Our podcast highlights of 2021

Many people around the world feel lonely. Chronic loneliness is known to have far-reaching health effects and has been linked to multiple conditions and even early death. But the mechanisms through which feeling alone can lead to poor health is a puzzle. Now, researchers are looking at neurons in the hopes that they may help explain why health issues arise when social needs go unmet.This is an audio version of our Feature Why loneliness is bad for your health Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:46 Optical clocks at seaOptical atomic clocks are the most precise timekeeping devices on the planet, but these devices are huge and difficult to work with, limiting their use outside of the lab. Now, researchers have developed a portable optical clock and demonstrated its robustness by sending it on a perilous sea journey. The team hope that this work will pave the way to more practical uses of optical clocks, such as on satellites where they could help improve the accuracy of GPS technologies.Research Article: Roslund et al.News and Views: Robust optical clocks promise stable timing in a portable package09:34 Research HighlightsEvidence of ritual burning of the remains of a Maya royal family, and the first solid detection of an astrophysical tau-neutrino.Research Highlight: Burnt remains of Maya royalty mark a dramatic power shiftResearch Highlight: Detectors deep in South Pole ice pin down elusive tau neutrino11:52 How marsupial gliding membranes evolvedSeveral marsupial species have evolved a membrane called a patagium that allows them to glide gracefully from tree to tree. Experiments show that mutations in areas of DNA around the gene Emx2 were key to the evolution of this ability, which has appeared independently in multiple marsupial species.Research article: Moreno et al.News and Views: Marsupial genomes reveal how a skin membrane for gliding evolved19:22 Briefing ChatHow overtraining AIs can help them discover novel solutions, and researchers manage to make one-atom thick sheets of ‘goldene’.Quanta Magazine: How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data?Nature news: Meet ‘goldene’: this gilded cousin of graphene is also one atom thickSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Subscribe to Nature Briefing: AI and robotics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans setting up home in outer space has long been the preserve of science fiction. Now, thanks to advances in technology and the backing of billionaires, this dream could actually be realised. But is it more likely to be a nightmare?Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join us to discuss their new book A City on Mars and some of the medical, environmental and legal roadblocks that may prevent humanity from ultimately settling in space.A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Particular Books (2023) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:46 Mysterious methane emission from a cool brown dwarfThe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revealing the makeup of brown dwarfs — strange space objects that blur the line between a planet and a star. And it appears that methane in the atmosphere of one of these objects, named W1935, is emitting infrared radiation. Where the energy comes from is a mystery however, researchers hypothesise that the glow could be caused by an aurora in the object’s atmosphere, perhaps driven by an as-yet unseen moon.Research Article: Faherty et al.10:44 Research HighlightsThe discovery that bitter taste receptors may date back 450 million years, and the first planet outside the Solar System to boast a rainbow-like phenomenon called a ‘glory’.Research Highlight: Bitter taste receptors are even older than scientists thoughtResearch Highlight: An exoplanet is wrapped in glory13:07 How working memory worksWorking memory is a fundamental process that allows us to temporarily store important information, such as the name of a person we’ve just met. However distractions can easily interrupt this process, leading to these memories vanishing. By looking at the brain activity of people doing working-memory tasks, a team have now confirmed that working memory requires two brain regions: one to hold a memory as long as you focus on it; and another to control its maintenance by helping you to not get distracted.Research article: Daume et al.News and Views: Coupled neural activity controls working memory in humans22:31 Briefing ChatThe bleaching event hitting coral around the world, and the first evidence of a nitrogen-fixing eukaryote.New York Times: The Widest-Ever Global Coral Crisis Will Hit Within Weeks, Scientists SayNature News: Scientists discover first algae that can fix nitrogen — thanks to a tiny cell structureNature video: AI and robotics demystify the workings of a fly's wingVote for us in the Webbys: https://go.nature.com/3TVYHmP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:46 Mapping ‘ghost roads’ in tropical forestsAcross the world, huge numbers of illegal roads have been cut into forests. However, due to their illicit nature, the exact numbers of these roads and their impacts on ecosystems is poorly understood. To address this, researchers have undertaken a huge mapping exercise across the tropical Asia-Pacific region. Their findings reveal over a million kilometers of roads that don’t appear on official maps, and that their construction is a key driver for deforestation.Research Article: Engert et al.10:44 Research HighlightsHow climate change fuelled a record-breaking hailstorm in Spain, and an unusual technique helps researchers detect a tiny starquake.Research Highlight: Baseball-sized hail in Spain began with a heatwave at seaResearch Highlight: Smallest known starquakes are detected with a subtle shift of colour13:02 Briefing ChatA clinical trial to test whether ‘mini livers’ can grow in a person’s lymph node, and the proteins that may determine left-handedness.Nature News: ‘Mini liver’ will grow in person’s own lymph node in bold new trialNature News: Right- or left-handed? Protein in embryo cells might help decideNature video: How would a starfish wear trousers? Science has an answerVote for us in the Webbys: https://go.nature.com/3TVYHmPSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around the world, rates of cancers that typically affect older adults are increasing in those under 50 years old. Models based on global data predict that the number of early-onset cancer cases like these will increase by around 30% between 2019 and 2030.The most likely contributors — such as rising rates of obesity and early-cancer screening — do not fully account for the increase. To try and understand the reasons behind this trend, many researchers are searching for answers buried in studies that tracked the lives and health of children born half a century ago.This is an audio version of our Feature Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:35 Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it backGrowing a baby leads to changes in the distribution of certain chemical markers on a pregnant person’s DNA, but new research suggests that after giving birth, these changes can revert to an earlier state.Nature News: Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back08:07 Bird gestures to say 'after you'A Japanese tit (Parus minor) will flutter its wings to invite their mate to enter the nest first. Use of these sorts of gestures, more complex than simply pointing at an object of interest, were thought to be limited to great apes, suggesting that there are more non-vocal forms of communication to be found in the animal kingdom.Scientific American: Wild Birds Gesture ‘After You’ to Insist Their Mate Go First13:34 The carbon cost of home-grown vegResearch have estimated that the carbon footprint of home-grown food and community gardens is six-times greater than conventional, commercial farms. This finding surprised the authors — keen home-growers themselves — who emphasize that their findings can be used to help make urban efforts (which have worthwhile social benefits) more carbon-efficient.BBC Future: The complex climate truth about home-grown tomatoes20:29 A look at next week's total eclipseOn 8th April, a total eclipse of the Sun is due to trace a path across North America. We look at the experiments taking place and what scientists are hoping to learn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:01:28 Inflammation’s role in memoryHow memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA damage is repaired may play a role. As inflammation in the brain is often associated with disease, the team were surprised by this finding, which they hope will help uncover ways to better preserve our memories, especially in the face of neurodegenerative disorders.Research Article: Jovasevic et al.News and Views: Innate immunity in neurons makes memories persist08:40 Research HighlightsThe effect of wind turbines on property values, and how waste wood can be used to 3D print new wooden objects.Research Highlight: A view of wind turbines drives down home values — but only brieflyResearch Highlight: Squeeze, freeze, bake: how to make 3D-printed wood that mimics the real thing11:14 How melting ice is affecting global timekeepingDue to variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation, the length of a day is rarely exactly 24 hours. By calculating the strength of the different factors affecting this, a researcher has shown that while Earth’s rotation is overall speeding up, this effect is being tempered by the melting of the polar ice caps. As global time kept by atomic clocks occasionally has to be altered to match Earth’s rotation, human-induced climate change may delay plans to add a negative leap-second to ensure the two align.Research article: AgnewNews and Views: Melting ice solves leap-second problem — for now20:04 Briefing ChatAn AI for antibody development, and the plans for the upcoming Simons observatory.Nature News: ‘A landmark moment’: scientists use AI to design antibodies from scratchNature News: ‘Best view ever’: observatory will map Big Bang’s afterglow in new detailSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Subscribe to Nature Briefing: AI and robotics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast has been corrected: in a previous version at 5:55 we stated that that the team's 200mm devices currently contain only a couple of magnetic tunnelling junctions, in fact they studied 500-1000 devices in this work.00:48 How mysterious skyrmions could power next-generation computersSkyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that some researchers believe have useful properties that could unlock new kinds of computing. However getting skyrmions to perform useful computational tasks has been tricky. Now researchers have developed a method to create and manipulate skyrmions in a way that is compatible with existing computing technology, allowing them to read and write data at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional systems. The team think this shows that skyrmions could be a viable part of the next generation of computers.Research Article: Chen et al.News and Views: Magnetic whirlpools offer improved data storage07:51 Research HighlightsHow robotically-enhanced, live jellyfish could make ocean monitoring cheap and easy, and how collective saliva tests could be a cost-effective way of testing for a serious infant infection.Research Highlight: These cyborg jellyfish could monitor the changing seasResearch Highlight: Pooling babies’ saliva helps catch grave infection in newborns10:01 AI identifies X factor hidden within zebra finch songsMale songbirds often develop elaborate songs to demonstrate their fitness, but many birds only learn a single song and stick with it their entire lives. How female birds judge the fitness between these males has been a long-standing puzzle. Now, using an AI-based system a team has analysed the songs of male zebra finches and shown that some songs have a hidden factor that is imperceptible to humans. Although it’s not clear exactly what this factor is, songs containing it were shown to be harder to learn and more attractive to females. The researchers hope that this AI-based method will allow them to better understand what makes some birdsong more attractive than others.Research article: Alam et al. News and Views: Birds convey complex signals in simple songs20:04 Briefing ChatHow H5N1 avian influenza is threatening penguins on Antarctica, and why farmed snake-meat could be a more environmentally-friendly way to produce protein for food.Nature News: Bird-flu threat disrupts Antarctic penguin studiesScientific American: Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of ProteinSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:45 Making a map of the human heartThe human heart consists of multiple, specialised structures that all work together to enable the organ to beat for a lifetime. But exactly which cells are present in each part of the heart has been difficult to ascertain. Now, a team has combined molecular techniques to create an atlas of the developing human heart at an individual cell level. Their atlas provides insights into how cell communities communicate and form different structures. They hope that this knowledge will ultimately help in the treatment of congenital heart conditions, often caused by irregular development of the heart.Research article: Farah et al. Nature video: Building a heart atlas08:37 Research HighlightsResidue in ceramic vases suggests that ancient Mesoamerican peoples consumed tobacco as a liquid, and a wireless way to charge quantum batteries.Research Highlight: Buried vases hint that ancient Americans might have drunk tobaccoResearch Highlight: A better way to charge a quantum battery11:11 The evolution of menopause in toothed whalesMenopause is a rare phenomenon, only known to occur in a few mammalian species. Several of these species are toothed whales, such as killer whales, beluga whales and narwhals. But why menopause evolved multiple times in toothed whales has been a long-standing research question. To answer it, a team examined the life history of whales with and without menopause and how this affected the number of offspring and ‘grandoffpsring’. Their results suggest that menopause allows older females to help younger generations in their families and improve their chances of survival.Research Article: Ellis et al.News and Views: Whales make waves in the quest to discover why menopause evolved18:03 Briefing ChatHow the new generation of anti-obesity drugs could help people with HIV, and the study linking microplastics lodged in a key blood vessel with serious health issues.Nature News: Blockbuster obesity drug leads to better health in people with HIVNature News: Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problemsSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.