Evolving flu, and the desert decomposition conundrum

This month, compelling evidence for why some species keep their eyes closed for sometimes several weeks after birth, scientists prove that the "nocebo" effect is more potent than a placebo, researchers report what happens when fish eggs and mouse sperm mix, the signals that cells use to measure the lengths of their telomeres, and some clever physics reveals the workings of Darwin's "warm little pond"... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, as the eLife Podcast hits its century, we hear how getting frog dads to cross-foster tadpoles has revealed the way in which some frogs come by their microbiomes, the ants that do gene therapy, signs that disease causes a breakdown in nutrient exchange between the elements of the microbiome, how fungi reprogram immune cells to cause over-reactions in sepsis, and new insights into how tapeworm larvae in the brain cause seizures... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In the eLife podcast, a university compost heap has turned up Finland's first documented "giant virus". Also, why monkeys de-sand their supper, and how learning more languages actually makes brain tissue thinner. Then, the link between sugar and neonatal sepsis, and how a cancer controls its hydra host by bestowing it with extra tentacles... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

What is the impact of an extra year at school on the brain? Also, how poison dart frogs come by their toxins, using movies to track the developing infant nervous system, the insect-spread bacterial plant parasite that is a mastermind of matchmaking, and a new cancer tool to link disease with the best drugs. Chris Smith takes a look at some of the most powerful papers out this month in eLife... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, how films are helping neuroscientists link brain activity patterns to specific thought processes, a breakthrough in managing opiate overdose, a technique to study animal teamwork, extracting more information from brain scan data, and how childhood adversity blunts later fear responses... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

Predicting how influenza viruses will evolve, how deserts decompose matter despite the dry, what worms are revealing about a gene linked to autism, and what makes mice fearful of cat smells. Dr Chris Smith talks to the authors of the latest leading research in eLife... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, signs that cancers communicate with the brain to alter mood, why antibodies are unreliable in research, evidence that social training can cut stress and boost brain volume, and agents derived from birth products that suppress inflammation and kill pain... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, Chris Smith hears how blood-thirsty bacteria sniff out wounds to trigger infections, how ants navigate at night, how male and female brains respond differently to starvation, and inflammation linked to premature labour... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, how human encroachment and conflict on nature drives emerging diseases, the role of "stigmergy" in guiding the nest-building feats of termites, a project to track infectious abortions in Africa, why people need to speak the same language around neurodiversity, and what fat flies are revealing about the way weight gain affects food-related recall... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

This month, how animals hibernate and evidence that muscle myosin makes its own heat in the cold, brain scans to reveal how ketamine relieves resistant depression, the way the brain changes when animals build a bond, the evolution of flu outbreaks, and how aphantasia affects autobiographical memory. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website