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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Results from a huge epidemiological study found that infection by the Epstein-Barr virus increases the risk of developing multiple sclerosis 32-fold. This result, combined with emerging mechanistic insights into how the virus triggers brain damage, are raising the prospect of treating or preventing MS.
These advances come at a time when researchers are more interested than ever in what happens in the months and years following a viral infection, and highlights the issues untangling the relationships between infectious diseases and chronic conditions.
This is an audio version of our Feature: The quest to prevent MS — and understand other post-viral diseases.
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At COP26 countries made a host of promises and commitments to tackle global warming. Now, a new analysis suggests these pledges could limit warming to below 2˚C — if countries stick to them.
BBC News: Climate change: COP26 promises will hold warming under 2C
Storing excess energy is a key obstacle preventing wider adoption of renewable power. One potential solution has been to store this energy as heat before converting it back into electricity, but to date this process has been inefficient. Last week, a team reported the development of a new type of ‘photothermovoltaic’ that increases the efficiency of converting stored heat back into electricity, potentially making the process economically viable.
Science: ‘Thermal batteries’ could efficiently store wind and solar power in a renewable grid
Blood ingested by leeches may be a way to track wildlife, suggests new research. Using DNA from the blood, researchers were able to detect 86 different species in China’s Ailaoshan Nature Reserve. Their results also suggest that biodiversity was highest in the high-altitude interior of the reserve, suggesting that human activity had pushed wildlife away from other areas.
ScienceNews: Leeches expose wildlife’s whereabouts and may aid conservation efforts
Research has revealed that Mexican tetra fish are very chatty, and capable of making six distinct sounds. They also showed that fish populations living in underground caves in north-eastern Mexico have distinct accents.
New Scientist: Blind Mexican cave fish are developing cave-specific accents
In 2014 a meteorite hit the Earth’s atmosphere that may have come from far outside the solar system, making it the first interstellar object to be detected. However, as some of the data needed to confirm this was classified by the US Government, the study wasn never published. Now the United States Space Command have confirmed the researchers’ findings, although the work has yet to be peer reviewed.
LiveScience: An interstellar object exploded over Earth in 2014, declassified government data reveal
Vice: Secret Government Info Confirms First Known Interstellar Object on Earth, Scientists Say
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Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a debate amongst researchers about whether the body's immune cells can themselves be infected by SARS-CoV-2. Now two new studies show that they can - and what's more, the work has revealed a new mechanism for the massive inflammatory response seen in severe COVID. In this episode of Coronapod, we dig into the papers, asking why it has taken so long to get an answer to this question? How immune cell infection could lead to severe disease? And whether this new mechanism could provide a new avenue for the development of therapeutics?
News: What triggers severe COVID? Infected immune cells hold clues
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For biologists, a long-standing question has been why some animals live longer than others. This week a team have attempted to answer this, by measuring the rates that different animal species accumulate mutations. They show that longer-lived animals acquire mutations at a slower rate, which helps to explain why cancer risk does not scale with lifespan.
Research article: Cagan et al.
News and Views: Mutational clocks tick differently across species
A clinical trial suggests a change to the treatment of a pregnancy ailment, and astronomers identify the largest known structure produced by a single galaxy.
Research Highlight: Ambitious trial inspires a rethink on a common ailment of pregnancy
Research Highlight: Even among ‘giant’ galaxies this one is record-setting
Many European countries are dependent on Russian fossil fuels for energy production. Following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, these countries are looking to wean themselves off these fuels, which could have short- and long-term impacts on emissions and food production.
Feature: What the war in Ukraine means for energy, climate and food
Editorial: The EU can simultaneously end dependence on Russia and meet climate goals
Editorial: The war in Ukraine is exposing gaps in the world’s food-systems research
Last week, a new estimate of the W boson’s mass caused much excitement among physicists. The result suggests that this particle is heavier than theory predicts, a finding that could be the first major breach in the standard model of particle physics. However, measuring W bosons is notoriously tricky, and further work will be needed to confirm the finding.
News: Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model
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Physics tells us that when matter is created, antimatter should be as well. But while the Universe is full of matter, there’s surprisingly little antimatter to be found. To try and understand this imbalance, a team have built a detector kept just above absolute zero which they are using to look for a hypothesised, ultra-rare type of particle decay that could create matter without antimatter.
Research article: The CUORE Collaboration
News and Views: Cryogenic mastery aids bid to spot matter creation
Subsidence of coastal cities makes them more vulnerable to sea-level rise, and tackling ‘crazy ants’ with a parasitic fungus.
Research Highlight: Global cities are sinking — and humans are partly to blame
Research Highlight: Marauding crazy ants come to grief when a fungus comes to call
Bacteria are well known for their ability to share genes, which they often do using small circles of DNA called plasmids. But while plasmids are common in bacteria, a long-standing mystery has been why they are absent in a group of cholera-causing strains of Vibrio cholerae. Now, a team might have solved this mystery, by discovering two previously unknown DNA defence systems that eliminate plasmids, hidden in the bacteria's genomes.
Research article: Jaskólska et al.
News and Views: Bacterial defence systems degrade plasmid invaders
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, what smelling jars from an Egyptian tomb has revealed about ancient burial practices, and the latest report from the IPCC.
Science: Ancient smells reveal secrets of Egyptian tomb
Nature: IPCC’s starkest message yet: extreme steps needed to avert climate disaster
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While current maps of the human genome provide researchers with a wealth of information, many argue that they do not adequately capture humanity’s vast diversity.
Now, a team are trying to build a more complete and representative map that shows the varieties of sequence that can be found in different populations. However, given the failings of other projects, some geneticists focused on the needs of Indigenous communities are wary of the initiative.
This is an audio version of our Feature: A more-inclusive genome project aims to capture all of human diversity
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Researchers have long been trying to understand why some humans are better at navigating than others. This week, researchers show that where someone grew up plays an important role in their ability to find their way; the more winding and disorganised the layouts of your childhood were, the better navigator you’ll be later in life.
Research article: Coutrot et al.
How boas can squeeze without suffocating themselves, and why being far from humans helps trees live a long life.
Research Highlight: How boa constrictors squeeze and breathe at the same time
Research Highlight: Where are Earth’s oldest trees? Far from prying eyes
Coastal flooding causes billions of dollars in damage each year. Rising sea levels are known to be a key driver, but the importance of another factor, storm surges, is less clear. Typically after accounting for increasing sea level, they’re not thought to make much of an impact. However new research suggests that this may not be the case.
Research article: Calafat et al.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a brain implant allows a person who is completely paralysed to communicate, and penguin-like bone density suggests Spinosaurus may have hunted underwater.
Science: In a first, brain implant lets man with complete paralysis spell out thoughts: ‘I love my cool son.’
National Geographic: Spinosaurus had penguin-like bones, a sign of hunting underwater
Video: A swimming dinosaur: The tail of Spinosaurus
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In this episode:
To understand when, and how, the Milky Way formed, researchers need to know when its stars were born. This week, a team of astronomers have precisely aged nearly a quarter of a million stars, revealing more about the sequence of events that took place as our galaxy formed.
Research article: Xiang and Rix
News and Views: A stellar clock reveals the assembly history of the Milky Way
Archaeologists reveal an ancient lake was actually a ritual pool, and how the Moon’s phase affects some birds' altitude.
Research Highlight: Ancient ‘harbour’ revealed to be part of fertility god’s lavish shrine
Research Highlight: These birds fly high when the full Moon hangs in the sky
Yellowstone National Park’s iconic geothermal geysers and volcanic landmarks are well studied, but very little was known about the ‘plumbing system’ that feeds these features. Now a team of researchers have mapped the underground hydrothermal system, showing the specific faults and pathways that supply the park.
Research article: Finn et al.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, 0why an Australian university has been suspended from winning a research foundation’s fellowships, and the ongoing debate about the cause of ‘COVID toes’.
Nature: Funder bars university from grant programme over white-male award line-up
Nature: Are ‘COVID toes’ actually caused by the coronavirus?
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A handful of states around the world have pursued 'COVID zero' strategies. Through a combination of intensive lockdowns, travel restrictions and comprehensive test and trace systems, regions like Tonga, New Zealand, Taiwan, mainland China and Western Australia managed to keep the virus at bay. But now many of these countries are facing new outbreaks on a scale they have not yet seen, and it is being driven in part by vaccine hesitancy. In this episode of Coronapod we discuss how a successful public health campaign can breed new problems when it comes to public perception of risk, and ask how vaccine complacency might be avoided in the future.
News: ‘COVID zero’ regions struggle with vaccine complacency
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Marty Reiswig is fit and healthy, but every two weeks he is injected with the experimental drug gantenerumab and has monthly MRI scans. He submits to this because a rare genetic mutation runs in his family that predisposes them to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
We spoke to him about his experience on the trial, and why he chose to continue trialling the drug even after formal clinical trials were discontinued.
Produced and narrated by Lorna Stewart.
News Feature: Could drugs prevent Alzheimer’s? These trials aim to find out
Resources for those affected by Alzheimer's:
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