''The Naked Scientists'' is a one-hour audience-interactive
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
radio talk show broadcast live by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
nationally on BBC Radio 5 Live (until 12 January 2025),
and internationally on Friday nights on
ABC Radio National, Australia; it is also distributed globally as a
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
.
The programme was created and is edited by
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
consultant virologist
Dr Chris Smith. Former ''Naked Scientists'' line-up members include producers Phil Sansom, Adam Murphy, and Katie Haylor, with
Peter Cowley adding ad-hoc technology perspectives.
History
Dr Chris Smith launched ''The Naked Scientists'' in 2001, rebranding the programme from a previous incarnation created in 2000 called ''ScienceWorld''. Initially on commercial local radio, the show moved to the
BBC's eastern region local radio network in 2003 where it was aired on Sundays on all 8 stations across the region. In August 2012,
BBC East
BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire (including the City of Milton Keynes). It is headquartered in The Forum ...
in response to national changes to local radio provision announced an impending change to the Sunday schedule which would have seen the show discontinued. In response to public reaction, the head of BBC East, Mick Rawsthorne, was interviewed on national radio about the decision to end the programme. Rawsthorne explained that the ''Naked Scientists'' did not fit the station's core purpose of providing "local radio". However, Rawsthorne did acknowledge the quality of the ''Naked Scientists'' programming and recognised that, with Cambridge University at the heart of Cambridgeshire, special consideration should be made for science in Cambridgeshire. Consequently, the BBC reconsidered their decision to terminate the programme and developed a proposal for it to continue as well as a way for enhanced scientific coverage and content to be integrated with other mainstream mid-week outputs of
BBC Cambridgeshire, significantly increasing the reach of the programme and the representation of science at
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cambridgeshire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road in Cambridge. The station al ...
. In August 2022 the show switched to a Thursday evening from its original Sunday slot, a move intended to capitalise on the news agenda and a more powerful slot. It ran in this segment until the end of August 2023 when, prompted by changes to the BBC local radio schedule nationwide, this outing of the show ended.
From January 2013, a new initiative involving the Naked Scientists also began on
BBC Radio Norfolk. A dedicated hour of science Q and A was included in the station's Tea Time output (hosted by Matthew Gudgin) on alternate Wednesday evenings at 6pm. Listeners call, text, tweet or email with questions on any scientific subject and the team answer them. This continued until 2020 when changes were introduced to the schedule and presenter line up during the response to Covid-19.
From January 2013, the ''Naked Scientists'' programme also began to air across Australia on
ABC Radio National
ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...
, initially on a Sunday morning. From January 2014 the first airing of the programme was moved to a Friday evening 10pm slot, repeated on Sundays at 3pm. This show is also released as the Naked Scientists Podcast.
Launched in May 2014, ''5 live Science'' is a new weekly one-hour programme from the Naked Scientists aired by
BBC 5 live. Under the banner ''5 live Science'', it's a newly formatted version of the show produced by the Naked Scientists team and fronted by
Dr Chris Smith; it aired nationally every Sunday morning until 12 January 2025.
The programme is also released as a podcast under the same name.
Awards
Content
Each episode of the main ''Naked Scientists'' programme is one hour long and includes a digest of topical science news stories, audience questions answered live on the air and interviews with guest scientists. These individuals join the hosts in the studio to talk about their work and to take questions live from listeners. Previous featured guests include the discoverer of the DNA fingerprint,
Alec Jeffreys
Sir Alec John Jeffreys, (born 9 January 1950) is a British geneticist known for developing techniques for genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling which are now used worldwide in forensic science to assist police detective work and to resolve ...
, the
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...
Sir