Episode description

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: Su et al.

News and Views: A molecular flip-flop for separating heavy water

How dancers can feel the beat even when they can’t hear it, and how climate change might move desert dunes.

Research Highlight: Dancers pick up the pace on a bass beat — even though it’s inaudible

Research Highlight: Desert dunes pose more danger as Earth warms

Bridges are vital pieces of infrastructure but their structural health is hard to monitor, requiring either sophisticated sensors or intense surveying by human engineers. Now though, researchers have utilized large amounts of smartphone accelerometer data to check the health of the Golden Gate Bridge. They hope this new technique can be used to effectively and cheaply monitor bridges around the world.

Research Article: Matarazzo et al.

Communications Engineering special issue: Resilient Infrastructure

This week the 27th UN Climate Change Conference began, with world leaders, scientists and activists coming together to continue negotiations aimed at reining in global warming. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joined us to talk about what’s been happening and what to expect, as the conference continues.

News: Climate change is costing trillions — and low-income countries are paying the price

News: As COP27 kicks off, Egypt warns wealthy nations against ‘backsliding’

News: COP27 climate summit: what scientists are watching

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