The neurons behind acupuncture’s effect on inflammation, and how antibiotics affect gut bacteria. In this episode: 00:54 The neuronal basis for acupuncture’s effect on inflammation In mice, electroacupuncture has been shown to reduce inflammation, but only when certain points on the body are stimulated. Why this is has puzzled scientists, but now, researchers have identified the specific neurons that are involved. They hope that this knowledge could be used in future to help treat certain inflam...
Oct 13, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast New data suggests that inexpensive, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can effectively scrub SARS-CoV-2 particles from the air in hospital COVID wards. The result validates previous studies carried out in controlled conditions. Currently, HEPA filters are not routinely used in hospital settings, but researchers suggest they could could help mitigate the risk of tramission of airborne viruses. In addition a new study has demonstrated the effectiveness of mask wearing, with surgical ma...
Oct 10, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast AI weather forecasters, mapping the human brain and the 2021 science Nobel prizes. In this episode: 00:52 Improving the accuracy of weather forecasts with AI Short-term rain predictions are a significant challenge for meteorologists. Now, a team of researchers have come up with an artificial-intelligence based system that weather forecasters preferred to other prediction methods. Research article: Ravuri et al. 08:02 Research Highlights The vaping robot that could help explain why some e-cigaret...
Oct 06, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Starting up in science: behind the scenes In this bonus episode, the four Nature reporters behind Starting up in science discuss how the project came about, what it was like to follow two scientists for three years, and what the series has achieved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 29, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 4 Ali interviews for a critical grant. While she is waiting for the result, the pandemic throws their labs into chaos. Then comes a personal crisis. Read a written version of Starting up in science Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 29, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 3 As newly-minted principal investigators, Ali and Dan have grand plans for their research – but science is slow, especially when other demands loom large: hiring staff, mentoring and teaching students and, of course, the race to secure funding. Read a written version of Starting up in science Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 29, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 2 Ali and Dan have landed positions as the heads of their very own labs. But how did they get to the starting line? Every scientist’s journey is different, and in this episode we hear Ali and Dan’s, which covers years, thousands of miles, and some very difficult decisions. Read a written version of Starting up in science Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 29, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Every year, thousands of scientists struggle to launch their own labs. For three years, a reporting team from Nature documented the lives of married couple Alison Twelvetrees and Daniel Bose as they worked to get their fledgling research groups off the ground. Frustrations over funding, a global pandemic, and a personal trauma have made this journey anything but simple for Ali and Dan. Listen to their story in Starting up in science . Episode 1 What does it take to start up in science? Meet two ...
Sep 29, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Australian scientists are developing new technologies to help protect coral from climate change. Earlier this year, a team of researchers used a mist-machine to artificially brighten clouds in order to block sunlight above Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The project is the world’s first field trial of marine cloud brightening and is among a number of techniques and technologies being developed to save the country’s reefs from the worst effects of climate change. This is an audio version of our f...
Sep 27, 2021•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Less than 1% of those in low income countries are fully vaccinated, and that number only rises to 10% in low-middle income countries. Meanwhile more than half of the population in wealthier countries have received a double dose with several now rolling out third dosess. In this episode of Coronapod we look at the role of pharmaceutical manufacturers. Drug companies are facing increased pressure to partner with manufacturing firms in the global south but most are reluctant to relinqui...
Sep 25, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast How tiny seed-like sensors could monitor the environment, and the latest from the Nature Briefing . In this episode: 00:45 Spinning seeds inspire floating electronics Researchers have developed miniature electronic-chips with wings that fall like seeds, which could be a new way to monitor the environment. Research article: Kim et al. Video: Seed-inspired spinners ride the wind and monitor the atmosphere 06:02 Research Highlights How humans can adjust to an energy-efficient walking pace almost wi...
Sep 22, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast How aquatic foods could help tackle world hunger, and how Australian wildfires spurred phytoplankton growth in the Southern Ocean. In this episode: 00:45 The role of aquatic food in tackling hunger Ahead of the UN’s Food Systems Summit, Nature journals are publishing research from the Blue Food Assessment, looking at how aquatic foods could help feed the world's population in a healthy, sustainable and equitable way. We speak to Ismahane Elouafi, Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organ...
Sep 15, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new theory to explain missing geological time, the end of leaded petrol, and the ancient humans of Arabia. In this episode: 00:29 Unpicking the Great Unconformity For more than 150 years, geologists have been aware of ‘missing’ layers of rock from the Earth’s geological record. Up to one billion years appear to have been erased in what’s known as the Great Unconformity. Many theories to explain this have been proposed, and now a new one suggests that the Great Unconformity may have in f...
Sep 08, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast How insects help release carbon stored in forests, and the upcoming biodiversity summit COP 15. In this episode: 00:44 Fungi, insects, dead trees and the carbon cycle Across the world forests play a huge role in the carbon cycle, removing huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But when those trees die, some of that carbon goes back into the air. A new project studies how fast dead wood breaks down in different conditions, and the important role played by insects. Research Article: S...
Sep 01, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast As women’s soccer, rugby and other sports gain in popularity a growing body of evidence suggests that female athletes are at a greater risk of traumatic brain injury than men - what's more they tend to fare worse after a concussion and take longer to recover. Now researchers are racing to get to the bottom of why and ask how treatment might need to change. This is an audio version of our feature: Why sports concussions are worse for women Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...
Aug 25, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Delta has quickly become the dominant COVID variant in many countries across the world, in this episode we ask why. Over the past few weeks, a slew of studies have started to shed more light on how the Delta variant differs from its cousins and even the mechanisms behind its rampant spread. We dig into studies on the epidemiology and molecular biology of Delta to ask some key questions surrounding its transmissibility, lethality and what all this might mean for vaccine roll outs. News: The...
Aug 21, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast A team is creating bespoke words for scientific terms in African languages, and the sustainability of the electric car boom. 00:46 Creating new words for scientific terms Many words that are common to science have never been written in some African languages, or speakers struggle to agree what the right term is. Now a new project aims to change that, by translating 180 research papers into six languages spoken by millions of people across the continent of Africa. News: African languages to get m...
Aug 18, 2021•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Several wealthy nations have announced plans to give third vaccine doses in a bid to help increase the protection of their most vulnerable citizens - but the science is not clear on whether this strategy will be effective or indeed necessary. Meanwhile with limited vaccine supplies - billions around the world still have no access to vaccines at all. In this episode of Coronapod we discuss the science of boosters, the stark reality of vaccine disparity and what this means for the future of the pa...
Aug 14, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Researchers uncover how grid cells fire in a 3D space to help bats navigate, and a fabric that switches between being stiff and flexible. In this episode: 00:47 Mapping a bat’s navigation neurons in 3D Grid cells are neurons that regularly fire as an animal moves through space, creating a pattern of activity that aids navigation. But much of our understanding of how grid cells work has involved rats moving in a 2D plane. To figure out how the system works in a 3D space, researchers have mapped t...
Aug 11, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ivermectin is a cheap, widely available, anti-parasitic drug that has been proposed by many as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Dozens of trials have been started, but results have been far from clear, with inconsistent results further confused by high profile paper retractions. Nonetheless many countries have recommended the use of Ivermectin, despite WHO advice to the contrary. Now a group of researchers have found suspect data in another influential paper which claimed a Ivermectin caused a...
Aug 06, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Satellite imaging has shown population increases are 10x higher in flood prone areas than previously thought, and a new way to introduce fairness into a democratic process. In this episode: 00:47 Calculating how many people are at risk of floods. Researchers have used satellite imagery to estimate the number of people living in flood-prone regions. They suggest that the percentage of people exposed to floods has increased 10 times more than previously thought, and with climate change that number...
Aug 04, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Researchers debate whether an ancient fossil is the oldest animal yet discovered, and a new way to eavesdrop on glaciers. In this episode: 01:04 Early sponge This week in Nature, a researcher claims to have found a fossil sponge from 890-million-years-ago. If confirmed, this would be more than 300-million-years older than the earliest uncontested animal fossils but not all palaeontologists are convinced. Research Article: Turner 10:13 Research Highlights A caffeine buzz appears to improve bees’ ...
Jul 28, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Archaeological evidence shows that ancient people ate carbs, long before domesticated crops. While the idea that early humans subsisted mainly on meat persists, archaeologists are increasingly understanding that ancient people have actually long been in love with carbs, even before the advent of agriculture. This is an audio version of our feature: How ancient people fell in love with bread, beer and other carbs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 26, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Early in 2021 the United Kingdom, along with several other countries, allowed mass gatherings as part of a series of controlled studies aimed at better understanding the role events could play in the pandemic. The goal was to inform policy - however early results have provided limited data on viral transmission. As the Olympic games kick off in Tokyo, we delve into the research, asking what the limitations have been, if more data will become available and whether policy makers are likely t...
Jul 24, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Funding for gun violence research in the US returns after a 20-year federal hiatus, and the glass sponges that can manipulate ocean currents. In this episode: 00:45 Gun violence research is rebooted For 20 years there has been no federally-funded research on gun violence in the US. In 2019, $25 million a year was allocated for this work. We speak to some of the researchers that are using these funds, and the questions they are trying to answer about gun violence. News Feature: Gun violence is su...
Jul 21, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast The UK government has announced that virtually all COVID restrictions will be removed in England on Monday 18th July. This will do away with social distancing requirements, allow businesses to re-open to full capacity and remove legal mask mandates. This decision comes, however, amidst soaring infections rates in the country, driven by the delta variant. Now scientists are questioning the wisdom of this policy and asking whether the combination of high transmission and a partially vaccinated pop...
Jul 16, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Why heat waves disproportionately impact minorities in US cities, and the researcher that critiqued his whole career on Twitter. In this episode: 00:45 How heat waves kill unequally Researchers are beginning to unpick how historic discrimination in city planning is making the recent heat waves in North America more deadly for some than others. News Feature: Racism is magnifying the deadly impact of rising city heat 1 1:59 Research Highlights A graphene layer can protect paintings from age, and a...
Jul 14, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast For much of the pandemic, the greatest burden of disease has been felt by older generations. But now, for the first time, vaccine roll outs are starting to skew the average age of those infections towards the young. This has led many researchers to ask what this might mean for the future of the pandemic. In this episode of Coronapod we discuss what we know and what we don't know about this change in the demographic profile of COVID infections. We ask how this might impact global vaccination effo...
Jul 09, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Addressing the problem of sudden food scarcity in US cities, and the up-and-coming field of computational social science. In this episode: 00:45 Food shocks Climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical crises can cause food shortages. To tackle this issue, Alfonso Mejia and colleagues have modelled how to best mitigate these food shocks in US cities. Alfonso tells us about the new analyses and what steps cities could take in the future. Research Article: Gomez et al. News and Views: H...
Jul 07, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the beginning oft he pandemic, researchers have searched for a biomarker which indicates immune protection from COVID-19 known as a correlate of protection. Now, the team developing the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have published the first results of their so-called 'breakthrough study' which indicated puts forwards thresholds of neutralising antibodies that they suggest correlate with protection. The hope is that, should these results be confirmed, such biomarkers could speed up th...
Jul 02, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
