Sea horses are amazing animals because of many of their strange features like male pregnancy but also due to their beautifully unique body shape. However, this may be the reason why seahorses are famous but it actually makes them very bad swimmers so why did they evolve to have this unique body shape?
A seahorse is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. “Hippocampus” comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos, itself from híppos meaning “horse” and kámpos meaning “sea monster”.
Kelp locks up millions of tonnes of carbon globally, provides a nursery for fish and is a buffer against coastal flooding. But climate change, weather and fishing are taking their toll. Now, Mika Peck and his team at the University of Sussex are monitoring kelp off the south coast of the UK, to see if it can recover from the damage done to it by trawling and help improve biodiversity in the area.
Funding for gun violence research in the US returns after a 20-year federal hiatus, and the glass sponges that can manipulate ocean currents.
In this episode:
00:45 Gun violence research is rebooted
For 20 years there has been no federally-funded research on gun violence in the US. In 2019, $25 million a year was allocated for this work. We speak to some of the researchers that are using these funds, and the questions they are trying to answer about gun violence.
Venus’ flower baskets are marine sponges that live at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. These sponges have an unusual glass skeleton that helps them gather food, and even appears to control ocean currents.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, investment in non-human primate facilities, and the European Union’s latest climate plan.
NASA is planning two missions to Venus to assess if the now-toxic planet once had an ocean, continents and life. Scientists are beginning the effort on Earth by training sensors and machine learning systems to analyze the building blocks of our own planet. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann
Race-based medical practises are being challenged more and more, as it becomes increasingly clear they have little basis in science.
The team finds out why adjustments for race and ethnicity are still being made in medicine, despite the potential harm and healthcare implications they cause. It’s been a massive week for the future of space tourism – the team shares a clip of a very excited Richard Branson who’s recent journey into microgravity has set the stage for the launch of Virgin Galactic’s first commercial space flights. The team gives an update on the dramatic heatwave ravaging the US, as more record high temperatures are set, continuing to leave destruction in its wake. They also explain what ‘impact gardening’ is and why it might help us find alien life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and they share important news on the state of the cosmetics industry in Neolithic times. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Chelsea Whyte, and Layal Liverpool.
The legacy of near-Earth supernovae, finding mammalian-like hippocampal activity in a food-caching songbird, and how inherited social networks shape spotted hyena society and survival.
Why heat waves disproportionately impact minorities in US cities, and the researcher that critiqued his whole career on Twitter.
In this episode:
00:45 How heat waves kill unequally
Researchers are beginning to unpick how historic discrimination in city planning is making the recent heat waves in North America more deadly for some than others.
When researcher Nick Holmes decided to criticise his past papers, in 57 tweets, he found the reflection enlightening. Now he’s encouraging other researchers to self-criticise, to help speed scientific progress.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, Richard Branson’s commercial space flight, and the Maori perspective on Antarctic conservation.
On this week’s #SciencePodcast🎙: Looking back at the unfolding of the opioid crisis in the United States, printing proteins in gummy candy, and rounding up summer books.
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