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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Copyright: © Springer Nature Limited
In this episode:
Although water is an excellent solvent, it’s limited in its ability to dissolve gasses. To overcome this a team have developed ‘porous water’ containing tiny cages that can hold large numbers of gas molecules. The team suggest that this technology could have multiple medical applications, including in the development of artificial blood.
Research article: Erdosy et al.
News and Views: Suspended pores boost gas solubility in water
Synthetic ‘nerves’ help mice to walk, and planets orbiting a star that’s due to go supernova.
Research Highlight: Stretchy synthetic nerve helps mice give ball a mighty kick
Research Highlight: A massive planet circles a huge star doomed to explode
One of humanity's defining characteristics is our ability to walk on two legs. However, when this ability evolved remains a mystery. A paper out this week suggests that the species Sahelanthropus tchadensis was walking on two legs seven million years ago – but others dispute these findings. We hear about the research and the debate surrounding it.
News: Seven-million-year-old femur suggests ancient human relative walked upright
Research article: Daver et al.
News and Views: Standing up for the earliest bipedal hominins
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, modelling an enormous, extinct megalodon shark, and a potential way to break down ‘forever chemicals’.
The Guardian: Ancient megalodon shark could eat a whale in a few bites, research suggests
Nature News: How to destroy ‘forever chemicals’: cheap method breaks down PFAS
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For decades, scientists have debated whether protons have ‘intrinsic charm’, meaning they contain elementary particles known as charm quarks. Now, using machine learning to comb through huge amounts of experimental data, a team have shown evidence that the charm quark can be found within a proton, which may have important ramifications in the search for new physics.
Research article: The NNPDF Collaboration
News and Views: Evidence at last that the proton has intrinsic charm
How sea sponges ‘sneeze’ to clean their filters, and why bonobos’ infantile behaviour helps them receive consolation after conflict.
Research Highlight: How a sponge ‘sneezes’ mucus: against the flow
Research Highlight: Bonobo apes pout and throw tantrums — and gain sympathy
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the repeated evolution of the crab body-shape, and why demanding work can lead to mental fatigue.
Discover: Evolution Only Thinks About One Thing, and It’s Crabs
Nature News: Why thinking hard makes us feel tired
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In this first episode of Nature's Take, we get four of Nature's staff around microphones to get their expert take on preprints. These pre-peer-review open access articles have spiked in number over recent years and have cemented themselves as an integral part of scientific publishing. But this has not been without its issues.
In this discussion we cover a lot of ground. Amongst other things, we ask whether preprints could help democratise science or contribute to a loss of trust in scientists. We pick apart the relationship between preprints and peer-reviewed journals and tackle some common misconceptions. We ask how preprints have been used by different fields and how the pandemic has changed the game. And as we look to the future, we ask how preprints fit into the discussion around open access and even if they could do away with journals all together.
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Cold exposure in mice activates brown fat to deny tumours glucose, and the future of extreme heatwaves.
00:45 How cold temperatures could starve tumours
A team of researchers have found that exposing mice to the cold could starve tumour cells of the blood glucose they need to thrive. They showed that the cold temperatures deprived the tumours of fuel by activating brown fat – a tissue that burns through glucose to keep body temperature up. The team also showed preliminary evidence of the effect occurring in one person with cancer, but say that more research is needed before this method can be considered for clinical use.
Research article: Seki et al.
08:59 Research Highlights
Evidence of the world’s southernmost human outpost from before the Industrial Revolution, and how jumping up and down lets canoes surf their own waves.
Research Highlight: Bones and weapons show just how far south pre-industrial humans got
Research Highlight: How jumping up and down in a canoe propels it forwards
11:24 The future of extreme heatwaves
Climate scientists have long warned that extreme heat and extreme heatwaves will become more frequent as a result of climate change. But across the world these events are happening faster, and more furiously, than expected, and researchers are scrambling to dissect recent heatwaves to better understand what the world might have in store.
News Feature: Extreme heatwaves: surprising lessons from the record warmth
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By looking at data gathered from billions of Facebook friendships, researchers have shown that having more connections with people from higher income groups could increase future incomes by 20%. They also show how such connections can be formed, and how schools and other institutions could help to improve peoples’ opportunities in the future.
Research Article: Chetty et al.
Research Article: Chetty et al.
News and Views: The social connections that shape economic prospects
How balloons could help measure quakes on Venus, and the parasitic fungus that tricks flies into mating with fly corpses.
Research Highlight: Balloon flotilla detects an earthquake from high in the sky
Research Highlight: The fungus that entices male flies to mate with female corpses
When someone dies, tissues start to irreversibly degrade, but recently this irreversibility has been brought into question by studies showing that some organs can be partially revived several hours after death. Now, working in pigs, researchers have shown it is possible to revive the functions of several organs at once. This could pave the way for improved organ transplantation, but ethicists advise caution.
Research Article: Andrijevic et al.
News and Views: Improved organ recovery after oxygen deprivation
News: Pig organs partially revived in dead animals — researchers are stunned
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Inequity has been a central feature of the COVID19 pandemic. From health outcomes to access to vaccines, COVID has pushed long-standing disparities out of the shadows and into the public eye and many of these problems are global. In this episode of Coronapod we dig into a radical new collaboration of 15 countries - co-led by the WHO, and modelled on open-science. The project, called the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, aims to create independent vaccine hubs that could supply the global south, and take on the giants of the pharmaceutical industry in the process. But the road ahead is long - the challenges are complex and numerous, and the odds are stacked against them. But at a time when stakes couldn't be higher, momentum is building and if successful, the tantalising possibility of an end to a dangerous legacy of dependence looms. Can it be done? And if so, what needs to change to make it happen? We ask these questions and more.
News Feature: The radical plan for vaccine equity
This project was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
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Humans have been drinking milk for thousands of years, but it seems that they were doing so long before the ability to digest it became prevalent. Then around 2000 years ago, this ability became common in Europe, presenting a mystery to researchers – why then? Now by analyzing health data, ancient DNA, and fats residues from thousands of ancient pots, scientists have worked out what caused this trait to suddenly spread throughout Europe.
Research Article: Evershed et al.
News and Views: The mystery of early milk consumption in Europe
How genes stolen from outside the animal kingdom have altered insects’ abilities, and a dormant black hole beyond the Milky Way gives insights into these objects' origins.
Research Highlight: Genes purloined from across the tree of life give insects a boost
Research Highlight: A quiet black hole whispers its origin story
Ketamine has shown great promise as a fast-acting antidepressant, but there have been concerns about the risks of addiction relating to this therapeutic use. Now, a team have looked in mice to see whether ketamine causes the behavioural and neuronal changes characteristic of addictive substances. They find that ketamine likely has a low addiction risk, which could inform future prescribing decisions in humans.
Research article: Simmler et al.
News and Views: A short burst of reward curbs the addictiveness of ketamine
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a report shows a significant decline in Australia’s environment and ecosystems, and how adding a gene greatly increases rice yield.
The Conversation: This is Australia’s most important report on the environment’s deteriorating health. We present its grim findings
Science: Supercharged biotech rice yields 40% more grain
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The evolution of ‘warm bloodedness’ allowed mammals to live in a more diverse range of habitats, but working out when this occurred has been difficult. To try and pin down a date, researchers have studied the fossilised remains of ancient mammals' inner ears, which suggest that this key evolutionary leap appeared around 230 million years ago.
Research Article: Araujo et al.
News and Views: Evolution of thermoregulation as told by ear
A new surgical glue that’s both strong and easy to remove, and southern fin whales return to Antarctica after being hunted to near extinction.
Research Highlight: This adhesive bandage sticks strongly — even to hairy skin
Research Highlight: A feeding frenzy of 150 whales marks a species’ comeback
Hydrogen dependent CO2 reductase is an enzyme that can convert CO2 from the air into formic acid that can be used as fuel. It also does this extremely efficiently, but nobody has been quite sure how. Now researchers have an idea based on a detailed structural analysis.
Research Article: Dietrich et al.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the findings of some big biodiversity reports, and how woodpeckers don’t end up with headaches from their pecking.
Nature News: More than dollars: mega-review finds 50 ways to value nature
Nature News: Major wildlife report struggles to tally humanity’s exploitation of species
Science: Contrary to popular belief, woodpeckers don’t protect their brains when headbanging trees
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To understand the history of the Earth’s climate, researchers often rely on things like ice cores, which contain layered frozen insights of thousands of years of history. However, in the tropics long-term records like these have been absent. Now researchers have uncovered a sediment core in Peru which reveals around 700,000 years of climatic history.
Research Article: Rodbell et al.
News and Views: Sediment study finds the pulse of tropical glaciers
The biological ‘helmets’ that protect shrimp from themselves, and why the colour of wine bottles matters.
Research Highlight: ‘Helmets’ shield shrimp from their own supersonic shock waves
Research Highlight: Why white wine in plain-glass bottles loses its bouquet
After more than two decades of development, the James Webb Space Telescope has broadcast its first images in spectacular detail. We discuss how we got here, what’s next and what these images mean for science.
News: Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot exoplanets
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss a crystal made out of starfish embryos.
Video: How starfish embryos become living crystals
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In this Podcast Extra, Nature's Lizzie Gibney and Federico Levi take a deep-dive into the Higgs boson, describing their experiences of its discovery, what the latest run of the Large Hadron Collider might reveal about the particle's properties, and what role it could play in potential physics beyond the standard model.
Nature News: Happy birthday, Higgs boson! What we do and don’t know about the particle
Nature Editorial: Particle physics isn’t going to die — even if the LHC finds no new particles
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