In this episode: 00:45 Laser-guided lightning Scientists have shown that a specially designed laser can divert the course of lightning strikes in a real-world setting. The team fired the laser into the sky above a communications tower high in the Swiss Alps and altered the course of four strikes. In future they hope that this kind of system could be used to protect large infrastructure, such as airports. Research article: Houard et al. News: This rapid-fire laser diverts lightning strikes 09:36 ...
Jan 18, 2023•20 min
In this episode of the Nature Podcast , we catch up on some science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing . We’ll hear: how Brazil’s President Lula has started to make good on his pro-environment promises; a new theory for why giant ichthyosaurs congregated in one place; how glass frogs hide their blood; about a new statue honouring Henrietta Lacks; and why T. rex might have cooed like a dove. Nature News: Will Brazil’s President Lula keep his climate promises? Scien...
Jan 11, 2023•24 min
In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2023. We'll hear about vaccines, multiple Moon missions and new therapeutics, to name but a few. News: the science events to look out for in 2023 Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 06, 2023•15 min
In this episode: 00:53 How virtual meetings can limit creative ideas In April, we heard how a team investigated whether switching from face-to-face to virtual meetings came at a cost to creativity. They showed that people meeting virtually produced fewer creative ideas than those working face-to-face, and suggest that when it comes to idea generation maybe it’s time to turn the camera off. Nature Podcast: 27 April 2022 Research article: Brucks & Levav Video: Why video calls are bad for brain...
Dec 28, 2022•51 min
01:07 “Artemis and Dart” In the first of our festive songs, we celebrate some of the big space missions from this year: Artemis which aims to get people back to the moon, and DART which could help defend the Earth from meteor strikes. 03:51 Redacted Headline challenge In this year’s festive game, our competitors work together to try and figure out some Nature Podcast headlines where all the words have been removed. Find out how they get on… 15:57 Research Highlights Research Highlight: Why does ...
Dec 21, 2022•35 min
In this episode: 00:47 Estimating pandemic-associated mortality This week, a team of researchers working with the World Health Organization have used statistical modelling to estimate the number of excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The work estimates that there were almost 15 million deaths either directly or indirectly attributed to the pandemic, almost three times higher than the official toll. Research article: Msemburi et al. News and Views: Global estimat...
Dec 14, 2022•29 min
In this episode: 00:45 World’s oldest DNA shows that mastodons roamed ancient Greenland DNA recovered from ancient permafrost has been used to reconstruct what an ecosystem might have looked like two million years ago. Their work suggests that Northern Greenland was much warmer than the frozen desert it is today, with a rich ecosystem of plants and animals. Research Article: Kjær et al. Nature Video: The world's oldest DNA: Extinct beasts of ancient Greenland 08:21 Research Highlights Why low le...
Dec 07, 2022•18 min
In the second episode of Nature hits the books , science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince joins us to talk about her new book Nomad Century , which looks at how climate change could render large parts of the globe uninhabitable, and how surviving this catastrophe will require a planned migration of people on a scale never seen before in human history. Nomad Century , Gaia Vince, Allen Lane (2022) Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Dec 02, 2022•26 min
00:45 Inert ant pupae produce a previously unobserved fluid Ant larvae metamorphose into adults by pupating. It was assumed that these inert pupae don’t play a role in the wider ant colony, but a team of researchers have found that they actually secrete a fluid that is consumed by both adult ants and larvae. This fluid is rich in proteins and metabolites, and appears to be an important source of larval nutrition. These secretions have now been seen in the pupae of multiple ant species, suggestin...
Nov 30, 2022•20 min
Big data is playing an increasingly important role in football, with technologies capturing huge amounts of information about players' positions and actions during a match. To make sense of all this information, most elite football teams now employ data analysts plucked from top companies and laboratories. Their insights are helping to steer everything from player transfers to the intensity of training, and have even altered how the game is played. This is an audio version of our Feature: Scienc...
Nov 25, 2022•16 min
00:45 Precision positioning without satellites Satellite navigation has revolutionized how humans find their way. However, these systems often struggle in urban areas, where buildings can interfere with weak satellite signals. To counter this, a team has developed an alternative, satellite-free system, which could improve applications that require precise positioning in cities, such as self-driving cars. Research Article: Koelemeij et al. News and Views: Phone signals can help you find your way ...
Nov 23, 2022•24 min
00:46 Artemis 1 is go! NASA’s Artemis 1 mission has successfully reached Earth orbit. After weeks of delays and issues, and a nail biting launch, the rocket marks the first step in a new era of moon exploration, with plans to test a new way to return astronauts to the moon. We caught up with reporter for all-things-space, Alex Witze, for the latest. News: Lift off! Artemis Moon rocket launch kicks off new era of human exploration 10:06 Research Highlights The unlevel playing field in women’s foo...
Nov 16, 2022•28 min
Kathleen Folbigg has spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her four children. But in 2018, a group of scientists began gathering evidence that suggested another possibility for the deaths — that at least two of them were attributable to a genetic mutation that can affect heart function. A judicial inquiry in 2019 failed to reverse Folbigg’s conviction, but this month, the researchers will present new evidence at a second inquiry, which could ultimately spell freedom fo...
Nov 14, 2022•31 min
00:49 Separating heavy water with molecular cages Heavy water is molecule very similar to H2O but with deuterium isotopes in the place of hydrogen atoms. Heavy water is useful in nuclear reactions, drug design and nutritional studies, but it's difficult to separate from normal water because they have such similar properties. Now, a team have developed a new separation method using tiny molecular cages, which they hope opens up more energy efficient ways to produce heavy water. Research article: ...
Nov 09, 2022•25 min
Companies are offering genetic tests of embryos generated by in vitro fertilization that they say allow prospective parents to choose those with the lowest risk for diseases such as diabetes or certain cancers. However, some researchers are concerned about the accuracy and ethics of these tests. This is an audio version of our Feature: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 04, 2022•20 min
00:46 How flies can move their eyes (a little) It's long been assumed flies’ eyes don’t move, and so to alter their gaze they need to move their heads. Now, researchers have shown that this isn’t quite true and that fruit flies can actually move their retinas using a specific set of muscles, which may allow them to perceive depth. The team also hope that this movement may provide a window into some of the flies’ internal processes. Research article: Fenk et al. 08:54 Research Highlights How the ...
Nov 02, 2022•30 min
When COVID-19 hit it didn't kill indiscriminately. In the US, being Black, Hispanic, or Native American meant you had a much greater risk of death than if you were white. And these disparities are mirrored across the world. In this episode we explore the complex tale behind this disparity. Throughout history, racism and biases have been embedded within medical technology, along the clinicians who use it. Cultural concepts of race have been falsely conflated with biology. The way medicine is taug...
Oct 28, 2022•40 min
In this episode: 00:54 Siberian cave offers first-ever glimpse into Neanderthal family By analysing ancient DNA recovered from bone fragments found in two Siberian caves, researchers have identified a set of closely related Neanderthals: a father and daughter, as well as several other more-distant relatives. The work suggests that Neanderthal communities were small, and that females may have left their families to join other groups. Research article: Skov et al. News and Views: The first genomic...
Oct 26, 2022•23 min
In this episode: 00:45 Implanted brain organoids could offer new insights into disease Brain organoids — lab-grown, self-organizing structures made of stem cells — are used in research to better understand brain development and disease progression. However, these structures lack connections seen in real brains, limiting their usefulness. To overcome this, a team has now transplanted human organoids into the brains of newborn rats, showing that these implanted organoids respond to stimuli and cou...
Oct 12, 2022•18 min
In this episode: 00:46 A virtual chemical library uncovers potential antidepressants Certain psychedelic drugs are of interest to researchers due to their promising antidepressant effects. To help speed up the discovery of molecules with useful properties, researchers have built a virtual library of 75 million compounds related to these drugs. This approach yielded two molecules that showed antidepressant properties in mice, but without the hallucinogenic activity of psychedelic drugs. Rese...
Oct 05, 2022•19 min
The ongoing war in Ukraine has devastated the global economy, rocked geopolitics, killed thousands of people and displaced millions. Science too has been affected and the impacts on research are being felt more widely than just in Ukraine and Russia. In this episode of Nature 's Takes we discuss the war's impact on publishing, international collaborations, climate change and energy, and the destructive impacts on scientists themselves. And as the war continues, we consider the future of science ...
Oct 03, 2022•21 min
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries introduced strict lockdowns to help prevent spread of the disease. Since then, researchers have been studying the effects of these measures to help inform responses to future crises. Conclusions suggest that countries that acted swiftly to bring in strict measures did best at preserving lives and their economies, but analysing the competing costs and benefits of lockdowns has been tough, as this work often comes down not to scientific cal...
Sep 30, 2022•23 min
In this episode: 00:45 Piecing together the early history of jawed vertebrates A wealth of fossils discovered in southern China shed new light onto the diversity of jawed and jawless fish during the Silurian period, over 400 million years ago. Nature editor Henry Gee explains the finds and what they mean for the history of jawed vertebrates like us. Research article: Zhu et al. Research article: Gai et al. Research article: Andreev et al. Research article: Andreev et al. News and Views: Fossils ...
Sep 28, 2022•19 min
00:46 Inequalities in US faculty hiring In the US, where a person gained their PhD can have an outsized influence on their future career. Now, using a decade worth of data, researchers have shown there are stark inequalities in the hiring process, with 80% of US faculty trained at just 20% of institutions. Research article: Wapman et al. 09:01 Research Highlights How wildlife can influence chocolate production, and the large planets captured by huge stars. Research Highlight: A chocoholic’s best...
Sep 21, 2022•20 min
00:46 Synthetic cells made from bacterial bits For years researchers have been interested in creating artificial cells, as they could be useful for manufacturing compounds and understanding how life works. Now a new method shows how this can be accomplished using polymer droplets that integrate components of burst bacteria. The synthesised cells are able to perform translation and transcription and have several features that resemble real cells, like a proto-nucleus and a cytoskeleton. Research ...
Sep 14, 2022•20 min
00:46 Evidence of ancient surgery A skeleton with an amputated foot discovered in Borneo has been dated to 31,000 years ago, suggesting that complex surgery might be much older than previously thought. The person whose foot was removed survived the procedure, which the researchers behind the find say shows the ‘surgeon’ must have had detailed knowledge of anatomy, and likely had access to antiseptic compounds. Research article: Maloney et al. News and Views: A surgical dawn 31,000 years ago in B...
Sep 07, 2022•22 min
The development of brain chimaeras – made up of human and animal neurons – is an area of research that has hugely expanded in the past five years. Proponents say that these systems are yielding important insights into health and disease, but others say the chimeras represent an ethical grey zone, because of the potential to blur the line between humans and other animals, or to recapitulate human-like cognition in an animal. This is an audio version of our Feature: Hybrid brains: the ethics of tr...
Aug 26, 2022•24 min
In this episode: 00:45 How adding pores helps water carry gas Although water is an excellent solvent, it’s limited in its ability to dissolve gasses. To overcome this a team have developed ‘porous water’ containing tiny cages that can hold large numbers of gas molecules. The team suggest that this technology could have multiple medical applications, including in the development of artificial blood. Research article: Erdosy et al. News and Views: Suspended pores boost gas solubility in water 11:3...
Aug 24, 2022•31 min
00:47 Evidence of a proton’s charm For decades, scientists have debated whether protons have ‘intrinsic charm’, meaning they contain elementary particles known as charm quarks. Now, using machine learning to comb through huge amounts of experimental data, a team have shown evidence that the charm quark can be found within a proton, which may have important ramifications in the search for new physics. Research article: The NNPDF Collaboration News and Views: Evidence at last that the proton has i...
Aug 17, 2022•22 min
In this first episode of Nature's Take, we get four of Nature's staff around microphones to get their expert take on preprints. These pre-peer-review open access articles have spiked in number over recent years and have cemented themselves as an integral part of scientific publishing. But this has not been without its issues. In this discussion we cover a lot of ground. Amongst other things, we ask whether preprints could help democratise science or contribute to a loss of trust in scientists. W...
Aug 15, 2022•25 min
