Episodes

  • How termites build their nests, and drivers of new diseases

    How termites build their nests, and drivers of new diseases
    Jun 18 2024
    This month, how human encroachment and conflict on nature drives emerging diseases, the role of "stigmergy" in guiding the nest-building feats of termites, a project to track infectious abortions in Africa, why people need to speak the same language around neurodiversity, and what fat flies are revealing about the way weight gain affects food-related recall... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    34 mins
  • Hibernation, Ketamine and Aphantasia

    Hibernation, Ketamine and Aphantasia
    Apr 19 2024
    This month, how animals hibernate and evidence that muscle myosin makes its own heat in the cold, brain scans to reveal how ketamine relieves resistant depression, the way the brain changes when animals build a bond, the evolution of flu outbreaks, and how aphantasia affects autobiographical memory. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    38 mins
  • Apes reveal language origins, and being dyslexic in science

    Apes reveal language origins, and being dyslexic in science
    Mar 8 2024
    This month we hear what orangutans can tell us about the origins of human speech, we ask if science making life even harder for dyslexics, where do the scientists we train end up and do they stay in science, and new insights into the songs whales sing underwater... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    36 mins
  • Bees can't taste pesticides, and how albatrosses get aloft

    Bees can't taste pesticides, and how albatrosses get aloft
    Nov 30 2023
    In the eLife Podcast this month, signs that bees are oblivious to pesticides in nectar, sea anemone stinging strategies, a new means of cell-cell communication to share growth factors and other signals, how plants make a comeback when ice sheets retreat, and how the world's biggest bird uses wind and waves to good effect to minimise the costs of takeoff... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    35 mins
  • Cold haemoglobin, and teaching old dogs new ethics

    Cold haemoglobin, and teaching old dogs new ethics
    Sep 29 2023
    This month, how an extinct marine mammal made its haemoglobin work in the cold, how does learning compassion change the shape of the human brain, women publishing cautiously, how populations evolve to social distance in disease conditions, and can biochemical clocks accurately track ageing in children? Join Dr Chris Smith for a look at some of eLife's latest leading papers... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    36 mins
  • How many friends for best brain health?

    How many friends for best brain health?
    Jul 31 2023
    This month join host Dr Chris Smith to hear how a nuclear power station provides the opportunity to test theories of the effects of global warming on how fish grow, evidence that personalised medicines have an added placebo effect, the genes for skin colour and skin cancer, why five friends is optimal for best brian health, and the role of the immune system in the ageing ovary... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    31 mins
  • Social media and febrile fish

    Social media and febrile fish
    Jun 6 2023
    This month we look at a method to raise the bar on the quality and trustworthiness of information shared over social media networks, how fish running a fever heal from infection faster, what miniature bat backpacks can reveal about the eating and hunting habits of our flying mammalian cousins, how kingfishers come by their plumage patterns, and the evolution of spider venom genes. Join Dr Chris Smith for a look inside the science at eLife... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    37 mins
  • Ancient Genes and Trust in New Tech

    Ancient Genes and Trust in New Tech
    Apr 11 2023
    This month, the genetic variants inherited from millions of years back that protect from disease but can cause illnesses; also, signs that we trust human-sourced information more than what a computer might say, how the whiff of a female can make some mice live longer, what bird's eggs can tell us about dinosaurs, and how taking a leaf out of "doughnut economics" can help academics combat the climate crisis... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website
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    39 mins