OU on the BBC: Breaking Science - About the series

Brian Callingham - OU Communications

From January 2009, Up All Night – The Naked Scientists has a new look…Dr Chris Smith and the team have put on their pyjamas (not a moment too soon, some might say!) and are ready to smash science wide open, in Breaking Science.

Nothing else has changed, they’ll continue to bring their chatty, informal style to a national audience, and focus their attention on the science making the headlines with Breaking Science. Podcasts for Breaking Science continue from January 2009.

Since 1994, Up All Night, broadcast between 1am and 5am on BBC Radio 5 Live, has covered global news from an offbeat angle. Whilst the nation sleeps, Rhod Sharp and his fellow presenters talk to the BBC’s foreign correspondents about everything from the US election to Bollywood.

In September 2008, they were joined by The Naked Scientists and The Open University to bring you the latest from the world of science. Each week Dr Chris Smith and his team runs down the latest science news and interviews experts for their insight. They also investigate science myths and misconceptions put forward by the listening public.

Parading around in their birthday suits was not really the prime objective for The Naked Scientists – rather, it was to strip science bare for the benefit of the general public, and this objective will stay the same, even with their clothes on.

The Naked Scientists radio show, running since 1994, is currently broadcast by BBC Local Radio to up to 100,000 people in eight counties in the east of England. Each week, listeners of all ages and backgrounds tune in to hear Chris, together with his entertaining sidekicks, interview renowned scientists and researchers from around the world and take random science questions live from the listening public.

The weekly podcast of the The Naked Scientists is one of the most downloaded science shows in the world. It currently ranks at the top of the iTunes science chart in most countries and draws around 60,000 downloads per week, placing it in the top five per cent of all UK podcasts.

Breaking Science in more depth: