Naked Scientists Special Editions Podcast

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: sex and the survival of honey bee colonies; why rivers are still recovering from the legacy of acid rain; and collecting coral from the Atlantic seabed. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

NASA's David Blake from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover team and the Open University's Cassini-Huygens space probe pioneer John Zarnecki answer your questions about planetary exploration. This special podcast is an addendum to the August 5th 2012 episode of the Naked Scientists Podcast and contains extra material not included in the published programme. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how dairy farming in Africa 7000 years ago led to the speedy evolution of the gene that lets us digest milk; and how climate change could be having a detrimental effect on seabirds and fish in the Southern Ocean. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how browner drinking water presents problems for the water companies; the effect of street lighting on bats and their commuter routes; and how ultraviolet light makes plants emit methane. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Find out about the exciting new technologies that are revolutionising neuroscience, providing scientists with the tools to unlock the mysteries of the mind and nervous system and paving the way for better treatments for patients. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We find out what happens when your immune system attacks the brain, how a protein providing the architecture of brain connectivity may help to treat people with autism, explore how scientists are using the power of light to cause, and then treat, addiction in mice and get to grips with the potential of neural stem cells in Alzheimer's disease treatment. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists strip down the brain in Spain - attending the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies conference in Barcelona. We find out how your brain computes information, ask if watching worms can tell us about human social interaction, and we explore how we make up our minds when faced with life's choices. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: a look at how urban heat islands will alter under climate change, and how these changes might affect your health, as well as our railways, roads and energy supplies. Also: why Europe's oldest cave art might not have been painted by humans at all. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, we get materialistic to discover how X-rays are being used to improve light emitting diodes , how probing piezoelectric materials could provide a less toxic future and how solar cells are being made more efficient, using DNA! We also celebrate the launch of Diamond's annual report and bring you the latest news and events from the synchrotron including new insight into the movements of comets in our solar system... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how knowing exactly which bees pollinate which crops may help us grow food more sustainably; and a look at the effects of tiny particles called nanomaterials on the environment and our health. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: a look at how technology designed to measure air pollution may soon be used to smell disease on a patient's breath; and the steps British researchers are taking to put a value on all the benefits of nature that we often take for granted. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast - scientists describe why the planet's least understood but most diverse species of coral is under threat. Also, what the meteorite strike that wiped the dinosaurs out would've been like; and why co2 isn't the only greenhouse gas we should be worried about. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: researchers explain why, despite record rainfall, England is in drought. Later, how scientists are using indoor avalanches to figure out where to put buildings and roads. Finally, news of ice loss in Antarctic, and the benefits of bat dung. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Professor John Duncan explores human intelligence and the neurons and circuits in the brain that enable us to have the thoughts, cognition and problem-solving abilities that set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast - we take a closer look at tiny marine plants, which underpin the entire marine food chain and play a vital role in the Earth's climate. Also, how scientists are using volcanic ash called tefra to tell how people may have responded to rapid environmental changes in the recent past. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast, how fungal infections could threaten our food security as well as the planet's amphibians; work under way to understand the ecosystems around the hydrothermal vents in the Southern Ocean; and how it's people, not buildings, that use energy. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast, Richard Hollingham hears about new air-quality monitoring that could help mitigate the effects of bad-air days; the effect of climate change on Mediterranean dwarf elephants; and exactly how many litres of water it took to make his morning coffee. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, we celebrate ten years of Diamond and discover what it takes to get from green field site to functioning synchrotron. We take a look at the wide range of science that's taken place from the probing of viruses to develop vaccines and the exploring of meteorites to understand the formation of our solar system. We also come back to the present day to bring you the latest news and research from the light source... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Cambridge Neuroscientists Dr Michael Hastings and Dr Akhilesh Reddy spoke at the annual Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar about their work on sleep.They discuss the importance of sleep for learning and memory, preventing cancer, the health of your heart, mopping up toxic waste in your body, winning that Olympic Gold medal and why you shouldn't have that midnight kebab! Dr Hannah Critchlow from the Naked Scientists went along to the seminar to discuss their work with them........ Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: Richard Hollingham finds out why the American signal crayfish is driving out one of the UK's native species; in our latest audio diary, Hannah Grist from the University of Aberdeen talks us through her research on European shags; and what noctilucent clouds tell us about our changing climate. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists