New Scientist Weekly

A news podcast for the instatiably curious by the world's most popular weekly science magazine. Everything from the latest science and technology news to the big-picture questions about life, the universe and what it means to be human. For more visit newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episodes

Woolly mammoth breakthrough?; The Anthropocene rejected; Bumblebee culture

#240 A major step has been made toward bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction – sort of. The company Colossal has the ambitious goal of bringing its first baby mammoth into the world by 2028. And its newest advance, announced this week, is in turning adult Asian elephant cells into stem cells. But it’s still a long way from here to the company’s vision of cold-adapted elephants fighting climate change in the Arctic – or even that 2028 baby mammoth. When did humans begin to affect the Eart...

Mar 08, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 240

Is personalised medicine overhyped?; Pythagoras was wrong about music; How your brain sees nothing

#239 Two decades ago, following the Human Genome Project’s release of a first draft in 2001, genetic testing was set to revolutionise healthcare. “Personalised medicine” would give us better treatments for serious conditions, clear pictures of our risks and individualised healthcare recommendations. But despite all the genetic tests available, that healthcare revolution has not exactly come to fruition. Amid news that genetic testing poster child firm 23andMe has hit financial troubles, we ask w...

Mar 01, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 239

Reversing blindness; power beamed from space; animal love languages

#237 Glaucoma, which can cause blindness by damaging the optic nerve, may be reversible. Researchers have managed to coax new optic nerve cells to grow in mice, partly restoring sight in some. How the treatment works through an eyeball injection and why, for humans, prevention and early detection are still the best options. Black holes, just like planets and stars, spin. But they may be spinning a lot slower than we thought. When black holes gobble up matter around them, they start spinning fast...

Feb 16, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 237

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