Nature Podcast
Nature Podcast
Springer Nature Limited
The Nature Podcast brings you the best stories from the world of science each week. We cover everything from astronomy to zoology, highlighting the most exciting research from each issue of the Nature journal. We meet the scientists behind the results and provide in-depth analysis from Nature's journalists and editors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How climate change is affecting global timekeeping
In this episode:01:28 Inflammation’s role in memoryHow memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA damage is repaired may play a role. As inflammation in the brain is often associated with disease, the team were surprised by this finding, which they hope will help uncover ways to better preserve our memories, especially in the face of neurodegenerative disorders.Research Article: Jovasevic et al.News and Views: Innate immunity in neurons makes memories persist08:40 Research HighlightsThe effect of wind turbines on property values, and how waste wood can be used to 3D print new wooden objects.Research Highlight: A view of wind turbines drives down home values — but only brieflyResearch Highlight: Squeeze, freeze, bake: how to make 3D-printed wood that mimics the real thing11:14 How melting ice is affecting global timekeepingDue to variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation, the length of a day is rarely exactly 24 hours. By calculating the strength of the different factors affecting this, a researcher has shown that while Earth’s rotation is overall speeding up, this effect is being tempered by the melting of the polar ice caps. As global time kept by atomic clocks occasionally has to be altered to match Earth’s rotation, human-induced climate change may delay plans to add a negative leap-second to ensure the two align.Research article: AgnewNews and Views: Melting ice solves leap-second problem — for now20:04 Briefing ChatAn AI for antibody development, and the plans for the upcoming Simons observatory.Nature News: ‘A landmark moment’: scientists use AI to design antibodies from scratchNature News: ‘Best view ever’: observatory will map Big Bang’s afterglow in new detailSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Subscribe to Nature Briefing: AI and robotics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 27
26 min
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs
This podcast has been corrected: in a previous version at 5:55 we stated that that the team's 200mm devices currently contain only a couple of magnetic tunnelling junctions, in fact they studied 500-1000 devices in this work.00:48 How mysterious skyrmions could power next-generation computersSkyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that some researchers believe have useful properties that could unlock new kinds of computing. However getting skyrmions to perform useful computational tasks has been tricky. Now researchers have developed a method to create and manipulate skyrmions in a way that is compatible with existing computing technology, allowing them to read and write data at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional systems. The team think this shows that skyrmions could be a viable part of the next generation of computers.Research Article: Chen et al.News and Views: Magnetic whirlpools offer improved data storage07:51 Research HighlightsHow robotically-enhanced, live jellyfish could make ocean monitoring cheap and easy, and how collective saliva tests could be a cost-effective way of testing for a serious infant infection.Research Highlight: These cyborg jellyfish could monitor the changing seasResearch Highlight: Pooling babies’ saliva helps catch grave infection in newborns10:01 AI identifies X factor hidden within zebra finch songsMale songbirds often develop elaborate songs to demonstrate their fitness, but many birds only learn a single song and stick with it their entire lives. How female birds judge the fitness between these males has been a long-standing puzzle. Now, using an AI-based system a team has analysed the songs of male zebra finches and shown that some songs have a hidden factor that is imperceptible to humans. Although it’s not clear exactly what this factor is, songs containing it were shown to be harder to learn and more attractive to females. The researchers hope that this AI-based method will allow them to better understand what makes some birdsong more attractive than others.Research article: Alam et al. News and Views: Birds convey complex signals in simple songs20:04 Briefing ChatHow H5N1 avian influenza is threatening penguins on Antarctica, and why farmed snake-meat could be a more environmentally-friendly way to produce protein for food.Nature News: Bird-flu threat disrupts Antarctic penguin studiesScientific American: Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of ProteinSubscribe 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.
Mar 20
29 min
Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why
In this episode:00:45 Making a map of the human heartThe human heart consists of multiple, specialised structures that all work together to enable the organ to beat for a lifetime. But exactly which cells are present in each part of the heart has been difficult to ascertain. Now, a team has combined molecular techniques to create an atlas of the developing human heart at an individual cell level. Their atlas provides insights into how cell communities communicate and form different structures. They hope that this knowledge will ultimately help in the treatment of congenital heart conditions, often caused by irregular development of the heart.Research article: Farah et al. Nature video: Building a heart atlas08:37 Research HighlightsResidue in ceramic vases suggests that ancient Mesoamerican peoples consumed tobacco as a liquid, and a wireless way to charge quantum batteries.Research Highlight: Buried vases hint that ancient Americans might have drunk tobaccoResearch Highlight: A better way to charge a quantum battery11:11 The evolution of menopause in toothed whalesMenopause is a rare phenomenon, only known to occur in a few mammalian species. Several of these species are toothed whales, such as killer whales, beluga whales and narwhals. But why menopause evolved multiple times in toothed whales has been a long-standing research question. To answer it, a team examined the life history of whales with and without menopause and how this affected the number of offspring and ‘grandoffpsring’. Their results suggest that menopause allows older females to help younger generations in their families and improve their chances of survival.Research Article: Ellis et al.News and Views: Whales make waves in the quest to discover why menopause evolved18:03 Briefing ChatHow the new generation of anti-obesity drugs could help people with HIV, and the study linking microplastics lodged in a key blood vessel with serious health issues.Nature News: Blockbuster obesity drug leads to better health in people with HIVNature News: Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problemsSubscribe 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.
Mar 13
27 min
These tiny fish combine electric pulses to probe the environment
In this episode:00:48 Bumblebees can learn new tricks from each otherOne behaviour thought unique to humans is the ability to learn something from your predecessors that you couldn’t figure out on your own. However, researchers believe they have shown bumblebees are also capable of this ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ approach to learning. Bees that were taught how to complete a puzzle too difficult to solve on their own, were able to share this knowledge with other bees, raising the possibility that this thought-to-be human trait could be widespread amongst animals.Research article: Bridges et al.News and Views: Bees and chimpanzees learn from others what they cannot learn alone16:55 Research HighlightsWhy the Krakatau eruption made the skies green, and the dining habits of white dwarf stars.Research Highlight: Why sunsets were a weird colour after Krakatau blew its topResearch Highlight: This dying star bears a jagged metal scar19:28 The fish that collectively, electrically senseMany ocean-dwelling animals sense their environment using electric pulses, which can help them hunt and avoid predators. Now research shows that the tiny elephantnose fish can increase the range of this sense by combining its pulses with those of other elephantnose fish. This allows them to discriminate and determine the location of different objects at a much greater distance than a single fish is able to. This is the first time a collective electric sense has been seen in animals, which could provide an ‘early-warning system', allowing a group to avoid predators from a greater distance.Research Article: Pedraja and Sawtell27:54 Briefing ChatThe organoids made from cells derived from amniotic fluid, and the debate over the heaviest animal.Nature News: Organoids grown from amniotic fluid could shed light on rare diseasesThe New York Times: Researchers Dispute Claim That Ancient Whale Was Heaviest Animal EverSubscribe 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.
Mar 6
36 min
Could this one-time ‘epigenetic’ treatment control cholesterol?
In this episode:00:49 What caused the Universe to become fully transparent?Around 13 billion years ago, the Universe was filled with a dense ‘fog’ of neutral hydrogen that blocked certain wavelengths of light. This fog was lifted when the hydrogen was hit by radiation in a process known as reionisation, but the source of this radiation has been debated. Now, researchers have used the JWST to peer deep into the Universe’s past and found that charged particles pouring out from dwarf galaxies appear to be the the main driver for reionization. This finding could help researchers understand how some of the structures we now see in the Universe were formed.Research article: Atek et al.08:46 Research HighlightsAncient inscriptions could be the earliest example of the language that became Basque, and how researchers etched a groove… onto soap film.Research Highlight: Ancient bronze hand’s inscription points to origins of Basque languageResearch Highlight: Laser pulses engrave an unlikely surface: soap films11:05 Controlling cholesterol with epigeneticsTo combat high cholesterol, many people take statins, but because these drugs have to be taken every day researchers have been searching for alternatives. Controlling cholesterol by editing the epigenome has shown promise in lab-grown cells, but its efficacy in animals was unclear. Now, researchers have shown the approach can work in mice, and have used it to silence a gene linked to high cholesterol for a year. The mice show markedly lowered cholesterol, a result the team hope could pave the way for epigenetic therapeutics for humans.Research Article: Cappelluti et al.18:52 The gene mutation explaining why humans don’t have tailsWhy don’t humans and other apes have a tail? It was assumed that a change must have happened in our genomes around 25 million years ago that resulted in the loss of this flexible appendage. Now researchers believe they have pinned down a good candidate for what caused this: an insertion into a particular gene known as TBXT. The team showed the key role this gene plays by engineering mice genomes to contain a similar change, leading to animals that were tail-less. This finding could help paint a picture of the important genetic mutations that led to the evolution of humans and other apes.Nature News: How humans lost their tails — and why the discovery took 2.5 years to publishResearch Article: Xia et al.News and Views: A mobile DNA sequence could explain tail loss in humans and apesSubscribe 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.
Feb 28
26 min
Audio long read: Chimpanzees are dying from our colds — these scientists are trying to save them
The phenomenon of animals catching diseases from humans, called reverse zoonoses, has had a severe impact on great ape populations, often representing a bigger threat than habitat loss or poaching.However, while many scientists and conservationists agree that human diseases pose one of the greatest risks to great apes today there are a few efforts under way to use a research-based approach to mitigate this problem.This is an audio version of our Feature Chimpanzees are dying from our colds — these scientists are trying to save them Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 26
24 min
How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solved
The deep haunting tones of the world's largest animals, baleen whales, are iconic - but how the songs are produced has long been a mystery. Whales evolved from land dwelling mammals which vocalize by passing air through a structure called the larynx - a structure which also helps keep food from entering the respiratory system. However toothed whales like dolphins do not use their larynx to make sound, instead they have evolved a specialized organ in their nose. Now a team of researchers have discovered the structure used by baleen whales - a modified version of the larynx. Whales like Humpbacks and Blue whales are able to create powerful vocalizations but their anatomy also limits the frequency of the sounds they can make and depth at which they can sing. This leaves them unable to escape anthropogenic noise pollution which occur in the same range.Article: Evolutionary novelties underlie sound production in baleen whalesSubscribe 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.
Feb 23
14 min
Why are we nice? Altruism's origins are put to the test
In this episode:00:45 Why are humans so helpful?Humans are notable for their cooperation and display far more altruistic behaviour than other animals, but exactly why this behaviour evolved has been a puzzle. But in a new paper, the two leading theories have been put the test with a model and a real-life experiment. They find that actually neither theory on its own leads to cooperation but a combination is required for humans to help one another.Research article: Efferson et al.News and Views: Why reciprocity is common in humans but rare in other animals10:55 Research HighlightsThe discovery of an ancient stone wall hidden underwater, and the fun that apes have teasing one another.Research Highlight: Great ‘Stone Age’ wall discovered in Baltic SeaResearch Highlight: What a tease! Great apes pull hair and poke each other for fun13:14 The DVD makes a comebackOptical discs, like CDs and DVDs, are an attractive option for long-term data storage, but these discs are limited by their small capacity. Now though, a team has overcome a limitation of conventional disc writing to produce optical discs capable of storing petabits of data, significantly more than the largest available hard disk. The researchers behind the work think their new discs could one day replace the energy-hungry hard disks used in giant data centres, making long-term storage more sustainable.Research Article: Zhao et al.20:10 Briefing ChatThe famous fossil that turned out to be a fraud, and why researchers are making hybrid ‘meat-rice’.Ars Technica: It’s a fake: Mysterious 280 million-year-old fossil is mostly just black paintNature News: Introducing meat–rice: grain with added muscles beefs up proteinSubscribe 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.
Feb 21
30 min
Smoking changes your immune system, even years after quitting
00:45 Smoking's long-term effects on immunityIt's well-known that smoking is bad for health and it has been linked to several autoimmune disorders, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Now, researchers have investigated the immune responses of 1,000 people. Whilst some effects disappear after quitting, impacts on the T cell response lingers long after. The team hopes that this evidence could help better understand smoking's association with autoimmune diseases.Research article: Saint-André et al.News and Views: Smoking’s lasting effect on the immune system07:03 Research HighlightsWhy explosive fulminating gold produces purple smoke, and a curious act of altruism in a male northern elephant seal.Research Highlight: Why an ancient gold-based explosive makes purple smokeResearch Highlight: ‘Altruistic’ bull elephant seal lends a helping flipper09:28 Briefing ChatAn author-based method to track down fake papers, and the new ocean lurking under the surface of one of Saturn's moons.Nature News: Fake research papers flagged by analysing authorship trendsNature News: The Solar System has a new ocean — it’s buried in a small Saturn moonSubscribe 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.
Feb 14
21 min
Why we need to rethink how we talk about cancer
For over a century, cancer has been classified by areas of the body - lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer etc. And yet modern medical research is telling us that the molecular and genetic mechanisms behind cancers are not necessarily tied to parts of the body. Many drugs developed to treat metastatic cancers have the capacity to work across many different cancers, and that presents an opportunity for more tailored and efficient treatments. Oncologists are calling for a change in the way patients, clinicians and regulators think about naming cancers.In this podcast, senior comment editor Lucy Odling-Smee speaks with Fabrice André from Institute Gustave Roussy, to ask what he thinks needs to change.Comment: Forget lung, breast or prostate cancer: why tumour naming needs to changeSubscribe 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.
Feb 9
14 min
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