China's new London embassy, and screen-time retards speech

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

🗓️ 18 January 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, China's attempts to build a new "mega-embassy" in London, but are there security risks? Plus, the UK plans to build a record number of offshore wind farms for cleaner energy, the impact of TV screens and tablets on speech development in toddlers, and NASA's first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

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0:00.0	All engine running.
0:03.6	Absolutely genius.
0:04.4	Welcome.
0:05.3	Welcome.
0:06.2	This is the show where we bring you science.
0:08.1	What that essentially means is discovery.
0:10.2	Advances.
0:11.1	Research.
0:11.8	Technology.
0:12.8	Unbelievable.
0:13.7	Without further ado, this is the Naked Scientists.
0:17.1	Hello, welcome to the Naked Scientist podcast, the program that brings you the biggest
0:20.8	breakthroughs and talks to the major movers and shakers in the worlds of science, technology,
0:25.6	and medicine? I'm Chris Smith. And coming up, are there legitimate security concerns over
0:31.0	China's plan for a new mega embassy in London? Some are calling it the Chinese spy centre.
0:36.9	Also, evidence that screen time on phones and tablets is damaging the speech development of young children
0:42.3	and for the first time ever NASA evacuates someone from space.
0:47.0	But how and why?
0:53.9	We begin with reports that China's London-based diplomats could soon move to a new home in the east of the capital.
1:03.8	It's been dubbed a mega-em embassy, but there are concerns that the plans include secret rooms and a concealed chamber that sit alongside cables
1:12.6	carrying data to and from the city of London. These details were redacted from plans
1:18.0	originally submitted to London's authorities, but were revealed earlier this week when the
	...

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