In this episode, Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2022. We’ll hear about vaccines, multiple Moon missions, the push to save biodiversity, and more.
Tag Archives: Nature Podcasts
Science: Research Salary Survey, Jumping Spiders, NASA Smashing Asteroids
The Nature salary and satisfaction survey reveals researchers’ outlook, and NASA’s test of planetary defenses.
In this episode:
00:45 Salary and satisfaction survey
Like all aspects of life, scientific careers have been impacted by the pandemic. To get an insight into how researchers are feeling, Nature has conducted a salary and satisfaction survey. We hear from some of the respondents.
Careers Feature: Stagnating salaries present hurdles to career satisfaction
09:07 Research Highlights
The physics of a finger snap, and the surprisingly strong silk of jumping spiders.
Research Highlight: It’s a snap: the friction-based physics behind a common gesture
Research Highlight: High-speed spinning yields some of the toughest spider silk ever found
11:23 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the plans to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid, and how baby formula is changing to better resemble breast milk.
Nature News: NASA spacecraft will slam into asteroid in first planetary-defence test
Chemistry World: The science of breast milk and baby formula
Science: Sea Squirts And Vertebrate Evolution, Iodine-Powered Satellites
Spineless sea squirts shed light on vertebrate evolution, and an iodine-fuelled engine powering a satellite in space.
In this episode:
00:45 A story of sea squirts, ancient vertebrates and missing genes
When a PhD student set out to study the developmental pathways of a strange sea creature, he hoped to shed light on the origins of vertebrate animals. Instead, researchers found themselves investigating a strange case of missing genes. We hear why gene loss could be a more significant factor in evolutionary processes than was previously thought.
Research article: Ferrández-Roldán et al.
08:17 Research Highlights
The unusual crystal that gives a beetle its glittering green sheen, and the genetics of a fish’s 200 year lifespan.
Research Highlight: Weird crystal makes beetle a living jewel
Research Highlight: Some of Earth’s longest-lived fish show how to reach extreme ages
10:43 An iodine-fuelled engine for satellites
In space, many satellites use xenon-fuelled ‘electric propulsion systems’ to maneuver. However, xenon is rare and requires high-pressure storage systems, so researchers have been working to develop alternative fuels. This week, a team publish details of the first in-space test of an iodine-powered electric propulsion system, which they say has many advantages over xenon systems.
Research article: Rafalskyi et al
16:37 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, issues aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, and what the discovery of a theorised mineral reveals about processes deep within the Earth.
Wired: NASA Tries to Save Hubble, Again
Nature: Diamond delivers long-sought mineral from the deep Earth
Climate Science: Young People Voice Concerns Onboard The COP26 Train
Last weekend, hundreds of young people boarded a specially chartered train in Amsterdam to travel to Glasgow ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit.
Among them were scientists, activists and policy makers. In a Nature Podcast special, we boarded the train to catch up with some of them – to talk about their science, their motivations and their message.
Science: 4000-Year-Old Mummies, Digital-Hygiene Checks, Ancient Snakes
The unexpected origins of a 4000-year-old people, protecting your ‘digital presence’ and what to expect from COP26.
In this episode:
00:48 The origins of the mysterious Tarim mummies
For decades there has been debate about the origins of a group of 4000-year-old individuals known as the Tarim Basin mummies. Their distinct appearance and clothing has prompted scientists to hypothesise they had migrated from the North or West. Now, a team of researchers have used modern genomics to shed new light on this mystery and reveal that migration was not the mummies’ origin.
Research article: Zhang et al.
News and Views: The unexpected ancestry of Inner Asian mummies
08:59 Research Highlights
Making wood mouldable, and how ancient snakes diversified their diets.
Research Highlight: Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong
Research Highlight: Finicky no more: ancient snakes ate their way to success
11:09 How a regular ‘digital-hygiene’ check can protect your reputation
Attaching a researcher’s name to a paper without them knowing is an unscrupulous practice that can have serious repercussions for the unwitting academic. To prevent this, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac is advocating a once-a-month ‘digital-hygiene’ check, to identify incorrect acknowledgements, and help prevent research malpractice.
World View: This digital-hygiene routine will protect your scholarship
18:51 What to expect from COP26
This week sees the start of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), with an estimated 20,000 people — including world leaders, scientists and activists — expected to be in attendance. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joins us to explain what’s on the agenda for the conference.
News Explainer: COP26 climate summit: A scientists’ guide to a momentous meeting
Science: Vikings In North America, Magnets Moving Non-Magnetic Metals
An ancient solar storm helps pinpoint when Vikings lived in the Americas, and using magnets to deftly move non-magnetic metals.
In this episode:
00:53 Pinpointing Viking presence in North America
It’s well-understood that Vikings went to North America around a thousand years ago. However, working out a precise date has proven difficult. Now, thanks to an ancient solar storm, researchers have been able to identify an individual year when Vikings were definitely living on the continent.
Research article: Kuitems et al.
14:57 Research Highlights
How shoulder muscles gave Pterosaurs an aerodynamic edge, and mysterious radio waves coming from near the centre of the Milky Way.
Research Highlight: How ancient reptiles were streamlined for flight
Research Highlight: A mysterious radio signal object is beaming radio waves into the Milky Way
17:45 Magnets move non-magnetic metals
Scientists have created an array of magnets capable of moving non-metallic objects in 6 dimensions. They hope their new approach could one day be used to clean up debris in space.
Research article: Pham et al.
News and Views: Non-magnetic objects induced to move by electromagnets
27:06 What Francis Collin’s retirement means for the US NIH
After 12 years, Francis Collins announced plans to retire from his role as Director of the United States National Institutes of Health. We discuss his legacy and what this means for the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research.
Editorial: COVID, racism, China: three tests for the next NIH leader
News: Francis Collins to step down at NIH: scientists assess his legacy
Science: Predicting Rain With AI, Map Of The Motor Cortex, 2021 Nobel Prizes
AI weather forecasters, mapping the human brain and the 2021 science Nobel prizes.
In this episode:
00:52 Improving the accuracy of weather forecasts with AI
Short-term rain predictions are a significant challenge for meteorologists. Now, a team of researchers have come up with an artificial-intelligence based system that weather forecasters preferred to other prediction methods.
Research article: Ravuri et al.
08:02 Research Highlights
The vaping robot that could help explain why some e-cigarettes damage lungs, and the sea-slugs that steal chloroplasts to boost egg production.
Research Highlight: This robot vapes for science
Research Highlight: Solar-powered slugs have a bright reproductive future
10:29 A map of the motor cortex
A group of researchers are undertaking an enormous task: to make a cellular atlas of the entire brain. This week, they publish a suite of papers that has accomplished this feat for one part of the brain — the motor cortex.
Research Article: BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network
News and Views: A census of cell types in the brain’s motor cortex
Editorial: Neuroscientists make strides towards deciphering the human brain
17:58 Nobel News
Flora Graham from the Nature Briefing joins us to talk about the winners of this year’s science Nobels.
News: Medicine Nobel goes to scientists who discovered biology of senses
News: Climate modellers and theorist of complex systems share physics Nobel
News: ‘Elegant’ catalysts that tell left from right scoop chemistry Nobel
Science: Floating ‘Seed’ Sensors, Human Walking Pace, Genome Editing
How tiny seed-like sensors could monitor the environment, and the latest from the Nature Briefing.
In this episode:
00:45 Spinning seeds inspire floating electronics
Researchers have developed miniature electronic-chips with wings that fall like seeds, which could be a new way to monitor the environment.
Research article: Kim et al.
Video: Seed-inspired spinners ride the wind and monitor the atmosphere
06:02 Research Highlights
How humans can adjust to an energy-efficient walking pace almost without thinking, and the viral shell that excels at delivering genome-editing tools.
Research Highlight: Humans walk efficiently even with their heads in the clouds
Research Highlight: A CRISPR fix for muscles hatches from a viral shell
08:34 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the mystery of the Sun’s super-hot corona, and the latest efforts to toilet-train cows.
Physics World: The enduring mystery of the solar corona
The Guardian: Cows ‘potty-trained’ in experiment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Science: Aquatic Foods To Aleviate World Hunger, Australian Wildfires
How aquatic foods could help tackle world hunger, and how Australian wildfires spurred phytoplankton growth in the Southern Ocean.
In this episode:
00:45 The role of aquatic food in tackling hunger
Ahead of the UN’s Food Systems Summit, Nature journals are publishing research from the Blue Food Assessment, looking at how aquatic foods could help feed the world’s population in a healthy, sustainable and equitable way.
We speak to Ismahane Elouafi, Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, who tells us about the role of blue foods in future food systems.
Immersive feature: Blue Foods
12:27 Research Highlights
The ingestible capsule that injects drugs straight into stomach tissue, and a soft material that changes colour when twisted.
Research Highlight: An easily swallowed capsule injects drugs straight into the gut
Research Highlight: Flowing crystals for quick camouflage
14:52 How Australian wildfires spurred phytoplankton blooms
The devastating Australian wildfires of 2019-2020 released plumes of iron-rich aerosols that circled the globe, fertilizing oceans thousands of miles away. New research suggests that these aerosols ultimately triggered blooms of microscopic phytoplankton downwind of the fires, in the Southern Ocean.
Research Article: Tang et al.
Science: Geology’s Billion Year Gap, End Of Leaded Gas & Lush Ancient Arabia
A new theory to explain missing geological time, the end of leaded petrol, and the ancient humans of Arabia.
In this episode:
00:29 Unpicking the Great Unconformity
For more than 150 years, geologists have been aware of ‘missing’ layers of rock from the Earth’s geological record. Up to one billion years appear to have been erased in what’s known as the Great Unconformity. Many theories to explain this have been proposed, and now a new one suggests that the Great Unconformity may have in fact been a series of smaller events.
BBC Future: The strange race to track down a missing billion years
05:23 The era of leaded petrol is over
In July, Algeria became the final country to ban the sale of leaded petrol, meaning that the fuel is unavailable to buy legally anywhere on Earth. However despite this milestone, the toxic effects of lead petrol pollution will linger for many years to come.
Chemistry World: Leaded petrol is finally phased out worldwide
08:26 The ancient humans who lived in a wetter Arabia
While much of modern day Arabia is covered by deserts, new research suggests that hundreds of thousands of years ago conditions were much wetter for periods on the peninsula. These lusher periods may have made the area a key migratory crossroads for ancient humans.
Research Article: Groucutt et al.
News and Views: Traces of a series of human dispersals through Arabia
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