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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What’s the endgame for the COVID-19 pandemic? Is a world without SARS-CoV-2 possible, or is the virus here to stay?
A recent Nature survey suggests that the majority of experts expect the virus to become endemic, circulating in the world’s population for years to come.
But what does this mean? On this week’s episode of Coronapod, we ask what a future with an ever-present virus could look like.
News Feature: The coronavirus is here to stay — here’s what that means
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Researchers sequence the oldest DNA ever recovered, and the people bringing art and science together.
In this episode:
00:46 Million-year-old mammoth DNA
This week, researchers have smashed a long-standing record by sequencing a genome that's over a million years old. They achieved this feat by extracting DNA from permafrost-preserved mammoth teeth, using it to build-up a more detailed family tree for these ancient animals.
Research Article: van der Valk et al.
News: Million-year-old mammoth genomes shatter record for oldest ancient DNA
News and Views: Million-year-old DNA provides a glimpse of mammoth evolution
10:00 Research Highlights
A spacecraft catches a rare glimpse of a rock smashing into Jupiter, and the perilous state of sawfish populations.
Research Highlight: Robotic eyes spy the flash of a meteor on Jupiter
Research Highlight: Humans push a hulking fish with a chainsaw nose towards oblivion
12:18 Putting art into science (and science into art)
Art and science are sometimes considered disparate, but when brought together the results can be greater than the sum of their parts. This week we hear from an artist and a scientist on the benefits they found when crossing the divide.
Career Feature: How to shape a productive scientist–artist collaboration
Career Feature: How the arts can help you to craft a successful research career
Where I work: ‘All my art is curiosity-driven’: the garden studio where art and physics collide
Some resources for bringing arts and science together:
21:43 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a neanderthal gene makes brain-like organoids bumpy, and uncovering the original location of Stonehenge’s stone circle.
News:
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The science behind how and when to give vaccines doses.
As vaccines are rolled out, massive logistical challenges are leading scientists and policymakers to consider alternative dosing strategies.
But what does the science say? In this week’s episode of Coronapod, we discuss mixing and matching vaccines and lengthening the time between doses. Approaches like these could ease logistical concerns, but we ask what's known about their impact on vaccine efficacy – what is the science behind the decisions, and could they actually boost immune responses?
News: Could mixing COVID vaccines boost immune response?
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Looking back at the publication of the human genome, and how macrophages mend muscle.
In this episode:
00:45 The human genome sequence, 20 years on
This week marks the 20th anniversary of a scientific milestone – the publication of the first draft of the human genome. Magdalena Skipper, Nature’s Editor-in-Chief gives us her recollections of genomics at the turn of the millennium, and the legacy of the achievement.
Editorial: The next 20 years of human genomics must be more equitable and more open
Comment: A wealth of discovery built on the Human Genome Project — by the numbers
Comment: Sequence three million genomes across Africa
Video: How a worm showed us the way to open science
Video: How ancient DNA sequencing changed the game
10:50 Research Highlights
Is there an evolutionary reason why hotter countries have hotter food? Maybe not. And larger groups of giraffe gal pals have better chances of survival.
Research Article: Bromham et al.
Research Highlight: For female giraffes, friends in high places bring towering benefits
12:48 Mending damaged muscles
It’s known that immune cells play an important role in muscle repair. Now though, researchers have isolated the specific molecules involved, and hope that this knowledge could be used in future to create therapies.
Research Article: Ratnayake et al.
19:39 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a court overrules a Trump administration guideline on how science can be used in environmental policy, and the harrowing lengths that Blue Whales need to take to avoid fishing vessels.
Washington Post: Judge throws out Trump rule limiting what science EPA can use
The Independent: Animation shows week in life of blue whale as it tries to avoid fishing... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Researchers are scrambling to understand the biology of new coronavirus variants and the impact they might have on vaccine efficacy.
Around the world, concern is growing about the impact that new, faster-spreading variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will have on the pandemic.
In this episode of Coronapod, we discuss what these variants are, and the best way to respond to them, in the face of increasing evidence that some can evade the immunity produced by vaccination or previous infection.
News: ‘A bloody mess’: Confusion reigns over naming of new COVID variants
News: Fast-spreading COVID variant can elude immune responses
News: Could new COVID variants undermine vaccines? Labs scramble to find out
News: How to redesign COVID vaccines so they protect against variants
News: J&J’s one-shot COVID vaccine offers hope for faster protection
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Exploring the properties of a vanishingly-rare artificial element, and the AI that generates new mathematical conjectures.
In this episode:
01:04 Einsteinium's secrets
Einsteinium is an incredibly scarce, artificial element that decays so quickly that researchers don’t know much about it. Now, using state-of-the-art technology, a team has examined how it interacts with other atoms, which they hope will shed new light on einsteinium and its neighbours on the periodic table.
Research Article: Carter et al.
06:28 Research Highlights
The mysterious appearance of three ozone-depleting chemicals in Earth’s atmosphere, and how ride-sharing services have failed to reduce traffic jams.
Research Highlight: Mystery on high: an ozone-destroying chemical appears in the air
Research Highlight: Uber and Lyft drive US gridlock — but not cuts in car ownership
8:38 The computer that comes up with new mathematical formulas
A team of researchers have developed artificial-intelligence algorithms that can generate new formulas for calculating the digits of key mathematical numbers like pi. Although crucial, many of these numbers remain mysterious, so it is hoped that this system will open up new avenues of questioning for mathematicians.
Research Article: Raayoni et al.
14:48 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a new theory to explain a sixty-year-old mystery surrounding the icy deaths of a group of Russian students, and the continued controversy about the chances of life on Venus.
Video: Explaining the icy mystery of the Dyatlov Pass deaths
News: Life on Venus claim faces strongest challenge yet
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A year ago the WHO’s coronavirus emergency alarm was largely ignored. Why?
On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, or PHEIC, to raise the alarm of the imminent threat of a global coronavirus pandemic.
Alongside the PHEIC, the WHO made a number of recommendations to curb the spread of the virus. But many of these were ignored by governments around the world.
In this episode of Coronapod, we explore why this emergency warning system failed, and hear about efforts to reform it, and the WHO, to avoid this happening again.
News: Why did the world’s pandemic warning system fail when COVID hit?
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Researchers are probing the subtle physical forces that sculpt cells and bodies.
At every stage of life, from embryo to adulthood, physical forces tug and squeeze at bodies from within.
These forces are vital, ensuring that cells are correctly positioned in a developing embryo, for example. But they also play a role in diseases like cancer. Yet despite their importance, relatively little is known about how cells sense, respond to and generate these forces.
To find out, researchers have turned to bespoke tools and methods, using them to probe lab-cultured cells and whole animals to get to the root of how mechanical forces sculpt life.
This is an audio version of our feature: The secret forces that squeeze and pull life into shape
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A neuroprosthetic device restores blood-pressure control after spinal-cord injury, and identifying the neurons that help us understand others’ beliefs.
In this episode:
00:47 A neuroprosthetic restores the body’s baroreflex
A common problem for people who have experienced spinal-cord injury is the inability to maintain their blood pressure, which can have serious, long-term health consequences. Now, however, researchers have developed a device that may restore this ability, by stimulating the neural circuits involved in the so-called baroreflex.
Research Article: Squair et al.
News and Views: Neuroprosthetic device maintains blood pressure after spinal cord injury
08:27 Research Highlights
How gesticulating changes the way that speech is perceived, and a new theory of how Saturn got its tilt.
Research Highlight: Hands speak: how casual gestures shape what we hear
Research Highlight: The moon that made Saturn a pushover
10:58 A neuronal map of understanding others
Humans are very good at understanding that other people have thoughts, feelings and beliefs that are different to our own. But the neuronal underpinnings of this ability have been hard to unpick. Now, researchers have identified a subset of neurons that they think gives us this ability.
Research Article: Jamali et al.
18:04 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the science of why cats love catnip, and the struggle to identify what the mysterious celestial object StDr 56 actually is.
Science: Why cats are crazy for catnip
Syfy Wire: So what the heck is StDr 56?
Check out our new video - Fossilised glider takes the origin of mammals back to the Triassic
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Analysis of hundreds of thousands of job searches shows that recruiters will discriminate based on ethnicity and gender, and the neural circuitry behind a brief period of forgetting.
In this episode:
00:47 Hiring discrimination
A huge dataset has shown that widespread discrimination occurs in job hiring, based on ethnicity and gender. This backs up decades of research, showing that people from minority backgrounds tend to get contacted far less by employers.
Research Article: Hangartner et al.
09:31 Coronapod
Today Joe Biden becomes the next president of the United States. We find out what this new political chapter could mean for the country’s immediate pandemic response, including the mass rollout of vaccines.
News: Joe Biden’s COVID plan is taking shape — and researchers approve
News: Joe Biden names top geneticist Eric Lander as science adviser
20:46 Research Highlights
A new way to study fragile helium pairs, and there’s no limit to how much exercise improves your heart health.
Research Highlight: Taking tenuous helium molecules for a spin
Research Highlight: Feeling fit? A little more sweat could still help your heart
23:17 Forgetful flies
Ever had the feeling where you can’t quite remember what you were doing? While common, this sort of ‘tip of the tongue’ forgetting is not well understood. Now though, researchers have uncovered the neural process behind this feeling… in fruit flies.
Research Article: Sabadal et al.
29:49 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the economics calculations of thieving monkeys, and how in certain situations electric eels will hunt together.
The Guardian: Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom
Science: Shocking discovery: Electric eels hunt in packs in Amazon rivers
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