Hooked on the Naked Scientists? This week we're looking into the science of addiction, finding out how smoking alters the teenage brain, why a mixture of brain chemistry and psychological habits make drugs hard to kick, and how addiction re-wires the brain in a similar way to school. Also, how a good night's sleep could stave off diabetes, why traffic pollutes your IQ and why your next prescription could be a placebo! Plus we bring you the first in our series of Rising Stars, young researchers reporting from the coalface of science, and in Kitchen Science we show you how to levitate a squid!
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One of the most common addictions on Earth is the addiction to cigarettes, so tobacco and nicotine addiction. A very interesting study has been done by Professor Leslie Jacobsen, she's at Yale University School of Medicine, looking at how smoking affects the brains of teenagers...
Amaze your friends by making a piece of plastic levitate using nothing more sophisticated than a party balloon.
Professor Barry Everitt tells us about the basis of addiction - What happens in the brain to get people hooked?
How does addiction change the brain? Professor Julie Kauer has found that the changes involved in becoming addicted are very similar to when learning or memorising...
Is it true that if serotonin levels are down people are more likely to tend towards addiction? Can specific foods, if you eat them, put up your serotonin levels and therefore stave off that effect?
Each term Cambridge University’s Rising Stars project helps young researchers to tell the world about their work. We teamed up with a group of rising stars so that you can find out what the next generation of top scientists are up to. Seeing as we’ve been talking about the brai...
It’s that time of the year when everyone is thinking, ‘how many inches extra, feet, pounds, stone have I gained over Christmas? How am I going to get rid of it all?’ Well we thought we’d take a look at the science of dieting and we’ve invited Dr Toni Steer. She’s from the MRC Hu...
I listened to the Naked Scientists podcast while walking across America, and I have a question about tangling wires - I would put my MP3 player into a pocket, and whenever I pull it out the wires are completely tangled up. In fact, they're so tangled I couldn't have done it on p...
What is ageing? Is it caused by cumulative damage to cells as a result of every day life or is it genetically programmed and if it is can we prevent it with, say, gene modification?
Vitamin C: Some scientists believe it’s the panacea for everything and other scientists seem to think the effects of vitamin C [presumably this is large doses] are negligible. What’s the general scientific gist of it?
I’ve heard on one of your podcasts about sunburn and the damage it imparts but I was wondering what’s the actual cause of the redness in sunburn. What specific damage to the skin causes the redness that remains over days after the initial UV exposure? What are we seeing that’s ha...
I’m a high school teacher and music teacher in Brisbane, Australia. I really enjoy listening to the podcast version of the programme whilst I’m having a cup of tea or coffee. About a month ago I decided to cut back on my caffeine intake and decided to quit cold turkey. Unfortuna...
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