The promise of therapeutics made in plants, a novel method for characterizing the masses of supermassive black holes, and a tusk records the history of a mammoth’s life.
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) August 12, 2021
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Category Archives: Science
Previews: New Scientist Magazine – August 14
Science: Mapping A Bat’s Navigation Neurons In 3D, Poison Dart Frogs, Fabrics
Researchers uncover how grid cells fire in a 3D space to help bats navigate, and a fabric that switches between being stiff and flexible.
In this episode:
00:47 Mapping a bat’s navigation neurons in 3D
Grid cells are neurons that regularly fire as an animal moves through space, creating a pattern of activity that aids navigation. But much of our understanding of how grid cells work has involved rats moving in a 2D plane. To figure out how the system works in a 3D space, researchers have mapped the brain activity of bats flying freely around a room.
Research Article: Ginosar et al.
07:44 Research Highlights
How a ‘toxin sponge’ may protect poison dart frogs from themselves, and the world’s oldest known coin foundry has been found.
Research Highlight: An absorbing tale: poison dart frogs might have a ‘toxin sponge’
Research Highlight: Found: the world’s oldest known mint and its jumbo product
09:59 A flexible fabric that transforms from soft to rigid (and back again)
Researchers have created a ‘tunable’ fabric, inspired by medieval chainmail, that when compressed changes from flexible to rigid. The stiffened structure can hold 30 times its own weight, and the team behind it suggest this material could be used to build temporary shelters or have medical applications.
Research article: Wang et al.
16:33 Stark warning from the IPCC’s latest report
This week the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its long awaited report detailing compiling the latest climate science data. Nature’s Jeff Tollefson joins us to discuss the report and the warnings it contains for our warming world.
News: IPCC climate report: Earth is warmer than it’s been in 125,000 years
Homes & History: ‘Down House’ – Charles Darwin’s Home In Kent, England
Down House (confusingly, next to Downe village) was Darwin’s family home for nearly 40 years. In its rooms, gardens and grounds, he researched and refined the ideas for which he became famous.
In origin, Down House was a plain Georgian property, a brick box with a main front five window bays wide built in about 1730. It was internally reconfigured and extended with a kitchen block by a wealthy businessman and landowner, George Butler, after he purchased the house in 1778.
At the same time, the main entrance was moved from the front to the side of the building. The house was then leased and sold again before coming into the possession of the Revd J. Drummond, vicar of Downe, in 1837. He employed the London-based architect Edward Cresy to make various improvements and also to render the house in conformity with the taste of the moment.
It was this house, with its 18 acres of land, that the Darwins occupied on September 24, 1842. Charles quickly settled into his new home, establishing a regular routine that distinguished his domestic arrangements. ‘My life goes on as clockwork,’ he wrote in 1843, ‘I am fixed in the place where I shall end it.’
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Science: Cleaning Indoor Air Will Improve Human Health And Cognition
Science: Prion Research Halted, Reducing Carbon Footprint Of Cement
International News Editor Martin Enserink talks with host Sarah Crespi about a moratorium on prion research after the fatal brain disease infected two lab workers in France, killing one.
Next, Abhay Goyal, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, talks with intern Claire Hogan about his Science Advances paper on figuring out how to reduce the massive carbon footprint of cement by looking at its molecular structure.
Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders interviews Ansuman Satpathy, assistant professor in the department of pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine and 2018 winner of the Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and Vaccine Research, about the importance of supporting early-career research and diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies.
Front Covers: Science Magazine – August 6, 2021
Front Cover Views: New Scientist Magazine – Aug 7
EDITOR’S PICK
Samir Shaheen-Hussain interview: Doctors left children to suffer
Discoveries of mass graves of Indigenous children in Canada have prompted new scrutiny of the residential school system – including the role physicians played in unethical experiments, says paediatrician Samir Shaheen-Hussain
How the fossil fuel era ends – and four possibilities for what follows
Killing fossil fuels to halt global warming is the greatest challenge we face. We now have a masterplan of what we must do when – and there’s no time to delay
Fatih Birol interview: Using energy isn’t evil – creating emissions is
People think using more energy is a bad thing, says International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol – but as long as we can make it cleanly, it needn’t be
How we can transform our energy system to achieve net-zero emissions
Killing fossil fuels to halt global warming is the greatest challenge we face. We now have a masterplan of what we must do when – and there’s no time to delay
Science: Flood Risks In High Population Areas, Selfishness, Democracy
Satellite imaging has shown population increases are 10x higher in flood prone areas than previously thought, and a new way to introduce fairness into a democratic process.
In this episode:
00:47 Calculating how many people are at risk of floods.
Researchers have used satellite imagery to estimate the number of people living in flood-prone regions. They suggest that the percentage of people exposed to floods has increased 10 times more than previously thought, and with climate change that number is only set to climb.
Research Article: Tellman et al.
News and Views: The fraction of the global population at risk of floods is growing
09:41 Research Highlights
People are happy to be selfish towards a crowd, but generous to an individual; and how wildfire smoke affects clouds’ brightness.
Research Highlight: ‘Robber’ experiment tests generosity — with sobering results
Research Highlight: Wildfire smoke creates brighter clouds — and weather changes
12:01 Making democracy fairer
Citizens’ assemblies are small groups of people invited to come together to help inform and affect policy decisions. But deciding who is in these groups is a mathematical challenge — the process needs to be random, but still reflect social demographics. This week, researchers describe a new algorithm that could offer a solution.
Research article: Flanigan et al.
News and Views: A bridge across the democracy–expertise divide
20:04 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how ships could spread a deadly coral disease, and research shows that female scientists are less likely to be cited in elite medical journals.
The Guardian: Deadly coral disease sweeping Caribbean linked to water from ships
Nature News: Fewer citations for female authors of medical research
Seabirds: Scientists Save Black-Footed Albatross From Rising Sea Levels
Most black-footed albatross nest on sandy beaches in Hawaii—but rising sea levels threaten their eggs and chicks. Researchers in Mexico and the United States came up with a way to save these birds: having young albatross hatch and imprint on an island 6000 kilometers away with higher ground. Watch to see the journey of these black-footed albatross. Read the story: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/…
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