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
The Nature salary and satisfaction survey reveals researchers' outlook, and NASA’s test of planetary defences.
In this episode:
00:45 Salary and satisfaction survey
Like all aspects of life, scientific careers have been impacted by the pandemic. To get an insight into how researchers are feeling, Nature has conducted a salary and satisfaction survey. We hear from some of the respondents.
Careers Feature: Stagnating salaries present hurdles to career satisfaction
09:07 Research Highlights
The physics of a finger snap, and the surprisingly strong silk of jumping spiders.
Research Highlight: It’s a snap: the friction-based physics behind a common gesture
Research Highlight: High-speed spinning yields some of the toughest spider silk ever found
11:23 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the plans to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid, and how baby formula is changing to better resemble breast milk.
Nature News: NASA spacecraft will slam into asteroid in first planetary-defence test
Chemistry World: The science of breast milk and baby formula
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Spineless sea squirts shed light on vertebrate evolution, and an iodine-fuelled engine powering a satellite in space.
In this episode:
00:45 A story of sea squirts, ancient vertebrates and missing genes
When a PhD student set out to study the developmental pathways of a strange sea creature, he hoped to shed light on the origins of vertebrate animals. Instead, researchers found themselves investigating a strange case of missing genes. We hear why gene loss could be a more significant factor in evolutionary processes than was previously thought.
Research article: Ferrández-Roldán et al.
08:17 Research Highlights
The unusual crystal that gives a beetle its glittering green sheen, and the genetics of a fish’s 200 year lifespan.
Research Highlight: Weird crystal makes beetle a living jewel
Research Highlight: Some of Earth’s longest-lived fish show how to reach extreme ages
10:43 An iodine-fuelled engine for satellites
In space, many satellites use xenon-fuelled ‘electric propulsion systems’ to maneuver. However, xenon is rare and requires high-pressure storage systems, so researchers have been working to develop alternative fuels. This week, a team publish details of the first in-space test of an iodine-powered electric propulsion system, which they say has many advantages over xenon systems.
Research article: Rafalskyi et al
16:37 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, issues aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, and what the discovery of a theorised mineral reveals about processes deep within the Earth.
Wired: NASA Tries to Save Hubble, Again
Nature: Diamond delivers long-sought mineral from the deep Earth
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Two new anti-viral pills have been shown to be safe and effective against COVID in clinical trials, according to recent press releases. The drugs, molnupiravir, developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer both appear to significantly reduce hospitalisation in people with early COVID. Some researchers are quietly hopeful that these new weapons in the anti-COVID arsenal could have a big impact, in particular in parts of the world where vaccines are still not widely available, but there are a number of caveats. In this episode of Coronapod, we open the pill boxes and pick through the contents - asking how the drugs work, what side effects we might see and how, if at all, they might change the course of the pandemic.
News: COVID antiviral pills: what scientists still want to know
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Reassessing 24,000 years of global temperatures, and on the ground at COP26.
In this episode:
01:21 Reassessing Earth’s climate over the past 24,000 years
The ~20,000 year period from the Last Glacial Maximum to the pre-industrial era saw huge changes to the Earth’s climate. But characterising how temperatures changed during this time has been difficult, with different methods producing different results. Now, a team have combined two techniques, which they hope will provide new insights into the past, and future, of Earth’s climate.
Research article: Osman et al.
News and Views: Global temperature changes mapped across the past 24,000 years
09:53 COP26 Briefing Chat
The United Nations’ climate change conference COP26 continues this week. In this special edition of the Briefing Chat, we head over to the conference to hear the latest on what’s been happening, and the measures being discussed to tackle future warming.
Collection: COP26: Inside the science
Video: Your COP26 questions answered: carbon capture
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lake Kivu, nestled between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, is a geological anomaly that holds 300 cubic kilometres of dissolved carbon dioxide and 60 cubic kilometres of methane.
The lake has the potential to explosively release these gases, which could fill the surrounding valley, potentially killing millions of people.
Researchers are trying to establish the likelihood of such an event happening, and the best way to safely siphon the gases from the lake.
This is an audio version of our feature: How dangerous is Africa’s explosive Lake Kivu?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Last weekend, hundreds of young people boarded a specially chartered train in Amsterdam to travel to Glasgow ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit.
Among them were scientists, activists and policy makers. In a Nature Podcast special, we boarded the train to catch up with some of them - to talk about their science, their motivations and their message.
News: All aboard the climate train! Scientists join activists for COP26 trip
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More that 3 billions doses of China's CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines have been administered across the globe, playing an especially important role in Latin America and South East Asia, as well as China. These vaccines use inactivated virus particles to expose the immune system to Sars-CoV-2, but they do not appear to generate the same levels of neutralising antibodies as other vaccine platforms such as those based on mRNA. Now studies are suggesting that this protection may be waning more quickly than with other vaccines, which has sparked a conundrum - in many countries the only vaccines available are CoronaVac or Sinopharm. In this episode of Coronapod we ask how researchers are trying to get a handle on what is going on and how they might adapt to counteract waning immunity from these crucial vaccines.
News: China’s COVID vaccines have been crucial — now immunity is waning
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The unexpected origins of a 4000-year-old people, protecting your ‘digital presence’ and what to expect from COP26.
In this episode:
00:48 The origins of the mysterious Tarim mummies
For decades there has been debate about the origins of a group of 4000-year-old individuals known as the Tarim Basin mummies. Their distinct appearance and clothing has prompted scientists to hypothesise they had migrated from the North or West. Now, a team of researchers have used modern genomics to shed new light on this mystery and reveal that migration was not the mummies’ origin.
Research article: Zhang et al.
News and Views: The unexpected ancestry of Inner Asian mummies
08:59 Research Highlights
Making wood mouldable, and how ancient snakes diversified their diets.
Research Highlight: Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong
Research Highlight: Finicky no more: ancient snakes ate their way to success
11:09 How a regular ‘digital-hygiene’ check can protect your reputation
Attaching a researcher’s name to a paper without them knowing is an unscrupulous practice that can have serious repercussions for the unwitting academic. To prevent this, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac is advocating a once-a-month ‘digital-hygiene’ check, to identify incorrect acknowledgements, and help prevent research malpractice.
World View: This digital-hygiene routine will protect your scholarship
18:51 What to expect from COP26
This week sees the start of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), with an estimated 20,000 people — including world leaders, scientists and activists — expected to be in attendance. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joins us to explain what’s on the agenda for the conference.
News Explainer: COP26 climate summit: A scientists’ guide to a momentous meeting
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People that have recovered from COVID are seeing stronger immune responses after vaccination than those that never contracted the virus. Researchers are now racing to unpick what is behind this powerful 'hybrid immunity'. In this episode of Coronapod, we discuss a series of studies which are offering up some possibile explanations, and ask how this might inform publish health policy in the future.
News: COVID super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
An ancient solar storm helps pinpoint when Vikings lived in the Americas, and using magnets to deftly move non-magnetic metals.
In this episode:
00:53 Pinpointing Viking presence in North America
It’s well-understood that Vikings went to North America around a thousand years ago. However, working out a precise date has proven difficult. Now, thanks to an ancient solar storm, researchers have been able to identify an individual year when Vikings were definitely living on the continent.
Research article: Kuitems et al.
14:57 Research Highlights
How shoulder muscles gave Pterosaurs an aerodynamic edge, and mysterious radio waves coming from near the centre of the Milky Way.
Research Highlight: How ancient reptiles were streamlined for flight
Research Highlight: A mysterious radio signal object is beaming radio waves into the Milky Way
17:45 Magnets move non-magnetic metals
Scientists have created an array of magnets capable of moving non-metallic objects in 6 dimensions. They hope their new approach could one day be used to clean up debris in space.
Research article: Pham et al.
News and Views: Non-magnetic objects induced to move by electromagnets
27:06 What Francis Collin’s retirement means for the US NIH
After 12 years, Francis Collins announced plans to retire from his role as Director of the United States National Institutes of Health. We discuss his legacy and what this means for the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research.
Editorial: COVID, racism, China: three tests for the next NIH leader
News: Francis Collins to step down at NIH: scientists assess his legacy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
