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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Copyright: © Springer Nature Limited
In the second episode of Nature hits the books, science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince joins us to talk about her new book Nomad Century, which looks at how climate change could render large parts of the globe uninhabitable, and how surviving this catastrophe will require a planned migration of people on a scale never seen before in human history.
Nomad Century, Gaia Vince, Allen Lane (2022)
Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ant larvae metamorphose into adults by pupating. It was assumed that these inert pupae don’t play a role in the wider ant colony, but a team of researchers have found that they actually secrete a fluid that is consumed by both adult ants and larvae. This fluid is rich in proteins and metabolites, and appears to be an important source of larval nutrition. These secretions have now been seen in the pupae of multiple ant species, suggesting it is an evolutionary ancient behaviour.
Research Article: Snir et al.
News and Views: A fluid role in ant society as adults give larvae ‘milk’ from pupae
Ancient chefs made bitter plants taste better by soaking and grinding, and an electric fishing-hook attachment that reduces accidental catches of sharks and rays.
Research Highlight: Prehistoric rubbish hints that early cooks cared about flavour
Research Highlight: Off the hook: electrical device keeps sharks away from fishing lines
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how analysing mosquito blood meals could reveal evidence of infection in people and animals, and how prolific data generation has driven the need for new metric unit prefixes.
Nature News: Mosquito blood meals reveal history of human infections
Nature News: How many yottabytes in a quettabyte? Extreme numbers get new names
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Big data is playing an increasingly important role in football, with technologies capturing huge amounts of information about players' positions and actions during a match.
To make sense of all this information, most elite football teams now employ data analysts plucked from top companies and laboratories. Their insights are helping to steer everything from player transfers to the intensity of training, and have even altered how the game is played.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Science and the World Cup: how big data is transforming football
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Satellite navigation has revolutionized how humans find their way. However, these systems often struggle in urban areas, where buildings can interfere with weak satellite signals. To counter this, a team has developed an alternative, satellite-free system, which could improve applications that require precise positioning in cities, such as self-driving cars.
Research Article: Koelemeij et al.
News and Views: Phone signals can help you find your way in cities even without GPS
How deforestation is the biggest threat to a rare lemur’s existence, and ultraviolet-activated molecules can kick-start plastic polymerization.
Research Highlight: This rare primate will not survive deforestation
Research Highlight: Lights, chemical reaction! Plastics take shape with help from UV light
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a survey reveals the challenges facing international postgraduate students, and the key takeaways from COP27.
Nature Careers: Obstacle race: the barriers facing graduates who study abroad
Nature News: COP27 climate talks: what succeeded, what failed and what’s next
New York Times: U.N. Climate Talks End With a Deal to Pay Poor Nations for Damage
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
NASA’s Artemis 1 mission has successfully reached Earth orbit. After weeks of delays and issues, and a nail biting launch, the rocket marks the first step in a new era of moon exploration, with plans to test a new way to return astronauts to the moon. We caught up with reporter for all-things-space, Alex Witze, for the latest.
News: Lift off! Artemis Moon rocket launch kicks off new era of human exploration
The unlevel playing field in women’s football, and domed structures provide evidence for a biological origin of stromatolites.
Research Article: Okholm Kryger et al.
Research Article: Hickman-Lewis et al.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that affects millions of people every year. Whilst the biggest risk factor of late-onset Alzheimer’s is age, there are a number of genes that have been implicated. How exactly these genes underpin this disease is unclear, but new research may now reveal how one of them does so, by affecting the myelination of neurons. The authors hope this work may help uncover treatments for Alzheimer’s.
Research Article: Blanchard et al.
News and Views: Alzheimer’s risk variant APOE4 linked to myelin-assembly malfunction
The second week of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference is underway, as policymakers and scientists try to come together to tackle climate change. Flora Graham, senior editor at Nature is in Egypt at the conference and we caught up with her for the latest.
News: ‘Actions, not just words’: Egypt’s climate scientists share COP27 hopes
News: Carbon emissions hit new high: warning from COP27
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kathleen Folbigg has spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her four children. But in 2018, a group of scientists began gathering evidence that suggested another possibility for the deaths — that at least two of them were attributable to a genetic mutation that can affect heart function. A judicial inquiry in 2019 failed to reverse Folbigg’s conviction, but this month, the researchers will present new evidence at a second inquiry, which could ultimately spell freedom for Folbigg.
This is an audio version of our Feature: She was convicted of killing her four children. Could a gene mutation set her free?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Companies are offering genetic tests of embryos generated by in vitro fertilization that they say allow prospective parents to choose those with the lowest risk for diseases such as diabetes or certain cancers. However, some researchers are concerned about the accuracy and ethics of these tests.
This is an audio version of our Feature: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's long been assumed flies’ eyes don’t move, and so to alter their gaze they need to move their heads. Now, researchers have shown that this isn’t quite true and that fruit flies can actually move their retinas using a specific set of muscles, which may allow them to perceive depth. The team also hope that this movement may provide a window into some of the flies’ internal processes.
Research article: Fenk et al.
How the 80-year-old wreck of a sunken warship is influencing ocean microbes, and tracing an epilepsy-related gene variant back to a single person from 800 years ago.
Research Highlight: A ship sunk during the Second World War still stirs up the seabed
Research Highlight: Families on three continents inherited their epilepsy from a single person
The eyes of the world will be focused on the UN’s upcoming COP27 conference to see what governments will pledge to do to reduce global emissions. But there’s one sector of countries’ carbon outputs that remains something of a mystery: the emissions of their militaries. We speak to Oliver Belcher, one of a group of researchers who have written a Comment article for Nature, calling for better reporting and greater accountability for these military emissions.
Comment: Decarbonize the military — mandate emissions reporting
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time: efforts from Middle East countries to cut greenhouse-gas emissions while still supplying fossil fuels; the upcoming demise of NASA’s InSight spacecraft; and new estimates for how long bacteria could survive on Mars.
Nature News: The Middle East is going green — while supplying oil to others
Nature News: NASA spacecraft records epic ‘marsquakes’ as it prepares to die
New Scientist: Bacteria could survive just under Mars's surface for 280 million years
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When COVID-19 hit it didn't kill indiscriminately. In the US, being Black, Hispanic, or Native American meant you had a much greater risk of death than if you were white. And these disparities are mirrored across the world.
In this episode we explore the complex tale behind this disparity. Throughout history, racism and biases have been embedded within medical technology, along the clinicians who use it. Cultural concepts of race have been falsely conflated with biology. The way medicine is taught, has reinforced flawed stereotypes. Disease itself, has been racialised. All of this adds up to barriers to care and worse health outcomes for many people, just because of the colour of their skin.
Science and scientists have played an influential part in embedding such racism into medicine But by challenging received wisdom science too has the power to right wrongs, and work towards solutions.
Read more of Nature's coverage of racism in science.
Click here for our list of sources
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
