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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Since early in the pandemic, scientists have searched for signals of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by sampling wastewater. This surveillance method has provided vital information to inform public health responses. But the approach has never been particularly specific - pointing to broad trends rather than granular information such as which variants are spreading where. But now a team from the University of California have created two new tools to sample waste water in much greater detail - and spot variants and their relative concentrations up to two weeks faster than testing-based surveillance methods. In this episode of Coronapod, we discuss the paper and ask how a system like this could help countries around the world respond to the COVID pandemic and beyond.
News: COVID variants found in sewage weeks before showing up in tests
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Ten years ago this week, scientists announced that they’d found evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle first theorised to exist nearly sixty years earlier.
To celebrate this anniversary, we reminisce about what the discovery meant at the time, and what questions are left to be answered about this mysterious particle.
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
Clever clothes that can cool or warm the wearer, and finding hidden DNA from the endangered red wolf.
Research Highlight: ‘Smart’ clothing flexes to provide relief from the heat
Research Highlight: ‘Ghost’ DNA from the world’s rarest wolves lingers in coyotes
Stuttering is a speech condition that affects around 70 million people worldwide, which can make things like speaking in public, or even one-on-one incredibly daunting. We hear the experiences of one researcher of stuttering, who also has a stutter, as they explain the best way to offer support to others.
Careers Feature: The conference challenges faced by scientists who stutter
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss how having similar smells could spark a friendship, and how viruses can alter our odour to make humans more attractive to mosquitos.
New Scientist: You're more likely to become friends with someone who smells like you
Nature News: How some viruses make people smell extra-tasty to mosquitoes
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In the first episode of our new series Nature hits the books, science journalist Ed Yong joins us to talk about his new book An Immense World, which takes a journey through the weird and wonderful realm of animal senses.
In the show, we chat about how our human-centric view of the world has restricted researchers' understanding of animal senses, how to conceptualise what it might be like to be an electric-field sensitive fish, and what bees might make of us blushing...
An Immense World, Ed Yong, Random House (2022)
Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images.
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Enteric viruses, such as norovirus, cause a significant health burden around the world and are generally considered to only spread via the faecal-oral route. However, new research in mice suggests that saliva may also be a route of transmission for these viruses, which the authors say could have important public health implications.
Research Article: Ghosh et al.
How devouring space rocks helped Jupiter to get so big, and what analysing teeth has revealed about the diet of the extinct super-sized megalodon shark.
Research Highlight: The heavy diet that made Jupiter so big
Research Highlight: What did megalodon the mega-toothed shark eat? Anything it wanted
For decades there have been hints of the existence of tetraneutrons, strange systems composed of four neutrons, and now researchers may have created one in the lab. This breakthrough could tell us more about the strong nuclear force that holds matter together.
Research article: Duer et al.
News and Views: Collisions hint that four neutrons form a transient isolated entity
Last Friday the US supreme court struck down the constitutional right to abortion. In the wake of this ruling, Nature has been turning to research to ask what we can expect in the coming weeks and months.
News: After Roe v. Wade: US researchers warn of what’s to come
Editorial: The US Supreme Court abortion verdict is a tragedy. This is how research organizations can help
Video: The pandemic's unequal toll
Collection: The science of inequality
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In the next year, no fewer than seven missions are heading to the Moon. While NASA's Artemis programme might be stealing most of the limelight, the United States is just one of many nations and private companies that soon plan to launch lunar missions.
Although some of the agencies running these expeditions are providing scant details about the missions, it is hoped the they will provide streams of data about the Moon, heralding what scientists say could be a new golden age of lunar exploration.
This is an audio version of our Feature: These six countries are about to go to the Moon — here’s why
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After a long wait, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have finally approved two COVID vaccines for use in children between the ages of six months and five years old. But despite a unanimous decision amongst regulators, parents still have questions about whether to vaccinate their young children, with survey data suggesting that the majority do not intend to accept vaccines right away. In this episode of Coronapod, we dig into the trials, the statistics and the regulators decision making process, in search of clarity around what the data are saying.
News: FDA authorizes COVID vaccines for the littlest kids: what the data say
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We discuss the research looking to understand the root causes and symptoms of inequalities, how they are growing, and how a cross-disciplinary approach may be the key to tackling them.
Editorial: Equity must be baked into randomized controlled trials
News Feature: How COVID has deepened inequality — in six stark graphics
Career Feature: The rise of inequality research: can spanning disciplines help tackle injustice?
For decades, researchers have been running randomised trials to assess different strategies to lift people out of poverty. Many of these trials centre on providing people with cash grants – we hear how these trials have fared, efforts to improve on them, and the difficulties of scaling them up.
News Feature: These experiments could lift millions out of dire poverty
A team of researchers have found that breast cancer tumours are more likely to metastasize while people are asleep. By studying mice, the team suggest that hormone levels that fluctuate during the day play a key role, a finding they hope will change how cancer is monitored and treated.
Research article: Diamantopoulou et al.
News and Views: Cancer cells spread aggressively during sleep
A comment article in Nature argues that one of the most pernicious types of inequality is inequality of opportunity – based on characteristics over which people have no control. We discuss some of the data behind this and what can be done about it.
Comment: Not all inequalities are alike
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The Black Death is estimated to have caused the deaths of up to 60% of the population of Europe. However, despite extensive research, the origin of this wave of disease has remained unclear. Now, by using a combination of techniques, a team have identified a potential starting point in modern day Kyrgyzstan.
Research article: Spyrou et al.
The cocktails of toxins produced by wriggling ribbon worms, and a tiny thermometer the size of a grain of sand.
Research Highlight: A poisonous shield, a potent venom: these worms mean business
Research Highlight: Mighty mini-thermometer detects tiny temperature changes
Around the world, there have been a number of outbreaks of monkeypox, a viral disease that has rarely been seen in countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Although infection numbers are small, researchers are racing to find out what’s driving these outbreaks and the best way to contain them. We get an update on the situation, and the questions scientists are trying to answer.
Nature News: Monkeypox vaccination begins — can the global outbreaks be contained?
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, doubts over claims that a Google chat bot has become sentient, and the automated cloud labs that let researchers perform experiments remotely.
New Scientist: Has Google's LaMDA artificial intelligence really achieved sentience?
The Washington Post: The Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life
Nature News: Cloud labs: where robots do the research
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One of the most curious symptoms of COVID-19 is the loss of smell and taste. For most, this phenomenon is short lived, but for many around the world the symptom can persist for months or even years after the infection has cleared. Once a tell-tale sign of infection, this sensory disruption is now becoming characterised as a chronic problem and scientists are only recently getting clear answers about the mechanisms behind it. In this episode of Coronapod, we dig into the most recent studies on the causes of smell loss after infection with SARS-CoV-2, as well as the treatments scientists are proposing to tackle it.
News: COVID and smell loss: answers begin to emerged
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How the giraffe got its long neck is a longstanding question in science. One possibility is that giraffes evolved longer necks for sexual competition, with males engaging in violent neck-swinging fights. Now, a team have described fossils of an ancient giraffoid species with a thick headpiece adapted for fighting, which could add weight to this hypothesis.
Nature News: How the giraffe got its neck: ‘unicorn’ fossil could shed light on puzzle
Around the world, the ‘great resignation’ has seen huge numbers of workers re-evaluating their careers and lifestyles and choosing to leave their jobs following the pandemic. Academia is no exception, with many scientists deciding to leave the sector in the face of increased workloads, systemic biases and pressure to publish.
Nature Careers: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?
Earlier this year, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars since 2014, developed some serious equipment issues that prevented it from keeping its correct orientation in space. In a race against time, a team on Earth fixed the problem by developing a system that allowed the spacecraft to navigate by the stars.
Space.com: NASA's Mars MAVEN spacecraft spent 3 months on the brink of disaster
NASA’s Perseverance rover has arrived at an ancient Martian river delta where it will spend the next few months exploring, while scientists assess where to drill and extract rock samples. It’s thought that rocks from this region have the best chance of containing evidence of Martian life, and plans are being developed to return them to Earth in the future.
Nature News: NASA’s Perseverance rover begins key search for life on Mars
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