Synopsis
The Naked Scientists flagship science show brings you a lighthearted look at the latest scientific breakthroughs, interviews with the world's top scientists, answers to your science questions and science experiments to try at home.
Episodes
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Huntington's treatment, and the High Seas Treaty
26/09/2025 Duration: 37minOn today's show:, scientists successfully treat Huntington's disease for the first time, slowing the disease by at least 75%: we hear how they've done it. Also, the High Seas Treaty takes a step closer to protecting the world's oceans. And the Earth-sized planet not that far away that might have conditions suitable for life. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Lung cancer: looking at the latest developments
23/09/2025 Duration: 32minLung cancer is one of the world's biggest killers. Today, we explore why, and how medical research into this disease is seeing the development of better diagnostic tools, cancer treatments and even a vaccine to prevent tumours from taking hold in the first place... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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US-UK nuclear deal, and forensics for plastic pollution
19/09/2025 Duration: 33minIn the news podcast, the US and the UK have forged a long-term nuclear alliance - but what will it really deliver? We also examine a new study on whether smoking cannabis makes it harder to get pregnant. And we'll be hearing from a forensic scientist who is using detective work to rid our oceans of plastic. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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A decade of detecting gravitational waves
16/09/2025 Duration: 35minTo celebrate 10 years since they were first detected, we're examining gravitational waves. What are they? And how do we find them? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Ancient Mars bacteria, and 'fugitive' methane leaks
12/09/2025 Duration: 35minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, the strongest hint yet of life on Mars. Should we get excited? Or is it another red herring? Also ahead: The first new UK-wide study of babies in 25 years. We'll find out why it matters. Plus, an ancient lizard-like fossil is discovered on the coast of Devon. We'll uncover the significance... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Made in orbit: How to sustain life in space
09/09/2025 Duration: 34minWhat does it take to build a society in space? Today on the Naked Scientists, we explore efforts to make microgravity amenable to humans; including how to harvest energy, make fresh food, and even birth the next generation of space explorers... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Energy drinks curb, and biting back against beetles
05/09/2025 Duration: 35minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists: A new test to detect Alzheimer's disease long before symptoms first appear. Also, the study showing Earth can sequester only a tenth of the carbon we thought it could. And, how drones, traps and sniffer dogs are protecting the UK's timber industry from beetle attack... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Is AI changing the way we think?
02/09/2025 Duration: 34minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, from bogus scientific papers and misleading made-up "facts", to potentially curtailing our critical thinking, we look at the effect that mass adoption of AI might be having on the way we think, the decisions we make and the information we learn and act on... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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First pig lung transplant, and the origins of dark energy
29/08/2025 Duration: 33minToday on the Naked Scientists: a pig lung is transplanted into a man in China, but what was the outcome? Also, scientists have a theory for the origins of Dark Energy - and it makes sense that a black hole might be the source! And, why the dawn chorus is starting earlier and finishing later these days: what's getting into wildlife? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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What can we do about hair loss?
26/08/2025 Duration: 36minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, we look at the science of hair, why we suffer hair loss, treatments that can slow hair loss, whether wigs are any good, and what happens during a hair transplant? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Apple wins privacy row, and microbes dictate chocolate taste
22/08/2025 Duration: 34minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, Apple locked horns with the UK government who were demanding a security back door through the company's encryption. What was the outcome? Also, scientists discover the secret to the tastiest chocolate - it's all down to microbes. And, archaeologists uncover the earliest evidence yet of our ancestors using stone tools... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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What Niger's AMR outbreak means for the world
19/08/2025 Duration: 31minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, why we need to pay closer attention to antimicrobial resistance in some of the world's poorest nations... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Decoding our inner voice, and hunting for life on Mars
15/08/2025 Duration: 36minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists: the scientists who think they can decode the thoughts we hear in our heads. Also ahead: do ultra-processed foods make it much harder to lose weight? Plus, we hear from the PhD student who is aiding the search for life on Mars... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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'Three-parent babies' prevent inherited genetic condition
12/08/2025 Duration: 26minJames Tytko explores the science behind 'three-parent' embryos: the incredible medical procedure that prevents children from inheriting incurable mitochondrial diseases. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Medicinal microbes for kidney stones, and musky mice
08/08/2025 Duration: 31minIn the news, why a dose of bacteria might be the solution to combating kidney stones. What tooth enamel tells us about the lives and diets of dinosaurs. And what the world's most abundant insects can teach robots... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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A 21st century guide to hunting dinosaur fossils
05/08/2025 Duration: 33minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, we are on the hunt for dinosaurs as we explore how cutting edge tech, chisels, and canoes go hand in hand when changing the way we view our prehistoric past... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Old drug new tricks, and a sensational bionic leg
01/08/2025 Duration: 31minIn the news, an old drug heralds a new treatment for the gut parasite Cryptosporidium; the bionic-knee that anticipates where amputees want to go to make movements much more natural; and why we're spotting more Near-Earth Objects, and whether one may hit us. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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The science of modern warfare
29/07/2025 Duration: 30minIn this edition of The Naked Scientists, how is science helping to shape the future of warfare? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Malaria bites back, and the lunar base race
25/07/2025 Duration: 38minIn the news podcast, what's causing the uptick in malaria cases in Africa? Also, scientists show statistically that the sex of a baby at birth is not random, and South Korea joins the throng in the race for settling on the Moon. Then, we hear how computer scientists are programming ethical AI to explain its decision making, and, sticking with AI, what are some of the environmentally friendly projects seeking to offset machine learning's vast energy consumption? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Vivaldi: The data revolution coming to care homes
22/07/2025 Duration: 30minThere are more than sixteen thousand care homes across the UK, housing around half a million people. Staggering numbers. They are meant to be places of safety, support, and quiet, relaxed companionship for the people who live and work in them. But when COVID-19 arrived, they became one of the pandemic's deadliest frontlines. In a bid to see what might be possible, the Vivaldi Study - a nationwide effort to gather data from inside care homes - was launched. Can better data improve the lives of people in care homes? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists