Nature Podcast

Last month, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing an estimated 50,000 people. Two decades ago, researchers suggested that an earthquake in this area was likely, but exactly where and when it would strike were unknown. This shows both the promise — and limitations — of the science of earthquake forecasting. Years of research suggest that it may be impossible to predict ex...

00:48 Tiny syringes for drug delivery A team of researchers have repurposed tiny syringe-like structures produced by some bacteria to deliver molecules directly into human cells. They hope that this method could be used to overcome a big challenge in modern medicine, namely ensuring that therapeutics are delivered into the precise cells that need to be treated. Research article: Kreitz et al. News...

00:46 A new test to get autonomous vehicles on the road Truly autonomous vehicles, ones that don't require a driver to be present and are driven by AI, aren't yet safe for public use. Part of the reason for this is it has been difficult to train them to deal with rare dangerous situations. Now researchers are unveiling a new approach to present lots of these infrequent events to the AI very rapidl...

00:47 An edited genetic code that prevents viral infection Researchers have engineered bacteria with synthetic genomes to be immune to viral infection. The team streamlined the bacteria’s genetic code, and re-engineered the protein-producing machinery to insert the wrong amino acid if used by a virus, effectively making the bacteria ‘speak’ a different language to any invaders. It’s hoped that thi...

00:47 Wildfire smoke’s chemical composition enhances ozone depletion Smoke from the devastating Australian wildfires of 2019-2020 led to a reduction in ozone levels in the upper atmosphere, but it’s been unclear how. Now, a team proposes that smoke’s particulate matter can enhance the production of ozone depleting chemicals, matching satellite observations during the Australian fires. The results...

00:47 How a racing heart could trigger anxiety Anxiety can make the heart beat faster, but could the reverse be true as well? That question has been much debated, but hard to test. Now, a team has shown that artificially increasing a mouse’s heart rate can induce anxiety-like behaviours, and identified an area in the brain that appears to be a key mediator of this response. They hope that this kno...

Twitter has become indispensable to many scientists. It is a place to share findings, raise their profile, and is even used as a source of data in many studies. In recent months though, the site has been in turmoil after a swathe of policy changes in light of Elon Musk's takeover. Never a stranger to misinformation and abuse, these problems have reportedly gotten worse. Additionally, the ability t...

Imprinting is a quirk of the immune system in which someone’s initial exposure to a virus biases their immune response when they meet the same virus again. Studies are showing how imprinting shapes people’s responses to SARS-CoV-2; those infected with earlier strains can mount weaker responses to a later Omicron infection. This phenomenon is dampening the hope that variant-tailored boosters will m...

00:45 A new microscope to look for ‘magic’ angles To better visualise how electrons are ‘moving’ in materials, a team have developed the Quantum Twisting Microscope. This instrument puts two 2D layers of atoms into close contact, allowing them to interact, which can give useful information about their properties. The microscope can also rotate one of the layers, helping researchers look for so-cal...

00:47 A metadevice for faster electronics In the past, increasing the speeds of electronics required designing smaller components, but further reductions in size are being hampered by increasing resistance. To get around this, researchers have demonstrated a ‘metadevice’, which prevents resistance building up by concentrating the flow of signals into specific regions of the device. The hope is tha...

0:46 The mysterious ring in the distant Solar System Quaoar is a small, rocky object that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. In an unexpected discovery, researchers have shown that this object has its own orbiting ring, similar to those seen encircling planets like Saturn. However, Quaoar’s ring shouldn’t exist, as it is at a distance far outside the theoretical limit at which rings are thought to be st...

In this episode: 00:47 Chemical analysis of ancient embalming materials Mummification was a significant part of ancient Egyptian culture but, despite decades of research, much is unknown about the substances and methods used during the process. Now a team have analysed the contents of ceramic vessels uncovered in an embalming workshop that dates back to around 600 BC. The results reveal that some...

A new generation of anti-obesity medications are displaying striking results: drastically diminishing weight, without the serious side effects of previous medications. These drugs have raised hopes the weight can be pharmacologically altered in a safe way, but some researchers are concerned about the drugs' high cost, and that these medications could feed into some societies' obsessions with thinn...

00:45 The role of serine in diabetic neuropathy Nerve damage is a common complication of diabetes, and can even lead to limb amputation. Thus far, the only way for people to slow its onset is by managing their diet and lifestyle. Now though, research in mice shows how the amino acid serine may be key to this nerve damage, suggesting a potential role for the molecule in future therapeutics. Researc...

In this episode: 00:45 Laser-guided lightning Scientists have shown that a specially designed laser can divert the course of lightning strikes in a real-world setting. The team fired the laser into the sky above a communications tower high in the Swiss Alps and altered the course of four strikes. In future they hope that this kind of system could be used to protect large infrastructure, such as ai...

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’ll hear: how Brazil’s President Lula has started to make good on his pro-environment promises; a new theory for why giant ichthyosaurs congregated in one place; how glass frogs hide their blood; about a new statue honouring Henrietta Lacks; and why T. rex migh...

In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2023. We'll hear about vaccines, multiple Moon missions and new therapeutics, to name but a few. News:  the science events to look out for in 2023  Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on...

In this episode: 00:53 How virtual meetings can limit creative ideas In April, we heard how a team investigated whether switching from face-to-face to virtual meetings came at a cost to creativity. They showed that people meeting virtually produced fewer creative ideas than those working face-to-face, and suggest that when it comes to idea generation maybe it’s time to turn the camera off. Nature...

01:07 “Artemis and Dart” In the first of our festive songs, we celebrate some of the big space missions from this year: Artemis which aims to get people back to the moon, and DART which could help defend the Earth from meteor strikes. 03:51 Redacted Headline challenge In this year’s festive game, our competitors work together to try and figure out some Nature Podcast headlines where all the words...

In this episode: 00:47 Estimating pandemic-associated mortality This week, a team of researchers working with the World Health Organization have used statistical modelling to estimate the number of excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The work estimates that there were almost 15 million deaths either directly or indirectly attributed to the pandemic, almost three t...

In this episode: 00:45 World’s oldest DNA shows that mastodons roamed ancient Greenland DNA recovered from ancient permafrost has been used to reconstruct what an ecosystem might have looked like two million years ago. Their work suggests that Northern Greenland was much warmer than the frozen desert it is today, with a rich ecosystem of plants and animals. Research Article: Kjær et al. Nature Vid...

In the second episode of Nature hits the books , science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince joins us to talk about her new book Nomad Century , which looks at how climate change could render large parts of the globe uninhabitable, and how surviving this catastrophe will require a planned migration of people on a scale never seen before in human history. Nomad Century , Gaia Vince, Allen Lane (2022)...

00:45 Inert ant pupae produce a previously unobserved fluid Ant larvae metamorphose into adults by pupating. It was assumed that these inert pupae don’t play a role in the wider ant colony, but a team of researchers have found that they actually secrete a fluid that is consumed by both adult ants and larvae. This fluid is rich in proteins and metabolites, and appears to be an important source of l...

Big data is playing an increasingly important role in football, with technologies capturing huge amounts of information about players' positions and actions during a match. To make sense of all this information, most elite football teams now employ data analysts plucked from top companies and laboratories. Their insights are helping to steer everything from player transfers to the intensity of tra...

00:45 Precision positioning without satellites Satellite navigation has revolutionized how humans find their way. However, these systems often struggle in urban areas, where buildings can interfere with weak satellite signals. To counter this, a team has developed an alternative, satellite-free system, which could improve applications that require precise positioning in cities, such as self-drivin...