Nature Podcast

In this episode: 00:48 A gap for trapping light Confining photons within materials opens up potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunications. But capturing light requires nanoscale cavities, which are difficult to make. This week, a team has created the smallest silicon gap yet for this purpose, just two nano-metres wide, by exploiting the intermolecular forces that are usually an obstacle when creating such small structures. They show this gap can trap light effectively, but they also believe that their method could be used to create tiny cavities for use in a range of different fields. Research Article: Babar et al. News and Views: Self-assembling structures close the gap to trap light 07:28 Research Highlights Researchers head into the wilderness to search for dark matter, and the discovery that bottlenose dolphins can sense weak magnetic fields. Research Highlight: The hunt for dark-matter particles ventures into the wild Research Highlight: Dolphins have a feel for electric fields 09:54 The environmental cost of tackling poverty Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than US$2.15 a day, affects around 10% of the world’s population. In the past, economic growth has generally been seen as key to reducing poverty; however, such growth has also led to an increase in climate-warming emissions. To find out whether poverty can be tackled without costing the planet, a team of researchers modelled how different levels of economic growth would affect global emissions. They found that ending poverty has only a negligible impact on emissions, which could be lowered even further by decarbonising energy production. Research Article: Wollburg et al. News and Views: Tackling extreme poverty around the world need not impede climate action News: Catastrophic change looms as Earth nears climate ‘tipping points’, report says News: Scientists skip COP28 to demand climate action at home 18:36 Briefing Chat Scientists create a robotic octopus arm that you can control with a finger, and how disruptive science seems to elude farflung teams. Nature News: How does it feel to have an octopus arm? This robo-tentacle lets people find out Nature News: ‘Disruptive’ science: in-person teams make more breakthroughs than remote groups Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:48 A gap for trapping light Confining photons within materials opens up potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunications. But capturing light requires nanoscale cavities, which are difficult to make. This week, a team has created the smallest silicon gap yet for this purpose, just two nano-metres wide, by exploiting the intermolecular forces that are usually an obstacle when creating such small structures. They show this gap can trap light effectively, but they also believe that their method could be used to create tiny cavities for use in a range of different fields. Research Article: Babar et al. News and Views: Self-assembling structures close the gap to trap light 07:28 Research Highlights Researchers head into the wilderness to search for dark matter, and the discovery that bottlenose dolphins can sense weak magnetic fields. Research Highlight: The hunt for dark-matter particles ventures into the wild Research Highlight: Dolphins have a feel for electric fields 09:54 The environmental cost of tackling poverty Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than US$2.15 a day, affects around 10% of the world’s population. In the past, economic growth has generally been seen as key to reducing poverty; however, such growth has also led to an increase in climate-warming emissions. To find out whether poverty can be tackled without costing the planet, a team of researchers modelled how different levels of economic growth would affect global emissions. They found that ending poverty has only a negligible impact on emissions, which could be lowered even further by decarbonising energy production. Research Article: Wollburg et al. News and Views: Tackling extreme poverty around the world need not impede climate action News: Catastrophic change looms as Earth nears climate ‘tipping points’, report says News: Scientists skip COP28 to demand climate action at home 18:36 Briefing Chat Scientists create a robotic octopus arm that you can control with a finger, and how disruptive science seems to elude farflung teams. Nature News: How does it feel to have an octopus arm? This robo-tentacle lets people find out Nature News: ‘Disruptive’ science: in-person teams make more breakthroughs than remote groups Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around 500 million people are estimated to be in period poverty, lacking adequate access to sanitary products. Many of these people rely on donations, but this is far from a long-term solution. To tackle this researchers have developed a method to extract absorbent materials for menstrual pads from a common plant, Agave sisalana. The researchers say that their method can be performed using local techniques and has a lower environmental impact than the manufacture of other period products. They're aiming to scale-up this approach to help those in period poverty. Research Article: Molina et al. Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:49 What to expect at COP28. The UN’s annual climate change conference is starting soon in Dubai. This time will be the first time that humanity formally assesses its progress under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, so we ask if this challenge of keeping warming below 1.5 ˚C can be met and what needs to happen at COP28 to make it a reality. News Feature: Is it too late to keep global warming below 1.5 °C? The challenge in 7 charts 10:49 Research Highlights Falcons show off their smarts, and how smoke from California wildfires made Europe cloudy. Research Highlight: These falcons excel at problem-solving — and outdo some of the world’s smartest birds Research Highlight: Huge California wildfires seeded cirrus clouds half a world away 12:59 Briefing Chat The mystery surrounding a powerful cosmic ray, and how to make super hot plasma easily. Nature News: The most powerful cosmic ray since the Oh-My-God particle puzzles scientists Research Article: Xie et al. Video: Super hot plasma made easy with stabilising fibres Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Researchers have been resurrecting apple trees to revive forgotten varieties of the fruit. They hope that sequencing these apples' genomes could uncover mutations that influence flavour, colour, crispness and other characteristics. This knowledge could help unlock the next blockbuster fruit, and develop trees that are more resistant to disease, climate change and other environmental pressures. This is an audio version of our Feature Apple revival: how science is bringing historic varieties back to life Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:46 What happens after polio is eradicated Since 1988, cases of polio have fallen by more than 99%, and many observers predict that the disease could be eradicated within the next three years. However, eradication isn’t the same as extinction, so the next challenge is for researchers to make sure the disease won’t return. We discuss what a post-polio future may look like, and how to ensure that the disease is gone for good. News Feature: Polio is on the brink of eradication. Here's how to keep it from coming back 09:48 Research Highlights Botulinum toxin shows promise in treating a common disorder in older people, and how safeguarding seabirds may require significantly larger conservation-areas than previously thought. Research Highlight: Botox’s paralysing effects can relieve an uncontrolled head tremor Research Highlight: Seabirds’ lonely travels pose a conservation challenge 12:21 Briefing Chat How demand for research monkeys is fuelling an illegal trade in smuggled animals, and the surprising observation that may help explain mysterious space explosions. Nature: How wild monkeys ‘laundered’ for science could undermine research Nature News: Mysterious ‘Tasmanian devil’ space explosion baffles astronomers Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, writer and researcher Jay Owens joins us to discuss her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles. Much like dust itself, Jay’s book travels the globe, looking at the impacts that these microscopic particles are having on the world, our health and environment, as well as exploring the role that humanity has played in creating them. Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles Jay Owens Hodder & Stoughton (2023) Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:46 Machine vision enables multi-material 3D printing 3D printers are capable of producing complex shapes, but making functioning objects from multiple materials in a single print-run has proved challenging. To overcome this, a team has combined inkjet printing with an error-correction system guided by machine vision, to allow them to print sophisticated multi-material objects. They used this method to make a bio-inspired robotic hand that combines soft and rigid plastics to make mechanical bones, ligaments, and tendons, as well as a pump based on a mammalian heart. Research article: Buchner et al. News & Views: Multi-material 3D printing guided by machine vision Video: The 3D printer that crafts complex robotic organs in a single run 07:49 Research Highlights Citizen-scientists help identify an astronomical object that blurs the line between asteroid and comet, and how a Seinfeld episode helped scientists to distinguish the brain regions involved in understanding and appreciating humour. Research Highlight: Citizen scientists find a rarity: an asteroid trying to be a comet Research Highlight: One brain area helps you to enjoy a joke — but another helps you to get it 10:31 Assessing the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions for diabetes Type 2 diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people around the world and represents a significant burden on healthcare systems. But behaviour change programmes — also known as lifestyle interventions — could potentially play a large role in preventing people from developing type 2 diabetes. This week in Nature a new paper assesses how effective this kind of intervention might be. Looking at a huge amount of data from the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, the paper concludes that these interventions represent a viable diabetes prevention strategy. Research article: Lemp et al. News & Views: Diabetes prevention programme put to the test 17:35 Briefing Chat How marine heatwaves revved up crabs’ metabolisms until they starved, and the AI-powered, robot chemist that could extract oxygen from water on Mars. Wired: The Surprising Reason Sea Creatures Are Getting Hungrier Nature News: This AI robot chemist could make oxygen on Mars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:46 Modifying a fungal drug to make it less toxic Amphotericin B is a drug used to treat life-threatening fungal infections. But while it is effective against many fungal species, it is also extremely toxic to kidneys, meaning it is mostly used as a drug of last-resort. This week, a team has unpicked the mechanism behind the drug’s toxicity, allowing them to modify it and reduce side effects in human kidney cells. The researchers hope this new version of the drug could become a useful tool in fighting fungal diseases. Research article: Maji et al. 09:00 Research Highlights Reconstructing woolly rhino DNA using samples from fossilized hyena dung, and a soft robot that can perform surgery inside a beating heart. Research Highlight: Woolly-rhino genome emerges from cave hyena’s fossilized poo Research Highlight: A robot performs heart surgery with a strong but delicate touch 11:26 Phosphorus found at the edge of our Galaxy Phosphorus is a vital element for life and for planet formation, but although abundant in the inner part of the Milky Way, it has been undetected in the outer regions of our Galaxy. Now, researchers have identified phosphorus-containing molecules huge distances from Earth, although exactly how this phosphorus was created is unclear. The team suspect that lower-mass stars are behind the phosphorus generation, and believe that the detection of the element could broaden the range of planets that may be habitable in our Galaxy. Research article: Koelemay et al. 18:14 Briefing Chat What Osiris-REx’s hypersonic capsule return could teach researchers about asteroids hitting Earth’s atmosphere, and the genetic studies that could help restore the genomes of Scotland’s endangered ‘Highland tigers’. Nature News: Asteroid sampler’s hypersonic return thrilled scientists: here’s what they learnt Nature News: How to keep wildcats wild: ancient DNA offers fresh insights Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the past year, generative AIs have been taking the world by storm. ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E and more, are changing the nature of how content is produced. In science, they could help transform and streamline publishing. However, they also come with plenty of risks. In this episode of Nature's Take we discuss how these AIs are impacting science and what the future might hold. Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:46 An injectable gel for healing muscles Severe muscle injury can be debilitating, with long recuperation periods. Now, researchers have developed a material that can be directly injected into injured muscle, helping to stimulate and heal damaged tissue. The team showed this approach could rapidly restore walking ability in severely injured rats and regenerate muscles within four weeks. They hope that this solution could one day help humans with similar injuries, and overcome some of the limitations of current recuperation strategies. Research article: Jin et al. News and Views: Hydrogel implant rehabilitates muscles through electrical stimulation 10:02 Research Highlights Ancient human genomes fill in a missing link between Europe’s first humans and later arrivals, and how ferns are inspiring pest-resistant crops. Research Highlight: Ancient DNA reveals traces of elusive first humans in Europe Research Highlight: Fierce ferns make insect-fighting proteins 12:43 Briefing Chat Largest release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes shows promise at controlling dengue, and the genes that explain why starfish aren’t so symmetrical. Nature News: Dengue rates drop after release of modified mosquitoes in Colombia Video: How would a starfish wear trousers? Science has an answer Research Article: Formery et al. Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For decades, BMI — calculated by dividing weight by height squared — has been as an international standard to determine healthy weights. However, BMI does not measure body fat, and ignores many other factors that can affect how healthy someone it. Now, a small but growing movement of reseachers and clinicians are calling for other metrics to be used in conjunction with BMI when diagnosing and treating obesity. This is an audio version of our Feature: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years, researchers have been listening to Mars and the quakes that ripple through it, to understand the planet's internal structure and uncover its history. But often these results have left more questions than answers. Now, though, new research published in Nature reveals the composition and size of Mars's core, finding that it is much smaller than previously thought. Research Article: Khan et al. Research Article: Samuel et al. News and Views: Deep Mars is surprisingly soft Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:47 An automated way to monitor wildlife recovery To prevent the loss of wildlife, forest restoration is key, but monitoring how well biodiversity actually recovers is incredibly difficult. Now though, a team have collected recordings of animal sounds to determine the extent of the recovery. However, while using these sounds to identify species is an effective way to monitor, it’s also labour intensive. To overcome this, they trained an AI to listen to the sounds, and found that although it was less able to identify species, its findings still correlated well with wildlife recovery, suggesting that it could be a cost-effective and automated way to monitor biodiversity. Research article: Müller et al. 12:30 Research Highlights Researchers develop algae-based living materials that glow when squeezed, and a 50-million-year-old bat skull that suggests echolocation was an ancient skill. Research Highlight: Give these ‘living composite’ objects a squeeze and watch them glow Research Highlight: Fossilized skull shows that early bats had modern sonar 15:11 Briefing Chat A brain imaging study reveals how high-fat foods exert their powerful pull, and how being asleep doesn’t necessarily cut you off from the outside world. Nature News: Deep asleep? You can still follow simple commands, study finds Nature News: Milkshake neuroscience: how the brain nudges us toward fatty foods Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:47 An RNA-based viral system that mimics bacterial immune defences To protect themselves against viral infection, bacteria often use CRISPR-Cas systems to identify and destroy an invading virus’s genetic material. But viruses aren’t helpless and can deploy countermeasures, known as anti-CRISPRs, to neutralise host defences. This week, a team describe a new kind of anti-CRISPR system, based on RNA, which protects viruses by mimicking part of the CRISPR-Cas system. The researchers hope that this discovery could have future biotechnology applications, including making CRISPR-Cas genome editing more precise. Research article: Camara-Wilpert et al. 09:05 Research Highlights Carved inscriptions suggest a queen named Thyra was the most powerful person in Viking-age Denmark, and the discovery of a puffed-up exoplanet that has just 1.5% the density of Earth. Research Highlight: Runes on Viking stones speak to an ancient queen’s power Research Highlight: ‘Super-puff’ planet is one of the fluffiest worlds ever found 11:38 Modelling the future of Greenland’s ice sheet melt Climate-change induced melting of Greenland’s vast ice sheet would contribute to 7m of sea level rise. But it has been difficult to calculate how the ice sheet will respond to future warming. This week, a team suggest that abrupt ice loss is likely if the global mean temperature is between 1.7 °C and 2.3 °C above pre-industrial levels. Keeping temperature rise below 1.5 °C could mitigate ice loss, if done within a few centuries, but even a short overshoot of the estimated threshold could lead to several metres of sea-level rise. Research article: Bochow et al. 17:50 Briefing Chat A massive reproducibility exercise reveals over 200 ecologists get wildly-diverging results from the same data, and how melting simulated lunar-dust with lasers could help pave the Moon. Nature News: Reproducibility trial: 246 biologists get different results from same data sets Nature News: How to build Moon roads using focused beams of sunlight Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:46 Engineered pig kidneys show transplantation promise Kidneys from genetically-engineered miniature pigs have been transplanted into non-human primates, in some cases keeping the animals alive for more than a year. Using CRISPR, a team made dozens of edits to the pig genome to prevent the monkeys’ immune system from attacking the organs. They also removed pig retrovirus genes that could represent an infection risk. These steps are necessary if pig organs are to be used in human transplants, something many clinicians and researchers think will be needed to overcome a critical shortage of organs for transplantation. Research article: Anand et al. News and Views: Pig-to-primate organ transplants require genetic modifications of donor Nature News: The most-complex gene edits yet move pig organs closer to human transplant 09:02 Research Highlights How babies’ nasal immune systems could explain why they tend to have mild cases of COVID-19, and the molecular ‘glue’ that allows 3D printing with challenging materials. Research Highlight: How the littlest children stop SARS-CoV-2 in its tracks Research Highlight: 3D printing tackles tricky materials with help from tiny crystals 11:35 Briefing Chat This time, the discovery that the human brain uses one system for estimating whether a group contains four or fewer items, and a different one for when there are five or more. Plus, we discuss how researchers fixed the Euclid telescope’s wobbles. Nature News: Your brain finds it easy to size up four objects but not five — here’s why Nature News: ‘Immense relief’: Universe-mapping Euclid telescope fixes problem that threatened mission Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Podcast Extra, two computer scientists, Shobhana Narasimhan and Sana Odeh, join Nature's Anne Pichon to discuss the barriers that women and gender-diverse people still face when working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They share their experiences and perspectives on the challenges facing women in research, and reflect on potential ways to move forward. Comment: ‘I wrote my first piece of code at seven’: women share highs and lows in computer science for Ada Lovelace Day Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:45 A bright satellite is concerning researchers Satellites reflect sunlight down to Earth, and some do so with such intensity it risks obscuring astronomers' observations from ground-based telescopes. A paper in Nature suggests that the telecommunications satellite called BlueWalker 3 at times outshines most stars visible from Earth. Astronomers worry about the increasing number of such bright satellites making astronomy more difficult, and so the team suggest that future launches should undergo impact assessments. Research article: Nandakumar et al. Nature News: Huge new satellite outshines nearly every star in the sky 09:27 Research Highlights Analysis of carrot genomes reveals how the vegetable got its orange hue, and the self-healing diamond that can fix microscopic fractures. Research article: Coe et al. Research Highlight: Crack this kind of diamond, and it heals itself 11:47 The last meal of a 400-million-year-old trilobite Trilobites are a group of extinct marine arthropods distantly related to animals like crabs and spiders. Although found throughout the fossil record, little is known about the lives of this diverse group of animals. Now, a team has used powerful x-rays to peer inside a trilobite fossil and uncovered the contents of its last meal, over 400-million-years ago. This animal appears to have been an unfussy scavenger, gorging itself on a variety of small, shelled animals. Research article: Kraft et al. 22:20 Nobel News Flora Graham from the Nature Briefing joins us to talk about the winners of this year’s science Nobel Prizes. Nature News: Pioneers of mRNA COVID vaccines win medicine Nobel Nature News: Physicists who built ultrafast ‘attosecond’ lasers win Nobel Prize Nature News: Tiny ‘quantum dot’ particles win chemistry Nobel Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia's swamp tortoise is one of the most endangered species in the world. This species lives in wetlands that are under threat due to rising temperatures and a reduction in rainfall. In an effort to save the tortoise, researchers are trialling a controversial strategy called assisted migration. This approach has seen captive-bred tortoises released in other wetlands some 330 kilometres south of where they are naturally found. The aim is to see whether the animals can tolerate cooler climates, and whether this new habitat might ensure the species’ future as the planet warms. While many conservation biologists and land managers have long resisted the idea of assisted migration, attitudes are changing and other projects are beginning to test whether it can protect protect animals at risk from climate change. This is an audio version of our Feature: These animals are racing towards extinction. A new home might be their last chance Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: 00:45 How to tackle AI deepfakes It has long been possible to create deceptive images, videos or audio to entertain or mislead audiences. Now, with the rise of AI technologies, such manipulations have become easier than ever. These deepfakes can spread misinformation, defraud people, and damage economies. To tackle this, researchers and companies are developing tools to find and label deepfakes, in an attempt to rob them of their potential to wreak havoc. News Feature: How to stop AI deepfakes from sinking society — and science 11:17 Research Highlights Ultra-accurate measurement of Earth’s day-length using lasers, and the insect that amputates its own legs to survive the cold. Research Highlight: How lasers detect day-length changes of a few milliseconds Research Highlight: Snow-loving flies amputate their own legs for survival 14:04 Stacked timbers might be evidence of ancient woodworking Ancient stone tools are well preserved in the archeological record, and are used by researchers to understand the lives of ancient hominins. But other materials like wood are less common, since they will only preserve under specific conditions. Now researchers have found a trove of wooden artefacts in Zambia dated to be around 476,000 old. In particular, stacked timbers from the site could be the earliest known wooden structure, perhaps implying that ancient hominins had a greater capacity for woodworking than previously thought. Research article: Barham et al. News & Views: Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago Nature News: These ancient whittled logs could be the earliest known wooden structure 22:00 OSIRIS-REx brings haul of asteroid dust and rock back to Earth This week, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx successfully landed a capsule containing rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu. We talk with reporter Alex Witze, who was on the ground in Utah when the samples landed, to find out what these ancient rocks could reveal about the origins of the Solar System. Nature News: Special delivery! Biggest-ever haul of asteroid dust and rock returns to Earth Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.