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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Copyright: © Springer Nature Limited
This week, a computer beats the best human players in StarCraft II, and a huge study of insects and other arthropods.
In this episode:
00:45 Learning to play
By studying and experimenting, an AI has reached Grandmaster level at the video game Starcraft II.
Research Article: Vinyals et al.; News Article: Google AI beats experienced human players at real-time strategy game StarCraft II
10:08 Research Highlights
A record-breaking lightning bolt, and identifying our grey matter’s favourite tunes
Research Highlight: Here come the lightning ‘megaflashes’; Research Highlight: Why some songs delight the human brain
12:24 Arthropods in decline
Researchers have surveyed how land-use change has affected arthropod diversity.
Research article: Seibold et al.
18:30 News Chat
Young Canadians file a lawsuit against their government, an Alzheimer’s drug gets a second chance, and South Korean efforts to curb a viral epidemic in pigs.
News: Canadian kids sue government over climate change; News: Fresh push for ‘failed’ Alzheimer’s drug; News: South Korea deploys snipers and drones to fend off deadly pig virus
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As part of Nature's 150th anniversary celebrations, we look back at an important moment in the history of science.
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This week, a milestone in quantum computing, and rethinking early mammals.
In this episode:
00:43 A quantum computing milestone
A quantum computer is reported to have achieved ‘quantum supremacy’ – performing an operation that’s essentially impossible for classical computers.
Research Article: Arute et al.; News and Views: Quantum computing takes flight; Editorial: A precarious milestone for quantum computing; News: Hello quantum world! Google publishes landmark quantum supremacy claim
08:24 Research Highlights
The world’s speediest ants, and the world’s loudest birdsong.
Research Highlight: A land-speed record for ants set in Saharan dunes; Research Highlight: A bird’s ear-splitting shriek smashes the record for loudest song
10:19 The mammals that lived with the dinosaurs
Paleontologists are shifting their view of the Mesozoic era mammals.
News Feature: How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs
18:00 News Chat
A Russian researcher’s plans to edit human embryos, and ‘prime editing’ - a more accurate gene editing system.
News: Russian ‘CRISPR-baby’ scientist has started editing genes in human eggs with goal of altering deaf gene; News: Super-precise new CRISPR tool could tackle a plethora of genetic diseases
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This week, investigating child mortality rates at a local level, and building genes from non-coding DNA.
In this episode:
00:43 A regional view of childhood mortality
Researchers map countries' progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Developmental Goals.
Research Article: Burstein et al.; World View: Data on child deaths are a call for justice; Editorial: Protect the census
07:22 Research Highlights
Astronomers identify a second visitor from beyond the solar system, and extreme snowfall stifles animal breeding in Greenland.
Research Highlight: The comet that came in from interstellar space; Research Highlight: Extreme winter leads to an Arctic reproductive collapse
09:22 Evolving genes from the ground up
Natural selection's creative way to evolve new genes.
News Feature: How evolution builds genes from scratch
15:43 News Chat
A spate of vaping-related deaths in the US, and Japan’s import of the Ebola virus.
News: Scientists chase cause of mysterious vaping illness as death toll rises; News: Why Japan imported Ebola ahead of the 2020 Olympics
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This week, a method for predicting follow-up earthquakes, and the issues with deep learning systems in AI.
In this episode:
00:47 Which is the big quake?
A new technique could allow seismologists to better predict if a larger earthquake will follow an initial tremor.
Research Article: Real-time discrimination of earthquake foreshocks and aftershocks; News and Views: Predicting if the worst earthquake has passed
07:46 Research Highlights
Vampire bats transmitting rabies in Costa Rica, and why are some octopuses warty?
Research Article: Streicker et al.; Research Article: Voight et al.
10:03 Problems for pattern-recognition
Deep-learning allows AIs to better understand the world, but the technique is not without its issues.
News Feature: Why deep-learning AIs are so easy to fool
16:31 News Chat
We roundup the 2019 Nobel Prizes for science.
News: Biologists who decoded how cells sense oxygen win medicine Nobel; News: Physics Nobel goes to exoplanet and cosmology pioneers; News: Chemistry Nobel honours world-changing batteries
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In this Podcast Extra, we speak to John B Goodenough, from the University of Texas at Austin, in the US. Today, John was announced as one of the joint winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Reporter Benjamin Thompson went along to the Royal Society in London to chat with him.
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In this Podcast Extra, we speak to physicist Didier Queloz, who was announced today as one of the joint winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics. Shortly after the winners were announced, Didier took part in a press conference to talk about his award. Reporter Benjamin Thompson went along to chat with him.
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This week, how new species may form by sexual imprinting, and a previously unknown way for mosquitoes to migrate.
In this episode:
00:43 New species by sexual imprinting?
A Central American frog chooses mates resembling its parents, a possible route for new species to form.
Research Article: Yang et al.; News and Views: Leapfrog to speciation boosted by mother’s influence
09:58 Research Highlights
A light-based pacemaker, and the mathematics of the best place to park.
Research Article: Mei et al.; Research Highlight: Maths tackles an eternal question: where to park?
11:43 Gone with the wind
Researchers show that malaria mosquitoes may travel hundreds of kilometres using wind currents.
Research Article: Huestis et al.; News and Views: Malaria mosquitoes go with the flow
19:28 News Chat
Eradication of Guinea Worm pushed back, and researchers report ‘pressure to cite’.
News: Exclusive: Battle to wipe out debilitating Guinea worm parasite hits 10 year delay; News: Two-thirds of researchers report ‘pressure to cite’ in Nature poll
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This year, Nature celebrates its 150th birthday. To mark this anniversary we’re rebroadcasting episodes from our PastCast series, highlighting key moments in the history of science.
Earthquakes, volcanoes, the formation of mountains; we understand all these phenomena in terms of plate tectonics (large-scale movements of the Earth’s crust). But when a German geologist first suggested that continents move, in the 1910s, people dismissed it as a wild idea. In this podcast, we hear how a ‘wild idea’ became the unifying theory of Earth sciences. In the 1960s, data showed that the sea floor was spreading, pushing continents apart. Fred Vine recalls the reaction when he published these findings in Nature.
This episode was first broadcast in September 2013.
From the archive
Magnetic Anomalies Over Oceanic Ridges, by Vine & Matthews
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This week, diamond-containing rocks may help uncover secrets of the Earth’s mantle, and a reflection on science since the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was published.
In this episode:
00:46 Earth’s Evolution
Explosive eruptions have allowed researchers to study Earth’s mysterious mantle.
Research Article: Woodhead et al.; News and Views: Enigmatic origin of diamond-bearing rocks revealed
06:08 Research Highlights
Supersonic cork popping, and the timing of vaccines.
Research Highlight: An uncorked champagne bottle imitates a fighter jet; Research Highlight: Why midday might be a golden hour for vaccinations
07:53 Don’t Panic
40 years since the publication of the ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ we reflect on how far science has come.
15:22 News Chat
A huge telescope with exquisite sensitivity is opening in China, and gene-editing to save bananas. News: Gigantic Chinese telescope opens to astronomers worldwide; News: CRISPR might be the banana’s only hope against a deadly fungus
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