Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

My whiskers! Faster stroke recovery in mice

07 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists in the US have uncovered a surprising potential treatment for strokes: short-term sensory deprivation. Strokes occur when the blood supply ...

Is walking with friends better than walking alone?

05 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Was exercising more one of your new year's resolutions? Has it ended up a broken promise at the bottom of your to-do list? Georgia Mills spoke to Cath...

New treatment for heavy periods

29 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Up to a third of women experience debilitatingly heavy periods. This can cause significant disruption. It can also lead to depression; time off work; ...

Toothpaste Ingredient Fights Malaria

22 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists have shown that a toothpaste ingredient could be used as an anti-malarial drug. Spread by mosquitoes, malaria is caused by Plasmodium paras...

Find out about the Flu

18 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's winter time again in the northern hemisphere and the influenza virus - the 'flu - is making its seasonal rounds. The virus infects millions of pe...

Tinnitus therapy trial success

10 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Around one in ten people have to live with tinnitus, this is a persistent noise ringing in the head when there's nothing external causing it. The seve...

Could lifes building blocks have formed in space?

21 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The question of where life began is a difficult one to answer. While many scientists believe that life began on earth, others believe that life, or at...

Environmental implications of healthier eating

15 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the run up to Christmas, shops are bursting at the seams with delicious treats, appealing platters and indulgent morsals, which can make sticking t...

Falcon-inspired drone technology

11 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

New research shows that peregrine falcons hunt their prey using strategies similar to those used by guided missiles. Could this information be useful ...

The corals that matter most on the Great Barrier Reef

04 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Great Barrier Reef is a huge system of over 3,800 individual coral reefs - making it the largest coral reef system on earth. Located off the north...

The future of HIV research

01 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

December 1st is World AIDS Day. HIV AIDS affects 35 million people worldwide, and although the number of new infections is slowly decreasing, last yea...

Could reflective particles limit climate change?

22 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This week the UN Climate Change Conference has been happening in Bonn. This meeting is the next step for governments to implement the Paris Climate Ch...

Type 2 Diabetes Reversed in Rats

15 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, Diabetes UK reported that almost 4 million people in the UK are living with diabetes. Around 90% of these cases are classed as Type 2, whic...

Sleep and fear learning

02 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Traditionally, researchers have recognised the importance of sleep in modulating the fear learning response when the sleep occurs after fear learning....

AI learning without human guidance

30 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, the world champion Lee Sedol was beaten at the ancient boardgame of Go - by a machine. It was part of the AlphaGo programme, which is a serie...

Voice in the crowd

19 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine it's a Friday night, you're in the pub it's and really noisy. Your friend though is telling a great story, and you really want to hear it. But...

Good cholesterol protects heart cells against damage

19 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A drug based on a form of cholesterol might be able to reduce the damage done by heart attacks. Working with experimental mice, scientists in Australi...

Kidneys in a dish

17 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists in the US have discovered a way to recreate the condition polycystic kidney disease using stem cells in a culture dish. The new culture sys...

LiFi one step closer to our homes

17 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We all use Wi-fi nearly every day. It is short for wireless fidelity, using microwaves frequencies to transmit data to and from your phone. But, visib...

Molecule dashes hopes for interstellar signs of life

11 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers are trying to understand where our solar system came from, how life got started here, and where else in the galaxy life may be lurking. Ch...

Neonicotinoids in majority of worlds honey

08 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Three quarters of the world's honey is laced with neonicotinoid insecticides, a new study from scientists in Switzerland has shown this week. The find...

Making robot muscle

02 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Natural muscle plays an important role in our human ability to control our movements, so could we give this ability to robots? Katie Haylor spoke to A...

Algal protein may boost crop growth

25 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

By 2050, it is estimated that we will need around a 50% increase in crop yield to feed our rapidly growing population. However, it turns out that alga...

How do tissues grow?

24 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The complex branching patterns seen in the growth of tissues in the lungs, kidneys and pancreas have an elegantly simple mathematical solution... Like...

Baby-like skulls are key to bird success

21 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

From elaborate peacocks to seagulls by the shore, birds are found in a wide range of habitats on every corner of globe and a recent study suggests tha...

Microbes in Saliva

21 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We never really notice oral hygiene, except when it's bad. The latest research shows that we can't really blame genetics for this, but rather the oral...

Measuring Tectonic Plate Strength

19 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

One major goal of scientists has been to measure the strength of tectonic plates. However, laboratory estimates of plate strength vary widely and in g...

New antimicrobials show promise in battle against superbug

15 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

C. diff - or Clostridium difficile - is a superbug that can cause major problems in hospitals. It leads to life-threatening diarrhoea and intestinal i...

Where do New Drugs come From?

14 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Finding new drugs for our various diseases and ailments is one of the biggest industries in the world. But how does so called big pharma operate - h...

Old maps highlight new understanding of coral reef loss

13 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Known as the 'forests of the ocean', coral reefs represent an entire underwater ecosystem, teeming with life. But this ecosystem is under threat. Rese...

Uterus age may affect pregnancy success

12 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It's well known that older mothers have more complicated pregnancies. For a long time scientists thought that old eggs were the reason for this and ma...

Can bacteria affect the sex life of animals?

31 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Bacteria produce a molecule that stimulates sexual reproduction in the closest living relatives of animals, according to researchers at UC Berkeley an...

Our hairy insides

24 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Our hairy insides protect us from the full force of fluids racing through our bodies and may inspire future robotic design Like this podcast? Please h...

Whats behind the rise in osteoarthritis?

22 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Osteoarthritis is a common, painful joint condition that affects about 8 million people in the UK, and many others across the world. It stems from a b...

Foraging for food

20 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

What kinds of food might you be able to forage in a city green space? Katie Haylor went out to explore what wild food Cambridge in the UK has to offer...

The link between cellular garbage disposal and Alzheimers disease

13 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

More than half a million people in the UK suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Symptoms of this disease, including memory loss and communication problems,...

Violence weakens short term memory

27 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Short term memory is incredibly important in day to day life, whether you're driving to work, having a conversation, or reading through the Naked S...

How Does Sleep Affect Dementia?

20 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Alzheimer's Disease is one - very common - form of senile dementia. It usually affects older people and progressively robs them of their mental facult...

Searching for super-fast stars

10 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists now think they can explain why the hypervelocity stars - that's stars going at 600 - 1000 km per second are only spotted in one part of the...

Can brain training slow the progression to Alzheimers?

09 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of people worldwide are affected by Alzheimer's Disease; Terry Pratchett was famously a victim of the condition, which progressively robs suf...

What Causes Coastal Erosion?

06 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Our coasts are constantly changing. And whilst human impact can have a significant impact Mother Nature also plays her part, tides and storms can cha...

Magnetic control of vision

29 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

If you're up for a bit of practical experimentation, give this a go. Hold your finger out in front of your face, fix your gaze on the tip and then sha...

What Lies Behind an Egg's Shape?

28 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Many of us enjoy a boiled egg or two for breakfast, but why are hen's eggs round at one end and pointy at the other? Katie Haylor caught up with Mary ...

The Rise of Deadly Heatwaves

28 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The third week of June had everyone searching for the suncream as temperatures reached record breaking heights. But while most of us enjoy fun in the ...

What is Wannacry?

21 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In May 2017 hundreds of thousands of computers across the world were hit by a massive ransomware attack called Wannacry. The perpetrators encrypted th...

Ancient protein thwarts virus attack

16 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When viruses attack our crops they can wipe them out, and in some parts of the world, this can be a death sentence. So naturally, scientists are keen ...

Methane to Methanol

10 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Methane is 20 times worse than C02 as a greenhouse gas, so when it's created as a byproduct in oil rigs it's burned. This is better than releasing the...

Blood test for autism

20 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Looking at biochemical markers found in blood samples of those with autism and those without, researchers are looking to develop a blood test that cou...

Dental detectives shed light on ancient diets

10 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

How the plaque found on the teeth of Neanderthals sheds light on their diets and lifestyles. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked...

Making Goodwill Go Viral

21 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Promoting social causes online can mobilise millions and raise huge sums of money. But it only leads to long term changes if the campaigns don't fizzl...

The battery powered by stomach acid

16 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A tiny sensor capable of transmitting information from inside the body and powered by stomach acid has been unveiled by US scientists. The device was ...

Sex-specific virulence in viruses

08 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Some viral infections are more lethal in men than in women. This is usually linked to differences between male and female immune systems. However, mat...

Plankton Change Genes to Combat Climate Change

24 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

2016 was another record-breaker in terms of global temperatures, and it's part of a longer-term trend which has seen 15 of the hottest years on record...

Shark chemical wards off Parkinson's Disease

23 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A chemical found in sharks can block the process that leads to Parkinson's Disease, scientists at Cambridge University have found. Know as squalamine,...

Big Brains Boost Deer

06 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Us humans boast about our big brains but until now, evidence has been scant to suggest that animals also benefit from having larger brains. Cambridge ...

Dissecting a Cheetah

19 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What's your usual Thursday night out? The cinema maybe, or a gig? Well how about a live cheetah dissection at the Royal Veterinary College in London? ...

Climate 'Clamity'

15 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

As the saying goes, "if you don't learn from the past you're doomed to repeat it," or words to that effect; which is why understanding what has happen...

Antidote to Silent Killer

14 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Carbon monoxide poisoning is the common form of poisoning worldwide. Just in the US tens of thousands of people are killed or hospitalised every year ...

Does deforestation drive disease?

12 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

An area of rainforest the size of Panama is lost every year to deforestation and we know habitat loss is probably the leading factor driving extinctio...

Dark Energy Mapped

09 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Dark energy, the mysterious unknown entity which permeates all of space makes up 68% of the universe's total energy. Despite being such a large propo...

A new dimension for graphene production

07 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

2D materials are objects that are only one or two atoms thick. Graphene is the most well known of these but many incredibly thin substances exist. Th...

Bullying increases overweight risk

18 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

We've just come to the end of anti-bullying week and with 25,000 children using Childline's counselling sessions in 2015 to talk about bulling it clea...

Malaria's drug-resistance genes found

16 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Malaria parasites in Cambodia are showing resistance to the front line drug Piperaquine making current treatment useless and putting lives at risk. D...

How to be an astronaut

15 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When you were little did you ever dream of becoming an astronaut? Well Michael Foale did and he actually made it happen. Born in the UK Foale complete...

Quantum leaps in quantum technology

11 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Quantum mechanics describes the properties of light, atoms and the even smaller particles inside atoms, like electrons and protons. On these tiny scal...

Bionic plant sensors

10 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Plants can be good for the planet, nice to look at and often pretty tasty. But what if they were also high tech sensors that we could harness to detec...

Lunar Origins Explained

10 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Compared to a lot of the objects in our solar system the Earth's Moon is a bit unusual. A new theory, published in the journal Nature, explains how t...

Ice-free summers in the Arctic?

09 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Paris agreement is an international climate change treaty signed earlier this year by 192 countries and it aims to mitigate man-made global warmin...

Are aliens out there?

08 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Now is there anybody out there? Or should I say is there anybody out there? Graihagh Jackson phones home to BBC broadcaster Dallas Campbell Like this...

Non-invasive prenatal DNA screening

07 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Conditions like Down's Syndrome, which are caused by babies carrying the wrong numbers of chromosomes in their cells, affect about one pregnancy in ev...

How small lies escalate

27 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

White lies are widely accepted as an integral part of our everyday lives. And yet history has taught us how a series of small transgressions can snowb...

First ever fossilised dinosaur brain found

26 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When most people think of dinosaurs they'll likely conjure up images of the stabbing teeth of the T-rex or the cutting claws of a Velociraptor but wha...

UK opiate deaths double

24 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

According to the Office for National Statistics, the ONS, in England and Wales deaths involving heroin and morphine have more than double since 2012. ...

Gender equality in STEM

23 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

We all know that men aren't really from Mars and women aren't really from Venus, we are both from Earth and there are more similarities between sexes ...

Practising Medicine

17 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

On the 13th of October Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge turned 250 years old. As an established teaching hospital, it trains hundreds of medical st...

A powerful duo against HIV

16 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Over 35 million people worldwide are living with HIV. Treatments cost billions and don't come without significant side effects for the individual. Now...

Hospital Histories

13 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge celebrated its 250th birthday this week. To find out more about the history of the renowned hospital, Georgia Mill...

Balancing the methane budget

09 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Levels in the atmosphere of the greenhouse gas methane released accidentally by the oil and gas industry might be up to 60% higher than climate scient...

Genes linked to friendly dogs

06 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What makes dogs man's - or woman's - best friend? Scientists in Sweden gave a pack of dogs an impossible task to do: pushing along a plate that was ac...

Bee Happy!

05 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Now you'd "bee" forgiven for thinking that bees are just simple insects that buzz about collecting nectar and fertilising flowers. But it turns out th...

Are humans born violent?

04 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

There is a centuries old debate about violence between people - is it something we're born with, or a product of our environment? Understanding the ca...

Is the Bermuda Triangle really cursed?

04 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

For this week's mythconception, Kat Arney investigates the many mysteries surrounding the notorious Bermuda Triangle. Like this podcast? Please help u...

Good fat fights bad fat

03 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Since the 1970s scientists have condemned fats - or lipids - as the culprits that cause heart attacks. But while that's certainly true of some fats, i...

Older drivers drive safely

14 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

We live in an increasingly mobile society, with many of us owning cars and driving around the place for all kinds of reasons - work, leisure, or visit...

How pollution harms your lungs

07 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Air pollution is a growing problem in many parts of the world, as is an increasing incidence of lung and breathing problems. Although the link is clea...

Dawn of the Anthropocene

06 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Is this the dawn of a new era? Or, more accurately, epoch? This week scientists internationally have been voting to create a new geological time defin...

Gold from garbage

05 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

How much gold have you got sitting in your desk drawer or up in the attic? Probably more than you think because a surprisingly large amount of the wor...

The secrets of Ceres

04 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

NASA's space probe Dawn has been orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres, which sits between Jupiter and Mars, for the past eighteen months. The probe is send...

See-through rats bare their brains

25 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists often study disease by examining thin sections of biological tissue under a microscope - a bit like watching a film in 2D. That's fine for ...

Meet the Octobot - the soft robot octopus

24 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a robot. I'm guessing, after decades of droids and terminators, that the machine you're picturing is something metal, rigid and human-shaped. ...

Empathy speeds up learning

22 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Although empathy is often associated with traits like helpfulness and generosity, not a lot is known about how helpful behaviour and empathy might be ...

Why does female fertility fall with age?

11 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It's a well-known fact that, as a woman ages, her chances of falling pregnant drop. And this seems to be driven by a fall in the quality of the eggs t...

Sunflowers dance to their own beat

10 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It's summertime and fields are filled with sunflowers, devotedly following the rising sun. But why do they do it? This is a question that scientists a...

Dinosaurs stuggled with arthritis

09 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time, scientists have found a type of arthritis in dinosaurs and this is important because these creatures have an amazing ability to he...

Great Red Spot storm warms up Jupiter

08 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System - a massive 318 times heavier than Earth - and it has been quite the 'hot spot' for news recently. ...

Zika vaccine breakthrough

08 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Cases of Zika virus infection in Florida are continuing to rise, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued travel advice urging p...

Data Mining Helps Pneumonia Diagnosis

04 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Childhood pneumonia is the number one killer of children under the age of five worldwide. The disease is a particular challenge for those living in d...

New anti-cancer patch

03 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

One in 20 people develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime, making it the second-most common form cancer in Europe. Surgery is an option for treatme...

Chewing robot lives on a paleodiet

20 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers at the University of Helsinki have developed a chewing robot to study the tie between tooth wear and the dietary patterns of animals. Thei...

Power of positive thought

12 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

People who feel well tend to live well. They have a better immunity against infections and lower susceptibility to ill-health. Stress and depression, ...