Stay ConnectedThe 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 award-winning journalists.
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In this episode:
Many harmless animals mimic dangerous ones to avoid being eaten, but often this fakery is inaccurate. To help explain why evolution sometimes favours imperfect mimicry, a team 3D printed a range of imaginary insects. The novel creatures were designed to mimic wasps with varying degrees of accuracy and the team then presented these models to different predators. They showed that while birds were hard to fool, invertebrate predators were less able to discern between the mimics and accurate wasp models. The results suggest that predator perception plays a key role in the level of accuracy needed to fool them and may help explain the existence of inaccurate mimics in nature.
Research article: Taylor et al.
News and Views: 3D printing offers a way to study mimicry by insects
Ritual ‘retirement’ rather than family feud may explain broken statues of a female pharaoh, and how kelp ‘loofahs’ made by killer whales might be the first example of toolmaking by a marine mammal.
Research Highlight: The shattered statues of Queen Hatshepsut: the reasons for the wreckage
Research Highlight: Killer whales exfoliate each other with home-made scrubbers
The sea slugs that steal chloroplasts to snack on, and the researchers re-enacting a Stone Age sea-voyage.
Nature: ‘Wildest thing’: solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergencies
Nature: These scientists re-enacted Stone Age voyage to Japan’s remote islands
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In this episode:
A significant amount of research in the AI field of computer vision is being used to analyse humans in ways that support the development of surveillance technologies, according to new research. By analysing the contents of thousands of research papers, the team behind the work showed that 90% of studies, and 86% of patents resulting from them, involved data relating to imaging humans. While there are many positive applications for this technology, such as in medical diagnostics, this work shows evidence of a pipeline from computer-vision research to surveillance.
Research article: Kalluri et al.
News and Views: Computer-vision research is hiding its role in creating ‘Big Brother’ technologies
Video: Is AI powering Big Brother? Surveillance research is on the rise
News: Wake up call for AI: computer-vision research increasingly used for surveillance
Editorial: Don’t sleepwalk from computer-vision research into surveillance
A minuscule robot that can manipulate liquid droplets, and the sensors that can identify hydrothermal explosions at Yellowstone National Park.
Research Highlight: This tiny robot moves mini-droplets with ease
Research Highlight: Sensors pinpoint the exact time of a Yellowstone explosion
This week, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has unveiled the first images from its 3,200 megapixel digital camera. We discuss the images, and how the facility will help researchers learn more about the Universe.
News: First images from world’s largest digital camera leave astronomers in awe
How scientists created hexanitrogen, a new molecule made of six nitrogen atoms, and the why researchers are excited about the first confirmed skull of an extinct Denisovan.
Chemistry World: Most energetic molecule ever made is stable – in liquid nitrogen
Nature: First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like
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Bogong moths use the stars to help them navigate during their enormous migration across Australia, according to new research. Every year, billions of these nocturnal moths travel up to 1,000 km to cool caves in the Australian Alps, despite having never been there before. By placing moths in a flight-simulator that also acted as a planetarium, the team behind the work showed that moths could use the bright Milky Way to help them fly in the correct direction.
Research article: Dreyer et al.
Nigeria's pangolins are under threat because their meat is delicious, and how the gravitational pull of other galaxies may prevent the Milky Way colliding with Andromeda.
Research Highlight: Why pangolins are poached: they’re the tastiest animal around
Research Highlight: A long-predicted cosmic collision might not happen after all
New research suggests that shortly before modern humans successfully migrated out of Africa, they massively expanded the range of ecosystems they lived in. By combining climate modelling with data from archaeological sites across the African continent, researchers put forward evidence that 70,000 years ago, humans expanded the ecosystems they lived in to include diverse habitat types from forests to deserts. The authors suggest this ability to live in different places may have helped the later humans that migrated out of the continent around 50,000 years ago.
Research article: Hallet et al.
Blowing bubble-rings could be humpback whales' way of trying to communicate with humans, and the research suggesting that everyone’s breathing pattern is unique.
Science Alert: Humpback Whale Bubble Rings May Be an Attempt to Communicate With Us
Nature: How you breathe is like a fingerprint that can identify you
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According to legend, physicist Werner Heisenberg formulated the mathematics behind quantum mechanics in 1925 while on a restorative trip to the remote North Sea island of Heligoland.
To celebrate the centenary of this event, several hundred researchers have descended on the island to take part in a conference on all things quantum physics. Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney was also in attendance, and joined us to give an inside track on the meeting.
News: Happy birthday quantum mechanics! I got a ticket to the ultimate physics party
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Researchers have developed a soft electronic implant that can measure brain activity of amphibian embryos as they develop. Understanding the neural activity of developing brains is a key aim for neuroscientists, but conventional, rigid probes can damage growing brains. To overcome this, a team have developed a flexible mesh that stretches with the brain and tested it by monitoring single neuron activity during development of frog and axolotl embryos. More testing and ethical considerations will be required, but the researchers hope that eventually such implants could help with neurological conditions that affect humans.
Research article: Sheng et al.
The exoplanet slowly evaporating into space, and cockatoos that have figured out an innovative way to stay hydrated.
Research Highlight: Solved: the mystery of the evaporating planet
Research Highlight: Clever cockatoos learn an easy way to quench their thirst
By combining AI tools with mechanical engineering techniques, a researcher has developed a new way to speed up the restoration of damaged paintings. The technique creates a removable mask that can be overlaid onto a painting to cover any damage apparent in the artwork. It was successfully tested on an oil painting, fixing a large number of damaged areas in only a few hours. This could offer a significant speed-boost to painting restoration, which can often take months, or even years.
Research article: Kachkine
Video: Meet the engineer who invented an AI-powered way to restore art
A new ranking system could make it easier to spot universities that are chasing publishing metrics at the expense of rigorous science, and evidence that cutting off rhinos’ horns deters poachers.
Nature: ‘Integrity index’ flags universities with high retraction rates
AP: Cutting off rhinos’ horns is a contentious last resort to stop poaching. A new study found it works
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In this Podcast Extra, we examine President Donald Trump's calls for NASA to land humans on Mars. Although the White House has proposed spending some US$1 billion in 2026 on Mars plans, critics say the final cost will likely be hundreds of billions of dollars spread over a number of years.
This call comes amidst plans to drastically reduce NASA's funding, and the proposed cancelling of dozens of the space agency's missions, including projects to study Earth, Mars and Venus.
News: Trump wants to put humans on Mars — here’s what scientists think
News: Five key climate and space projects on Trump’s chopping block
News: Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature
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Iron deficiency in mice mothers can sometimes result in their offspring developing female sex organs despite having male sex genes, according to new research. While genetics has been thought to be the primary factor in determining offspring sex in mammals, the new work shows that a lack of iron disrupts an enzyme involved in the development of testes, leading to some mice with male sex-determining genes being born with female genitalia and ovaries. This suggests that sex determination is controlled by more than genetics, but more work will need to be done to understand the precise mechanisms involved.
News: Male mice can grow ovaries if their pregnant mums are iron deficient
Research article: Okashita et al.
How climate change is making dust storms more likely, and understanding the genetics of a boy who couldn’t feel pain.
Research Highlight: The perfect storm for dust storms, thanks to global warming
Research Highlight: CRISPR helps to show why a boy felt no pain
The contributions that small-scale fishers make to sustainable fishing have been described as ‘invisible’, but now a huge research project has revealed the role this community plays in feeding populations and protecting oceans. Looking at data from 58 countries, researchers have shown that small-scale fishers account for around 40% of the global catch and feed approximately 25% of the world’s population. The people behind the initiative hope that these data can help give a voice to small-scale fishers as people look for ways to feed the world sustainably.
Immersive : Small-scale fisheries
The discovery of an ‘ambidextrous’ protein; and why humpback whales, despite their enormous eyes, appear to be shortsighted.
Nature: Rare ‘ambidextrous’ protein breaks rules of handedness
Discover Magazine: Big Eyes, Blurry Vision: Why Humpback Whales Struggle to See Clearly
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With the world looking likely to blow past the temperature targets laid out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a growing number of voices are saying that carbon removal technologies will be necessary if humanity is to achieve its long-term climate goals. If these approaches succeed, they could help nations and corporations to meet their climate commitments — and help the world to halt global warming.
However, questions remain about the financial viability of these technologies, and whether they can live up to the hype.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Three ways to cool Earth by pulling carbon from the sky
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A spike in papers formulaically analysing a public data set has sparked worries that AI is being used to generate low quality and potentially misleading analyses.
Nature: AI linked to explosion of low-quality biomedical research papers
Researchers in China have created contact lenses that can allow humans to see infrared light, which could help with search and rescue missions, sending secret messages and even surgery.
Nature: These contact lenses give people infrared vision — even with their eyes shut
Geologists have uncovered the strongest evidence yet that Earth's core is leaking. Rocks from Hawaii were found to contain isotopes of a rare element, which suggests the material originally came from the core. More work will need to be done to rule out other explanations.
Nature: Is Earth’s core leaking? Volcanic rocks provide strongest evidence yet
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Researchers have developed two compounds that can kill malaria-causing parasites within mosquitoes, an approach they hope could help reduce transmission of the disease. The team showed that these compounds can be embedded into the plastics used to make bed nets, providing an alternative to insecticide-based malaria-control measures, which are losing efficacy in the face of increased resistance.
Research article: Probst et al.
The sunlight-powered device that can harvest drinkable water from desert air, and evidence that the world’s richest people are disproportionately responsible for climate impacts.
Research Highlight: Atacama sunshine helps to pull water from thin air
Research Highlight: The world’s richest people have an outsized role in climate extremes
Researchers have found specific genetic mutations that can lead to pregnancy loss. It’s known that errors, such as the duplication of chromosomes, can lead to nonviable pregnancies but less has been known about non-chromosomal genetic errors. The new work identifies DNA sequence changes that can lead to a non-viable pregnancy. This may offer clinicians the ability to screen embryos for these changes to help avoid pregnancy loss.
Research article: Arnadottir et al.
Bespoke CRISPR-based therapy treats baby boy with devastating genetic disease, and the ‘anti-spice’ compounds that can lower chillies’ heat.
Nature: World’s first personalized CRISPR therapy given to baby with genetic disease
New Scientist: Chemists discover 'anti-spice' that could make chilli peppers less hot
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