Episodes

  • Amazing animals: bats on treadmills, and showering elephants

    Amazing animals: bats on treadmills, and showering elephants
    Nov 22 2024
    In this animal-themed edition of the news: What prompted scientists to put vampire bats on a treadmill? Also ahead: why medicinal leeches are returning to the UK's waterways. Plus, the spiders that know what kind of food will satisfy their dietary needs. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    33 mins
  • Are we on track to end new infections of HIV?

    Are we on track to end new infections of HIV?
    Nov 19 2024
    On today's programme, we are going to examine attempts to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by the end of the decade.The AIDS pandemic is unarguably the worst health threat to confront the population in the modern era. We believe close to 100 million people have died of the disease so far since it first emerged in the early 1900s.It's proved a very tough nut to crack; when I first went to medical school in 1993, a patient with advanced AIDS and just weeks away from dying came to speak to us.That rarely happens in first world countries these days thanks to breakthrough scientific... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    35 mins
  • The stakes at COP29, and the rogue Skynet satellite

    The stakes at COP29, and the rogue Skynet satellite
    Nov 15 2024
    This episode of The Naked Scientists: what's at stake at this year's UN climate summit in Azerbaijan? Also, the 80 million-year-old fossil revealing how birds came by their big brains; and why the UK's oldest satellite has wandered off over the Americas... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    31 mins
  • Can weight loss jabs tackle the obesity pandemic?

    Can weight loss jabs tackle the obesity pandemic?
    Nov 12 2024
    In this edition of The Naked Scientists, could weight loss jabs help shrink the size of the global obesity crisis... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    32 mins
  • Pompeii DNA, and a black hole feeding faster than it should

    Pompeii DNA, and a black hole feeding faster than it should
    Nov 8 2024
    New NICE guidance urges HRT as a first-line treatment for menopause symptoms, the enormous black hole that doesn't obey our existing laws of physics, and what DNA analysis is revealing about the people who inhabited Pompeii... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    31 mins
  • How do we reduce harms to children from smartphones?

    How do we reduce harms to children from smartphones?
    Nov 5 2024
    Initially, the upside to children having access to a supercomputer in their pockets seemed obvious: immediate access to the reams of educational information on the internet, seamless communications with their friends, a source of constant entertainment. But as mental ill health amongst our youngsters continues to rise, many are pointing to smartphones, and particularly the social media platforms on them, as mainly to blame.Today, we'll hear what the screen age is doing to our stone age brains, how adolescents and adults differ in their social media activity, and discuss what the evidence says... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    31 mins
  • Monkeypox in the UK, and the lost Mayan city

    Monkeypox in the UK, and the lost Mayan city
    Nov 1 2024
    In this edition of The Naked Scientists: The UK detects its first case of the new Mpox variant, but some are saying what took us so long; also the discovery of a lost city beneath the jungle canopy in Mexico; and the robots helping Cambridge scientists understand the evolution of fish... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    37 mins
  • Could technology swing the race for the White House?

    Could technology swing the race for the White House?
    Oct 29 2024
    The US election between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is going down to the wire. Indeed, this has been described by many as the closest presidential election ever seen. Inevitably, with tensions so high on either side, the cry of electoral interference is a common one. But just how is today's technology being used to sway voter opinion, and by how much? That's what we seek to uncover on this week's programme... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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    32 mins