They get a bad rap in the movies but just dangerous are they really? Laura, Ellie and Jasmin compare human-shark interactions to other – seemingly less dangerous – activities, and talk about shark behaviour as well as their senses and evolutionary history to figure out their tactics for swimming with sharks.

Read more:

• London’s Natural History Museum for a selection of sharkey facts
• NOAA fisheries for some more fun facts
• The Australian Institute of Marine Science for data on shark attacks and deaths by falling coconuts
• News from the BBC on cocaine sharks
• Statistics from Florida museum about sharks attacking people
• News from the Smithsonian about sharks being scared of orcas
• News from IFL Science about sharks making friends

Did you know you have fungi living in your gut? Ellie and Laura share recent improvement in anti-fungal drugs, the relatively new discovery that fungi are found in many types of cancer and speculate on what this might mean for future cancer therapies. They also consider their own experiences with fungus and how they can bias a person's point of view.

Ellie mentions a book in relation to how fungi in the gut affect mental health: The Immune Mind by Dr. Monty Lyman.

Read more about antifungal drugs as well as fungi in cancer:

• The podcast episode from the journal, Nature, which provides a transcript and excellent summary of antifungal drug development
• A news story in The Guardian about lethal fungal infections
• Well known research about fungi and pancreatic cancer from 2019
• Research from 2022 which surveyed 35 different types of cancer and found evidence of fungi in all of them
• Research from 2023 that replicated the study from 2019 but found no evidence of fungi causing cancer
• An in-depth summary from BBC Future about the effects of bacteria and fungi in cancer

As the world tries to wean itself of fossil fuels, alternative ways of producing and storing energy are being developed. Antonia, Jasmin and Sophie talk about how hydrogen can be used to store energy, different ways it can be created, how developed the technology is, and what hydrogen is currently used for.

Ever wondered what society would look like if we lose our entire infrastructure? Antonia, Jasmin and Ellie discuss how they might survive based on their own science and engineering knowledge combined with inspiration from film and TV. They discuss movies such as Water World, consider where they would look for information if the internet were affected, and examine how global society could be rebuilt in the absence of modern infrastructure that many of us take for granted. It turns out there isn’t a lot of science or engineering to learn from fiction so, perhaps consider this a review of how not to rebuild society.

Do you ever think about how technology like your smartphone has improved with time and wonder how science made it happen? In this episode with an audience from the Engineering Development Trust, Antonia, Laura and Jasmin talk about metals needed in clean energy technology as well other technologies such as hard disk drives and display screens. They debate whether we're replacing fossil fuels with other finite resources and consider efforts to start mining on the moon.

Antonia refers to a report from the International Energy Agency. Laura mentions critical elements identified by the American Chemical Society and by Birmingham University.

Read more about ruthenium used to increase data storage density at Science Daily, Tanaka Precious Metals and a metals trading company. For other uses, see Johnson Matthey's excellent overview,

For uses of indium, see the Royal Society of Chemistry, an overview from a coatings company, and research published in the journals ACS Nano and Nature Electronics.

To find out more about Yttrium, read research published in the journal Nanoscale Advances.

They're used in lots of things but you don't often hear about it. Antonia, Laura and Emma discuss their use in medicine for radiation therapy, electronics and sun screen. They also explain why these tiny particles are so interesting to scientists.

References:

The study about zinc nanoparticles and lung cells was summarised for the media in 2012 but advice from experts explains why you should wwar suncreen.

The Antibacterial Mechanism of Silver Nanoparticles and Its Application in Dentistry, published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine in 2020

The fascinating world of nanoparticle research, published in Materials Today in 2013

Nanoparticle-based radiosensitization strategies for improving radiation therapy, published in Frontiers In Pharmacology in 2023

A review on nanoparticles: characteristics, synthesis, applications, and challenges, published in Frontiers in Microbiology in 2023

Gold Nanoparticles as Radiosensitizers in Cancer Radiotherapy, published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine in 2020

Biological mechanisms of gold nanoparticle radiosensitization, published in Cancer Nanotechnology in 2017

Do you find activists like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil annoying or do you support their fervour? Laura, Antonia and Jasmin discuss whether there is any evidence that their disruptive tactics will convince companies and governments to take more drastic action to curb the climate emergency. They look at why people might join a cause and whether facts or emotion are the most powerful tool an activist can use to persuade.

The team mention a report from the Tyndall Centre for Friends of the Earth which shows that plans for expansion of air travel contradicted targets for greenhouse gas emissions and became the basis for a peer-reviewed journal publication and was also used by protestors at the Heathrow Airport Climate Camp in 2007.

They also mention expert insight from social scientists shared in a news article, a commentary in a journal and analysis of the anti-vaccination movement as well as how celebrities like Joe Lycett hold organisations to account.

We've seen lots of news stories about a global sand shortage but what's really going on? Ellie, Antonia and Laura (joined by Ellie's cat Sparkles) analyse the facts, look at what sand is used for, discuss the effect that sand supplies have on people and the environment and speculate on what should be done next.

Read some of the news coverage, digest some sandy facts explained using handy graphics, read the most recent report from the United Nations, or read the research that uncovers how sand mining is affecting porpoise.