A video game provides players with insights into pandemic responses, and our annual festive fun.In this episode:01:02 Balancing responses in a video game pandemicIn the strategy video-game Plague Inc: The Cure, players assume the role of an omnipotent global health agency trying to tackle outbreaks of increasingly nasty pathogens. We find out how the game was developed, and how it might help change public perception of pandemic responses.Plague Inc: The Cure from Ndemic Creations10:02 “We three Spacecraft travel to Mars”The first of our festive songs, we head back to July this year, and the launch of three separate space missions to the red planet. Scroll to the transcript section at the bottom of the page for the lyrics.12:54 Research HighlightsGiant pandas roll in piles of poo to keep warm, and how different bread-baking styles have led to distinct lineages of baker’s yeast.Research Highlight: Why pandas like to roll in piles of pooResearch Highlight: Sourdough starters give rise to a new line of yeast15:17 The Nature Podcast Audio Charades Competition: Lockdown editionIn this year’s festive competition, our reporters try to describe some of the biggest science stories, using only homemade sound effects. Results are mixed, at best...24:15 Nature’s 10We hear about some of the people who made it on to this year’s Nature’s 10 list this year.Nature’s 10: ten people who helped shape science in 202032:20 All I want for Christmas is vaccinesIn our final festive song, we celebrate a huge scientific achievement, and one that’s offering a little hope for 2021. Scroll to the transcript section at the bottom of the page for the lyrics.Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Song lyrics:"We three Spacecraft travel to Mars"We three spacecraft travel to MarsBearing probes we traverse afarRockets firingLaunching, flyingOne by one we departOh-oh one from Chinaone the Statesone the Arab Emirates…Careful timingWorlds aligninglaunching on the perfect dates.First is Hope from the UAEI map weather, orbitallyMy ambitionour first missionInterplanetaryOh-oh one from Chinaone the Statesone the Arab Emirates…Careful timingWorlds aligninglaunching on the perfect dates.Next Tianwen-one will debutI’ve a rover and orbiter tooPlus a landerAnd I’ve planned aMission returning soonOh-oh one from Chinaone the Statesone the Arab Emirates…Careful... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.