//podcastplus.net/feed/naked-scientists-in-short-special-editions-podcast~c361281e Probing the weird, wacky and spectacular, the Naked Scientists Special Editions are special one-off scientific reports, investigations and interviews on cutting-edge topics by the Naked Scientists team. Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:49:48 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/ARIA-SYNTHETIC-PLANTS_AngieBurnett.mp3 As the global population heads toward 10 billion, the pressure on agriculture is mounting. With that in mind, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has announced millions of pounds worth of funding for crops enhanced through synthetic biology by designing entirely new chromosomes and chloroplasts, starting with the potato, as Angie Burnett, the ARIA Programme Director and plant biologist leading this initiative explains to Marushka Soobben... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:21:43 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/ARIA-SYNTHETIC-PLANTS_AngieBurnett.mp3 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/GRAVITATIONAL-wavES_BenAllanach.mp3 "Warp speed, Mr Sulu." It's the kind of command we've only heard in science fiction - until now. Did a team of scientists just bend spacetime using nothing but sparks in a lab? That's right - not black holes, not neutron stars - electrical sparks. A new experiment claims to have created tiny ripples in the very fabric of space and time, right here on Earth. If it holds up, it could be the first step toward technologies once thought possible only in science fiction: warp drives, fusion reactors, even medical time control. But is it the real deal - or just a very flashy illusion? I sat down with... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Mon, 23 Jun 2025 08:17:34 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/GRAVITATIONAL-wavES_BenAllanach.mp3 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.06.16.mp3 In the eLife podcast, a university compost heap has turned up Finland's first documented "giant virus". Also, why monkeys de-sand their supper, and how learning more languages actually makes brain tissue thinner. Then, the link between sugar and neonatal sepsis, and how a cancer controls its hydra host by bestowing it with extra tentacles... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:59:36 +0000 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.06.16.mp3 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/Prisms_Podcast_25.05.31.mp3 In episode 10 of the Cambridge Prisms Podcast, the shocking finding that as many as 2 invertebrate species are going extinct each week in Australia: what can be done? Also, the shot in the arm that AI is administering to the drug discovery industry, how do you measure the microplastic problem, and why climate tipping points are a serious problem for the drinking water industry. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:59:42 +0000 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/Prisms_Podcast_25.05.31.mp3 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/MOLECULE_MESSAGE-Edit.mp3 Your personal data could soon be stored not on a phone or server but locked inside a molecule so tiny it's invisible to the naked eye. Researchers have cracked the code on storing digital information in synthetic molecules called polymers - long chains of anything from plastic to protein made from building blocks known as monomers. Each monomer sends out a unique electrical signal that a special electrochemical technique can decode, turning these tiny sequences into passwords or secret messages. This game-changing technology could redefine data security without relying on traditional storage... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Fri, 23 May 2025 00:23:19 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/MOLECULE_MESSAGE-Edit.mp3 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/FRISKY-FUIT-FLIES.mp3 What if a parasite could rewire your brain - not to harm you, but to make you... more romantic? This week on The Naked Scientists, we're exploring the bizarre world of Wolbachia - a bacterium that turns female fruit flies into mating machines. Marushka Soobben with the story... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Mon, 19 May 2025 01:07:11 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/FRISKY-FUIT-FLIES.mp3 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/BRAINLESS-ROBOT_AlbertoComoretto.mp3 Using only soft tubes and a continuous stream of air, a team of researchers at AMOLF in Amsterdam have created one of the fastest and simplest soft robots to date. Marushka Soobben with the story... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Mon, 12 May 2025 11:29:44 +0000 https://flex.acast.com/downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/BRAINLESS-ROBOT_AlbertoComoretto.mp3 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.04.25.mp3 What is the impact of an extra year at school on the brain? Also, how poison dart frogs come by their toxins, using movies to track the developing infant nervous system, the insect-spread bacterial plant parasite that is a mastermind of matchmaking, and a new cancer tool to link disease with the best drugs. Chris Smith takes a look at some of the most powerful papers out this month in eLife... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Thu, 24 Apr 2025 10:07:41 +0000 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.04.25.mp3 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/Prisms_Podcast_25.03.31.mp3 In this episode, how climate change impacts kelp forests, selecting for less animal-friendly variants, refining AI models for better water infrastructure design, classifying extinct marine megafauna and when best to swim with them, the coast consequences of climate change, and why a better understanding of the planet's drylands is critical... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Thu, 03 Apr 2025 01:39:37 +0000 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/Prisms_Podcast_25.03.31.mp3 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.02.27.mp3 This month, how films are helping neuroscientists link brain activity patterns to specific thought processes, a breakthrough in managing opiate overdose, a technique to study animal teamwork, extracting more information from brain scan data, and how childhood adversity blunts later fear responses... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Wed, 26 Feb 2025 02:45:50 +0000 https://downloads.nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/active/eLife_Podcast_25.02.27.mp3