Naked Scientists Podcast

Chris Smith

Dave Ansell

Chemistry and lightning quick reactions are under discussion this week as Dr Emma Schofield from the Johnson Matthey Technology Centre explains what a catalyst is, how catalytic converters work and how catalysts can help to clean up the atmosphere, and Professor Fraser Armstrong from Oxford University, who discusses fuel cells, using hydrogen as a fuel, and how enzymes naturally found in bacteria are helping make hydrogen a more realistic energy source for the future. In Kitchen Science both guests are used as guinea pigs as Dave Ansell demonstrates the wonder of enzymes with nothing but a slice of bread...

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Dave Ansell

Kat Arney

Explaining how science can help us dig up the past is Dr Lawrence Owens from Birkbeck College, who uses teeth and bones to uncover the life and sometimes gruesome death of mummies in Peru and Bolvia, and Dr Harriet Allen from Cambridge University describes how the pollen record and layers of lake sedimentation can reveal what the environment was like 10 000 years ago. Also on the show, Dr Nick Brooks from the University of East Anglia talks about how climate change in the Sahara may have given rise to complex human societies, and taking us back even further in human evolution is Professor Clive Finlayson from the Gibraltar Museum, who discusses how a new fossil discovery shows that Neanderthals were alive and kicking in Gibraltar well after the arrival of modern humans. Leaving the past behind them in Kitchen Science, Derek and Dave make their very own futuristic forcefield.

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Helen Scales

Chris Smith

In the hot seat this week is Dr Beverley Glover from Cambridge University, who will describe how flowers warm their nectar to entice passing pollinators, real life weatherman John Law from Weatherquest discusses weather predictions and how to calculate the temperature days in advance, and Professor Marcel Visser from the Netherland Institute of Ecology explains how warming weather and earlier springs spells disaster for migrating birds. Also on the show, we will hear from Katey Walter at the University of Alaska Fairbanks about a new source of atmospheric methane, and in Kitchen Science Derek and Dave get their hands wet in the name of discovering how the human judges temperature.

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Dave Ansell

Chris Smith

Kat Arney

The Naked Scientists are back to answer all your burning science questions. Dr Chris, Dave and Helen tackle hot flushes, why spiders love living in our houses, how many stars are in the Milky Way, and why cows in a field always face in the same direction... We will also be connecting direct to Norwich, the host of this year's British Association Science Festival, to hear about a world record attempt at the most people in a bubble, and sticking with bubbles, Dave and Derek make lava lamps in Kitchen Science.

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Derek Thorne

Dave Ansell

Chris Smith

In our last show before the summer, Dr Chris, Dave and Derek answer all your questions on science, technology and medicine including: why paintings fade in sunlight, why hairs on different parts of the body grow at different rates, whether ultraviolet light poses a danger at the disco, how weightlessness can be experienced on Earth, and sticking with space, Steve Miller from University College London explains the origin of Jupiter's giant red spot and its smaller relative, red spot junior. We'll also be repeating a famous experiment to see if people can accurately estimate physical attributes from the sound of someone's voice, and in Kitchen Science, Derek and Dave dice with death as they calculate the drag on a flag at 70 miles per hour...

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Kat Arney

Chris Smith

 I predict a riot... or not, as this week we're joined in the studio by crowd control experts Dr Clifford Stott from the University of Liverpool and Dr John Drury from the University of Sussex, who'll be discussing why violence kicks off at  football matches, how to spot a spat and the science of mass evacuation. And taking us on a flight of fancy from crowds of people to swarms of mosquitoes, Dr Gay Gibson, from the University of Greenwich, describes her research into the harmonious music of mosquitoes. In Kitchen Science, Derek Thorne bangs out a tune from an oven shelf...                     
                                                                                                                                     

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Helen Scales

Chris Smith

Marine biology and conservation specialist Dan Laffoley, from English Nature, and Chris Lynam, from the University of St Andrews join us to dissect the state of the world's oceans and marine protected areas. From the conservation science institute in Alaska, Bruce Wright takes us on a tour of the world of salmon sharks, and in kitchen science we do battle against the atmosphere using a Magdeburg sphere.

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Kat Arney

Chris Smith

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory astrophysicist Dr Chris Davis joins us to shed light on the structure and workings of the sun and the newly-launched STEREO mission, Cambridge University engineer Dr Jeffery Lewins talks about nuclear energy and the differences between fusion and fission power, and Dr Anna Nicolaou from the University of Bradford asks why do some people burn whilst others turn brown? On a practical level, in Kitchen Science, Derek and Dave lift the lid on how suncream works.

 

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Kat Arney

Chris Smith

In honour of the annual hoards of bleary-eyed hayfever sufferers, we are joined in the studio by Professor Carrock Sewell from the University of Lincoln, who describes how the immune system works, what causes allergic reactions and how we might be able to cure them, and Dr Mark Booth from Cambridge University discusses parasites, how they suppress and evade the immune system and how the Matangini Project attempts to provide parasite-free water in Africa. Sticking with the African continent, Derek Thorne travels to Tanzania to learn how to make ugali in this week's Kitchen Science.

 

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Phil Rosenberg

Chris Smith

Breaking things down to the building blocks of life this week is Dr Mark Ross from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, who discusses the evolution of sex chromosomes, genetics and genomes; Dr Michael Traugott from the University of Innsbruck describes a novel way of using genetics to find out who is eating whom in underground food webs; and Derek Thorne gets fruity with Lucy Wheatley extracting DNA from a kiwi...

 

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