The Naked Scientists Podcast Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists podcast team has been sharing approachable and relatable science topics with the world for over a decade! They have truly set the bar for science podcasts. Each episode has a theme (even if that them is Q&A) but they always cover other timely or interesting tidbits. This means each episode has many different facets and is worth listening to, even if the major topic is not your cuppa tea. I started listening a couple of years ago, starting with episodes from about five years back. Great road trip podcast; listen when cleaning the house, waiting for an appointment, on a plane or completing some other mundane task on which you do not need to concentrate.

I head a fully incorrect statement regarding carbon content it takes to raise cattle. 80 head of cattle can be raised by two people and 6 horses on land not suitable for crops.

I know this because my grandfather did it. Natural grasses from peatland was used for the winter feed, harvested with horse drawn equipment means no tillage and this is done in a region with only a fraction of a centimetre of topsoil. Summer grazing of natural growing grass is used. The local wildlife in competition with cattle are bears as they also eat clover and a few other plants but eat the odd calf so that may be fair and with mull-deer but the deer also consume shrubs that cattle don’t eat.

However this was an era of 2.some billion roughly. Problem is factory farming today. Meat protein is undervalued monetarily because it’s over produced to feed 7.6 billion hungry people. If my grandfather was to produce the same amount of nutrients and calories with plants the deforestation would be massive and the carbon content would be massive as well. If a person wants to lesson their carbon footprint, don’t have children it’s the top of the list of what’s in your control and have 100% success.

Animal protein can be a carbon fixing process but not on the volume currently being used. Today’s practices have become the problem and today’s overpopulation of humanoids is the problem. The deforestation required to produce plant matter insect free to feed 7.6 billion people is still the problem no matter how it’s sliced. Shipping and concentrating essential nutrients for proper health with a vegan or vegetarian diet is just as problematic due to the growing population. We have become an unsustainable population for our current strategies.

One of two podcasts where I always know the content will be great. But then it's not fair, because people with British accents always sound smarter. The length (a bit under 60 minutes) is just right for me. Analysis is objective and the right depth. It's great.