Shingles vaccine delays dementia, and chatting AI bots

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

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we examine a herpes zoster vaccination that can reduce or delay dementia diagnosis. How does it work? Plus, the BBC's Zoe Kleinman explains a social media site for AI chatbots, the discovery of microplastics in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean, and why the Artemis II launch has been delayed once more... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

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0:00.0	All engine running.
0:03.0	Absolutely genius.
0:04.0	Get this.
0:05.0	Welcome.
0:06.0	This is the show where we bring you science.
0:08.0	What that essentially means is...
0:09.0	Discovery is...
0:10.0	...davances, research, technology.
0:12.0	Unbelievable.
0:13.0	Without further ado, this is the Naked Scientist.
0:17.0	Hello, welcome to the Naked Scientist podcast, the program that brings you the biggest breakthroughs
0:21.3	and also talks to the major movers and shakers in the worlds of science, technology and medicine.
0:26.6	I'm Chris Smith. Coming up, another study confirms that Shingles vaccines appear to knock
0:32.6	dementia risks on the head. The BBC's Zoe Kleinman explains a social media site just for AI bots to hang out,
0:40.6	and will the US or China be the ones to make the next giant leap in the new lunar race?
1:06.6	As we live longer, the number of people who are destined to develop dementia is expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, which makes it one of the most important public health considerations of our time.
1:10.0	New research, however, offers fresh hope.
1:12.7	A study which has been published in The Lancet Neurology has found that herpes zoster vaccination which combats a manifestation of the
1:18.0	chickenpox virus called shingles and is marketed under the brand name Zostervax can reduce
1:24.7	dementia risk by about 20%. The findings mirror results of an earlier initial
1:30.5	study carried out on vaccinase in Wales by Stanford University's Pascal Gelsetzer. I asked him to explain
1:37.9	what they did during that first study, which we also featured here previously on the Naked
	...

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