24.9K
Downloads
72
Episodes
Opinionated Science is Technology Networks’ homemade podcast, where our team of scientists-turned-journalists cut out the chewy jargon and serve up slices of the most fascinating stories from the world of science. Expect a new Opinionated Science every other Friday.
Episodes
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Friday Aug 14, 2020
In this episode, the team take a deep dive into the world of biohacking. Practitioners of this DIY biology have big goals: making genetic technologies available to all, bypassing government regulation of drugs and (on the fringes of the movement) achieving immortality. Are biohackers visionaries or outsider scientists lost in a fantasy?
Read more from this podcast:
Meet Josiah Zayner, the Biohacker Next Door
One Biohacker’s Improbable Bid to Make a DIY Covid-19 Vaccine
Biohack the Planet Livestream & Chat
Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine “Approved" Despite No Phase III Data
A DIY COVID-19 Vaccine?
Friday Jul 31, 2020
Friday Jul 31, 2020
In this episode, the TN team discuss three promising vaccine candidates being developed for COVID-19. We take a deep dive into the data from these vaccine trials to try and work out what successes can be celebrated and what unanswered questions still remain.
Read more from this podcast:
Vaccine 1: Moderna's mRNA-1273
Vaccine 2: Oxford University's ChAdOx1
Vaccine 3: CanSino Biologics' Adenovirus Type-5
Antigen vs Antibody – What Are the Differences?
A Vaccine 101
Exploring the Drug Development Process
Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Positive Interim Results in Phase I Trial
Friday Jul 17, 2020
Friday Jul 17, 2020
Genetic data is moving to the mainstream. Testing, both in the clinic and through direct-to-consumer delivery, is much quicker and cheaper then ever before. But these advances have come with a lot of ethical baggage. In this podcast we discuss how clinical testing can throw up surprise results for doctor and patient, the test data that is helping fight COVID-19 and how one of our own editors responded to receiving her genetic risk scores.
Read more from this podcast:
Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing
Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing: What Does Consent Mean?
Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing: Where Does Duty Begin and End?
Data from Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests Used To Create a Drug for Inflammatory Diseases
Chronologically, I'm 23, but Biologically – I'm 26
Large Study Suggests Blood Type O May Be a Protective Factor Against COVID-19
One Year on, Scientists Defend Canada’s Anti-Genetic Discrimination Law
Friday Jul 03, 2020
Friday Jul 03, 2020
In this episode, the TN team discuss the potential of personalized, precision approaches to change healthcare. We hear how cancer care has been one of the first areas to take advantage of patient-specific data, the risks and rewards of increased access to genomic data and how neuroscience is beginning to explore diseases of the brain at a personal level.
Read more from this podcast:
Chronologically, I'm 23, but Biologically – I'm 26
Personalized Medicine and Cancer
Concepts and Promises of Personalized Medicine
More Severe Alzheimer's Subtype May Be Caused by Tau Modification
Cancer Biomarkers: Powering Precision Medicine
The Power of Proteogenomics in Precision Medicine
One Year on, Scientists Defend Canada’s Anti-Genetic Discrimination Law
Exploring Differences in Drug Response With Dr Namandje N. Bumpus
Pharmacogenomics
CRISPR, Cell Therapies and Drug Discovery
Exploring the Latest in CRISPR and Stem Cell Research
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Friday Jun 19, 2020
In this episode, we review the evidence surrounding vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a therapy approved for epilepsy and depression that backers now want to use to treat a host of other conditions, include autoimmune disease and heart failure. How can scientists fill in the gaps in the VNS knowledge base?
Read more from this podcast:
Zanos lab research on anodal block
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Friday Jun 05, 2020
In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss drug treatments to combat COVID-19. These drugs, like the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, have often been repurposed for the task, and evidence for their efficacy remains patchy. Why do researchers turn to these medications and how will the field of drug development be changed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Read more from this podcast:
Hydroxychloroquine Revived by WHO
How modeling can support drug development
Covid-19 brings drug development to a halt
Tackling Covid-19: ongoing drug development efforts
Flooded by the torrent: the COVID-19 drug pipeline
Global impact on clinical trials
Exploring the drug development process
Keep up to date with COVID-19 vaccine development
Updates:
Friday May 22, 2020
Friday May 22, 2020
In this episode, the Technology Networks team investigate the placebo effect. Why have placebo treatments become more effective at treating patients in the last few decades (but only in the USA) and what do powerful placebos mean for clinical trials?
Read more from this podcast:
The Power of the Placebo Effect
Survey Finds 97% of GPs Prescribe Placebos
The Magnitude of Nocebo Effects in Pain
Placebo Effect Grows in U.S., Thwarting Development of Painkillers
Friday May 08, 2020
Friday May 08, 2020
In this episode, the Technology Networks team take a bite into the world of food fraud. We take a look at famous cases of fraud, including scandals involving horse meat, baby formula and expensive wine. We also discover the analytical methods that inspectors can try and use to find fraudulent food before it makes it to your plate.
Read more from this podcast:
Shedding Light on Wine Fraud With NMR Fingerprinting
Infographic: What's in Your Food?
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Friday Apr 24, 2020
In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss the community of bacteria that have made our bodies their home: the microbiome. We explore how these bugs can influence our behavior and help us fight disease and whether microbiota-modifying poo pills could become a part of precision medicine in the near future.
Read more from this podcast:
https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/infographics/the-microbiome-and-cancer-319758
https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/infographics/sequencing-the-microbiome-327727
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/microbiome-medicine-takes-center-stage-308055
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss the rejuvenated field of psychedelic drugs research and how it might provide solutions for enduring mental health disorders.
Read more from this podcast:
Watch dophins getting high on pufferfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msx3BAhIeQg