Kat Arney
Kat Arney is a science communicator, author and harpist. She is a regular co-host of The Naked Scientists and also hosts the BBC Radio 5 Live Science Show. Her first book, Herding Hemingway's Cats, which was published in January 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing, covers the state of knowledge of the human genome, the advances made since the 1950s and what remains unknown.
PodcastSodium polyacrylate
Need some fake snow for your Christmas party? Simply look inside a baby’s nappy.
PodcastFibrin and fibrinogen
From scabby knees to life-threatening strokes, this important protein is the fundamental link in the complex molecular chain that forms blood clots
PodcastNepetalactone
The catnip compound that felines go crazy for could have exciting uses for humans, too, as Kat Arney finds out
PodcastTaq Polymerase
Kat Arney reveals how high temperature bacteria provide us with the molecule that speeds up DNA sequencing
PodcastFluorescein
Kat Arney discovers the compound that first coloured the Chicago river green for St Patrick’s Day
PodcastThiomersal
Kat Arney introduces the organomercury preservative associated with the current controversy around vaccines
PodcastShikimic acid
Kat Arney introduces a biologically ubiquitous compound, important in beating both infectious viruses and invasive weeds
PodcastFluorouracil
A substitute for one of the bases in DNA that can cause the death of cancer cells
PodcastPARP: Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase
Kat Arney explains how a protein that repairs broken DNA holds the key to killing cancer cells – but only if you stop it from doing its job
PodcastBromodeoxyuridine
Kat Arney illuminates the story of a molecular ‘highlighter pen’ for growing cells
