The eLife Podcast

Dr Chris Smith

The eLife Podcast, from eLife, the researcher-led, open access digital publication for outstanding research in life science and biomedicine.

Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

103 episodes
Updated Monday

Episodes103

Newest first

Monday · 33 min
Gorilla sperm, and subversive gambling machines
Plus babies born hard-wired to dance, and how running a fever makes malaria more sticky...
May 21 · 37 min
Genetic cancer sensors, and why crabs walk sideways
Plus, how hallucinogens break the depression deadlock, and fresh fish insights into brain blood vessel disease...
February 28 · 37 min
Moths hear plants, and what fingerprints do for touch
Plus, how kangaroos go faster at no extra energy cost, and tracking how people catch infections...
Nov 30, 2025 · 40 min
Nocebos, and why the eyes of some species stay shut at birth
Plus the signals that draw sperm to eggs, how cells measure their telomeres, and recreating Darwin's warm little pond...
Sep 8, 2025 · 43 min
Ants doing gene therapy, and tadpole microbiomes
Plus fungal immune system reprogramming, and the worm larvae that talk to brain cells...
Jun 19, 2025 · 38 min
Finland's giant virus, and monkeys take care of their teeth
Plus, the effect of language learning on the brain...
Apr 24, 2025 · 35 min
Frog toxicity, and what a year's schooling does to the brain
Plus bacterial parasites that manipulate insects and plants alike, and cancer tools to link diseases with drugs...
Feb 26, 2025 · 40 min
Hollywood helps brain scientists probe thoughts
Plus new ways to decode thinking, and a breakthrough in fighting opiate overdose...
Dec 20, 2024 · 30 min
Evolving flu, and the desert decomposition conundrum
Plus mice freezing when they smell cats, and ameliorating the effects of a gene linked to autism...
Nov 1, 2024 · 33 min
Cancer mood control, and birth products blocking pain
Plus news that social training boosts brain volume, and why antibodies may be unreliable in research...
Sep 10, 2024 · 30 min
Vampire bacteria, "hangry" males, and ants using moonlight
Plus inflammation predicts preterm labour...
Jun 18, 2024 · 34 min
How termites build their nests, and drivers of new diseases
Plus, the difficulty of defining neurodiversity, and weight gain affects food-related memories...
Apr 19, 2024 · 37 min
Hibernation, Ketamine and Aphantasia
Also, how the brain changes when animals bond, and the evolution of flu epidemics...
Mar 8, 2024 · 36 min
Apes reveal language origins, and being dyslexic in science
Plus whales changing their tunes, and where do scientific careers take our researchers?
Nov 30, 2023 · 34 min
Bees can't taste pesticides, and how albatrosses get aloft
Plus the new way that cells might be talking to one another...
Sep 29, 2023 · 35 min
Cold haemoglobin, and teaching old dogs new ethics
What can Steller's sea cows teach us about oxygen delivery at low temperatures, and the brain's response to compassion classes...
Jul 31, 2023 · 31 min
How many friends for best brain health?
Why 5 friends is ideal, fish in a warmer world, and the added placebo effect that comes with personalised medicine...
Jun 6, 2023 · 36 min
Social media and febrile fish
Ways to combat online misinformation, what fish reveal about fighting infections, bat's preferred meals, and how spiders came by their venoms...
Apr 11, 2023 · 39 min
Ancient Genes and Trust in New Tech
Genes from millions of years ago that cause and prevent disease, and signs that humans regard data from other humans as more trustworthy than cues from a computer...
Mar 1, 2023 · 36 min
Right handedness, and genes for hairiness
Plus, how the bee microbiome uses cyanide from dietary toxins to fend off parasites, and links between mitochondrial DNA in the blood and personality type...

The eLife Podcast

Gorilla sperm, and subversive gambling machines

Genetic cancer sensors, and why crabs walk sideways

Moths hear plants, and what fingerprints do for touch

Nocebos, and why the eyes of some species stay shut at birth

Ants doing gene therapy, and tadpole microbiomes

Finland's giant virus, and monkeys take care of their teeth

Frog toxicity, and what a year's schooling does to the brain

Hollywood helps brain scientists probe thoughts

Evolving flu, and the desert decomposition conundrum

Cancer mood control, and birth products blocking pain

Vampire bacteria, "hangry" males, and ants using moonlight

How termites build their nests, and drivers of new diseases

Hibernation, Ketamine and Aphantasia

Apes reveal language origins, and being dyslexic in science

Bees can't taste pesticides, and how albatrosses get aloft

Cold haemoglobin, and teaching old dogs new ethics

How many friends for best brain health?

Social media and febrile fish

Ancient Genes and Trust in New Tech

Right handedness, and genes for hairiness