Naked Scientists: UK vaping trends, dark-energy debate, space policy, and ancient tool-use discovery

In this episode, the Naked Scientists dissect UK vaping trends using Office for National Statistics data, explore the potential future of the universe if dark energy wanes, examine Britain’s space policy and economic opportunities, and reveal a 3-million-year-old Kenyan discovery showing early hominins crafting and passing on stone tool techniques. The discussion weighs public-health implications, youth vaping risks, and the balance between harm reduction and prevention, while also forecasting how space technology can impact everyday life in farming, shipping, and medicine. A landmark paleontological finding suggests tool use preceded major brain expansion, reshaping ideas about human evolution and learning.

Overview

The Naked Scientists episode intertwines public health, cosmology, space policy, and paleoanthropology. Host Rhys James guides conversations with experts and researchers to illuminate what the latest data and research say about vaping trends in the UK, the fate of the universe, the UK’s position in space, and early human innovation in stone tool use.

Vaping Trends and Health Implications

The discussion centers on new Office for National Statistics data showing more people in Britain vape than smoke for the first time. About 5.5 million people vape daily or occasionally, while smoking has fallen to 9.1% of those 16 and older. Linda Bauld explains that many vapers are ex-smokers, which represents a harm-reduction win, though there are concerns about youth vaping. The show notes that 11–17 year olds have increasing exposure to vaping, with about 1 in 5 trying it and 7% currently vaping, many never having smoked. Policy measures including flavor restrictions and disposable-vape bans are discussed as ways to protect youth while preserving vaping as a cessation tool for adults.

“The vast majority of these people who are vaping are ex-smokers.” - Linda Bauld

Cosmology: Dark Energy and the Universe’s Fate

The program revisits the big question of whether the universe will continue expanding or eventually recollapse. It explains the role of dark energy in driving acceleration and how recent analyses suggest the possibility that dark energy might decline over time, potentially leading to a big crunch rather than heat death. Desi, the Dark Energy Survey instrument, provides high-precision expansion history data that challenges the assumption of a constant dark energy. The conversation also covers how a re-evaluation based on a small sample of supernovae might influence interpretations of cosmic acceleration, though the broader consensus benefits from multiple independent approaches.

“The dark energy as assumed until very recently is a constant.” - Rhys James

Space Policy and Economic Opportunity

A crossbench House of Lords Committee report urges the UK to lead in space and highlights practical benefits for farming, shipping, medicine, and engineering. The interview emphasizes the shift from space as a government-led arena to a broader commercial ecosystem and discusses space-debris mitigation, reuse, and in-space manufacturing as priorities. The process for government response to such reports is outlined, with expectations for a concrete strategy to emerge that leverages Britain’s capabilities and drives growth.

“It’s everywhere, that it’s going to affect everybody.” - Rhys James

Ancient Tool Use and Human Evolution

The episode closes with a paleoanthropology finding from northern Kenya near the Kenya-Ethiopia border. Researchers report 2.75–2.44 million-year-old artifacts made from chalcedonite, indicating that river systems provided raw materials and that early hominins learned by copying, passing tool-making techniques across hundreds of thousands of years. The findings support the idea that tool use preceded large-brained brain expansion, enabling adaptive dietary strategies and caloric access that could drive brain development later on.

“Tool use is actually much earlier on, and it allows for changes in brain size.” - David Braun