Latest Podcasts

This episode is a COVID-19 podcast with a first-hand focus. Podcast host Ruairi Mackenzie discusses his experience with symptomatic COVID-19. And we also look at the data around COVID-19 risk and age and discuss the emerging problems posed by long COVID.

In this episode, the team discuss the metabolome; the billions of tiny molecules that our cells produce every second. Scientific understanding of the metabolome has leapt forward, opening the door to a better understanding of how to treat disease, how to live a healthier lifestyle and even how trauma can be passed down via our metabolites.

In this episode, the team discusses the growing movement for sustainable science. Research has a yeti-sized ecological footprint, and here we follow the tracks from ozone-destroying CFCs and energy-guzzling freezers through to a new future for science that promises to make labs eco-friendly at last.

In this episode, the team take a deep dive into the world of biohacking. Practitioners of this DIY biology have big goals: making genetic technologies available to all, bypassing government regulation of drugs and (on the fringes of the movement) achieving immortality.

In this episode, the TN team discusses three promising vaccine candidates being developed for COVID-19. We take a deep dive into the data from these vaccine trials to try and work out what successes can be celebrated and what unanswered questions still remain.

In this episode, we review the evidence surrounding vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a therapy approved for epilepsy and depression that backers now want to use to treat a host of other conditions, include autoimmune disease and heart failure. How can scientists fill in the gaps in the VNS knowledge base?

In this episode, the Technology Networks team investigates the placebo effect. Why have placebo treatments become more effective at treating patients in the last few decades (but only in the USA) and what do powerful placebos mean for clinical trials?

In this episode, the Technology Networks team takes a bite into the world of food fraud. We take a look at famous cases of fraud, including scandals involving horse meat, baby formula and expensive wine. We also discover the analytical methods that inspectors can try and use to find fraudulent food before it makes it to your plate.

In this episode, the Technology Networks team discusses the community of bacteria that have made our bodies their home: the microbiome.

In this episode, the Technology Networks team discusses the rejuvenated field of psychedelic drugs research and how it might provide solutions for enduring mental health disorders.