A nasal spray for flu, and is this how life began on Earth?

The Naked Scientists Podcast

Dr Chris Smith

Natural Sciences, Science, Science Radio, Naked Scientists, Health & Fitness, Engineering, Medicine, Technology, Life Sciences

4.6 • 958 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we discuss a new antibody-based nasal spray that protects against the flu: how does it work? Plus, the tiny self-replicating molecule that may give clues to the origins of life on Earth, whether we should regulate "mirror life" research, and how bacteria protect oak trees from drought and other stresses... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

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0:00.0	All engine running.
0:03.3	Absolutely genius.
0:04.3	Welcome.
0:05.2	Welcome.
0:06.1	This is the show where we bring you science.
0:07.9	What that essentially means is...
0:09.4	Discovery is...
0:10.1	Advances.
0:11.0	Research.
0:11.7	Technology.
0:12.6	Unbelievable.
0:13.5	Without further ado, this is the naked scientists.
0:16.7	Hello, welcome to the Naked Scientist, podcast.
0:19.4	The program that brings you the biggest breakthroughs
0:21.2	and also talks to the major movers and shakers in the worlds of science, technology and medicine.
0:26.5	I'm Chris Smith, and coming up this week, an antibody nose spray that can block flu infection.
0:32.4	Also...
0:33.2	The origin of life is really one of the big kind of unsolved questions in both chemistry and biology. Have these scientists found how life began on Earth and the bacteria that help oak trees to fight drought? Thank you. We begin this week in the Netherlands, where researchers are developing an antibody nasal
1:03.1	spray to help to combat influenza. And it's shown great promise in human clinical trials.
1:09.0	It's hoped that the spray, which targets the parts of the virus
1:12.1	common to all strains of flu could also help to tackle future pandemics. Even more exciting is
1:18.6	that the same technology could be turned on other seasonal lurgies, like the Common Cold. A company
	...

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