Nature Podcast

Inhaled vaccine prevents COVID in monkeys

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Current COVID-19 vaccines offer great protection from serious illness, but they don't prevent people from becoming infected in the first place. B...

Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, ha...

The world’s smallest light-trapping silicon cavity

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:48 A gap for trapping lightConfining photons within materials opens up potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunic...

Sanitary products made from plants could help tackle period poverty

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Around 500 million people are estimated to be in period poverty, lacking adequate access to sanitary products. Many of these people rely on donations,...

Why COP28 probably won't keep the 1.5 degree dream alive

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:49 What to expect at COP28.The UN’s annual climate change conference is starting soon in Dubai. This time will be the first time ...

Audio long read: Apple revival — how science is bringing historic varieties back to life

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers have been resurrecting apple trees to revive forgotten varieties of the fruit. They hope that sequencing these apples' genomes could uncov...

Polio could be eradicated within 3 years — what happens then?

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 What happens after polio is eradicatedSince 1988, cases of polio have fallen by more than 99%, and many observers predict that t...

Dust: the tiny substance with enormous power

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, writer and researcher Jay Owens joins us to discuss her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Part...

How to 3D print fully-formed robots

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 Machine vision enables multi-material 3D printing3D printers are capable of producing complex shapes, but making functioning obj...

How to tame a toxic yet life-saving antifungal

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 Modifying a fungal drug to make it less toxicAmphotericin B is a drug used to treat life-threatening fungal infections. But whil...

Nature's Take: How will ChatGPT and generative AI transform research?

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the past year, generative AIs have been taking the world by storm. ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E and more, are changing the nature of how content is produc...

A new hydrogel can be directly injected into muscle to help it regenerate

01 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 An injectable gel for healing musclesSevere muscle injury can be debilitating, with long recuperation periods. Now, researchers ...

Audio long read: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, BMI — calculated by dividing weight by height squared — has been as an international standard to determine healthy weights.However, B...

Martian sounds reveal the secrets of the red planet's core

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For years, researchers have been listening to Mars and the quakes that ripple through it, to understand the planet's internal structure and uncover it...

Sounds of recovery: AI helps monitor wildlife during forest restoration

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 An automated way to monitor wildlife recoveryTo prevent the loss of wildlife, forest restoration is key, but monitoring how well...

An anti-CRISPR system that helps save viruses from destruction

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 An RNA-based viral system that mimics bacterial immune defencesTo protect themselves against viral infection, bacteria often use...

Gene edits move pig organs closer to human transplantation

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 Engineered pig kidneys show transplantation promiseKidneys from genetically-engineered miniature pigs have been transplanted int...

'This doesn't just fall on women': computer scientists reflect on gender biases in STEM

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this Podcast Extra, two computer scientists, Shobhana Narasimhan and Sana Odeh, join Nature's Anne Pichon to discuss the barriers that women and ge...

Astronomers are worried by a satellite brighter than most stars

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 A bright satellite is concerning researchersSatellites reflect sunlight down to Earth, and some do so with such intensity it ris...

Audio long read: These animals are racing towards extinction. A new home might be their last chance

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's swamp tortoise is one of the most endangered species in the world. This species lives in wetlands that are under threat due to rising temp...

This isn't the Nature Podcast — how deepfakes are distorting reality

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 How to tackle AI deepfakesIt has long been possible to create deceptive images, videos or audio to entertain or mislead audience...

Why does cancer spread to the spine? Newly discovered stem cells might be the key

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 A new insight into cancers' selective spreadCancer cells can spread to bones in the late stages of disease and in many cancers, ...

A mussel-inspired glue for more sustainable sticking

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 A sustainably-sourced, super-strong adhesiveThe modern world is held together by adhesives, but these fossil-fuel derived materi...

Our ancestors lost nearly 99% of their population, 900,000 years ago

06 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:30 Early humans pushed to brink of extinctionAround 900,000 years ago the ancestors of modern humans were pushed to the brink of ex...

Physicists finally observe strange isotope Oxygen 28 – raising fundamental questions

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 First observation of oxygen 28Oxygen 28 is an isotope of oxygen with 20 neutrons and eight protons. This strange isotope has lon...

Audio long read: Medicine is plagued by untrustworthy clinical trials. How many studies are faked or flawed?

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Investigations suggest that, in some fields, at least one-quarter of clinical trials might be problematic or even entirely made up. Faked or unreliabl...

Brain-reading implants turn thoughts into speech

23 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 The brain-computer interfaces that help restore communicationPeople with certain neurological conditions can lose the ability to...

Fruit flies' ability to sense magnetic fields thrown into doubt

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:49 The search for animals’ magnetic sense sufferers a potential setbackExactly how animals sense Earth’s magnetic field has lon...

Racism in health: the roots of the US Black maternal mortality crisis

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A perfect storm of factors has led to huge racial disparities in maternal healthcare. In the USA, as abortion clinics continue to close, this inequity...

How welcome are refugees in Europe? A giant study has some answers

09 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 A measure of refugees’ welcome in EuropeWith repeated humanitarian crises displacing millions of people, researchers have been...

How to get more women in science, with Athene Donald

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, physicist Athene Donald joins us to discuss her book Not just for the boys, why we need more women in ...

Audio long read: Lab mice go wild — making experiments more natural in order to decode the brain

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Neuroscientists are creating more naturalistic experiments that they hope will provide a more nuanced understanding of animal — and human — behavi...

Facebook ‘echo chamber’ has little impact on polarized views, according to study

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:How tweaking social media algorithms affects polarizationSocieties are becoming increasingly polarized, with people reportedly shunnin...

AI-enhanced night-vision lets users see in the dark

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 How to see in the dark like it’s daytimeThere are many methods for better night-vision, but often these rely on enhancing ligh...

Disrupting snail food-chain curbs parasitic disease in Senegal

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 A sustainable solution for schistosomiasis controlSchistosomiasis is a serious parasitic disease that affects millions of people...

ChatGPT can write a paper in an hour — but there are downsides

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:23 Using ChatGPT to generate a research paper from scratchA pair of scientists have produced a research paper in less than an hour ...

Even a 'minimal cell' can grow stronger, thanks to evolution

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 The effects of evolution on a minimal genomeIn 2016, researchers created a ‘minimal cell’ bacterium with a genome that only ...

Audio long read: ‘Almost magical’ — chemists can now move single atoms in and out of a molecule’s core

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the past two years, there has been an explosion in the number of papers published relating to 'skeletal editing', a technique that allows chemists ...

Do octopuses dream? Neural activity resembles human sleep stages

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 Inside the brains of sleeping octopusesResearchers have probed the brains of octopuses and confirmed previous reports suggesting...

Why bladder cancer cells that shed their Y chromosome become more aggressive

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Why losing the Y chromosome makes bladder cancer more aggressiveLoss of the Y chromosome in bladder cancer cells is associated w...

What IBM's result means for quantum computing

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 How to make quantum computers ready for real world applicationsQuantum computers have long held the promise of being able to per...

A brain circuit for infanticide, in mice

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 The mouse brain circuit controlling infanticidal behaviourIn mammals, infanticide is a relatively common behaviour, but not a de...

AI identifies gene interactions to speed up search for treatment targets

31 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 An AI that predicts gene interactionsMapping the network of genes that control cellular processes can be difficult to do when ge...

Audio long read: Can giant surveys of scientists fight misinformation on COVID, climate change and more?

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Shocked by the impact of online misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, several researchers are launching efforts to survey scientists’ th...

‘Tree islands’ give oil-palm plantation a biodiversity boost

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Tree islands bring biodiversity benefits for oil-palm plantationGlobal demand for palm oil has resulted in huge expansion of the...

JWST shows an ancient galaxy in stunning spectroscopic detail

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 What JWST has revealed about an ancient galaxyResearchers have pointed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at JD1, one of the ...

Nature's Take: Can Registered Reports help tackle publication bias?

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many researchers have been critical of the biases that the publication process can introduce into science. For example, they argue that a focus on pub...

‘Pangenome’ aims to capture the breadth of human diversity

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Making a more diverse human genomeThe first draft of the human genome ushered in a new era of genetics research. Since its publi...

Menopause and women’s health: why science needs to catch up

03 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 A focus on women’s healthNature’s Kerri Smith and Heidi Ledford join us to discuss two Features published in Nature looking ...

Audio long read: Conquering Alzheimer’s — a look at the therapies of the future

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, researchers announced that the Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab lowered the amount of amyloid protein plaques associated with the disease in th...

How Rosalind Franklin’s story was rewritten

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:57 Franklin’s real roleWhen it comes to the structure of DNA, everyone thinks they know Rosalind Franklin’s role in its discove...

A smarter way to melt down plastics?

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 A new method to break down plastic polymersPlastic waste is an enormous problem, with much of it being incinerated or ending up ...

How to battle misinformation with Sander van der Linden

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, psychologist Sander van der Linden joins us to discuss his new book Foolproof, which focuses on misinf...

Octopuses hunt by 'tasting' with their suckers

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:44 The unusual receptors that let octopuses hunt by touchResearchers have shown that the suckers of octopuses are covered with specialised receptor...

Giant black-hole pair from the early Universe gives clues to how galaxies form

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 A pair of supermassive black holes in the distant universeSupermassive black holes are found at the centre of galaxies across the universe. But ...

Audio long read: What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing an estimated 50,000 people. Two decades ago, researchers suggested that a...

Bacterial ‘syringes’ could inject drugs directly into human cells

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:48 Tiny syringes for drug deliveryA team of researchers have repurposed tiny syringe-like structures produced by some bacteria to deliver molecules...

How to make driverless cars safer — expose them to lots of dangerous drivers

22 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 A new test to get autonomous vehicles on the roadTruly autonomous vehicles, ones that don't require a driver to be present and are driven by AI,...

How to build a virus-proof cell

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:47 An edited genetic code that prevents viral infectionResearchers have engineered bacteria with synthetic genomes to be immune to viral infection....

How the Australian wildfires devastated the ozone layer

08 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:47 Wildfire smoke’s chemical composition enhances ozone depletionSmoke from the devastating Australian wildfires of 2019-2020 led to a reduction ...

How an increased heart rate could induce anxiety in mice

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:47 How a racing heart could trigger anxietyAnxiety can make the heart beat faster, but could the reverse be true as well? That question has been mu...

Nature's Take: How Twitter's changes could affect science

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 man...

Audio long read: How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

A twisting microscope that could unlock the secrets of 2D materials

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:45 A new microscope to look for ‘magic’ anglesTo better visualise how electrons are ‘moving’ in materials, a team have developed the Quantu...

How 'metadevices' could make electronics faster

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:47 A metadevice for faster electronicsIn the past, increasing the speeds of electronics required designing smaller components, but further reductio...

This mysterious space rock shouldn’t have a ring — but it does

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

0:46 The mysterious ring in the distant Solar SystemQuaoar is a small, rocky object that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. In an unexpected discovery, re...

How mummies were prepared: Ancient Egyptian pots spill secrets

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 Chemical analysis of ancient embalming materialsMummification was a significant part of ancient Egyptian culture but, despite de...

Audio long read: The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A new generation of anti-obesity medications are displaying striking results: drastically diminishing weight, without the serious side effects of prev...

Amino acid slows nerve damage from diabetes, in mouse study

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

00:45 The role of serine in diabetic neuropathyNerve damage is a common complication of diabetes, and can even lead to limb amputation. Thus far, the ...

Laser 'lightning rod' diverts strikes high in the Alps

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Laser-guided lightningScientists have shown that a specially designed laser can divert the course of lightning strikes in a real...

The science stories you missed over the past four weeks

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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: ho...

Science in 2023: what to expect this year

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 Moo...

The Nature Podcast’s highlights of 2022

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:53 How virtual meetings can limit creative ideasIn April, we heard how a team investigated whether switching from face-to-face to v...

The Nature Podcast Festive Spectacular 2022

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

COVID deaths: three times the official toll

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:47 Estimating pandemic-associated mortalityThis week, a team of researchers working with the World Health Organization have used st...

Oldest DNA reveals two-million-year-old ecosystem

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 World’s oldest DNA shows that mastodons roamed ancient GreenlandDNA recovered from ancient permafrost has been used to reconst...

Gaia Vince on how climate change will shape where people live

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 loo...

Mysterious fluid from ant pupae helps feed colony

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:45 Inert ant pupae produce a previously unobserved fluidAnt larvae metamorphose into adults by pupating. It was assumed that these inert pupae don’...

Audio long read: Science and the World Cup — how big data is transforming football

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Big data is playing an increasingly important role in football, with technologies capturing huge amounts of information about players' positions and a...

The satellite-free alternative to GPS

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:45 Precision positioning without satellitesSatellite navigation has revolutionized how humans find their way. However, these systems often struggle...

How a key Alzheimer's gene wreaks havoc in the brain

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 Artemis 1 is go!NASA’s Artemis 1 mission has successfully reached Earth orbit. After weeks of delays and issues, and a nail biting launch, the...

Audio long read: She was convicted of killing her four children. Could a gene mutation set her free?

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kathleen Folbigg has spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her four children. But in 2018, a group of scientists began gath...

Molecular cages sift 'heavy' water from near-identical H2O

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:49 Separating heavy water with molecular cagesHeavy water is molecule very similar to H2O but with deuterium isotopes in the place of hydrogen atom...

Audio long read: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Companies are offering genetic tests of embryos generated by in vitro fertilization that they say allow prospective parents to choose those with the l...

Flies can move their rigid, omnidirectional eyes – a little

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 How flies can move their eyes (a little)It's long been assumed flies’ eyes don’t move, and so to alter their gaze they need to move their he...

Racism in Health: the harms of biased medicine

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When COVID-19 hit it didn't kill indiscriminately. In the US, being Black, Hispanic, or Native American meant you had a much greater risk of death tha...

Ancient DNA reveals family of Neanderthals living in Siberian cave

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:54 Siberian cave offers first-ever glimpse into Neanderthal familyBy analysing ancient DNA recovered from bone fragments found in t...

Human brain organoids implanted into rats could offer new way to model disease

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Implanted brain organoids could offer new insights into diseaseBrain organoids — lab-grown, self-organizing structures made of...

Virtual library of LSD-like drugs could reveal new antidepressants

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:46 A virtual chemical library uncovers potential antidepressantsCertain psychedelic drugs are of interest to researchers due to the...

Nature's Take: How the war in Ukraine is impacting science

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The ongoing war in Ukraine has devastated the global economy, rocked geopolitics, killed thousands of people and displaced millions. Science too has b...

Audio long read: What scientists have learnt from COVID lockdowns

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries introduced strict lockdowns to help prevent spread of the disease. Since then, researchers h...

A trove of ancient fish fossils helps trace the origin of jaws

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 Piecing together the early history of jawed vertebratesA wealth of fossils discovered in southern China shed new light onto the ...

Huge dataset shows 80% of US professors come from just 20% of institutions

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 Inequalities in US faculty hiringIn the US, where a person gained their PhD can have an outsized influence on their future career. Now, using a ...

Complex synthetic cells bring scientists closer to artificial cellular life

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 Synthetic cells made from bacterial bitsFor years researchers have been interested in creating artificial cells, as they could be useful for man...

Missing foot reveals world’s oldest amputation

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:46 Evidence of ancient surgeryA skeleton with an amputated foot discovered in Borneo has been dated to 31,000 years ago, suggesting that complex su...

Audio long read: Hybrid brains – the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The development of brain chimaeras – made up of human and animal neurons – is an area of research that has hugely expanded in the past five years....

How to make water that's full of holes

24 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode:00:45 How adding pores helps water carry gasAlthough water is an excellent solvent, it’s limited in its ability to dissolve gasses. ...

Do protons have intrinsic charm? New evidence suggests yes

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

00:47 Evidence of a proton’s charmFor decades, scientists have debated whether protons have ‘intrinsic charm’, meaning they contain elementary p...

Nature's Take: what's next for the preprint revolution

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this first episode of Nature's Take, we get four of Nature's staff around microphones to get their expert take on preprints. These pre-peer-review ...

Why low temperatures could help starve tumours of fuel

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cold exposure in mice activates brown fat to deny tumours glucose, and the future of extreme heatwaves. 00:45 How cold temperatures could starve tumou...