The Hello, welcome to the naked scientist with me Chris Smith and also with Cat Arnie.

This week we're going back to grassroots with a look at the science of

cannabis. We hear why the marijuana plant makes it, how it affects the body, how

scientists and doctors are using it to tackle disorders like epilepsy and chronic pain and we ask can

it cause schizophrenia.

Plus in the news the new breed of chemicals that are putting our ozone layer at risk, why

teenage spirms are more likely to be mutants and

talking happy, how scientists have developed a tool to work out the mood of a whole nation,

if not the whole world.

The Naked Scientists Podcast is powered by UK disease and strokes which are caused by our

arteries becoming clogged with deposits of cholesterol. This builds up inside cells called macrophages

that accumulate in the walls of damaged blood vessels.

Now a team of scientists in America

have developed nanoparticles that can be injected

into the bloodstream where they home in on areas

where blockages are destined to occur and stop the buildup of cholesterol.

Pravas Moogi.

Our technology is focused on developing in

nanoparticle which can then reach the sites of these lesions and then

block the uptake of the lipoproteins, the bad cholesterol, as they say, within the lesions.

And here is where it gets very interesting because the primary character in this entire

cascade is a macrophage, which is an inflammatory

...