Best podcast@nature.com Podcasts (2024)

1
Living on Mars would probably suck — here's why 38:11

11m ago38:11

38:11

Humans setting up home in outer space has long been the preserve of science fiction. Now, thanks to advances in technology and the backing of billionaires, this dream could actually be realised. But is it more likely to be a nightmare? Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join us to discuss their new book A City on Mars and some of the medical, environmental…

1
Keys, wallet, phone: the neuroscience behind working memory 34:10

6d ago34:10

34:10

In this episode: 00:46 Mysterious methane emission from a cool brown dwarf The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revealing the makeup of brown dwarfs — strange space objects that blur the line between a planet and a star. And it appears that methane in the atmosphere of one of these objects, named W1935, is emitting infrared radiation. Where the…

1
The 'ghost roads' driving tropical deforestation 23:01

8d ago23:01

23:01

In this episode: 00:46 Mapping ‘ghost roads’ in tropical forests Across the world, huge numbers of illegal roads have been cut into forests. However, due to their illicit nature, the exact numbers of these roads and their impacts on ecosystems is poorly understood. To address this, researchers have undertaken a huge mapping exercise across the trop…

1
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say 16:29

13d ago16:29

16:29

Around the world, rates of cancers that typically affect older adults are increasing in those under 50 years old. Models based on global data predict that the number of early-onset cancer cases like these will increase by around 30% between 2019 and 2030. The most likely contributors — such as rising rates of obesity and early-cancer screening — do…

1
Pregnancy's effect on 'biological' age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg 24:32

16d ago24:32

24:32

In this episode: 00:35 Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back Growing a baby leads to changes in the distribution of certain chemical markers on a pregnant person’s DNA, but new research suggests that after giving birth, these changes can revert to an earlier state. Nature News: Pregnancy advances your ‘biological…

1
How climate change is affecting global timekeeping 26:49

23d ago26:49

26:49

In this episode: 01:28 Inflammation’s role in memory How memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA…

1
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs 29:42

1M ago29:42

29:42

This podcast has been corrected: in a previous version at 5:55 we stated that that the team's 200mm devices currently contain only a couple of magnetic tunnelling junctions, in fact they studied 500-1000 devices in this work. 00:48 How mysterious skyrmions could power next-generation computers Skyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that som…

1
Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why 27:15

1M ago27:15

27:15

In this episode: 00:45 Making a map of the human heart The human heart consists of multiple, specialised structures that all work together to enable the organ to beat for a lifetime. But exactly which cells are present in each part of the heart has been difficult to ascertain. Now, a team has combined molecular techniques to create an atlas of the …

1
These tiny fish combine electric pulses to probe the environment 36:43

1M ago36:43

36:43

In this episode: 00:48 Bumblebees can learn new tricks from each other One behaviour thought unique to humans is the ability to learn something from your predecessors that you couldn’t figure out on your own. However, researchers believe they have shown bumblebees are also capable of this ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ approach to learning. …

1
Could this one-time ‘epigenetic’ treatment control cholesterol? 26:23

2M ago26:23

26:23

In this episode: 00:49 What caused the Universe to become fully transparent? Around 13 billion years ago, the Universe was filled with a dense ‘fog’ of neutral hydrogen that blocked certain wavelengths of light. This fog was lifted when the hydrogen was hit by radiation in a process known as reionisation, but the source of this radiation has been d…

1
Audio long read: Chimpanzees are dying from our colds — these scientists are trying to save them 24:39

2M ago24:39

24:39

The phenomenon of animals catching diseases from humans, called reverse zoonoses, has had a severe impact on great ape populations, often representing a bigger threat than habitat loss or poaching. However, while many scientists and conservationists agree that human diseases pose one of the greatest risks to great apes today there are a few efforts…

1
How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solved 14:28

2M ago14:28

14:28

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 which also helps keep food from entering the respiratory system. However toothed whale…

1
Why are we nice? Altruism's origins are put to the test 30:41

2M ago30:41

30:41

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 neithe…

1
Smoking changes your immune system, even years after quitting 21:35

2M ago21:35

21:35

00:45 Smoking's long-term effects on immunity It's well-known that smoking is bad for health and it has been linked to several autoimmune disorders, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Now, researchers have investigated the immune responses of 1,000 people. Whilst some effects disappear after quitting, impacts on the T cell response linger…

1
Why we need to rethink how we talk about cancer 14:53

2M ago14:53

14:53

For over a century, cancer has been classified by areas of the body - lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer etc. And yet modern medical research is telling us that the molecular and genetic mechanisms behind cancers are not necessarily tied to parts of the body. Many drugs developed to treat metastatic cancers have the capacity to work across man…

1
Cancer's power harnessed — lymphoma mutations supercharge T cells 35:23

2M ago35:23

35:23

In this episode: 0:46 Borrowing tricks from cancer could help improve immunotherapy T 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 multipl…

1
Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here's how 17:21

2M ago17:21

17:21

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 particul…

1
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools 28:45

3M ago28:45

28:45

In this episode: 0:48 How hominins spread through Europe Ancient 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 g…

1
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why 12:23

3M ago12:23

12:23

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 physicia…

1
Toxic red mud could be turned into 'green' steel 24:30

3M ago24:30

24:30

In this episode: 0:46 Turning a toxic by-product into iron Red 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 …

1
This AI just figured out geometry — is this a step towards artificial reasoning? 32:24

3M ago32:24

32:24

In this episode: 0:55 The AI that deduces solutions to complex maths problems Researchers 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 use…

1
The science stories you missed over the holiday period 29:42

3M ago29:42

29:42

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…

1
Science in 2024: what to expect this year 13:34

4M ago13:34

13:34

In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins 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 informa…

1
Audio long read: A new kind of solar cell is coming — is it the future of green energy? 23:37

4M ago23:37

23:37

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 …

1
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023 45:05

4M ago45:05

45:05

In this episode: 00:54 Franklin’s real role When 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 th…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

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Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Nature Podcast

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1
Living on Mars would probably suck — here's why 38:11

1
Keys, wallet, phone: the neuroscience behind working memory 34:10

1
The 'ghost roads' driving tropical deforestation 23:01

1
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say 16:29

1
Pregnancy's effect on 'biological' age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg 24:32

1
How climate change is affecting global timekeeping 26:49

1
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs 29:42

1
Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why 27:15

1
These tiny fish combine electric pulses to probe the environment 36:43

1
Could this one-time ‘epigenetic’ treatment control cholesterol? 26:23

1
Audio long read: Chimpanzees are dying from our colds — these scientists are trying to save them 24:39

1
How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solved 14:28

1
Why are we nice? Altruism's origins are put to the test 30:41

1
Smoking changes your immune system, even years after quitting 21:35

1
Why we need to rethink how we talk about cancer 14:53

1
Cancer's power harnessed — lymphoma mutations supercharge T cells 35:23

1
Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here's how 17:21

1
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools 28:45

1
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why 12:23

1
Toxic red mud could be turned into 'green' steel 24:30

1
This AI just figured out geometry — is this a step towards artificial reasoning? 32:24

1
The science stories you missed over the holiday period 29:42

1
Science in 2024: what to expect this year 13:34

1
Audio long read: A new kind of solar cell is coming — is it the future of green energy? 23:37

1
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023 45:05

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