Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast
Episodes
Feeding birds could be causing harm
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us love putting out bird seed and watching birds feast away, and feel we're doing a good deed too, but a new paper out of Manchester Metropoli...
Schools Causing Covid Surges
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most schools across the UK are open and children are heading back to their classrooms. But to what extent will this affect the Covid case rates across...
Long COVID in children: what we know so far
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Quite soon after the pandemic first struck a significant number of people began to complain of persistent symptoms in the aftermath of being infected ...
Water vapour found on Ganymede
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We often look for water on remote planets and moons because, as far as we know, it's a requirement for life. Now a team of researchers using the Hubbl...
What can NZ do about Delta?
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is Delta more deadly, or just transmitting more rapidly? And are the vaccines we're using likely to defend against future coronavirus variants? Also, ...
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in dogs
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers have reported a case of antibiotic-resistant bacteria passing between dogs and their owners. And these bacteria aren't just resistant to a...
The UK and Freedom Day: What The Numbers Say
07 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Smith joins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill to talk Covid-19, including the impact of the July 19th UK Freedom Day on Covid case rates. Th...
New malaria drug cures with one dose
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Although Covid-19 is dominating the headlines perpetually at the moment, it's very important not to lose sight of other significant diseases that don'...
Increasing likelihood of extreme heatwaves
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year a devastating heatwave in the pacific northwest of the United States killed almost 200 people with record-shattering temperatures; a...
Hygiene doesn't harm immune development
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A question we're being asked quite a lot is whether the extra lengths we're going to in terms of hygiene to protect us from COVID-19 might cause us im...
Rivers don't always recover after drought
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The general view is that waterways, such as rivers and underground water sources, will dry up during severe drought - but eventually recover and resum...
'Dragon Man' skull: our closest relative?
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An ancient skull, uncovered decades ago in China, has recently been revealed to be possibly the closest ever relative to humankind. It's called "Drago...
T-rex teens fill mid-size predator gap
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Few animals inspire the imagination like Tyrannosaurus rex. And the mighty tyrannosaurs did dominate the lands that eventually became central Asia and...
Sharks use Earth's magnetic field as a map
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Previously, researchers knew that sharks can travel back and forth across entire oceans, accurately returning to specific locations. But what we didn'...
Pesticide antidote might help struggling bees
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New technology may help save bees by providing an antidote for deadly pesticides. The new solution allows beekeepers to feed their bees 'pollen pattie...
Covid viruses, vaccines and variants
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Covid viruses, vaccines and variants: Chris Smith talks to Radio New Zealand National to bring Kim Hill up to speed with the latest developments on th...
Mouse plague in Australia
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eastern Australia is currently in the grips of a mouse plague. Mice live everywhere people do, often undetected. Right now though, highly favourable c...
Sperm and squid in space
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have reported on some unusual things flying in space recently. In one paper, sperm, stored aboard the International Space Station for the l...
Cells reprogrammed to make synthetic polymers
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world is always on the lookout for new drugs - but they're not easy to make. Synthesising them is often an expensive and prolonged process. But wh...
Motherless gorillas and how hummingbirds hum
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month: how hummingbirds hum, how elephants evolved anti-cancer genes so they can sustain big bodies, gorillas that grow up without their mothers,...
New process may transform mining
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, humans have used traditional mining techniques involving sinking tunnels or large pits to recover relatively small amounts of ...
Vodka from Chernobyl on its way to UK
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you live in the UK, you should soon be able to drink vodka... from Chernobyl! Which might sound like a radioactive nightmare, but the stuff is - su...
Loan applications rejected more around midday
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's often hardest to think when you've been working all day - especially if your job involves making lots of decisions. Psychologists call this decis...
Camera based on shrimp eye sees cancer cells
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The mantis shrimp is a sea creature with a particular party piece. While our eyes are sensitive to three colours, red, green and blue, which our brain...
SciHub: are they stealing your data?
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alexandra Elbakyan is the founder of the website SciHub, and it came out this week that she is being investigated by the FBI. You see, SciHub is an il...
Plants affected by noise pollution
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Noise pollution can be difficult to live with, and it turns out that plants are also impacted by too much noise, although not in the way you might exp...
Biological target for future anorexia drugs
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anorexia nervosa is a cruel, complex and serious mental health condition. It involves deliberately losing weight in order to keep body weight as low a...
Ancient DNA extracted from cave dirt
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When they're trying to piece together our understanding of ancient Humans and Neanderthals, scientists often have to rely on artifacts found in caves....
New treatment for paracetamol overdose
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Each year 80,000 patients are hospitalised in the US for paracetamol overdose, the leading cause of liver damage in the US and Europe. The current tre...
Masks on the beach and in beer gardens? C'mon...
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Face masks have their place, but what's really needed right now is a breath of fresh air and a dose of common sense to control Covid-19, as Chris Smit...
Genetics behind why rabbits hop
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New research has found a gene that looks to be the reason why rabbits, and perhaps all bouncing mammals hop. Using an unusual type of rabbit, called a...
Spinosaurus: was it a giant, toothy heron?
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Spinosaurus was a dinosaur that was around 13 metres long, and looked a little like a T-Rex with the addition of a massive sail on its back. There's b...
The world of fungi inside seed banks
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We share our planet with microbes. Some do us harm, others do us good and are known as our microbiome. Plants also have a microbiome, and in a paper o...
Eagle killer identified
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1994, at DeGray Lake in the state of Arkansas in the USA, 29 bald eagles were found dead from a mysterious disease. Many more across the area have ...
Industrial yeast impairs gut wound healing
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Crohn's Disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (or IBD), where the immune system attacks and inflames bits of the intestines. It can cause di...
Wildfire smoke detected in stratosphere
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fires of any scale tend to produce a certain amount of smoke - a variety of different particles including small bits of unburnt fuel, which eventually...
Cone snails seduce prey with pheromones
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cone snails are a group of highly venomous marine snails. Their shells are beautiful, but they pack a powerful neurotoxic punch: some members of this ...
Modelling concussion with eggs
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years we've realised quite how bad a knock on the head can be for us, because the brain bobs about suspended in fluid inside our skulls. And...
Diabetes drug trialled to treat obesity
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, about 1 in 4 adults are affected by obesity, which is linked to diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. But recently a new study has docu...
Bile ducts grown in lab can repair livers
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A new way to repair diseased livers has been unveiled by researchers at the University of Cambridge. They've found a way to grow the cells that line t...
COVID: seeking herd immunity by vaccination
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One thing we're all hoping for is that the new coronavirus vaccines will give us 'herd immunity' - this would mean that so many people are immune to t...
Covid-19 latest and the flu surge in waiting
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Virologist Dr Chris Smith catches up with RNZ's Kim Hill with an update on the Covid-19 latest news including encouraging data on the performance of t...
Treating osteoarthritis with antidepressants
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Osteoarthritis is a painful condition caused by wear and tear to the slippery cartilage that normally coats and lubricates the bone surfaces in our jo...
An ancient freshwater Arctic ocean
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
About 70% of our planet is covered in water, and the vast majority of that water is in the salty oceans. But in a paper published recently, scientists...
Traffic noise makes crickets pick bad mates
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us may love driving, but nature certainly doesn't love us doing it! Alongside the pollution, there's the noise of traffic, which isn't just a ...
Australia takes on Google
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the online world, a battle is brewing between tech giants Google and Facebook and the Australian government. The government are proposing a law to ...
Millipedes disrupting trains
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The things we see inhabiting our planet have evolved fantastic adaptations and habits to overcome issues in their environment that get in the way of a...
Growing roots in compacted soil
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Erosion is carrying away millions of tonnes of the soil we depend upon to keep our crops alive, every year. To try to prevent soil losses, farmers hav...
Soothing surgical patients
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anyone who's had surgery knows that recovery is often accompanied by discomfort. But scientists in Germany, writing in the British Medical Journal rec...
COVID Vaccines: the EU debacle
30 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amid accusations of "despicable behaviour", the EU are backpedalling furiously. With fewer than 2% of EU citizens vaccinated compared with 12% of the ...
Cats, catnip, and curious chemicals
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You've probably heard of catnip, which makes cats go crazy. There's also another plant called silver vine, which has a similar effect. Now scientists ...
Knitting: a short history
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Although knitting and other handicrafts are having a bit of a moment during the pandemic as we all try to keep ourselves busy at home, the art and pra...
Flashy dinosaur fossil described
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Now in the UK it is dark and dreary, but there's been a recent colourful scientific discovery to brighten up the day, as a new flamboyantly-dressed di...
COVID-19: can the new variant defeat vaccines
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Hill talks to virologist Chris Smith about Covid-19 in 2020, in retrospect and right now. What's the situation with global access to vaccines for ...
Winter traditions: scientifically speaking
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have any winter holiday traditions? This month, as we were gearing up for our holidays here at the Naked Scientists, we thought it would be a f...
Universal Flu Vaccine
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The WHO estimates that up to 650,000 people globally die each year from the flu, and one of the tools in our arsenal against it is the seasonal flu va...
Inhaled vaccines cross from lungs to blood
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Traditionally, when someone says "vaccine", the image of a syringe and needle usually springs to mind. But injections need trained staff to administer...
Dreaming during the coronavirus pandemic
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When we nod off we often dream, but many people have reported that, over the course of the pandemic, what they dream about has changed dramatically. I...
AstraZeneca's Covid Vaccine
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The AstraZeneca Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine results were announced recently, but something wasn't quite right: it turned out that some people i...
Alzheimer's: early detection via AI
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recently news was published of an artificial intelligence system which has analysed bits of speech from participants of a long-running study on dement...
Octopuses taste with their tentacles
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Let's dive into the depths and consider the octopus. As well as being famous for its 8 arms, and 3 hearts, octopus vision is also impressive: it helps...
Obesity: modelling the effects of TV ads
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As part of their obesity strategy the UK government announced plans to restrict the advertising of unhealthy foods on TV. And in a paper out recently,...
Carlos Rodriguez: Founder of eSports team G2
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join Chris Berrow for this extended chat with Carlos "Ocelote" Rodriguez about running one of the biggest eSports teams in the world - G2. From League...
Drug discovery via sea squirt
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of drug discovery we might conjure up images of scientists in white lab coats holding test tubes, but a new study searching for drugs to...
Brain cells making choices: pizza, or pasta?
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever wondered what's going on in your brain when choosing what you want for lunch, look no further. Researchers from Washington University S...
Smelling history: from AI to chemistry
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tired of just seeing and reading about history? Soon you'll be able to experience its smells as well! This is thanks to an ambitious project called OD...
Pfizer vaccine: an immunologist explains
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pfizer and BioNTech have concluded the Phase 3 trial of their coronavirus vaccine. The results appear to show an efficacy rate of 95%, and the develop...
MS vaccine using your own brain cells
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Could an injection of your own brain cells be a way to halt multiple sclerosis - MS? That's what researchers in the US are finding in mice with the di...
Pfizer announce Covid-19 vaccine
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What do we know about Pfizer and bioNTech's new RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, preliminary results for which were announced this week? Who was tested in ...
COVID: The Swedish Strategy
14 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There's been a lot of discussion about the Swedish approach to the coronavirus pandemic, and back in September, Jonas F Ludvigsson, a paediatrician an...
AI for infertility, and scar-free healing
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This month we hear about an artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough for infertility, how ketamine can mimic some of the decision-making difficulties...
HFpEF: heart failure type is underserved
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard of the condition known as "heart failure with preserved ejection fraction"? If not, then you're not alone; despite it representing...
UK Back in Lockdown
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Virologist Dr Chris Smith joins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill to talk Covid-19. Why is the UK back in a lockdown, and did the measure come too...
Covid control and the economy
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There's been lots of talk over the last several months over how best to both protect people from coronavirus and protect the economy, and economist Qu...
Ten equations that rule the world
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Would you like to make more money? Understand your relationships better? Know when to trust someone, or something, or not? Well, David Sumpter's got a...
Daylight Saving Time: a history
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Were you waking up too early this week? Across Europe, we recently left summer Daylight Light Saving time and re-entered standard time. But where does...
Plastic recycling: the one pot method
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Plastics are useful but notoriously hard to recycle back into their component chemicals, which limits what else we can do with them. Now, scientists i...
Glitter litter: the dark side of dazzle
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've heard news that Morrisons, Waitrose and John Lewis' own brand Christmas products will not contain glitter this year. And now, scientists at Angl...
How not to get fooled by graphs
31 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you've been paying attention to the news in recent times, you'll be very familiar by now with graphs: COVID rates, infection rates, data are being ...
Stop littering in space!
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain recently began a diplomatic campaign to draw up new rules for responsible behaviour in space; essentially it's a "don't litter" policy intende...
Protected land: UK facing biodiversity crisis
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the 28th September, Boris Johnson committed to increasing the area of protected land in the UK to 30% by 2030. This announcement was made at a vir...
Bee microbiome smells tell nestmates apart
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do bees recognise who's a bona fide member of the nest and who is an impostor? It turns out that it's down to the bacteria they carry inside them....
Alien life: a zoologist's guide
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, astronomers have been scouring the skies looking for signs and signals that appear to be from creatures on other planets. But discussions...
Jim Gazzard: adapting teaching to Covid-19
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 is forcing educators to re-think centuries of teaching traditions and develop new ways to provide a rich but safe student experience. Jim Gaz...
Naked Gaming's Chris & Leigh interviewed!
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in to a special interview all about the Naked Gaming Podcast.Gene "Bean" Baxter from Podcast Radio (and Radio Hall of Famer!) chats to Leigh Mi...
UK Covid-19 second wave
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As UK cases spike again, Dr Chris Smith joins RNZ's Kim Hill to discuss why some geographies are particularly hard-hit, what constitutes a "super-spre...
Prostate cancer prediction and bonobo culture
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This month on the eLife podcast, artificial intelligence reveals a better test for prostate cancer, is the brain stuffed with neuronal stem cells, bon...
Cambridge and Covid: a new academic year
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On October 8th, about 15,000 students will return for the new academic year at Cambridge University. Other UK institutions have seen outbreaks and qua...
The many ends of the universe
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the end of the universe. Which one will we get? Will the life drain slowly from thousands of cold, dead galaxies; or will the stars get rip...
Magical manipulation... of animals?
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone loves magic. But does that extend to animals? You might have seen videos online of people performing tricks to animals, and the animals being...
Gene editing to reverse myotonic dystrophy
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is a debilitating genetic disease that causes muscle weakness and wasting, amongst other problems, and there's currently no ...
When will we get a Covid-19 vaccine?
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
People everywhere are clinging to the hope that there'll soon be a coronavirus vaccine. That aspiration suffered a setback last week when AstraZeneca ...
Bradykinin and Covid-19: what's the link?
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Virologist Dr Chris Smith joins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill for a Covid-19 update covering why AstraZeneca and Oxford University's coronavir...
Dream analysis with AI
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From the Babylonians to psychologist Sigmund Freud, as humans we've been fascinated by what our dreams might mean for thousands of years. Now, compute...
Why is Death Valley so hot?
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There have been some record breaking temperatures lately, and Adam Murphy is hot on the trail of why one place in particular stands out... Like this p...
Smartphones that can tell if you're drunk
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Drink driving is one of the biggest killers on our roads. Brian Suffoletto is an A&E doctor in the US where he's spent the past 15 years developin...
Genetic risk for PTSD
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
PTSD is a disease that may occur after experiencing trauma, often characterised by the involuntary reliving of particularly painful memories. About 1 ...
Covid-19 update: spread, tests and vaccines
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Chris Smith joins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill to talk about the latest news and breakthroughs around the Covid-19 coronavirus. How the vi...
Goosebumps cause hair growth
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Getting cold won't just make your hair stand up, it may also make it grow. Yulia Shwartz at Harvard University and her colleagues have found that the ...
Big carnivores disappear from panda reserves
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Giant pandas, which for decades were endangered, finally shed the status in 2016 thanks to huge conservation efforts. But scientists have been warning...