Tag Archives: Nature.com

Top New Science Podcasts: Australian Fires, Isaac Asimov’s Robots And The Coronavirus (Nature)

Audio January 29, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Benjamin Thompson and Nick Howe. This week, establishing climate change’s role in Australian bushfires, and revisiting Isaac Asimov’s thoughts robots.

In this episode:

00:46 Behind the bushfires

Researchers are working to establish the role that climate change is playing in the bushfires that are raging across Australia. News Feature: The race to decipher how climate change influenced Australia’s record fires; Editorial: Australia: show the world what climate action looks like

10:02 Research Highlights

The debate around how Vesuvius claimed its victims, and an ancient mummy speaks. Research Highlight: Vitrified brains and baked bones tell the story of Vesuvius deaths; Research Article: Howard et al.

12:21 Asimov’s legacy

This year marks the centenary of Isaac Asimov’s birth. We reflect on the impact of his writing on the field of robotics. Essay: Isaac Asimov: centenary of the great explainer

21:00 News Chat

The latest on a new virus from Wuhan in China, and social scientists’ battle with bots. News: Coronavirus: latest news on spreading infection; News: Social scientists battle bots to glean insights from online chatter

Podcasts, Science

Science Podcasts: Stress Turns Hair Grey, Giant Sloths, Fake Whiskeys And Climate Change (Nature)

Audio January 22, 2020 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Hear the latest science news, brought to you by Nick Howe and Benjamin Thompson. This week, why stress makes mice turn grey, and how to think about climate change.

In this episode:

00:45 Going grey

Anecdotal evidence has long suggested stress as a cause of grey hair. Now, a team of researchers have showed experimental evidence to suggest this is the case. Research Article: Zhang et al.; News & Views: How the stress of fight or flight turns hair white

08:39 Research Highlights

Ancient bones suggest that giant ground sloths moved in herds, plus an atomic way to check for whiskey fakes. Research Highlight: A bone bed reveals mass death of herd of giant ground sloths; Research Highlight: Nuclear-bomb carbon unmasks fraudulent luxury whisky

10:40 Climate optimism

To tackle climate change, the former UN secretary for climate change argues that the biggest change needs to be mindset. Comment: Paris taught me how to do what is necessary to combat climate change

18:09 News Chat

The latest on a new virus from Wuhan in China, and insights from ancient African genomes. News: China virus latest: first US case confirmed; Research Article: Lipson et al.

News, Science

Top Science Podcasts: Sequencing Genomes, Genetic Surveillance And Solar Winds (Nature)

Audio December 4, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Hear the latest science news, brought to you by Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, exploring two very different issues surrounding genomic sequencing, and the latest results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.

In this episode:

00:45 The GenomeAsia 100k project

Researchers have released the first data from an ambitious project to sequence the genomes of 100,000 people from populations across Asia. Research Article: GenomeAsia100K Consortium

08:56 Research Highlights

Bare riverbanks make meanders move, and human activity affects picky penguins. Research Highlight: The meandering rivers that speed across barren landscapes; Research Highlight: Climate change splits two penguin species into winners and losers

11:18 Curbing the rise in genetic surveillance

Concerns are growing around the use of commercial DNA databases for state-level surveillance. Comment: Crack down on genomic surveillance

20:02 News Chat

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has sent back the most detailed information yet about the birthplace of solar wind. News: Sun-bombing spacecraft uncovers secrets of the solar wind

Health, Reviews, Science, Technology

Top New Science Podcasts: 3D Printer Advances, Gut Microbes Linked To Liver Disease (Nature Magazine)

Audio November 13, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Hear this week’s science news, with Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell. This week, a new 3D printer allows quick shifting between many materials, and understanding the link between gut microbes and liver disease.

In this episode:

00:46 A new dimension for 3D printers

A new nozzle lets a 3D printer switch between materials at a rapid rate, opening the door to a range of applications. Research Article: Skylar-Scott et al.; News and Views: How to print multi-material devices in one go

08:07 Research Highlights

The slippery secrets of ice, and cells wrapping up their nuclei. Research Highlight: Viscous water holds the secret to an ice skater’s smooth glide; Research Highlight: Super-thin layer of ‘bubble wrap’ cushions a cell’s nucleus

10:17 Linking bacteria to liver disease

Researchers have isolated a bacterial strain that appears to play an important role in alcoholic liver disease. Research paper: Duan et al.; News and Views: Microbial clues to a liver disease

17:10 News Chat

‘Megaconstellations’ of satellites concern astronomers, and a report on the gender gap in chemistry. News: SpaceX launch highlights threat to astronomy from ‘megaconstellations’; News: Huge study documents gender gap in chemistry publishing

News, Science

Top Science Podcasts: Earliest Upright Walking Apes, Evolution Of Science And Vaccinations (Nature)

Audio November 6, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Listen to the latest science updates, with Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, insights into the evolution of walking upright, how science needs to change in the next 150 years, and the remaining hurdles for vaccination.

In this episode:

00:50 Early ape locomotion

The discovery of a fossil of a new species of ape gives new insights on how bipedalism may have evolved. Research Article: Böhme et al.; News and Views: Fossil ape hints at how walking on two feet evolved; News: Fossil ape offers clues to evolution of walking on two feet

07:24 Research Highlights

Women lacking olfactory bulbs can somehow still smell, and telling whiskies apart through evaporation patterns. Research Highlight: The women who lack an odour-related brain area — and can still smell a rose; Research Highlight: Bourbon or Scotch? A droplet’s dynamics reveal the truth

09:44 How should science evolve?

This year is Nature’s 150th anniversary. Science has made huge strides during this time, but what needs to change to continue this progress for the next 150 years? Comment: Science must move with the times

17:52 The state of vaccination in 2019

Researchers assess the differences in immunization levels worldwide and identify the bottlenecks in developing new vaccines. Research article: Piot et al.

23:54 News Chat

An AI figures out the sun’s place in the Solar System, and reassessing the size of the proton. News article: AI Copernicus: Neural network ‘discovers’ that Earth orbits the Sun; News: Puzzle over size of proton leaps closer to resolution

Reviews, Science, Technology

Science Podcasts: Quest To Detect Gravitational Waves, First Hypothesised By Einstein (Nature)

Audio October 30, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) facilities in the US directly detected ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. These waves were produced by the final spiral of two oribiting black holes that smashed into each other, sending ripples across the universe.

In this Podcast Extra, Benjamin Thompson speaks to Cole Miller from the University of Maryland about the quest to detect gravitational waves, which were first hypothesised by Albert Einstein back in 1916.

News, Science

Top Science Podcasts: Quantum Computing, Speediest Ants & Altering The “Deaf” Gene (Nature)

Audio October 23, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell. This week, a milestone in quantum computing, and rethinking early mammals.

In this episode:

00:43 A quantum computing milestone

A quantum computer is reported to have achieved ‘quantum supremacy’ – performing an operation that’s essentially impossible for classical computers. Research Article: Arute et al.; News and Views: Quantum computing takes flight; Editorial: A precarious milestone for quantum computing; News: Hello quantum world! Google publishes landmark quantum supremacy claim

08:24 Research Highlights

The world’s speediest ants, and the world’s loudest birdsong. Research Highlight: A land-speed record for ants set in Saharan dunes; Research Highlight: A bird’s ear-splitting shriek smashes the record for loudest song

10:19 The mammals that lived with the dinosaurs

Paleontologists are shifting their view of Mesozoic era mammals. News Feature: How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs

18:00 News Chat

A Russian researcher’s plans to edit human embryos, and ‘prime editing’ – a more accurate gene editing system. News: Russian ‘CRISPR-baby’ scientist has started editing genes in human eggs with goal of altering deaf gene; News: Super-precise new CRISPR tool could tackle a plethora of genetic diseases

News, Science

Top Science Podcasts: Child Mortality Rates, Evolving New Genes & Vaping Deaths (Nature)

Audio October 17, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, investigating child mortality rates at a local level, and building genes from non-coding DNA.

In this episode:

00:43 A regional view of childhood mortality

Researchers map countries’ progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Developmental Goals. Research Article: Burstein et al.; World View: Data on child deaths are a call for justice; Editorial: Protect the census

07:22 Research Highlights

Astronomers identify a second visitor from beyond the solar system, and extreme snowfall stifles animal breeding in Greenland. Research Highlight: The comet that came in from interstellar space; Research Highlight: Extreme winter leads to an Arctic reproductive collapse

09:22 Evolving genes from the ground up

Natural selection’s creative way to evolve new genes. News Feature: How evolution builds genes from scratch

15:43 News Chat

A spate of vaping-related deaths in the US, and Japan’s import of the Ebola virus. News: Scientists chase cause of mysterious vaping illness as death toll rises; News: Why Japan imported Ebola ahead of the 2020 Olympics

Books, Reviews, Science

New Books On Aging: “Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To” By David A. Sinclair And Matthew D. LaPlante (2019)

September 18, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

From a Nature.com online review:

Lifespan, by geneticist David Sinclair and journalist Matthew LaPlante, provides a vision of a not-too-distant future in which living beyond 120 will be commonplace. For Sinclair and LaPlante, the answer lies in understanding and leveraging why we age…

Lifespan is entertaining and fast-paced — a whirlwind tour of the recent past and a near future that will see 90 become the new 70. In a succession of colourfully titled chapters (‘The demented pianist’, ‘A better pill to swallow’), Sinclair and LaPlante weave a masterful narrative of how we arrived at this crucial inflection point. Among the historical figures evoked are a sixteenth-century Venetian proponent of caloric restriction, Luigi Cornaro, and the twentieth-century ‘father of information theory’, Claude Shannon.

News, Science

Top Science Podcasts: Modelling Embryonic Development, Baby Sea Turtles, “Nature” News

Audio September 12, 2019 boomersdaily Leave a comment

Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, modelling embryonic development, and an analysis of male dominated conferences.

In this episode:

00:44 Imitating implantation

Researchers have created a system that uses stem cells to model the early stages of pregnancy. Research article: Zheng et al.; News and Views: Human embryo implantation modelled in microfluidic channels

08:03 Research Highlights

Traces of baby turtle tracks, and Titan’s explosive past. Research Highlight: A baby sea turtle’s ancient trek is captured in a fossil; Research Highlight: Giant explosions sculpted a moon’s peculiar scenery

09:36 ‘Manferences’

Nature investigates the prevalence of conferences where most of the speakers are male. News Feature: How to banish manels and manferences from scientific meetings