Facial recognition tech, and Russia destroys launchpad

The Naked Scientists Podcast

Dr Chris Smith

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

4.6 • 957 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Coming up, we explore the UK's plans to rollout facial recognition technology. Is it a bold move to catch violent criminals, or scientific and ethical overreach? Also, why volcanic eruptions may have aided the spread of the second wave of the Black Death in Europe, what caused damage to Russia's space launchpad in Kazakhstan, and whether bacteria can help us build habitats on Mars. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

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0:00.0	All engine running.
0:03.1	Absolutely genius.
0:04.1	Welcome.
0:05.0	Welcome.
0:05.9	This is the show where we bring you science.
0:07.7	What that essentially means is.
0:09.3	Discovery is advanced.
0:10.4	Research.
0:11.5	Technology.
0:12.4	Unbelievable.
0:13.4	Without further ado, this is the naked scientists.
0:17.0	Hello, welcome to the naked scientist podcast.
0:19.6	This is the program that brings you the biggest
0:21.3	breakthroughs and talks to the major movers and shakers in the worlds of science, technology
0:26.0	and medicine. I'm Chris Smith. And this week, UK police announced plans to roll out facial
0:31.7	recognition technology across the country, but what's this actually going to capture?
0:36.7	Also, evidence that a volcanic eruption
0:38.9	might be behind the emergence of the black death in 14th century Europe, Russia's launch pad
0:44.5	explodes and plans to build on Mars using bacteria.
1:02.6	The UK government has announced plans to roll out facial recognition technology across the country.
1:12.9	The policing and crime minister Sarah Jones hopes that it will be the biggest breakthrough in catching violent criminals since DNA fingerprinting. But critics have cautioned that this type of technology reeks of totalitarianism. Many are outraged that the country
1:19.0	seems to be following in the footsteps of regimes like China, where this sort of technology
	...

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