The eLife Podcast

Why are 90% of humans right handed and where did we get this from; genes for how - and where - hair grows; the intriguing timing behind how sunflowers flower; how the microbiome of the bee weaponises dietary toxins to deal with parasites, and a connection emerges between personality type and mitochondria... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

The ability to recreate dinosaurs inside computers means the true nature of the spinosaurus can now be uncovered, what the Afro Barometer reveals about the potential to use mobile phones to deliver remote health interventions, is intercropping being held back by using the wrong seeds, and signs that firstborns suffer seven months of stress when a baby brother or sister comes along, in bonobos at least. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, what ultrasound scans are revealing about how primates learn to cry before birth, the new imaging technique highlighting brain structural changes linked to speech and language impairments, why eLife is breaking the publishing mould to prioritise the preprint in future, and how evolution turn a single lung into a pair... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, what happens to the microbiomes of wild animals when they share cities with humans, how being crushed in a cancer makes metastatic cells more malign, a genetic tool to uncover when populations merged back in history, how mating affects the moth sense of smell, and why Africa offers a wealth of research opportunities for the neuroscience community... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

Signs that some vapes inflame the brain and other organs, how a whiff of CO2 puts mosquitoes into feeding mode, how long, at present rates, it will take before science reaches gender parity, and how babies get their vitamin D. Chris Smith looks inside some of the latest papers in eLife... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, diabetes and the body clock, the antibodies we raise to Covid-19 vaccines versus infection, dinosaurs armoured like tanks, baboons catching up on sleep, and how language evolution goes hand in hand with handedness... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, the genes linked to human birth onset, signs hunter gatherers already had a taste for cereals before farming came along, how sunflowers balance UV protection, aridity resistance and attractiveness to pollinators, a contagious cancer that can jump the species barrier, and inside the eLife Ambassador Programme... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, the bones missing from Australopithecus sediba's backbone are uncovered, but what do they reveal about this ancient hominid's posture? Also, why a link to the nervous system is crucial for salamander limb regeneration, the bacteria that can treat bacterial infections, the social stomach in ant colonies, and even old worms can combat the ageing process... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, corals that can resist bleaching, signs that the human immune system went up a gear about 8000 years ago, documenting plant cells with an ambitious initiative to generate an atlas all the cell types in all types of plants, new insights into the science of the hug hormone oxytocin, and how deleterious genes hold up the evolution of healthy genes too... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, mobile phones are an excellent proxy to test for Covid-19, stress and hair going grey, signs that junk food inflammes the immune system, what makes rats want to help other rats, and the emerging infections in South America linked to conquest and the slave trade. Dr Chris Smith takes a look at more of the top science publishing in eLife... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website