Who Are We?

Dave Ansell is the Naked Scientists' Kitchen Science specialist and web monkey. He spent several years nominally as a post-grad physics student at Cambridge University, but spent most of his time AWOL during which he was usually discovered planning and organising science events for kids with student society Cambridge Hands-On Science.

Some time after the grant ran out he took a sideways jump into full-time-and-a-bit public understanding of science. When not at work he... well, he mainly organises science outreach, actually. But sometimes he goes folk dancing.

Kat Arney works as a science information officer for the charity Cancer Research UK in London, when she's not off playing the spoons. She completed her degree and PhD at Cambridge University, and did time in a lab next to Wormwood Scrubs prison before finally leaving research. Kat writes science articles for the Naked Scientists website and helps to present the Naked Scientists science Radio Show and podcast. She also presents and produces the Cancer Research UK podcast. In 2006 she ventured into blogging, burbling about nuclear energy for the Institute of Physics. She also writes occasionally for online science magazine Lablit , plays in several bands, is a keen knitter, and apparently never sleeps (except during the radio show, when she's presumably overcome by the smell of her own feet, having removed her shoes...again).

Diana began life as an archaeologist, capitalising on the sponsored trips to exotic places like Argentina and er…Peterborough. But feeling the inevitable tug of science, and because she got to study cool mummies, she took on a Masters in bioarchaeology, a qualification which comes in handy in her present role organising the lives of various Cambridge virologists. Through this she met the Naked Scientists and became the host of Question of the Week.

In her spare time Diana presents a weekly show on Radio Addenbrooke’s; writes hopeful grant applications to study her very, very specialist subject; competes on her Xbox dancemats; eats lots of cake and burns it all off in the gym. She has also been seen shooting arrows, riding horses, climbing big hills and putting computers back together – usually with a screw and a cable or two left over…

Phil Rosenberg is currently studying for a PhD in space science at the Open University in Milton Keynes; that is, when he finds a few spare moments in between repairing clapped out cars, making radio programmes and sending probes to the other side of the solar system. Allegedly he has been studying Titan, Saturn's largest Moon and the only Moon in our solar system to have a substantial atmosphere (unlike his local pub, which is why he comes drinking with us). In reality he's been striving to re-contact the alien race he thinks he conversed with last time he was fiddling with his satellite dish.

In addition to his Naked Scientists contributions, Phil works as the astronomical (not to be confused with astrological!) researcher for the BBC's "Sky at Night" programme, and he has also been involved in projects with the European Space Agency. Phil's our resident space and astronomy geek, sorry, err...expert.

Helen is a marine biologist based in Cambridge, which is admittedly quite a long way from the sea at the moment but then who knows, with a bit of global warming Costa del Cambridge here we come. Helen completed her PhD at Cambridge, mainly because she got to go to exotic places like Borneo to do her research on coral reefs, and she now works as a consultant for various conservation NGOs. When she's not submerged on a reef, or immersed in writing her latest book, she co-presents the Naked Scientists radio show, where she tends to talk about fish a lot. Funny that. She also writes articles for the Naked Scientists website and Geographical magazine, and when she's not behind the microphone or working to save the world's dwindling fish stocks she might be seen on the Argentine tango dance floor. If you want to find out more visit her website - www.wildoceanblue.co.uk

Meera joined the team last year, having caught the radio bug during her Masters. She spent 2007 travelling the length of the country convincing teenagers that science is great! Although a biologist by nature, she likes to get her teeth into all aspects of science and enjoys making listeners aware of some of the more entertaining research being done in labs across the world.

Chris Smith is a doctor and a clinical lecturer in virology at Cambridge University. Deciding that medicine wasn't soaking up enough of his free time, Chris started the Naked Scientists radio show, podcast and website.

He presents the Naked Scientists and also makes weekly appearances on ABC Radio National, Australia, and on BBC Radio Five Live; he also fronts the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry World podcast, and presents the Nature Podcast for the journal Nature. Now and then he also pops up on telly, usually when the feathers hit the fan during a bird flu outbreak.

In 2006 he published his first book, Naked Science, and also produced his first child, but not necessarily in that order! Now he's reaping the rewards that fatherhood brings - countless near death experiences triggered by daily viral infections generously donated by his daughter...

Ben Valsler, who has a lucrative sideline as Jack Black's stunt double, joined us in 2007 after cutting his radio teeth on a microphone in Thailand. He attributes his success there to the fact that they couldn't understand a word he was saying, a strategy we note is also used to great effect by John Prescott... A zoologist by training, Ben's now busy producing the show and is a fabulous presenter of the new kitchen science experiments with Dave. In his spare time he likes to...err, what spare time?!