective anti-cancer vaccines, why the Y chromosome boosts heart attack risk,... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

12 Helmi 20121h

Could diet foods be making you fatter? How do we learn to like the foods we eat? This week, we indulge in the science of appetite, diet and diabetes. We'll find out how our early experiences of food can alter our diets for life, and ask if low calorie alternatives to sweet and fatty foods can fool the brain into underestimating the energy content of the real thing. Also, how synthetic chemists are searching for compounds to monitor blood glucose and control diabetes. Plus, how regions of the brain can "catch" Alzheimer's from each other, we discover a new microscopy technique that can... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

5 Helmi 20121h

Has all the air in the world been breathed before? Are any viruses beneficial to health? Can naked farts transmit diseases? You set the agenda in this Naked Scientists Question and Answer show in which we also discover how Inuit cope without fruit and veg, whether muscles can become cancerous and how long before we can teleport to work. Plus, reproducing Alzheimer's disease in a dish, self-distilling vodka, magnetic soap to cleanse the parts other soaps can't reach, and what magic mushrooms do to the brain... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

29 Tammi 201259min

Could a ray of sunshine hold the key to preventing MS, diabetes and even bowel cancer? Vitamin D - made naturally in skin exposed to strong sunlight - appears to reduce the risk of developing these, and a rash of other diseases. We examine the evidence to find out why as well as hearing how seaweed looks set to ignite a biofuel boom in the future, why a good night's sleep might make traumatic memories worse and how scientists have made multicellular life in the lab in just 60 days... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

22 Tammi 201259min