The Naked Scientists Podcast

In the news this week, we start by asking whether we should start preparing to combat election interference in the wake of the breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. A study is out this week linking lower levels of grey matter in the brain's frontel cortex with an increased likelihood of taking up smoking - we speak to one of the authors. Will Russia's first mission to the moon in 50 years be a success? Plus, an analysis of the impacts of climate change on butterrfly numbers in the UK, and our Question of the Week relates to the states of matter and their relationships with each other... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we'll explore the origins of nuclear weapons and how they have changed modern warfare. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we'll find out about preparations for the next pandemic and "disease X"; the link between a noticeably enlarged part of the human brain and obesity; and how honey sweetened the deal for an injured cricketer! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Another month, another brilliant panel, another romp through your mind bending questions. Physicists Tony Padilla and Toby Wiseman, archaeologist Emma Pomeroy and educator Andrew Morris help Chris Smith explain whether electricity in our bodies is the same as in our houses, how we can detect the collision of 2 black holes from here on Earth, and why Graham's number doesn't bear thinking about too deeply... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, we're turning to the subject of hydrogen and its potential to play a role as a cleaner fuel in future. Could hydrogen be the answer to our energy conundrum? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Sweltering temperatures wreak havoc across Europe and North America, so what needs to be done to bring them down? We hear from the Cambridge scientist who wants to create the largest ever DNA and health research programme for children and young people. And, did aliens crash-land on Mars? Strange pictures resembling a crash site have been circulating but is there a more mundane explanation? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's been quite the ride in the realm of artifical intelligence over the past year or so. As impressive as advancements in machine learning have been, however, few experts are worried about bots taking our jobs and threatening our safety as a species. The truth is, tools like ChatGPT are not the way AI is going to prove most helpful in the short term. We scratch below the surface to explain how, with more carefully trained programmes, the real potential of chatbots can and is being unlocked... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

A new drug in the fight against Alzheimer's disease: how does it work? Plus, we'll also have the latest on measles cases in London, look at the calls to reset the lunar clock, and could algae help people who are seeking to increase vitamin B12 in their diet? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We'll be exploring depression, what causes it, and whether antidepressants or other treatments hold the key to solving it. Amongst our guests is psychologist Gordon Harold, speaking on how depression manifests in patients, and we'll also hear from psychiatrists on both sides of the antidepressant debate: Hamish McAllister Williams and Joanna Moncrieff. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

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It's a Question and Answer special this week. You supply the questions and we pose them to a panel of expert guests. Joining us this time, biologist and author Tom Ireland, marine scientist Liberty Denman, chemistry writer Philip Broadwith, and comedien Rosie Wilby. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Many people don't recognise light pollution at night for what it is: pollution. Largely, we fail to see this harmful introduction into the environment because we have been conditioned to associated light with good and darkness with badness. It's time to change that. In this episode, we explore the various implications of artifical light at night and speak to the activists trying to put a stop to it. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this week's show, we speak to a former navy commander about the Titan sub, do our decision-makers ignore evidence when making scientific policy? And the new telescope that is hoping to explore the dark side of the cosmos... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

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The plan to beam-in solar power from space, ways to incentivise sharing trustworthy material on social media, and do ill fish run a fever like we do? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

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As the UK's Covid inquiry kicks off, will it help to transform how we tackle future pandemics? How an AI is writing its own computer code, speeding up the Internet; and using gene therapy for cat contraception. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Researchers around the world are naming a new kind of dinosaur every week on average at the moment - what's behind this golden age of palaeontology? We talk to scientists, museum staff and amateur fossil hunters to find out about some of the most recent breakthroughs in the field, including new techniques looking for fossilised DNA still present in the samples stored away in curators' collections... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists