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.
What can we learn from Nasa's Dawn probe?
After a seven and a half year journey, and with a price tag just shy of half a billion Dollars, NASA's Dawn spacecraft finally has the asteroid Ceres in its sights. Ceres is a massive asteroid which sits among a clutch of much smaller boulders, pebbles and dust out beyond…
FameLab: the snapping shrimp
FameLab is a competition where scientists battle it out to be the best at giving engaging short talks on their favourite areas of research. Six Cambridge-based finalists have been chosen by a panel of judges and we're hearing from a selection of them. In this episode we meet Daphne Ezer…
Holes give diamonds their colour
Using a new super powerful electron microscope, scientists have discovered tiny holes are responsible for giving brown diamonds their colour.
Space Worms
Worms are about to help scientists to boldly go where no researcher has been before, by venturing into space to help us to understand how changes in gravity might affect our DNA. Although scientists don't think that the physical genetic letters of DNA can be altered by low-gravity space travel,…
Detecting dark matter
It makes up most of the stuff in our universe, but we can't see it or weigh it - but we know it has to be there. This elusive substance is dark matter, and according to a new paper in the journal Nature Physics this week, it's all around us…
Postitive thinking improves your health
Has anyone ever told you to lose a few pounds? Get a bit more active? Work harder in school? We can sometimes become a bit defensive when given this type of advice even if we know it's probably the right thing to do. Now scientists have revealed how a simple…
From venom to medicine
A novel approach to detecting interactions between scorpion venom and its target molecule could aid in the discovery of new drugs for treatment of a wide range of nerve disorders.
ELife episode 17: Stress, fertility and remote-controlled sperm
In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about controlling sperm by optogenetics, hibernation, body clocks, enzyme structure, and a way to overcome stress-induced infertility.
Differences between male and female brains
Your brain is more complex and powerful than the world's biggest supercomputer, built while you're a baby growing in the womb from the recipes encoded in your genes. But how do your growing brain cells know which genes to use? The answer comes from epigenetic modifications - the special chemical…
Mitochondrial Diseases: 3 Parent Embryos
What are so-called "3 parent embryos", and what are the arguments for allowing it? Hannah Critchlow discussed the issues with MP Julian Huppert, who supported the recent motion to permit the process in the House of Commons…
Chicks can count too!
Humans do it. Primates do it. And now it's been found out that birds can also do it - 3 day old chickens have been shown to order numbers low to high, from left to right - just like on a ruler! The findings, published in Science, could indicate that…
How close are we to the next mass extinction?
Around 250 million years ago our world was a very different place. Rather than the different continents we know today, there was only one giant land mass - Pangea - covered with plants and animals. But then something went horribly wrong. Over a few million years, more than 95 per…
Nano-Scale Quill Pen
Quill pens might be about to make a comeback - but not in a stationers! Because researchers have developed a nano-scale ink pen that can be used to control the shapes of polymers that can be used to make superfast computers. Polymers are are giant chemical structures made by linking…
Super-slippery, water repellent surfaces
A new breed of super metals, that are extremely water repellent have been created. Their potential applications range from rust and frost free aircraft to self-cleaning toilets. Danielle Blackwell spoke to Prof. Chunlei Guo from the University of Rochester to find out more…
Sea turtle sat nav
Sea turtles follow unique magnetic signatures to return to their home beaches to lay their eggs.
Crashing Cars
Over 3000 people are killed on the world's roads every day with further 20-50 million people left injured or disabled. And whilst the number of serious injuries have come down - one type of injury -damage to the spinal cord - has remained stubbornly high. The car company Volvo have…
Geese fly over the Himalayas like a roller coaster
Bar-headed geese reach altitudes of several thousand meters in their annual migration across the world's highest mountain range. A new study shows that they have a peculiar way to save energy on this long journey, as Khalil Thirlaway finds out from Dr. Charles Bishop of Bangor University…
Can cycling keep you younger?
A common New year's resolution is to hit the gym and get fit. But while most people might give up and return to the comfort of the sofa by February, research suggests that being physically active for your whole life has big health benefits. But can it slow down the…
Could a brain scan predict your future?
Could a brain scan predict your weight, your school grades and your happiness levels two years down the line?
Cartoons are deadly (for lead roles)
Whether it's an outing to the cinema or gathered in the living room, films are a great way to spend time as a family at Christmas. If children are involved, the choice of title will often be made with them in mind. Reservoir Dogs might be shelved in favour of…