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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A web of three optical atomic clocks show incredibly accurate measurements of time, and the trailblazing astronomer who found hints of dark matter.
In this episode:
00:44 Optical clock network
Optical atomic clocks have the potential to reach new levels of accuracy and redefine how scientists measure time. However, this would require a worldwide system of connected clocks. Now researchers have shown that a network of three optical clocks is possible and confirm high levels of accuracy.
Research Article: BACON collaboration
News and Views: Atomic clocks compared with astounding accuracy
08:55 Research Highlights
The possible downside of high-intensity workouts, and the robot with adaptable legs for rough terrain.
Research Highlight: Can people get too much exercise? Mitochondria hint that the answer is yes
Research Highlight: A motorized leg up: this robot changes its limb length to suit the terrain
11:26 Vera Rubin
Vera Rubin was an astronomer whose observations were among the first to show evidence of dark matter. At the time, female astronomers were a rarity, but Vera blazed the trial for future women in science.
Books Review: Vera Rubin, astronomer extraordinaire — a new biography
18:35 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, carbon cost of bottom trawling, and the fictional French researcher confounding metrics.
The Guardian: Bottom trawling releases as much carbon as air travel, landmark study finds
Science: Who is Camille Noûs, the fictitious French researcher with nearly 200 papers?
Video: The quantum world of diamonds
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In the early days of the pandemic, researchers raced to identify the most potent antibodies produced by the immune system in response to SAR-COV-2 infection and produce them in bulk. The resulting ‘monoclonal antibodies’ have since been tested in a variety of settings as treatments for COVID-19.
But despite promising clinical trial results and several therapies having already been approved, antibody therapies have not yet played a large role in the fight against COVID-19. In this episode of Coronapod, we ask why.
News: COVID antibody treatments show promise for preventing severe disease
News: Antibody therapies could be a bridge to a coronavirus vaccine — but will the world benefit?
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A computer that can participate in live debates against human opponents.
In this episode:
00:43 AI Debater
After thousands of years of human practise, it’s still not clear what makes a good argument. Despite this, researchers have been developing computer programs that can find and process arguments. And this week, researchers at IBM are publishing details of an artificial intelligence that is capable of debating with humans.
Research Article: Slonim et al.
News and Views: Argument technology for debating with humans
10:30 Research Highlights
The sea slugs that can regrow their whole body from their severed head, and evidence of high status women in ancient Europe.
Research Highlight: Now that’s using your head: a sea slug’s severed noggin sprouts a new body
Research Highlight: A breathtaking treasure reveals the power of the woman buried with it
12:56 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the next generation of gravitational wave detectors, and why 2020 was a record-breaking year for near-Earth asteroids.
Nature News: Record number of asteroids seen whizzing past Earth in 2020
Science: Giant gravitational wave detectors could hear murmurs from across universe
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been many open questions about how COVID-19 could impact pregnant people and their babies – confounded by a lack of data.
But now, studies are finally starting to provide some answers. While it does seem that pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation, babies appear to be spared from severe illness in most cases.
In this week’s Coronapod we talk about these findings, and the questions that remain – including whether vaccines are safe to give to pregnant people.
News: Pregnancy and COVID: what the data say
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Physicists examine the gravitational pull between two tiny masses, and how fossil lampreys could shake-up the field of vertebrate evolution.
In this episode:
00:47 Gravity, on the small scale
This week, researchers have captured the smallest measurement of gravity on record, by measuring the pull between two tiny gold spheres. This experiment opens the door for future experiments to investigate the fundamental forces of nature and the quantum nature of gravity.
Research Article: Westphal et al.
News and Views: Ultra-weak gravitational field detected
07:37 Research Highlights
Research shows that people often don’t know when a conversation should end, and the cuttlefish that show remarkable self control.
Research Highlight: How long should a conversation last? The people involved haven’t a clue
Research Highlight: Arms control: cuttlefish can pass the ‘marshmallow test’
10:18 Lamprey evolution
The larval stage of lamprey growth has long been thought to resemble the kind of early animal that all vertebrates evolved from. However, new research looking at the fossils of lamprey species suggests that this popular hypothesis may be incorrect.
Research Article: Miyashita et al.
17:38 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, glow-in-the-dark sharks, and scientists’ reflections on the nuclear industry 10 years on from Fukushima.
The Guardian: 'Giant luminous shark': researchers discover three deep-sea sharks glow in the dark
Nature Comment: Nuclear energy, ten years after Fukushima
Video: Deep-sea soft robots
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Where did the SARS-CoV-2 virus come from? As a team of researchers from the WHO prepares to report on its investigation into the origins of the virus, we discuss the leading theories, including the controversial ‘lab leak' hypothesis.
Although there is no evidence to support it, the lab-leak idea remains popular among certain groups. Similar hypotheses were even touted about the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. We discuss why theories like this seem to gain traction.
News: ‘Major stones unturned’: COVID origin search must continue after WHO report, say scientists
News: Where did COVID come from? Five mysteries that remain
News: Can COVID spread from frozen wildlife? Scientists probe pandemic origins
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The pandemic's unequal toll on the research community, and a newly discovered mitochondria-like symbiosis.
In this episode:
00:48 The pandemic's unequal toll on researchers
Although 2020 saw a huge uptick in the numbers of research papers submitted, these increases were not evenly distributed among male and female scientists. We look at how this could widen existing disparities in science, and damage future career prospects.
Editorial: COVID is amplifying the inadequacy of research-evaluation processes
09:18 Research Highlights
How a parasite can make viral infections more deadly, and the first known space hurricane.
Research Highlight: Intestinal worms throw open the door to dangerous viruses
Research Highlight: The first known space hurricane pours electron ‘rain’
11:36 Energy without oxygen
Millions of years ago, a microscopic protist swallowed a bacterium and gained the ability to breathe nitrate. This relationship partially replaced the cell's mitochondria and allowed it to produce abundant energy without oxygen. This week, researchers describe how this newly discovered symbiosis works.
Research Article: Graf et al.
News and Views: A microbial marriage reminiscent of mitochondrial evolution
19:22 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the weakening of the Gulf Stream, and a new satellite to monitor deforestation in the Amazon.
The Guardian: Atlantic Ocean circulation at weakest in a millennium, say scientists
Science: Brazil’s first homemade satellite will put an extra eye on dwindling Amazon forests
Video: How to build a Quantum Internet
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A repository with millions of data points will track immunity and variant spread.
To answer the big questions in the pandemic, researchers need access to data. But while a wealth has been collected, much of it isn’t collated or accessible to the people who need it.
This week sees the launch of Global.health, a database that aims to collate an enormous amount of anonymized information about individual COVID-19 cases.
On this week’s Coronapod we discuss how this database could help answer the biggest questions facing scientists right now, from variants to vaccines – could data change the game?
News: Massive Google-funded COVID database will track variants and immunity
News: Can COVID vaccines stop transmission? Scientists race to find answers
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The surprising structure of protons, and a method for growing small intestines for transplantation.
In this episode:
00:45 Probing the proton’s interior
Although studied for decades, the internal structure of the proton is still throwing up surprises for physicists. This week, a team of researchers report an unexpected imbalance in the antimatter particles that make up the proton.
Research Article: Dove et al.
News and Views: Antimatter in the proton is more down than up
07:08 Research Highlights
How an inactive gene may help keep off the chill, and Cuba’s isolation may have prevented invasive species taking root on the island.
Research Highlight: Impervious to cold? A gene helps people to ward off the chills
Research Highlight: Marauding plants steer clear of a communist-ruled island
09:48 A new way to grow a small intestine
Short Bowel Syndrome is an often fatal condition that results from the removal of the small intestine. Treatment options are limited to transplantation, but donor intestines are hard to come by and can be rejected by the body. Now researchers may have developed a method to grow a replacement small intestine using stem cells and a small section of colon.
Research Article: Sugimoto et al.
15:50 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the landing of Perseverance on Mars, and the researchers speaking with lucid dreamers.
Nature News: Mars video reveals Perseverance rover’s daring touchdown
Nature News: Touch down! NASA’s Mars landing sparks new era of exploration
Nature News: The hunt for life on Mars: A visual guide to NASA’s latest mission
Science: Scientists entered people’s dreams and got them ‘talking’
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Researchers in Japan are trying to understand why thunderstorms fire out bursts of powerful radiation.
Gamma rays – the highest-energy electromagnetic radiation in the universe – are typically created in extreme outer space environments like supernovae. But back in the 1980s and 1990s, physicists discovered a source of gamma rays much closer to home: thunderstorms here on Earth.
Now, researchers in Japan are enlisting an army of citizen scientists to help understand the mysterious process going on inside storm clouds that leads to them creating extreme bursts of radiation.
This is an audio version of our feature: Thunderstorms spew out gamma rays — these scientists want to know why
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