Naked Scientists Special Editions Podcast

The risk of bringing home coronavirus on your groceries is very low, but what's the best way to minimise the threat? Chris Smith explains... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As our high streets are becoming increasingly deserted by humans, it's becoming apparent that we aren't the only creatures roaming our cities. Birds are still chirping away out there. A city is not a natural place for a bird, but some species manage to thrive. Intelligence was once thought to be the deciding factor, but maybe that's not the whole story, as put forward by new research in Nature Ecology and Evolution. Melanie Jans-Singh found out more from UCL's Alexander Pigot... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As the lockdown tightens and a quarter of the world's population are forced to stay at home, Chris Smith and RNZ's Kim Hill link up to talk about the latest coronavirus facts. They explore whether facemasks protect you or just lead to a false sense of security, herd immunity and our lockdown exit strategy, why some people suffer more severe infections than others, and if antibodies from recovered Covid-19 victims can help those dying from the disease... Also, the brilliant Coronavirus Rhapsody sung by Adrian Grimes with lyrics by Dana Jay Bein and music by Queen. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space-grown lettuce may sound like something from science-fiction, but astronauts on the International Space Station, or ISS, have been enjoying their leafy greens since mid 2015, thanks to NASA's Veggie plant growth system. Megan McGregor spoke to Gioia Massa, project scientist at Kennedy Space Centre, and Howard Griffiths from the University of Cambridge... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As the UK goes into lock-down and the government announces unprecedented spending to support businesses and workers, Chris Smith rejoins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill to discuss the scientific basis for these tactics, and how the story will end... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Last year scientists from the University of Exeter discovered that staring at seagulls can discourage them from stealing your food. Not content with saving the chips of many a seaside tourist, they have now discovered that herring gulls are more likely to interact with food after it has been touched by humans. But how exactly do you test a seagull's preferred snack? Megan McGregor spoke to the study's lead author, Madeleine Goumas, to find out more... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Every household across the world produces wastewater. While usually we think of it as waste that has to be treated, a new study by the UN Institute for Water, in the National Resources Forum, conceives of wastewater as a largely untapped resource. The scientists, led by Manzoor Qadir, have estimated the total amount of wastewater in the world. This is the first comprehensive study that includes places with little recorded data. According to its result, the total amount of wastewater produced per year globally could cover the entire land in the world (minus Antarctica) by 1 metre. Melanie... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As the focus shifts to Europe, now regarded as the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, Chris Smith rejoins Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill to debate whether the UK stance, currently at odds with the reaction seen across the rest of Europe, is the right one. They ask, how effective are travel bans, why Italy has been so hard hit, why children don't seem to be getting sick, and the influence of the weather on the spread of SARS-Cov-2... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, new hearing tests to spot those likely to struggle with speech in noisy environments, how your DNA is at risk from hacking on a public database, plants with three parents, researchers recreate endometriosis in mice and show that cannabis might be an effective treatment, and the nerve fibres that make us like a cuddle. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Chris Smith rejoined Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill on Saturday 29th February as New Zealand declares its first case of Covid-19. So far the novel coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people and caused over 2,800 deaths. They review the on-going situation and how the world is reacting... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Cannabis has all sorts of effects on the body, including - it seems - on memory. A new study has shown that questioning people who are acutely high on cannabis makes them more vulnerable to forming false memories makes them more vulnerable to forming false memories; like remembering something differently to how it happened, or remembering something that never happened at all. Here, scientists from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands put high participants in a virtual reality simulation where they either witnessed or committed a crime, and then interrogated them shortly after. Phil... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Zoos are big players in conservation, investing 750 million dollars in conserving species in the wild. Researchers from Trinity College Dublin discovered, maybe unsurprisingly, that zoos with more visitors are able to contribute more to conservation projects. But what exactly gets people to visit a zoo? Megan McGregor spoke to the study's lead author, Andrew Mooney... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Listener Paul got in touch wondering, given that diamonds are made of carbon, how big a diamond you could make if you turned all the carbon atoms in a lump of coal into a sparkler. Would it make a worthwhile engagement ring? Getting her hands dirty to find out the answer, here's Cambridge University materials scientist Megan McGregor... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Ancient wasp nests have enabled scientists to, for the first time, accurately pinpoint the ages of rock paintings dating back thousands of years in a remote part of Australia. And the picture that emerges is one of the continent's earliest human inhabitants getting to grips with climate change. Speaking with Chris Smith, Damien Finch is based at the University of Melbourne but works in what's arguably one of the most beautiful places on Earth... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Chris Smith joined Radio New Zealand National's Kim Hill on Saturday 1st February in the wake of the World Health Organisation's decision to declare the Chinese coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency. They review the on-going situation and consider the likely trajectory the disease will follow around the world... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Chris Smith appeared on Radio New Zealand National to speak with Kim Hill 0n 25th January 2020 to discuss the emerging coronavirus situation in Wuhan City, China. Here they discuss the origins of this virus, the risks posed by the outbreak, and the reaction of the World Health Organisation... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Have these paralysed patients helped to reveal the brain basis of why we gesticulate when we talk? Also, new insights into how the body clock keeps track of the seasons, signs that immunity to Zika virus wanes with time, why human body temperature is lower than it was 150 years ago, and diversity in science: how can we better hold on to rare talent? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Daily Mile is a programme for primary school children, that gets them to spend 15 minutes jogging or running at their own pace during the school day. The programme's name comes from the fact that for most children, fifteen minutes of running will see them covering about one mile. The initiative, which is over and above timetabled breaks and PE classes, has been adopted by 10,500 schools and nurseries world-wide. But until recently there have been no large scale studies looking at the impact of the programme. Researchers from the University of Birmingham, with the help of 40 Birmingham... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have developed a new cling-film-like wrap that can be used to coat objects to make them bacteria-, water- and dust-repellent. Inventor Tohid Didar explains to Amalia Thomas how it works... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

An update on the emerging viral infection from Wuhan City, in China: the disease was first picked up by the Chinese in early December and notified to the World Health Organisation at the start of January. The source appears to be a food market in Wuhan City, and the virus itself is a newly-identified member of a viral family called coronaviruses. Speaking with Chris Smith, Neil Ferguson... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists