Special Editions
Probing the weird, wacky and spectacular, the Naked Scientists Special Editions are special one-off scientific reports, investigations and interviews on cutting-edge topics by the Naked Scientists team.
Self-cleaning surfaces
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
Wuhan City coronavirus: an update
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…
Towards an HIV cure
Around the world, millions of people are infected with the AIDS virus, HIV. And although drug treatments can successfully suppress the virus to undetectable levels, rather like taking your foot off the brake in a car parked on a hill, if you stop taking the medication, the virus rapidly returns…
Doug Cockle: The voice of The Witcher
Naked Gaming Podcast presenters Chris Berrow and Leigh Milner catch up with voice of "The Witcher" video game series, Doug Cockle to find out what he thinks of the latest Netflix TV show... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
Motor neuron disease: a link to cholesterol
Motor neuron disease, in its many different forms, affects about one in every 2,500 people in the UK - it's incurable, and can be debilitating, as over time you lose control of parts of your body. But now scientists from the University of Exeter have a new theory about how…
Smokers: less dependent, less likely to quit
One other lifestyle change people tend to embrace at this time of year is to quit smoking. And the good news is that, according to a study from University College London, you're in very good company and, on the whole, cigarette consumption is dropping. Phil Sansom spoke to the study's…
CO2-consuming bacteria
Scientists have found a way to make organisms not need food at all. Bacteria usually rely on some sort of sugar to survive, but a group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel made a population of a common bacteria able to feed on carbon dioxide, very much like…
Large planet orbiting a white dwarf
And now onto something out of this World. For the first time, scientists have found evidence of a giant, Neptune-size planet orbiting a white dwarf star. This was previously not thought to be possible due to the destructive energy low-mass stars, such as our Sun, emit to the surrounding solar…
The voice of Ash from Pokemon!
Join the Naked Gaming Podcast team for a special bonus episode, with an in-depth interview with the voice of Ash Ketchum from the pokemon TV series. What was it like getting the job, where did the voice come from, and which other characters did she play? Like this podcast? Please…
The Holly and the Ivy: why go evergreen?
Taking a leaf from the holly and the ivy's book, Katie Haylor explores the virtue of being evergreen...? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
Why are Christmas trees a thing?
How did the popular concept of Christmas trees get started? Extolling the virtues of a real tree, including a superior short-term carbon footprint and a nicer smell, Adam Murphy explains how the tree tradition began... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
AI to Detect Tuberculosis
The lung disease tuberculosis is still one of the world's top ten causes of death. And while it's completely treatable, patients need constant monitoring to make sure the treatment is working. The monitoring is fairly labour-intensive: it requires taking a sample of phlegm and counting the bacteria inside by eye…
How measles suppresses immunity for years
Measles was thought to have been eradicated from the UK in 2017, but following an outbreak the very next wear, we lost this elimination status. Measles is a highly infectious disease that can quickly spread through the unvaccinated population with a high complication rate involving pneumonia, gastroenteritis and even encephalitis…
Deprivation and male depression
Mental health awareness has been improving in the past few years, but there still isn't universal, accessible support for vulnerable people. A recent study carried out by members of the University of Cambridge might help develop targeted support: it showed that the environment in which people live is correlated to…
Avalanche survivor: Lawrence's story
In 2001 Lawrence Jones set out on a freeskiing trip with his mates. It was not the first adventure trip they had been on, but it was the last one that any of them took lightly again. An avalanche turned Lawrence's holiday from fun to tragedy within the space of…
Climate change: what does net zero look like?
The UN Climate Change Conference - COP 25 - has been taking place in Madrid. The purpose of the conference is to take the next crucial steps in implementing the global carbon-cutting proposals agreed 4 years ago in Paris. But where are we on the road towards a carbon-neutral future,…
Why planting trees isn't always a good idea
This is a response to a story we covered earlier this year about planting trees for climate change. A study in the journal Science claimed that the Earth has space for an extra billion hectares of trees; and if they were planted, it would lock away enough carbon dioxide to…
Lakes, carbon and microbes: a hidden world
While forests do a great job of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, as soon as the trees decompose, all that carbon goes straight back up again. And a new study has investigated how that decomposition works inside freshwater lakes. Scientists have found that what was traditionally just called…
Food micronutrient-protecting capsules
If you have access to a healthy, balanced diet, hopefully you'll be getting adequate supply of micronutrients. Going without can lead to serious health consequences. Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in kids globally, and is a major public health issue in some parts of the…
Staphylococcus aureus biofilm vaccine
A vaccine that can protect against infection with the skin bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which causes everything from wound and joint infections to impetigo and pneumonia, has been developed by scientists in the US. Apart from increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, what makes Staph infections hard to treat is that the…