Science unscripted

At the biggest sweets trade fair in the world, you'd be surprised how many people are fighting against sugar. If you can't find sugar lovers in the modern-day manifestation of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, where are they?

In the heart of winter (at least in the northern hemisphere), we take a look this week at what the cold does to our bodies. And we don't mean just any kind of cold. Can it possibly be good for us to be exposed to -196 degrees Celsius?

How can professional athletes who cause their team to lose by their blunders be helped? Also, can snail slime make us prettier? And we talk about asbestos, a very dangerously fine dust.

Meat's delicious — but bad for our planet. The solution? Grow it in a lab. We also enter a German hospital to show you how invasive Germany's national health study is, and if you like the moon, you'll love 2019.

The most common aspirations for the New Year are to eat healthier, have more time for your family and get more physical exercise. Why is so difficult to achieve this?

Toxic banana production in Ecuador, growing your own vegetables at the supermarket, and the story of a piranha named "Bert" biting a man's finger (and why the man deserved it.) All that, plus a lot of health and food research, on this week's show.

What would you do if you got a text message from an elf — an elf who says Santa doesn't use ANY magic. And this elf invites you to meet him to show you proof of how it all goes down on the 24th. What would you do?

Amsterdam to Barcelona in about an hour. Wouldn't it be great if Europe had its very own hyperloop system? Come with us to check out the radical plan being drawn up at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

It may just be the "Most wonderful time of the year," but Christmas shopping can act like cocaine on your body and we've got three very good antidotes. Also, as we enter peak house fire season, an idea that could save kids' lives.

How artificial intelligence is seeping into peculiar corners of medicine, why we should keep an early eye out for dementia, and DW science's Fabian Schmidt bids farewell to his beloved Scottish Terrier.