Flu Vaccines from Tobacco?

This week we're looking to nature to solve some of today's biggest problems - from climate change to water shortages. We hear how spiders hold the key to making the strongest material known to man and how insect ears have inspired the world's smallest microphone. Plus, why Bruce Willis might be making you fat, the Arctic ice sheets that are melting despite headlines to the contrary, and why thousands of languages are on the brink of extinction... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

8 Sep 201454min

This week, we're exploring Nuclear Fusion, the power source of the sun. What is it and how can it help us on Earth? We visit the JET fusion facility to watch a test firing, we hear how lasers can be used to kickstart the process and how a new spherical fusion system could be outputting power within a decade. Plus, in the news, what lights up the Universe, how people are no smarter than pigeons when it comes to gambling and how the eyes can forewarn of forthcoming dementia... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

1 Sep 201455min

Dr Chris Smith goes down under for this special report from New Zealand. In this podcast we discuss lasers that are helping us understand how molocules are formed, using viruses as antibiotics and the possibility of life on Mars. Plus, looking at video game therapy, where Ebola and HIV came from, and the world of bumblebee real estate. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

25 Aug 201453min

This week we're talking about gene sequencing and how to keep that information safe. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

18 Aug 201453min

The Naked Scientists have food on the brain this week, as we hear about how sound can affect taste, why our mood can be changed by what we eat, and we try out some unusual flavour combinations. And in the news; why grizzly bears may help us in the fight against diabetes, the comet chaser that has finally reached its target, and self-assembling origami robots... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

11 Aug 201453min

This week, we hear how one of the brightest lights in the Universe is helping scientists to build better jet engines, fight off antibiotic resistant bacteria and read the biochemical make-up of long-dead dinosaurs. Plus, how fears and phobias can pass from parent to child in a smell, why first impressions really do count, and also the physics of being a lead guitarist... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

4 Aug 201457min

This week why whales get dandruff, what seabirds think of wind farms, the plight of coral reefs, we take a look at some giant sea spiders and look at water that can stay liquid below freezing temperature. Plus, we use science to perfect the recipe for a superior sandcastle... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

28 Jul 20141h 3min

Will wooly mammoths roam the tundra once more? This week we ask whether improvements in genetic technologies mean extinction is no longer the end, as well as meeting moss that came back to life after 2000 years buried in permafrost, and the million-year-old microbes lurking in the ice of Antarctica. Plus, news that our genes control who we make friends with, how fossil sea urchins hold the key to finding your lost car keys, and what ancient tooth plaque is revealing about the diets of our ancestors... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

21 Jul 201455min