SETI, Aliens and the Origins of Life

We're chewing over the topic of food footprints: How green is your lunchbox? What's the environmental impact of your weekly food shop? Plus, in the news, the prosthetic hand that has allowed an amputee to feel for the first time, a new fatal strain of flu has been identified in a patient in China and Gaia's goal is to create the most accurate map yet of the Milky Way. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

11 Feb 201454min

This week we we zoom in on the subject of nano-particles to examine how tiny objects, smaller than the wavelength of light, can be making such large waves in the fields of health, optics, and electronics. Plus news of purple tomatoes on their way to your dinner plates, the medical treatment that could mean the end of peanut allergies, the acid dip that reverts cells to their stem state, and what's in the air in Beijing? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

4 Feb 201453min

Live on location at the Cambridge Science Centre, Chris Smith is joined by exercise scientist Dan Gordon, who also holds the world record in tandem cycling, epidemiologist Nita Forouhi, who studies diet, and David Ogilvie, who investigates how our environment can shape our activity. Together they pit their wits against the assembled public as they answer questions like, is watching the Exorcist a replacement for exercise? Plus Dave Ansell and Ginny Smith find the iron on breakfast cereals, measure the vitamin C in carrots, and see how much exercise it takes to work off a Mars bar... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

28 Jan 201459min

This week we investigate why the UK is investing in space weather forecasts. Plus how could changes in the Sun's activity affect us here on Earth? In the news, conservationists supporting the sale of a hunting licence for the endangered Black Rhino, gene therapy success for treating blindness-causing diseases, and do humans use anger strategically? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

21 Jan 201456min

This week we want to hear how you're doing with your New Year's Resolutions as we investigate the psychology of willpower and how long it takes to form a new habit. In the news, does drinking a cup of coffee after studying help students remember their work? Should the UK introduce a minimum price for alcohol? Plus the light activated glue that could change the way cardiac surgery operates. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

14 Jan 201458min

The Naked Scientists tackle your questions, from how hail storms come about to why the Mediterranean Sea has such small tides. And why do people often favour walking on one particular side of the road?Plus, we look at what science might hit the headlines in 2014, from China's ambitions for manned spaceflight, to new graphene-based electronics. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

7 Jan 20141h

It's Christmas, and we're celebrating in style with a look at the science behind the things that grace the festive period. In a special programme recorded live in the kitchen, we produce our own home-made ice cream, hear about the brain-basis of the Boxing Day sales bargain, test fruit-fuelled flamethrowers, investigate candle chemistry, find out about LED fairy lights, probe the origins of the Star of Bethlehem, and make our own hydrogen-powered party popper. Merry Christmas! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

24 Des 201353min

How balls of cells assemble into a baby, why cell shape is crucial in cancer, telling cells where to go in an embryo, and getting a handle on how limbs develop: this week's Naked Scientists explores the science of structure. Plus, does classical music make you brainier? News of what your Christmas dinner means to the microbes in your intestines and a breakthrough in tracking the international spread of pandemics... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

17 Des 201356min