Shedding Light on the Brain

This week we get bitten by the bug as Ian Burgess talks about the nasties that nibble us in the night, William Foster discusses social insects and how individuals in colonies communicate, Bee Wilson describes the useful properties of honey, and Megan Frederickson reveals how Amazonian ants use formic acid to create Devils Gardens. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

22 Okt 200557min

As the flu season and the threat of avian flu comes closer, Professor John Oxford from the Royal London Hospital discusses what the flu is, where flu comes from and whether drugs and vaccines can prevent human and avian influenza. Professor Pat Troop, Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency, describes the systems in place to stop an avian flu outbreak from spreading, and Dr Paul Digard, from the Division of Virology at the University of Cambridge, tells us how the flu virus escapes through layers of mucus in the nose. Meanwhile, in the Naked Scientists laboratory this week, Dave and... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

15 Okt 20051h

Stretching our grey matter this week is developmental biologist Dr Adrian Pini, who describes how our brain grows, how our brain works, and how it can become damaged, and Dr Huseyin Mehmet, who discusses the potential application of stem cells in repairing central nervous system damage. Also in the studio is Tom Smith from Cambridge University, who has designed a new pump that could help thousands of people in the developing world, and Derek and Dave perform a vanishing act in Kitchen Science. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

8 Okt 200558min