The Naked Scientists Podcast

This week, clean coal technology - how to get the energy from coal without digging it up, why GM goats are helping to combat nerve gas attacks, and how scientists have found the 'itch' gene. We also find out why smog causes heart disease, how seafood in space can help to heal astronauts, and the weight of leaves on an average tree. Plus Drs Chris and Phil take a look at your science questions including 'tasting' music, the best way to dry your washing and can the moon affect the shapes of weather systems? In Kitchen Science Ben and Dave explain how to make a lens with a plastic bottle and some... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we find out about survival in extreme environments. We find out how free divers descend hundreds of feet underwater without air, how life thrives beneath the ice in Antarctica, how fighter pilots combat G-forces to avoid blackouts, and how the body copes with exercising at the top of Everest. Also, discover the benefit of breaks between bouts of exercise, how geckos hold the key to underwater post-it notes, and a gene that lets you chat whilst listening to the radio. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, from iPod to iRod as a man's taste for music turns him into a human lightning conductor, why penguins are picky eaters, and better biopsies - why doctors are attracted to a new magnetic cancer detection system. Also a fuel made from fructose that packs a punch like petrol, we find out how to make hydrogen on demand using aluminium, and grow your own gas - do we have enough land to grow our energy in future? Plus, in Kitchen Science, we turn vegetable oil into biodiesel and ask a white van man to test it... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week news that men talk as much as women, cosmetics from jellyfish, songbirds "greatest-tits", a breathtaking asthma breakthrough and a gene-screen for bowel cancer. We also uncover the cause of contagious yawns, probe the brain basis of epilepsy and manic depression, and uncover a brain region responsible for out of body experiences. Plus, in Kitchen Science, Ben and Dave find out why the raisins always rise to the top of the cereal box. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, playing bingo on an inflatable space station, a new way to attack the cause of Alzheimer's and mending a broken heart with stem cells. Also, using bananas to speed up fruit ripening, leeches out of water and chemical tricks to stop smoking and iron out wrinkles. Plus, in Kitchen Science we vibrate our way to a fountain in a cup! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week a rabies-based Trojan Horse that smuggles drugs across the blood-brain barrier, why first-borns are brighter, progress with Parkinson's and a lunar telescope more powerful than Hubble. Plus in this week's ARMAGEDDON-focused show we look at supervolcanes, earthquakes and arsenic, find out why curtains are absolutely lethal and why a meteorite impact probably didn't dispense with the dinosaurs after all. Also, in Kitchen Science, we test the claim that tapping the top of a fizzy drink before you open it stops it spraying all over you... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Under the microscope this week, the science of forensics. We find out how scientists have exploded the myth about old aged whales thanks to a piece of shrapnel, about a new rice-based vaccine for cholera, and 'whey' to go, how scientists have made edible food wrappers from milk. We investigate what your diet does to your hair, how science can finger forgers and flush out bodies from bogs, and why the key to identifying a torso that washed up in the Thames was rooted in plant science. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we arm Ben with a rifle to find out how fat you'd have to be to stop a speeding... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, why some people have green blood, how radiation-hungry fungi will feed astronauts of the future, and how a cider a day keeps the doctor at bay. We discuss corrupt chemists, what happens when galaxies collide, how Beaujolais benefits your breath and if a person can feel the cold in space. Plus, in Kitchen Science we iron out the crumbs in your cornflakes! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, will a hot mint still taste cold? Also how skimmed milk could come straight from the cow in future, and why we walk upright without dragging our knuckles. Nicky Clayton discusses clever birds that use cigarettes to fumigate their feathers, Tim Clutton-Brock describes the family affairs of meerkats, and we find out from Andrew Smith why monkeys see what we see, but cats and cows can't. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we get jiggly with a jam jar full of rice. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Drs Chris and Helen find out how your fingers can reveal whether you're mathematically minded, and bridge-building ants that quite literally let themselves be walked over. Also, Astronomer Carolin Crawford takes us on a foray into outer space to discover the shape of the universe, we meet a geyser so tall that it spurts into space, and we Join Maggie Turnbull as she searches for nearby planets that could sustain life. Plus, in Kitchen Science, how to measure the speed of light using a microwave oven! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, scientists recreate hair follicles, we uncover a means of making hydrogen in a hurry, hear about a stealthy way to destroy cancer and find out why a dose of herpes could be good for you. Also, John Grattan describes the biggest atmospheric pollution event in history, we discover with Rod Jones the role of water in the greenhouse effect, and Jonathan Shanklin tell us the 'hole' story of the ozone layer. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we make a cloud in a bottle! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Dr Chris and Dr Helen explore the microscopic world, finding out why diarrhoea and projectile vomiting make cruise ships the perfect culture vessel for noroviruses, and asking why fungi are so important for great tasting chocolate. Also, we look at giving yeast a sense of smell, predict the weather for a planet 63 light years away, and size up the world's smallest scales, which are capable of weighing a single bacterium. Meanwhile, in Kitchen Science, we looked at toilet seats and kitchen surfaces to see which harboured the most bacteria, and came in for a nasty surprise! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week Drs Chris, Dave and Phil find out how a venomous spider has got scientists swollen with excitement because it's bite has Viagra-like properties, how maggots are fighting off MRSA from ulcers, and NASA are testing their next generation telescope aboard a jumbo jet. The docs also explore the science of getting geostationary satellites into space, the basis of bacterial intelligence, and how much water trees drink on a hot day. Plus, in kitchen science, Dave and Ben put their heads in a box...to find out how a pinhole camera works. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're exploring how populations come by their genes including the surprise finding of African DNA in a remote village in Yorkshire. Oxford University's Bruce Winney explains how studying rural populations in Britain is helping to uncover genes linked to different diseases, and Turi King, from Leicester University, discusses what your Y chromosome says about your surname. Plus we'll be hearing how Cambridge scientist Mike Majerus is putting evolution to the test with the help of the peppered moth, and in kitchen science, more jam tomorrow as Ben and Dave show you a trick with a... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week on the Naked Scientists an invitation to come and dive beneath the surface of the sea, to find out what is happening in the world's oceans. Your guides will be Marine Biologist Dr Annelise Hagan (University of Cambridge) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biologist Dr Stan Harpole (University of California, Irvine). Annelise will be talking about her project which monitors coral reefs and will explain why and how she does this, Stan will discuss his recent Nature paper on species loss resulting from reduced niche dimension and how nutrient pollution is responsible. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we look at new developments in the science of cancer with Fiona Watt and Andy Futreal, we will see how new gene technologies could be key to understanding cancer, and knowing the role of stem cells could be essential to find effective cures. Meanwhile, Dave tells you how to make your own electric slime. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we explore the science of Heart Disease. Dr Niall Campbell joins us to explain what heart attacks are and how theyre treated, Dr Anthony Mathur discusses how stem cells might hold the key to mending a broken heart, and Ben Valsler visits Brian Callingham to investigate how arteries behave when you give them various drugs. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we explore the science of flight. Dr Graham Taylor from Oxford University talks about the aerodynamics of insect flight and how video camera back-packs allow him to see how eagles fly, and Jenny Goodman describes how future aircraft might be flying at six times the speed of sound while withstanding temperatures hot enough to melt stainless steel in 5 seconds! In Kitchen Science, Ben Valsler sticks with the flight theme and finds out how a hot air balloon works. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Every year the Cambridge Science Festival celebrates some of the best and most exciting science and engineering going on in the UK - and the Naked Scientists were there! Find out about the cool science of ice cream, the microscopic world of microbes, and the IgNobel awards for science at its most silly. Looking further afield, the University of Aucklands Peter Metcalf unlocks the secrets of a viral sarcophagus, and Mike Brown from the California Institute of Technology discusses the origin of some mysterious objects in the Kuiper Belt. To cool us down after all that excitement, Dave and Azi... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Contaminated petrol, astronauts in danger of lung diseases, a new way to put the brakes on car accident rates, gas sensors made from silicon replicas of marine algae and how pollution is causing droughts, plus a healthy digest of your science questions and emails top the bill in this weeks Naked Scientists. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists