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.
Has Curiosity found life on Mars?
Last week scientists attending the American Geophysical Union meeting in California unveiled measurements made on Mars by the Curisoity rover, which has been exploring the red planet for the last 2 years. What Curiosity has uncovered are organic molecules and also periodic puffs of methane gas, both of which might…
Feeling old shortens your life
People often talk about feeling their age, but how old you say you feel is strongly linked to your life expectancy. A new study at UCL in London has shown that people who feel their age, or feel even older than their real chronological are almost 40% more likely to…
Machine makes people more empathic
There's the old saying that if you want to understand someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. But what if you could walk in their actual body? Thanks to virtual reality headsets, this is now - at least virtually - possible. And by fooling people into thinking they…
Foraging for Fossils
How do we know about the ancient animals that used to roam the Earth? If all life got its start in the sea, then why do most animals now live on land?Sara Sjosten went behind the scenes at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Science with Sarah Finney to find out…
ReCAPTACHA with Luis von Ahn
Luis von Ahn invented CAPTCHA - the system that uses a picture of a word to determine whether you are a human or a computer. But when von Ahn realised just how much time was being wasted by filling in CAPTCHAs he wondered whether that man-power could be used for…
The science behind fasting
What's the science behind the so-called 5:2 or intermittent fasting diet?
Does your dog understand you?
Does your dog pay attention to what you say? Thinking back to the last time it rolled in something stinky, or ran off with your socks, you may not be convinced. But new research from the University of Sussex shows that man's best friend is at least listening; and not…
Ebola Sierra Leone
Marie Blackman Northword is a biomedical scientists normally based in Cambridge, but at the moment she is working at the newly opened Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone. She spoke to Chris Smith about her experiences.
Religion and nature
Religion and nature might have more to do with each other than you thought. In the biggest study of its kind, a team of evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, linguists and religious scholars examined the religions of societies from around the world to see if there was any link between where they…
Body Clocks
Are you a morning person or a night owl? Whichever you are, your daily rhythm is determined by your circadian clock - powered by a small group of cells in the brain - and it tells you when to get up and when to sleep. Now Professor Bill Wisden and…
Shift Work
Researchers say that doing anti-social shifts over many years can dent your brain power. In other words you can't think straight. The team collected data from three thousand workers in France, who underwent memory and other tests of brain function. Individuals who had worked shifts for over ten years had…
How wildcats became kitty cats
Just a handful of genetic changes are what turned wildcats into domestic pets, scientists have now shown. And many of these changes are linked with genes that affect how the brain processes rewards and pleasure. In other words, humans won over cats by appealing to their desire for kitty treats…
Women in Science
What do you do to fight gender inequality? Record a single on the subject, of course.Hannah Critchlow spoke to Tim Bussey, professor, budding rock star and performer behind this re-release from the 80s.
Healthy Looking Leaders
Would you prefer your prime minister, president, or beloved leader to look healthy, intelligent, or both? Researchers from the VU University of Amsterdam say that given the choice, people prioritise healthy-looking candidates over intelligent ones.
Imaging the Genome
The quest to understand the fundamental rules governing life has taken another step forward, as new research from the University of Cambridge reveals.
ELife Episode 15: Flu, Cannabis and HIV
In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about influenza pandemics, eating too much, cannabis and the brain, HIV cure research, and the evolution of sea squirts…
Foreign species invading the UK
As international trade increases, particularly by sea, we're seeing more stowaways; but not of the human variety. Scientists are reporting that animals and plants are hitching rides around the world on boats - and even on fishing tackle. They then setup home in other countries where, with nothing to eat…
Detection Dogs
Whilst Magic - a young golden retriever - may love chasing a stick, curling up on a rug and enjoying a biscuit as much as the next dog, he is certainly no ordinary dog. Trained by Milton Keynes based organisation Medical Detection Dogs, he can sniff out when his owner…
14.09.30
This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: Tamara Galloway, Matt Cole and Ceri Lewis of the University of Exeter talk about their research on the effects of fragments of plastics from food packaging, drinks bottles and even facial scrubs on marine wildlife.
Your nose knows death is imminent
Until recently when technology took over, a coal miner's best friend was a caged canary that would warn of a build-up of life-threatening gases. Now US scientists are saying that the sense of smell is the coalmine canary of human health, with people who fail a smell test being at…