This week's Naked Scientist podcast comes from Naked Genetics, a monthly peak inside your genes with me, Dr Katani.

From plants to pathogens, fruit flies to fungi and hamsters to humans, we take a close up look at the blueprint of life.

We've got in-depth interviews with leading scientists, the latest news from the world of genetics,

answers to your burning questions, and our gene of the month.

You can find us at the naked scientist.com slash genetics.

This is the Naked Genetics podcast

taking a look inside your genes. Naked Genetics Podcast Taking a Look Inside Your Genes. This month we're taking a look at the world of top models, not the kind that won't

get out of bed for less than 10 grand, but the model organisms used by researchers all over the world to answer some of the most challenging questions in biology.

You can slow them down or you can speed them up. Very importantly, you can just freeze them completely and keep them in liquid nitrogen or minus HE and they will live forever like that.

We'll also be hearing about the origins of polar bears,

the extinction of Tasmanian tigers,

fitter frogs with faster genomes and promiscuous

bees. And move over Beyonce because our gene of the month is the curvaceous calipige,

that's Greek for beautiful buttocks. This is the Naked Genetics Podcast for May 2012 with me,

Dr. Katani, brought to you in association with the Genetics Society, online at genetics.org.

UK.

When you think of supermodels,

when you think of supermodels, you may think of supermodels you may think of skinny pouting beauty strutting up and

down the catwalk, but one of the more recent stars on the modeling scene in the world of genetics

research is just over a millimeter long,

completely transparent and you can pop it in the fridge over the weekend.

To find out more about these curious creatures I spoke to Jonathan Hodgkin, professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford.

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