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Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

The Naked Scientists

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.

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Top 10 Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast Episodes

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Stop littering in space!

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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10/29/20 • 5 min

Britain recently began a diplomatic campaign to draw up new rules for responsible behaviour in space; essentially it's a "don't litter" policy intended to reduce the threat posed by decades of irresponsible dumping in orbit. But what's the scale of the problem of space littering, and how might things go wrong? Adam Murphy spoke to John Zarnecki, emeritus professor of Space Sciences at the Open University... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

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Sugar on the brain, HIV, and science sex bias

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/30/20 • 36 min

This month on the eLife Podcast we look at how sugar takes away the pleasure of consuming and makes you eat more, we find out what loneliness does to the brain, uncover new insights into how HIV infects females, and explore sex bias in biomedical research... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Storks: a cultural history

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/11/20 • 5 min

A few weeks ago some stork babies made the news as the first white stork chicks to hatch in the UK for over 600 years. Despite the very long gap, here in the UK a legacy of these large, white, migratory birds has persisted. I'm Eva Higginbotham, and I spoke to Dr Alexander Lees, senior lecturer in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University, about the new arrivals, monogamous dating for storks, and the history of white storks in Europe. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Do eggs prefer one sperm over another?

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/17/20 • 6 min

You might think that when you're choosing a partner to have children with that your decision is entirely yours. However it turns out that biology has an interesting trick up its sleeve, which may surprise you. It turns out that there are guidance mechanisms that, like homing beacons, can help swimming sperm get to the eggs. It's because cells in women's bodies release special attracting chemicals into the fluid surrounding the eggs, and, according to a recent paper, these chemicals seem to prefer some sperm over others, taking the decision making completely out of your hands! In reproductive... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Mini human livers transplanted into rats

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/15/20 • 5 min

Everyday in the UK over 40 people die from liver disease, some of whom could be saved by having a liver transplant - but there aren't enough donor livers to go around. But what if we could grow livers in a laboratory, and use those instead? A team in Pittsburgh has now done just that in rats. The livers were transplanted into animals genetically modified to prevent them from rejecting the transplant. Eva Higginbotham heard from Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez how they did it... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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COVID-19 six months in: are we managing it?

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/12/20 • 10 min

Where are we now, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic? The official global death toll is over 380,000 with well over 6 million confirmed cases according to the World Health Organisation. Are we deceiving ourselves that we really understand it? Jonathan Ball is a virologist at the University of Nottingham who's met some exotic viruses in his time - so for an update, Chris Smith asked his thoughts on the coronavirus and its weird symptoms... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Baby planet: image shows signs of formation

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/19/20 • 4 min

Astronomers have taken what might be the first ever picture of a baby planet being formed. It looks like a beautiful tornado-shaped spiral of light, and there's a tiny twist visible inside one of the arms of the spiral. Why is this an achievement? And how can you actually tell whether there's a planet inside that tiny point of light? Phil Sansom asked Anthony Boccaletti, who led the team from the European Southern Observatory in taking this picture - as well as University of Cambridge astronomer Carolin Crawford... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Covid: conspiracies, chloroquine and immunity

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/09/20 • 18 min

Phase 2 of the hydroxychloroquine debacle, how the race to publish is leading to rapid retractions, whether Sweden's having second thoughts, did Covid come out of a lab, innate immunity and antibody responses, and how many tests prove I'm negative? Virologist Dr Chris Smith talks to Radio new Zealand National's Kim Hill... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Far-UVC light to kill the coronavirus

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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06/04/20 • 5 min

Donald Trump got a lot of stick when he talked about using disinfectant and light to kill off COVID-19 - seemingly implying people should drink bleach or shine a torch down their throats. Now a team at Columbia University has indeed discovered a narrow wavelength within UV light that they call 'far-UVC', that as well as killing viruses on surfaces, is also safe for humans because it can't get through our skin. Eva Higginbotham heard more from David Brenner... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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Chatty chimps: we hear you!

Naked Scientists, In Short Special Editions Podcast

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07/02/20 • 4 min

Do you consider yourself something of a Dr Doolittle? According to new research from the University of Amsterdam, we're all actually pretty good at understanding what animals are trying to express - at least, animals that we are closely related to like chimpanzees. Eva Higginbotham spoke to Roza Kamiloglu, the lead author on the study, about her research... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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