Questions and Answers
A special question and answer edition of the show where the team get to grips with your queries, including, do hairs know they've cut? Is someone who sweats sooner fitter? How do noise-cancelling headphones work? How do we know what's inside Earth? Why are there no whale-sized insects? Does protein suppress appetite? And could there be a planet with a green atmosphere? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
31 Jul 201353min
The Science in Sport
How has new technology changed the face of sport? This week we delve into the science behind the tennis rackets that professional players use, the diets that top athletes follow, and how systems like Hawkeye are revolutionising the way that rules are enforced. Plus, we hear about new evidence that dolphins refer to each other by name, and sucking or chewing a sweet: which does least damage to teeth? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
24 Jul 201354min
The Science of Schizophrenia
What do sufferers of schizophrenia experience, and why? Might the immune system be to blame? And could an avatar be the answer to treatment? This week we delve deep into the brain circuitry behind this psychiatric condition to uncover the causes, hear what drugs like ketamine can reveal about hallucinations and how a cartoon representation of the voices plaguing patients can block the symptoms. Plus, chemically induced pluripotent stem cells, a gene that leads carriers into snacking temptation and why babies can tolerate extended periods upside down inside their mothers...? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
17 Jul 201355min
Souping up Solar
This week, the latest innovations in solar power technology including a Cambridge team racing from Darwin to Adelaide in a solar car, community co-operatives empowered by solar panels, and how algae harvest the Sun's energy. In the news, how wobbles in the Earth's core are affecting time, how nerves control prostate cancer growth and the turmeric-thalidomide combo being used to combat cancer. Plus, can you produce power from poo? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
10 Jul 201359min
The Last Organism Alive on Earth
This week, the latest from the UK's National Astronomy Meeting in St Andrews Scotland including what will be the last organism living on Earth when the end-of-life Sun swells, why space science projects are getting larger, and the amateur astronomer who uncovers supernovae. In the news, a replacement liver grown from stem cells, the bacterial fingerprint in your intestines, nuclear bombs help with forensics and the threat posed by H7N9. Plus, would you explode in space? We do the experiment to find out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
3 Jul 20131h
Modelling Diseases in Dishes
Miniature lungs, breasts and other organs are being grown in dishes so scientists can study how they form, why they succumb to disease and how toxins, drugs and poisons affect them. Organ models like these are rapidly replacing animals for many lab experiments. But are the days of the petri dish also numbered, as computer models, like the virtual physiological human, become more powerful. We talk to scientists using and developing all three. Plus, a new coating stops joint replacements loosening, magnetic therapy for strokes, and plants do long division... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
26 Jun 201353min
Fascinating Fungi
Fungi go under the microscope this week as we explore how they barter minerals and carry chemical messages in return for sugars from plants; we also hear from someone who nearly died after consuming a deadly fungus, find out why fungi make the toxins they do, and hear how these organisms might hold the key to the next generation of packaging and building materials - and even surfboards! Plus, news of a light-powered retinal implant to restore sight, whether alcohol is dangerous in pregnancy, and why aspirin prevents cancers... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
19 Jun 201353min
Extreme Physiology: Everest to Ocean Floor
How can an ascent to the top of Everest help to save lives in intensive care? This week we're exploring physiology at the extremes: altitude, depth and cold. How does the human body adapt and cope under these conditions? Also, news of improved gene therapy techniques for sight-loss disorders, when do babies become sympathetic, how to cloak your cat (or goldfish), and have scientists discovered the remains of the Tunguska meteorite that smashed into Siberia in 1908? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
12 Jun 201356min
