Special Editions
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.
Goosebumps cause hair growth
Getting cold won't just make your hair stand up, it may also make it grow. Yulia Shwartz at Harvard University and her colleagues have found that the nerves that give us goose pimples also send a message to the cells in the follicles that produce hairs, making them grow. It…
Big carnivores disappear from panda reserves
Giant pandas, which for decades were endangered, finally shed the status in 2016 thanks to huge conservation efforts. But scientists have been warning that their reserves aren't well designed for the ecosystem as a whole - and now a group of zoologists have found that even though panda numbers have…
Sperm Movement: Swim 'N' Roll
New research means we're going to have to think again about how human sperm swim. You might have seen movies of them looking a bit like tadpoles in a pond - the head carries the male's DNA and the long tail, or flagellum, propels the sperm forward. That motion was…
The build begins
The world took a step towards our goal of harnessing nuclear fusion as an energy source last week when the construction officially began of ITER, the new International Thermonuclear Experimental fusion Reactor. Michel Claessens is the author of the book ITER: The Giant Fusion Reactor. He spoke to Adam Murphy…
Covid outbreaks: local lockdowns
In early August, the UK stepped back from some of the proposed lockdown easing measures. So how are public health officials managing these situations, are we in good shape to cope with the approaching winter, and is this the pattern of coronavirus cases we should expect going forward? Chris Smith…
Red light restores vision in aged eyes
The millions of rods and cones in the retina at the back of each of your eyes, which turn light into nerve signals to send to the brain, use a lot of energy. So the retina tends to burn out faster than the rest of the body. But now scientists…
Artificial liver progress
The liver is an incredible organ that does a number of different jobs - including cleaning our blood and breaking down chemicals and drugs - to keep us healthy. And liver problems can have serious consequences, resulting in potentially needing a new one in the case of liver failure. And…
Painted fruit and veg reveal plant origins
Colourful still life paintings of bowls of fruit have been a favourite of artists for generations, and there are thousands of examples in art galleries across the world. Now, two friends from Belgium - one an art historian, and the other a plant biologist - are asking for your help…
Deafness gene identified
After 22 years of searching, researchers at the Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands have successfully identified the genetic cause behind a certain type of inherited adult hearing loss - a defect in the so-called RIPOR2 gene. Eva Higginbotham spoke to geneticist Hannie Kremer and ear nose and throat…
Covid: Are we facing a second wave?
Kim Hill catches up with virologist Chris Smith to review the Covid-19 current state of play, from Leicester's lockdown, the WHO stance on masks and aerosol spread, to long-term immunity and long-haul symptoms of Covid-19, the link between ethnicity and more severe Covid-19 disease, and whether the world's over-reacted to…
Is COVID-19 causing a global food crisis?
How has the pandemic affected the global food supply? That's the subject of a recent report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. Their message is that while there have been a few industry issues so far - overripe fruit left unpicked, spoiled batches of milk left undelivered - that's…
Mining for metals in the deep sea
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Chatty chimps: we hear you!
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…
Baby planet: image shows signs of formation
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…
Do eggs prefer one sperm over another?
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…
Mini human livers transplanted into rats
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…
COVID-19 six months in: are we managing it?
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…
Storks: a cultural history
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…
Covid: conspiracies, chloroquine and immunity
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…
Far-UVC light to kill the coronavirus
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…