The Naked Scientists Podcast

This week - How do glow worms glow, and can they do so indefinitely? Why don't birds fall out of trees when they sleep? And space tourism: when can I book my ticket to orbit? We've assembled an expert panel to answer your science questions - Richard Hollingham, space and science journalist; Keziah Latham, optometrist; Peter Cowley, tech investor, and Sophie Mowles, behavioural ecologist. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we're diving into the bins and sorting through the rubbish to figure out: what's going on with recycling? Many countries like the UK produce far more recyclable waste than they can deal with, and ever since China stopped importing most types of rubbish last year, we've seen crisp packets and margarine tubs piling up in illegal dumps abroad. So is our recycling system still working, and what does the future hold? Plus, in the news, a new drug that tricks the flu, and the artificial leaf that can turn carbon dioxide into fuel... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're taking a look at blood, from regenerating blood vessels, to one of our team going to their first blood donation! Plus in the news, concerns that Ebola might be back with a vengeance in future: 60% more often and with 4 times the impact; plus NASA's first all-female spacewalk: we hear from one of the astronauts involved... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Rugby World Cup is taking place in Japan, and FIFA 20 has just been released, so this month it's a sport special! Including Virtual Reality Go Karting... yes really. And we meet the author who was inspired to write poetry by playing Super Mario! New reviews include Mario Kart Tour, Trine 4 and Untitled Goose Game. For Retro Revival it's Darksiders 2 on the Nintendo Switch and Apple Arcade. With Chris Berrow and Leigh Milner. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, computers are supposedly there to help us - but how easy are they to use and programme if you're disabled? We're looking at how to make computing as inclusive as it can be. Plus, news of the Nobel Prizes announced this week, a new test to find out whether chemotherapy will work for your individual cancer, and the whales that whisper to their young! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Half a million genomes. That's how many the UK Biobank has, stored as blood samples in freezers up in Manchester. And in September 2019 they announced a project to sequence every single one of them. It's the obvious next step for the UK Biobank, the research study that began in 2006 and now consists of an enormous biological database: the personal and medical information of its 500,000 volunteers. That data is available to any researcher who applies to use it. But how is this, the biggest whole-genome sequencing project ever, going to work? Who's coughing up the hundreds of millions of pounds... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's Q&A time! This week - is AI a threat to humanity? What's a panic attack? And why does being scared make your legs wobble? We're answering your questions about science, technology, and medicine with our panel of experts. We've got university of Cambridge AI specialist Beth Singler; Naked Scientist and host of Naked Genetics Phil Sansom; Olivia Remes to chat to us about anxiety and mental health; and physiologist Sam Virtue, also from the University of Cambridge. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week - gene therapy. We talk to researchers using DNA technology to prevent blindness, halt muscular dystrophy, and even potentially cure HIV. Plus, what climate change means for the state of the world's oceans, a new satellite to take the Earth's temperature, and scientists discover the world's first baby bottles - and the milk that was in them - from thousands of years ago... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, doctors doing U-turns: the medical practices without much evidence to prop them up, wind-tunnel experiments reveal how geese fly at extreme altitudes, why mating makes bees go blind, stress remodelling the brain's myelin, and what goes on during a stint aboard the International Space Station? Join Chris Smith for a look inside the latest papers in eLife... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're taking a look through the window, or rather, at the window: we're looking at glass! Coming up, how do you make glass, how does stained glass work, and is bullet-proof glass really bulletproof? And in the news: Why birds are in big trouble, swimming the channel, scratching an itch, and treating tinnitus... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists