Special Editions

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how tracking insects can help scientists forecast summer storms and floods, and the role one of Europe's key satellite missions played in the recent floods in Queensland, Australia.

28 Feb 2011 18 min

Fewer than one third of patients who suffer a heart attack attend rehabilitation sessions, despite evidence that this follow-up support can be vital in reducing the risk of further heart attacks and improving a patient's quality of life. Now Brisbane-based researcher Dr Charles Worringham has pioneered a way to solve…

11 Feb 2011 9 min

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast - how the Romans recycled glass, dinosaur colour, and what Europe's gravity mission tells us about ocean currents. Did you know that the height of the world's oceans can vary by as much as 200 metres? These huge differences depend almost entirely on…

9 Feb 2011 21 min

How do you go about finding a mate if you can't go and look for one? This is the problem corals, which are rooted to the seabed, have found a spectacular way to solve - mass spawning. But how do they make sure they all do it at the same…

9 Feb 2011 14 min

What does the future hold for us? Is the future bright, shining and brimming with opportunity, or a dark, dystopian drudgery? Recent scientific advances suggest there may be much to look forward to. In this special postcast, Kat Arney speaks to Mark Stevenson, author of An Optimist's Tour of the…

6 Feb 2011 21 min

A look back at 2010

This month we look back at Diamond's scientific highlights of 2010 to reveal how microbes are eroding away our coastline and how metal organic frameworks could help find the holy grail of chemistry! We also hear how the synchrotron was improved to provide more beamlines as well as bring you…

31 Jan 2011 30 min

In this latest watery-themed Planet Earth Podcast, Richard Hollingham hears how the underwater world isn't the soundless place you might imagine. From chirping, gurgling and snapping sounds from busy coral reefs to clicking sperm whales, scientists are finding that all sorts of marine life use sounds to find a suitable…

28 Jan 2011 18 min

As the UK winter continues to bite, Sue Nelson tries to escape it all by going to visit a coral reef. Unfortunately for Sue, the coral reef is not in some sunny clime. Instead, it's an indoor coral reef at the brand new Coral Reef Research Unit at the University…

12 Jan 2011 18 min

This is a special edition of the Planet Earth podcast, featuring some of our favourite audio diaries from the past year. We've got scientists using cannons to study geese in Ireland, researchers collecting mongoose poo in Uganda, Darth Vader impressions from beneath Antarctic ice and tiger leeches in a researcher's…

4 Jan 2011 21 min

In this special episode of the Naked Scientists podcast, we explore the world of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), a technology allowing people paralysed from the waist down to row and cycle by using external electrodes to stimulate leg muscles. Michele Vanoncini investigates how it works, what benefits it can bring…

25 Dec 2010 17 min

Dark gamma ray bursts have puzzled astronomers for over a decade. The energetic gamma ray events, known as Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), all have an afterglow visible in the X-ray part of the spectrum, yet only half were visible at optical wavelengths. The half that were not visible in optical…

20 Dec 2010 5 min

Red squirrels used to be the most common squirrel in Britain. But since the grey squirrel was introduced from the USA as an illegal immigrant in the late 1800s, their numbers have nose-dived. This is partly because the greys out-compete red squirrels for food: they feed on the ground and…

8 Dec 2010 17 min

National Pathology Week 2010

In this podcast from National Pathology Week 2010, we join Dr Alun Williams at the Natural History Museum to discover the importance of veterinary pathology. With some incredible examples from the animal kingdom, we'll explore the some of the conditions that animal pathologists help to diagnose, and find out how…

8 Dec 2010 23 min

National Pathology Week 2010

We explore the role of pathologists in pregnancy and childbirth in this podcast from National Pathology Week 2010. We discover what we can learn from an ultrasound as well as other tests that can be run on an expectant mother. Plus, we discover the importance of newborn screening programmes and…

7 Dec 2010 28 min

In this podcast Richard Hollingham reports from an unusual and somewhat cold location - onboard the British Antarctic Survey's RRS James Clark Ross which was stuck in the ice for two weeks 1000 kilometres from the North Pole. He talks to researchers on the ship about their work, finds out…

7 Dec 2010 19 min

National Pathology Week 2010

We go behind closed doors in this special podcast from National Pathology Week 2010, visiting the pathology labs at the world famous Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. We'll discover the role that pathologists play in diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases, including how metabolic diseases are identified and the role…

7 Dec 2010 26 min

Does your shopping basket contain chocolate, biscuits and shampoo? If it does, you may be unwittingly contributing to the destruction of the some of the world's pristine rainforests. Manufacturers now use palm oil in a huge range of products, because it's so cheap. But virgin rainforest in some of the…

23 Nov 2010 22 min

DNA and Cancer

In this month's podcast Professor Ron Laskey discusses the links between our DNA and cancer to reveal how changes to our DNA can cause cells to become cancerous, how DNA can be targeted as a method of treatment and also how we can analyse markers in our DNA for earlier…

19 Nov 2010 23 min

This month we probe down into the world of structural biology to find out just what this field is and the molecules it can enable us to see. We discover how visualising molecules such as DNA and proteins can help us understand the development of our nervous system, the repair…

16 Nov 2010 31 min

It seems that hardly a week goes by without a major earthquake striking somewhere in the world, which may be why many people have been asking scientists at the British Geological Survey if earthquakes are getting more frequent. Richard Hollingham talks to expert seismologist Brian Baptie from BGS, who uses…

15 Nov 2010 19 min