The Naked Scientists Podcast - podcast cover

The Naked Scientists Podcast

The Naked Scientistswww.thenakedscientists.com
The Naked Scientists flagship science show brings you a lighthearted look at the latest scientific breakthroughs, interviews with the world's top scientists, answers to your science questions and science experiments to try at home.
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Episodes

Solar power milestones and bird microbiomes

The world crosses the threshold of 1 terawatt of energy produced from solar means, the parting gift left behind by birds meeting an unfortunate demise, and looking for exoplanets that have magnetic fields Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Apr 14, 202329 minEp. 938

Eco-anxiety: getting hot under the collar about climate change

In this bonus edition, climate psychologist Patrick Kennedy-Williams introduces us to the concept of eco-anxiety, the very real phenomenon leaving people across the UK feeling stressed about the future and the frightening implications of climate change. In partnership with E.ON NEXT - the energy provider on a mission to tackle eco-anxiety - we discuss when eco-anxiety first began to make its presence felt, who is most affected and why, and what we can all do to help both ourselves and the enviro...

Apr 13, 202330 minEp. 937

Bonus Episode: Mantra Meditation

This is a special, bonus episode brought to you in partnership with E.ON Next. If you've just been listening to our conversation with climate psychologist Patrick Kennedy-Williams, you'll know that they've created an audio toolkit for when eco-anxiety gets the better of you. We have part of it - a mindfulness meditation to boost well-being - for you here. For more of these resources search powerupforchange, or visit eonnext.com/eco-anxiety Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Nake...

Apr 13, 202312 minEp. 936

China hides Covid data, the problem with pain

In the news, tech experts call for AI slowdown, monkeys fail to grasp magic tricks which require opposable thumbs to pull off, and why the WHO wants China to release information on the origin of Covid. Plus, according to one study, as many as 44 percent of the population suffer from chronic pain. The difficulty is, we experience pain in many different ways, making it notoriously hard to find treatments. We'll look into the possible causes of long term pain, and what scientists are doing to find ...

Apr 11, 20231 hrEp. 935

Recharging in nature

This week, in partnership with BMW, we're "recharging in nature" - discovering how stepping out into wild country replenishes our wellbeing batteries. But there's a disconnect for drivers of electric vehicles: many of the national parks are very much "off grid", paradoxically preventing those doing their bit for environmentally-friendly motoring with an electric car from benefiting. Luckily there's also a new initiative to power up national parks and benefit biodiversity... Like this podcast? Pl...

Apr 04, 202326 minEp. 934

T-Rex lips and dating tips

Coming up this week, why we might need to re-draw dinosaur faces: it turns out T Rex had lips - how did we miss that? Also, as the government moves to make laughing gas illegal we look at how it works and why they're doing this, and is it time to call time on changing the clocks? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 31, 202330 minEp. 933

The Right to Repair: Get your fix

Whatever happened to make do and mend? Many of us, it seems, have lost the ability to fix the things we buy. So are manufacturers on a mission to make things impossible to fix, forcing us to buy new ones? Or should we be taking more personal responsibility to reduce waste? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 28, 202329 minEp. 932

Nerve interfaces and infrared fossil finding

In the news, scientists seeking to make measuring animal welfare a top priority on farms. Machines seeing the original chemicals in the bodies of fossilised animals. And why superglue might be the key to superior plastic recycling. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 24, 202331 minEp. 931

Trick or treaty: the high seas agreement

The UN high seas treaty hopes to turn the tide on the biodiversity crisis in the ocean. Will it work, and will protecting 30% of the high seas be sufficient? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 21, 202333 minEp. 930

HIV case cured by umbilical cord stem cells

How doctors in the US have "cured" a woman with HIV, does Venus have volcanoes? Reexamining 30 year old probe footage has got scientists wondering, and signs that an artificial sweetener can affect the immune system... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 17, 202331 minEp. 929

Q&A: How will astronauts shower on the moon?

What happens when you put a space scientist interested in looking for alien life, a geologist studying some of the earliest life on Earth, a psychologist, and a linguist in a radio studio? Well hopefully a really interesting conversation and answers to some of science's - and your - big questions, because that's the line up for our Naked Scientists "ask us anything" QnA call-in this week: you supply the questions and we'll provide the answers. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the ...

Mar 10, 202348 minEp. 928

Roman dildos and hackers targeting pets

Take a daily brisk walk and take 25% off your mortality rate, the northern - and southern - lights and why they've been so pronounced of late, and have scientists discovered the world's first Roman sex toy? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mar 03, 202331 minEp. 927

What can plate tectonics teach us?

The news is awash with the destructive side of these geological processes, but are there aspects of these events that can help us learn more about our planet's inner workings? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 28, 202330 minEp. 926

Sleepy sperm and shiny shrimp

Are we any closer to a contraceptive for men, will a 4 day work week pay for itself, and how cretaceous caterpillars helped scientists work out when plants first opened and closed their leaves... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 24, 202330 minEp. 925

Fusion power by 2040?

Today, we're asking whether UK science minister George Freeman's ambition of an operational fusion energy plant by 2040 is realistic. Scientists have their say as to whether or not this possible and, if not, when we can expect to see fusion on grid... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 21, 202328 minEp. 924

Gene therapy saves baby from fatal condition

In the news this week, a UK toddler with a rare genetic disease is saved by gene therapy: we explain how it works. Cockatoos wow scientists by taking a toolkit along to solve a problem. And a 55 million year old penguin fossil... And it's a whopper that weighed in at 150 kilos! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 17, 202332 minEp. 923

A Bird Flu Pandemic Hovering on the Horizon

With over a billion birds dead and signs that the influenza virus is now spreading among mammalian species in the wild, are we at risk of another pandemic, just as we thought Covid was over? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 14, 202331 minEp. 922

Turkey's earthquake and China's balloon

As Turkey battles against the clock to find survivors of the recent Earthquake there, we look at what triggered the magnitude 7.8 quake. Also, how modern day codebreakers have unlocked secret correspondence penned by Mary Queen of Scots from exile in the 1500s, and the overlooked threat of indoor air pollution: we worry about what we breath in on the streets but we're potentially encountering air just as bad in our own homes... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists...

Feb 10, 202329 minEp. 921

Cheaper food from fewer fertilisers

Scientists and governments are working together to turn farming, one of the foremost causes of global emissions, into a future-proof industry. We'll hear about the UK governments new sustainable farming scheme which rewards farmers for eco-friendly practices, scientists working on reducing reliance on harmful and costly fertilisers for grain crops, and the food formed of microbes which might soon feature on supermarket shelves... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientis...

Feb 07, 202328 minEp. 920

Transplanting brain cells & the Big Birdwatch

Brain implants grown in a lab wire themselves into the nervous system. Artificial intelligence joins the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2023. And are sugar taxes actually effective ways to fight the obesity epidemic Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Feb 03, 202326 minEp. 919

Satellites: forging metal and finding cholera

Much of our daily lives is made possible by the placement of objects orbiting our planet. From GPS, to weather forecasts, even your bank's ATM wouldn't be able to function without a timecode from space confirming when your transaction took place. So we're going to explore whether the increasing numbers of satellites up there is a problem, how we can use them to spot potential disease outbreaks before they even happen; why space weather is a threat, and even how one company are planning to forge ...

Jan 31, 202332 minEp. 918

Plastic-eating bugs & paying you to power off

The plan to pay people to dial down their electricity use, the bacteria eating plastic in the ocean, and why antidepressants make it harder for users to enjoy themselves. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 27, 202331 minEp. 917

ChatGPT: The chatbot changing how we work

We first chatted ChatGPT last month, and have since been keeping an eye on the incredible ways it's been responding to users from across the world. This week, we consider the implications of this very powerful tool that has just landed in the hands of pretty much everyone, and whether we should be excited or concerned by the prospect it might become even more powerful... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 24, 202331 minEp. 916

Lasers lure lightning and carbon computing

How hair follicles might hold the key to reversing scars, but not just in skin: in hearts and other organs too. Also, scientists crack how to grow new brain cells in the laboratory dish. And what a mutant from millions of years ago is revealing about how ancient animals mated... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 20, 202330 minEp. 915

Dry January: is giving up booze beneficial?

It's that time of the year where we traditionally make - and usually break - resolutions to eat less, drink less, lose weight, give up meat and take up exercise during the year ahead. And in the decade since 2013, thousands of people have also been signing up for "Dry January". Last year 130,000 people in the UK elected to stop drinking alcohol for a month. So we thought this week we'd look at our long term love affair with the bottle, from how the practice of brewing began back in history, to t...

Jan 17, 202330 minEp. 914

Shouting dolphins and failed rocket launches

The artificial pancreas to turnaround diabetes control, what went wrong with the UK's first space launch, and the Cambridge-born process that can turn CO2 and waste plastic into fuels and valuable chemical raw materials... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 13, 202329 minEp. 913

Q&A: How to avoid being squashed by a whale

How stars burn for billions of years. Can Rishi Sunak turn us into a nation of mathematicians? And how misinformation changes the shape of our brains. Plus, there'll be our customary quiz at half time... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jan 10, 20231 hr 2 minEp. 912

The best of 2022!

We're looking back at 2022, a remarkable year for many reasons. Whilst it is easy to be consumed by stories of conflict, climate catastrophe, and disease outbreaks, it is still important to remember that this year has been another in stellar scientific breakthroughs, a fair few of which may well help us combat the aforementioned challenges. We hope to bring you some of the weird and wonderful discoveries that were made throughout the scientific community over the past 12 months. Everything from ...

Jan 03, 202354 minEp. 911

A deep dive into oceanography

We're taking a look at our planet's oceans, and seeing how and where the important work into studying our seas takes place, as well as finding out how the data collected by marine expeditions translates to research that informs our climate and conservation efforts. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dec 20, 202231 minEp. 910

Nuclear fusion, and magnetic air pollution

A landmark achievement: nuclear fusion experiments produce a net energy output - so what does this mean in practical terms. Also, glasses that soak up infrared to auto-demist. And how magnets are helping to solve a pollution problem on the London Underground... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dec 16, 202226 minEp. 909
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