Nature Podcast

00:46 The very cool experiment looking for a proposed particle Physics tells us that when matter is created, antimatter should be as well. But while the Universe is full of matter, there’s surprisingly little antimatter to be found. To try and understand this imbalance, a team have built a detector kept just above absolute zero which they are using to look for a hypothesised, ultra-rare type of pa...

While current maps of the human genome provide researchers with a wealth of information, many argue that they do not adequately capture humanity’s vast diversity. Now, a team are trying to build a more complete and representative map that shows the varieties of sequence that can be found in different populations. However, given the failings of other projects, some geneticists focused on the needs...

00:47 Your ability to find your way may depend on where you grew up Researchers have long been trying to understand why some humans are better at navigating than others. This week, researchers show that where someone grew up plays an important role in their ability to find their way; the more winding and disorganised the layouts of your childhood were, the better navigator you’ll be later in life....

In this episode: 00:45 Accurately ageing stars reveals the Milky Way’s history To understand when, and how, the Milky Way formed, researchers need to know when its stars were born. This week, a team of astronomers have precisely aged nearly a quarter of a million stars, revealing more about the sequence of events that took place as our galaxy formed. Research article: Xiang and Rix News and Views:...

A handful of states around the world have pursued 'COVID zero' strategies. Through a combination of intensive lockdowns, travel restrictions and comprehensive test and trace systems, regions like Tonga, New Zealand, Taiwan, mainland China and Western Australia managed to keep the virus at bay. But now many of these countries are facing new outbreaks on a scale they have not yet seen, and it is bei...

Marty Reiswig is fit and healthy, but every two weeks he is injected with the experimental drug gantenerumab and has monthly MRI scans. He submits to this because a rare genetic mutation runs in his family that predisposes them to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. We spoke to him about his experience on the trial, and why he chose to continue trialling the drug even after formal clinical trials wer...

00:45 A flexible, wearable, fabric microphone Inspired by the ear, a team of researchers have developed an acoustic fibre that can be woven into fabrics to create a sensitive microphone. This fabric microphone is capable of detecting human speech and heartbeats, and the team think it could be used to develop new, wearable sensors for long-term health monitoring. Research article: Yan et al. News a...

00:46 The AI helping historians read ancient texts Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence that can restore and date ancient Greek inscriptions. They hope that it will help historians by speeding up the process of reconstructing damaged texts. Research article: Assael et al. News and Views: AI minds the gap and fills in missing Greek inscriptions Video: The AI historian: A new tool t...

As many countries start to ease or even remove COVID restrictions entirely, there are growing concerns from researchers that this will lead governments to take their eye off the ball and crucially stop collecting and reporting vital data. In this episode of  Coronapod  we discuss calls from two researchers to improve COVID testing and data reporting. What do they want done differently? W...

00:47 G20 nations fail to cut emissions in COVID stimulus packages The G20 economies spent $14 trillion dollars on recovery packages to escape the global recession driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many governments made pledges to deliver emissions reductions as part of these packages. This week, a team of researchers have analysed the spending to see if these promises were kept. Comment: G20’s US$...

Almost everything we do on the Internet is made possible by cryptographic algorithms, which scramble our data to protect our privacy. However, this privacy could be under threat. If quantum computers reach their potential these machines could crack current encryption systems — leaving our online data vulnerable. To limit the damage of this so called 'Q-day', researchers are racing to develop new c...

00:47 Pinpointing the season when an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs Around 66 million years ago, an enormous asteroid struck the Earth, leading to the end of the time of the dinosaurs. In a new paper, a team of scientists looked at evidence from fossilised fish, and suggest it happened in springtime in the Northern Hemisphere. Research article: During et al. 08:42 Research Highlights Transparenc...

Scientists scramble to understand the devastating Tongan volcano eruption, and modelling how societal changes might alter carbon emissions. In this episode: 00:46 Understanding the Tongan eruption On the 15th of January, a volcano in the South Pacific Ocean erupted, sending ash into the upper atmosphere, and unleashing a devastating tsunami that destroyed homes on Tonga’s nearby islands. Now scien...

Vaccine inequity continues to be one of the greatest challenges in the pandemic - with only 10% of those in low- and middle-income countries fully vaccinated. One of the biggest hold-ups is a lack of vaccine manufacturing capacity in poorer nations. But now, researchers at the WHO technology-transfer hub have completed the first step in a project aimed at building vaccine manufacturing capacity in...

RNA in blood shows signs of pre-eclampsia before symptoms occur, and the issues of urine in our sewage and what can be done about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The word endemic is often mistakenly used to describe a rosy end to the pandemic where COVID-19 becomes a mild, but ever-present infection akin to the common cold. But this is by no means guaranteed and the reality could be much less favourable. In this episode of Coronapod we get the evolutionary virologist's take - asking what endemicity might really look like, and what control we stil...

How quantum friction explains water’s strange flows in carbon nanotubes, and the latest from the Nature Briefing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much of the coverage of COVID immunity often focuses on antibody response and for good reason - these small, y-shaped proteins can detect, and in some cases neutralise, viruses like SARS-CoV-2. But as variants like Omicron evolve to evade antibodies, the role of another part of the immune system, T cells, has been brought into sharper focus. These immune cells work in a different way to antibodies...

Getting electric planes to take off, and the latest from the Nature Briefing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The burgeoning field of precision public health is a tech-centric approach that looks to target public-health interventions to the specific people who need them. Precision approaches are taking off and its advocates say this concept promises to save money and lives. However, other researchers are concerned that as funders provide huge amounts of money for precision-public-health initiatives, the f...

As of January 2022, the WHO reports that 5.5 million people have lost their lives to the pandemic. However, many research groups suggests that this number is likely to be a significant underestimate, although it is hard to be certain as counting mortality across the world is an exceptionally difficult task. In this episode of Coronapod we ask why, and delve into the range of approaches s...

Challenging the dogma of gene evolution, and how chiral nanoparticles could give vaccines a boost. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As our environments change, so too do the sounds they make — and this change in soundscape can effect us in a whole host of ways, from our wellbeing to the way we think about conservation. In this Podcast Extra we hear from one researcher, Simon Butler, who is combining citizen science data with technology to recreate soundscapes lost to the past. Butler hopes to better understand how soundscapes...

In this episode of the Nature Podcast, we catch up on the biggest science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2022. We'll hear about vaccines, multiple Moon missions, the push to save biodiversity, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.