Quick Fire Science, from the Naked Scientists

This week, nuclear expert Mycle Schneider, formerly an adviser to the French and German governments has said that he's deeply worried about contaminated cooling water leaking from tanks at the site of the Fukushima nuclear reactors.- Huge amounts of energy can be released by joining or fusing small atoms together to make larger atoms, or by splitting apart larger atoms like uranium.- In nuclear reactors, atoms such as Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239 are bombarded by neutrons which causes them to split in two, a process called fission.- When atoms undergo fission, they often release more... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

US-based entrepreneur Elon Musk is not a man who's lacking ambition in life. His company Space-X has already built rockets which compete with those used by NASA and the European Space Agency, and last year one of them became the first commercial spacecraft to visit the International Space Station. This week, however, it's another of his projects which has been in the news - a new kind of train which he thinks could transport people over the 350-miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco in only 35 minutes. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, star gazers have been turning their eyes to the sky to look for shooting stars, as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak. But what are meteors, and what's the best way to observe them? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week the world's first lab grown beef burger was cooked and eaten in London. But how was it made and why is it important? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This weeks Quick Fire Science on Jellyfish Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This Sunday sees the start of the 19th World Transplant Games in Durban, South Africa. The games offer the opportunity for those who have undergone a transplant to compete in a variety of competitive sports at the highest level. Here's the Quick Fire Science on organ donation and transplantation. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, a team at Toronto university won the "Igor I. Sikorsky Competition" by building a man-powered helicopter and flying their machine "Atlas" within a 10mx10m box, at a height of 3m for over a minute. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

A baby has been born in the US using a new genetic screening test for IVF embryos Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

What causes wildfires? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The virtual currency 'bitcoin' has long been used by gamers to buy extra features online. But now you can spend your savings on real life pints. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists