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PODCAST

Nature Podcast

Springer Nature Limited

The 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 journalists and editors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

science

All Episodes

14:28

How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/23

The deep haunting tones of the world's largest animals, baleen whales, are iconic - but how the songs are produced has long been a mystery. Whales evolved from land dwelling mammals which vocalize by passing air through a structure called the larynx - a structure whichalso helps keep food from entering the respiratory system. However toothed whales like dolphins do not use their larynx to make sound, instead they have evolved a specialized organ in their nose. Now a team of researchers have

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30:41

Why are we nice? Altruism's origins are put to the test

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/21

In this episode:00:45 Why are humans so helpful?Humans are notable for their cooperation and display far more altruistic behaviour than other animals, but exactly why this behaviour evolved has been a puzzle. But in a new paper, the two leading theories have been put the test with a model and a real-life experiment. They find that actually neither theory on its own leads to cooperation but a combination is required for humans to help one another.Research article: Efferson et al.News and Views: Why

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21:35

Smoking changes your immune system, even years after...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/14

00:45 Smoking's long-term effects on immunityIt's well-known that smoking is bad for health and it has been linked to several autoimmune disorders, but the mechanisms are notfully understood. Now, researchers have investigatedthe immune responses of 1,000 people. Whilst some effects disappear after quitting, impacts on theT cell response lingers long after. The team hopes that this evidence could help better understand smoking's association withautoimmune diseases.Research article: Saint-André et

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14:53

Why we need to rethink how we talk about cancer

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/09

For over a century, cancer has been classified by areas of the body - lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer etc. And yet modernmedical research is telling us that the molecular and genetic mechanisms behind cancers are not necessarily tied to parts of the body. Many drugs developedto treat metastatic cancers have the capacity to work across many different cancers, and that presents an opportunity for more tailored and efficient treatments.Oncologists are calling for a change in the way patients,

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35:23

Cancer's power harnessed — lymphoma mutations...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/07

In this episode:0:46 Borrowing tricks from cancer could help improve immunotherapyT cell based immunotherapies have revolutionised the treatment of certain types of cancer. However these therapies — which involved taking someone’s own T cells and reprogramming them to kill cancer cells — have struggled to treat solid tumours, which put up multiple defences. To overcome these, a team has taken mutations found in cancer cells that help them thrive and put them into therapeutic T cells. Their results

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17:21

Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here's how

Nature Podcast ·

2024/02/04

Cervical cancer is both treatable and preventable, and the WHO has called for countries to come together to to eliminate the disease in the next century.However the disease still kills over 300,000 people each year, and levels of screening, treatment and vaccination need to be stepped up in order to achieve this goal.These challenges are particularly stark in low- and middle-income countries, where a lack of funding, staffing and infrastructure are obstacles. Vaccine hesitancy, especially in light

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28:45

Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/31

In this episode:0:48 How hominins spread through EuropeAncient stone tools are often uncovered in Europe, but it can be difficult to identify who crafted them, as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens coexisted in the region for several thousand years. The makers of one type of tool found in northern Europe has long puzzled researchers, but now through genetic analysis of nearby skeletal fragments, it has been revealed that they were made by Homo sapiens. The age of these tools suggests that modern humans

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12:23

Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/26

Evidence so far suggests that the prevalence of long COVID in low- and middle-income countries could be similar to that of wealthier countries. For example, by some estimates, more than four million people in Brazil have long COVID.However, an absence of research on the condition in less-wealthy countries has left advocates hamstrung: few physicians acknowledge that long COVID exists. A lack of data is also hampering efforts to search for the mechanisms of the condition and tailor treatments.This is

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24:30

Toxic red mud could be turned into 'green' steel

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/24

In this episode:0:46 Turning a toxic by-product into ironRed mud is a toxic by-product of aluminium manufacture, and millions of tonnes of it is produced each year. The majority ends up in landfills, pumped into vast lakes or stored in dried mounds, posing a serious environmental risk. This week, researchers demonstrate how red mud can be reused to make iron, a vital component in the production of steel. As their method uses hydrogen plasma rather than fossil fuels, they suggest it could be a way to

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32:24

This AI just figured out geometry — is this a step...

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/17

In this episode:0:55 The AI that deduces solutions to complex maths problemsResearchers at Google Deepmind have developed an AI that can solve International Mathematical Olympiad-level geometry problems, something previous AIs have struggled with. They provided the system with a huge number of random mathematical theorems and proofs, which it used to approximate general rules of geometry. The AI then applied these rules to solve the Olympiad problems and show its workings for humans to check. The

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29:42

The science stories you missed over the holiday period

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/10

In this episode of the Nature Podcast, we catch up on some science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing.We chat about: an extra-warm sweater inspired by polar bear fur; the fossil find revealing what a juvenile tyrannosaur liked to snack on; why scientists are struggling to open OSIRIS-REx’s sample container; how 2023 was a record for retractions; and how cats like to play fetch, sometimes.Nature News: Polar bear fur-inspired sweater is thinner than a down jacket — and

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13:34

Science in 2024: what to expect this year

Nature Podcast ·

2024/01/03

In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddafjoins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2024. We'll hear about the mass of the neutrino, the neural basis of consciousness and the climate lawsuits at the Hague, to name but a few.News:the science events to look our for in 2024 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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23:37

Audio long read: A new kind of solar cell is coming —...

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/29

Perovskites are cheap, abundant photovoltaic materials that some have hailed as the future of green energy.Around the world, companies are layering perovskites on top of traditional silicon to develop so-called tandem solar cells that some think could deliver at least 20% more power than a silicon cell alone.However, there remain multiple issues to overcome before these products are ready for widespread uptake in the notoriously competitive solar-power market.This is an audio version of our Feature

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45:05

The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/27

In this episode:00:54 Franklin’s real roleWhen it comes to the structure of DNA, everyone thinks they know Rosalind Franklin’s role in its discovery. The story goes that her crucial data was taken by James Watson without her knowledge, helping him and Francis Crick solve the structure. However, new evidence has revealed that this wasn’t really the case. Rosalind Franklin was not a ‘wronged heroine’, she was an equal contributor to the discovery.Nature Podcast: 25 April 2023Comment: What Rosalind

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37:45

How AI works is often a mystery — that's a problem

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/22

Many AIs are 'black box' in nature, meaning that part of all of the underlying structure is obfuscated, either intentionally to protect proprietary information, due to the sheer complexity of the model, or both. This can be problematic in situations where people are harmed by decisions made by AI but left without recourse to challenge them.Many researchers in search of solutions have coalesced around a concept called Explainable AI, but this too has its issues. Notably, that there is no real

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45:29

The Nature Podcast Festive Spectacular 2023

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/20

In this episode:01:55 “Oh GPT”In the first of our festive songs, we pay homage to LLMs, the generative AI chat bots which have taken 2023 by storm.05:32 Twenty questionsIn this year’s festive game, our competitors try to guess some of the biggest science stories of the year, solelyby asking yes/no questions.24:40 “Warming night”In our final song this year,we take stock as 2023 is named the hottest year since records began. As worsening climate change continues to threaten lives, can science provide

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35:04

Navigating planets, plays and prejudice — a...

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/15

In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, astronomer Aomawa Shields discusses her memoir Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe.The book tracks her career path as a scientist and a classically-trained actor, explores her experiences as an African American woman in STEM, and interrogates science’s place in culture — some of the things we discussed in this podcast.Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe Aomawa Shields Constable (2023)Music

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7:54

Inhaled vaccine prevents COVID in monkeys

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/14

Current COVID-19 vaccines offer great protection from serious illness, but they don't prevent people from becominginfected in the first place. Because of this, researchers have been searching forways to boost mucosal immunity — the immune response on mucosal surfaces — as this is where the virus is first encounteredby the body. Now a team have shown that mucosal immunity can be improvedenough toblock infection inrhesus macaques by administering booster vaccinesdirectly into their lungs, through

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25:48

Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/13

In this episode:00:48 A new way to grow a tricky parasite in the labToxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes the zoonotic disease toxoplasmosis, has a complex, multi-stage life cycle. Some of these stages will only grow in the intestines of cats, making it difficult to study. Now, a team has found a way to grow one of these stages in vitro for the first time, which they hope will help researchers learn more about this parasite, estimated to have infected around 30% of the world’s

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31:01

The world’s smallest light-trapping silicon cavity

Nature Podcast ·

2023/12/06

In this episode:00:48 A gap for trapping lightConfining 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

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