And the Hello, welcome to the naked scientist with me, Chris Smith and also with Cat Arnie. This week we're shining the spotlight on the science of light, including finding out how scientists

are probing fossilized light left over from the Big Bang, we check out the latest bionic eye that

can restore vision, and we hear why Newton stuck a needle in his eye all in the name of science.

I took a bodkin and put it betwixt my eye and the bone as near to the back side of my eye as I could.

One word, ouch.

Also this week, the story is making the headlines from the world of science and technology,

including a revelation in how chameleons change color, scientists science and

while we sniff our why we sniff our

while we sniff our fingers after shaking someone's hand.

The Naked Scientists Podcast is powered by UKfast.co.uk.

On the 12th of March, celebrated author Sir Harry Pratchett very sadly passed away after a public eight-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's, which causes progressive loss of mental faculties affects 40 million people around the world

and this number is expected to triple in the coming decades as the world population ages.

But apart from symptomatic relief, there are currently no treatments that can

actually halt the disease process.

But now a University of Queensland scientist Gerhard Liniger has found that ultrasound waves can be used to remove from the brain the toxic

chemical amyloid beta which scientists think causes Alzheimer's disease.

You can think of the Alzheimer's disease brain as a toxic environment for the cells in the brain and one of the main creators of this toxic environment is this molecule called Amyloid Beta which stops nerve cells communicating with each other and it also impacts on

their health and survival. So we knew that there was a high concentration of amyloid

beta in the brain and the low level in the bloodstream and we wondered whether we could

remove or flush out some of this amyloid beta by making the blood-brain barrier

leaky. It would effectively ooze out of the nervous system and into the bloodstream.

...