The World, the Universe and Us

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#180 Maximum human lifespan; a twist on a classic physics experiment; saving the kākāpō Apr 06, 2023

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How long can a human live for? The world record is 122 years, and while some people believe our bodies aren’t capable of surpassing that, a new theory suggests we could see the record broken in a decade’s time. The team explains how this could be possible.

An upgraded version of the classic double-slit experiment has observed how light interacts through differences in time rather than space. Researchers used a special type of material in the experiment, which the team says could be used to make time crystals.

Nutritional deficiencies, tuberculosis and self harm - child asylum seekers in Australian detention centres have experienced dire living conditions. The team finds out about the impact of these centres on their health and lessons that other countries could learn.

The incredible kākāpō is our life form of the week. The team explains how researchers are trying to save this endangered, flightless bird by looking at the preserved poo of their ancestors.

And it’s been discovered that giving your brain a good work-out can ramp up its waste disposal system - something we thought only happened when we sleep. The team explains how this finding may be useful for preventing neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s.

On the pod are Penny Sarchet, Sam Wong, Leah Crane, Alice Klein and Clare Wilson. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#179 Black holes older than time; nine animals to save the climate; the largest creature ever to walk the Earth Mar 30, 2023

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Sea otters, American bison and grey wolves are among nine groups of animals that could help fight climate change. The team discusses the various attributes that make these groups particularly impactful, and they explain what we’d need to do to help populations grow.

An ancient supermassive black hole that formed in the early moments of the universe has been spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope. The team explains how it might’ve formed so early into the universe’s existence - and they discuss the mind-boggling prospect of black holes that are older than the universe.

An immense sauropod dinosaur, Patagotitan mayorum, the largest known land-animal of all time, is currently towering above visitors to London’s Natural History Museum. Rowan went to see the incredible beast up close, and asks palaeontologist Paul Barrett how sauropods got so big.

A newly discovered “hat” has mathematicians all excited. For the first time, researchers have found a single shape that can be used to cover a surface without ever creating a repeating pattern. The team explains the shape, which apparently looks like a hat, and what it might be used for.

Many of the problems we face in the world today are caused by our inability to think about the long-term future. But in this modern world where we’re forced to think short-term, how do we escape this trap? Rowan asks Richard Fisher for help - he’s just released a book titled The Long View: Why we need to transform how the world sees time.

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Chelsea Whyte, Alex Wilkins and Sam Wong. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#178 Botox affects your understanding of emotions; GPT-4 exhibits human-level intelligence; IPCC climate change report 2023 Mar 23, 2023

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As countries continue dragging their feet on emissions reductions, the latest synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is another call to arms, warning of catastrophic impacts of climate change. The team digs into the report and asks whether the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C is now beyond reach.

ChatGPT’s successor GPT-4 is here, and excitement is brewing as the language model has begun to demonstrate signs of artificial general intelligence, when machines demonstrate flexible ability to tackle different tasks. From passing law examinations to coding entire websites, the team explains what GPT-4 is capable of, and why it may have begun a paradigm shift in the world of machine learning.

For Lifeform of the Week, the team hear that garden dormice glow in the dark. After shining UV light on some dormice, researchers have found they emit a bright red glow, and their feet and nose shine blue-green. The team finds out what’s going on and why they might have evolved this skill.

It’s no surprise that it’s harder to read the emotions of people who’ve had Botox. What is surprising is that people who’ve had Botox find it harder to read other people’s emotions, too. The team explains how this could come down to something called the ‘facial feedback hypothesis’.

Despite being ridiculously cold to the point where chemical reactions struggle to get going, Saturn’s moon Titan may still be able to develop life thanks to a strange quantum phenomenon. The team learns about the bizarre effect of quantum tunnelling.

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Michael Le Page, Alex Wilkins, Alice Klein and Leah Crane . To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#177 Field report from the High Arctic: polar bears and melting glaciers in Svalbard Mar 21, 2023

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In this bonus episode, join host Rowan Hooper as he ventures to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the far north, just 1000 km from the North Pole.

The Arctic is warming far faster than any other region on the planet, making Svalbard an incredible natural laboratory to study climate change, and particularly, melting glaciers. Svalbard is also home to a large population of the world’s largest land carnivore, the polar bear. Rowan speaks with Jon Aars of the Norwegian Polar Institute about the fate of this spectacular predator.

To read about subjects like this and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#176 Human organoids are new AI frontier; Listening to the big bang through the cosmic microwave background Mar 16, 2023

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Brainoids - tiny clumps of human brain cells - are being turned into living artificial intelligence machines, capable of carrying out tasks like solving complex equations. The team finds out how these brain organoids compare to normal computer-based AIs, and they explore the ethics of it all.

Sickle cell disease is now curable, thanks to a pioneering trial with CRISPR gene editing. The team shares the story of a woman whose life has been transformed by the treatment.

We can now hear the sound of the afterglow of the big bang, the radiation in the universe known as the cosmic microwave background. The team shares the eerie piece that has been transposed for human ears, named by researchers The Echo of Eternity.

Artificial intelligence can now read our minds…under a very specific set of circumstances. The team looks at a mindblowing new study which feels very sci-fi.

Pop legend and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey makes a cameo to highlight the campaign New Scientist is running in collaboration with the i newspaper, to draw attention to the shocking state of Britain’s rivers.

Great apes like to twirl around like ballerinas. As the team finds out, it turns out it’s not just humans who like to spin around and make themselves dizzy, it’s fun for many other species of ape too.

Bonnie Garmus, author of the bestselling novel Lessons In Chemistry, speaks to comment and culture editor Alison Flood about the success of her debut novel. She explains the inspiration behind her protagonist and why she made her a chemist. And she discusses fan-favourite character Six-Thirty the dog and the intelligence of animals.

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Michael Le Page and Alison Flood. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#175 Living Off-Earth: Ethical questions for living in outer space with Erika Nesvold Mar 15, 2023

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Whether it’s on the Moon, Mars or somewhere even more distant, we may see human settlements in space in our lifetime. But when we do, will we be prepared?

Alongside all the concerns of whether we should even be considering moving out to space, there are a lot of ethical considerations that need to be thought about too. How do you govern the new societies you’re forging? How do you hold the leaders accountable? How do we learn from and avoid the mistakes we’ve made on Earth?

In this bonus episode of the podcast, Leah Crane speaks to astrophysicist Erika Nesvold, who tackles these issues in her new book Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space.

To read about subjects like this and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#174 Finding the universe’s missing matter; saving babies’ lives by sequencing their genomes; the earliest horse riders - the latest news in science Mar 09, 2023

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Matter we’ve long thought missing from galaxies has finally been found. Great news…except there’s one catch. It turns out that perhaps this matter should be missing, based on our understanding of the way young galaxies form. So what’s going on? The team finds out where and how this matter was found, and what it means for our understanding of galaxies.

A life-saving trial is sequencing the entire genomes of extremely sick babies. The team learns how the trial worked, and hears from one mother whose son made a remarkable recovery after being born with a rare life-threatening disease.

You know that low creaky sound you make when you drop your voice low? That’s called vocal fry, and it turns out some whales can do it too. The team shares the sounds of a sperm whale using vocal fry during echo location, which explains how they’re able to make these sounds in deep water.

Norovirus is spreading rapidly in the UK, with reported cases higher in England than they’ve been in a decade. The team finds out what’s caused this spike in cases of the ‘winter vomiting bug’.

Horse riding may have begun as far back as 5000 years ago. New bone evidence suggests that the earliest known horse riders may have been members of the Yamnaya tribe. The team discusses whether horse riding may have been behind the success of the Yamnaya, who expanded across Europe around this time.

On the pod are Penny Sarchet, Chelsea Whyte, Alexandra Thompson, Clare Wilson, Leah Crane and Alice Klein. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#173 Understanding chronic health conditions; Artificial sweetener linked to heart attacks; Re-thinking galaxies; UN geoengineering report Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

As millions of people around the world suffer from long covid, research into how viruses trigger chronic health conditions is getting a lot more focus. The team explores the role of viruses in both chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, and touch on our latest understanding of long covid.

Our understanding of how galaxies form could be entirely wrong. Huge young galaxies seen by the James Webb Space Telescope seem far too massive to have formed so early on in the universe’s history. The team explains how this could completely upend our models of the universe.

Sharpshooter insects shoot so much urine out of their “anal catapult” they can make it rain. The team explains why this extraordinary species of leafhopper has developed this unusual superpower.

Erythritol, a sweetener found in many low calorie food products, has been linked to blood clots and heart attacks. The team examines various studies that show these links, and asks whether we need to avoid eating the sweetener all together.

Calls are growing for more research into solar geoengineering to stave off climate change. This week 67 researchers signed an open letter calling for more research on the potential methods. Rowan speaks to Jim Haywood, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Exeter, about ways to reduce the amount of sunlight getting to the planet, including stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening. Jim is one of the authors of a new UN Environment Program Report called One Atmosphere: An Independent Expert Review on Solar Radiation Modification Research and Deployment.

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Clare Wilson, Jacob Aron, Sam Wong and Mike Marshall. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#172 Bio-electric special: how the electricity inside you shapes your body and your health Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

On this bonus episode of the podcast, host Rowan Hooper sits down with New Scientist magazine editor Cat de Lange, and science journalist Sally Adee to talk about the wonders of the electrome: the natural electricity that courses through our bodies. Most of us know that we rely on bioelectricity in our brains and nervous systems, for processing information and sending signals to and from the brain, but bioelectricity also plays vital roles how we develop in the womb and how our bodies heal after injury. Bioelectricity is linked to various illnesses, and if it goes wrong, deformity and cancer can result. On the pod, Sally talks about how we can learn to control this bioelectricity.

Sally has written this week’s magazine cover story, The amazing ways electricity in your body shapes you and your health, and her book, We Are Electric, The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome, has just been published.

To read about subjects like this and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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#171 Earth’s mysterious “dark biome” and the search for life on Mars; Quantum computers; Judge Dredd predicts the future - the latest news in science Feb 23, 2023

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While testing samples in the Atacama desert, a region of Earth with very similar rocks to those on Mars, astrobiologists have discovered a mysterious “dark biome” of organisms we’ve never seen before. With sample missions taking place on Mars itself, the team discusses what we might find.

Bow and arrows were first used in Europe much earlier than we thought. 54,000 year old arrowheads have been discovered in a rock shelter in the south of France. The team finds out what they were used for, and about the ingenious way researchers confirmed these stone points were actually arrowheads.

A new trick could allow quantum computers to run programs that should be too big for them. The team explains the method that could let small quantum computers run AI programs that would usually require too much computing power for them to handle.

To cope with the looming threat of sea level rise, residents of the 1190 islands of the Maldives may need to huddle on just 2 islands in the near future. The team explains how they’d need to build high-rise apartment blocks and skyscraper offices to cope with climate change.

From violent suppression of protest to the rise of the surveillance state, many stories from Judge Dredd, the future cop from British comic 2000AD, have proved eerily prophetic. Rowan speaks to writer and comics journalist Michael Molcher about his new book ‘I Am The Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future’, in which he argues key Dredd stories from the last 45 years provide a unique wake up call about our gradual slide towards authoritarian policing.

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Leah Crane, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Michael Le Page and Madeleine Cuff. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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