Nature Podcast

00:46 Data stored in glassNature: Microsoft Research Project Silica TeamNature: Microsoft team creates 'revolutionary' data storage system that lasts for millennia08:09 Research HighlightsNature: Parasitic wasps use tamed virus to castrate caterpillarsNature: Flexible joints: robot morphs into a range of cyborg species10:10 An mRNA vaccine for Triple-Negative Breast CancerNature: Sahin et al.Subscribe 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:00:26 Moderate caffeine intake might reduce dementia risk, study suggestsNature: Coffee linked to slower brain ageing in study of 130,000 people04:15 Using AI to work out the rules of a long-forgotten board gameScientific American: Rules of mysterious ancient Roman board game decoded by AISubscribe 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:00:46 The immune cells that eat waste fats from fruit flies’ brainsNature: Cho et al.10:21 Research HighlightsNature: Beetle is locked into an eternal dance ― with an antNature: Super-sniffer aeroplane finds oil fields’ hidden emissions12:41 Ancient DNA evidence reveals a nuanced story of the Bell Beaker ExpansionNature: Olalde et al.Subscribe 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:00:42 External, artificial-lung system keeps patient alive for transplantNature: 48 hours without lungs: artificial organ kept man alive until transplant06:22 How lung cancer in mice hijacks neurons to outwit the immune systemNature: How tumours trick the brain into shutting down cancer-fighting cellsSubscribe 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.

00:46 Understanding how rete ridges form in the skinNature: Thompson et al.09:32 Research HighlightsNature: Genetically engineered ‘stinkweed’ comes up roses for making seed oilNature: Largest galaxy survey yet confirms that the Universe is not clumpy enough11:52 The open-source AI that performs scientific literature reviewsNature: Asai et al.Subscribe 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:00:36 Study probes genetics of extreme longevityNature: Still working at 107: supercentenarian study probes genetics of extreme longevity05:32 Controlling fluorescent proteins’ brightness with magnetsNature: ‘Remote controlled’ proteins illuminate living cellsSubscribe 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:00:46 Why completing difficult tasks feels rewardingNature: Touponse et al.11:34 Research HighlightsNature: Disappearing ‘planet’ reveals a solar system’s turbulent timesNature: Getting to the (square) root of stock-market swings13:43 How extreme weather events could threaten malaria elimination effortsNature: Symons et al.Subscribe 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.

This is an audio version of our Feature: ‘I rarely get outside’: scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:24 How babies share their gut microbesNature: Sending babies to nursery completely reshapes their microbiome05:25 First evidence of tool use in cattleScience: No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use toolsSubscribe 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.

00:46 Protein-sized superposition surpasses previous experimentsNature: Pedalino et al.News: Schrödinger's cat just got bigger: quantum physicists create largest ever 'superposition'11:46 Research HighlightsNature: Ancient pottery reveals early evidence of mathematical thinkingNature: Gifted dogs learn new words by overhearing humans14:11 How Trump’s second term has impacted researchNature: US science after a year of TrumpNature: US science in 2026: five themes that will dominate Trump’s second year Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:40 The rock samples destined to remain on MarsNature: NASA won’t bring Mars samples back to Earth: this is the science that will be lost05:24 The genetics of dogs’ droopy earsNature: Do their ears hang low? The genetics of dogs’ adorable floppy earsSubscribe 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:00:47 AI can boost research productivity — at what cost?Research article: Hao et al.10:10 Research HighlightsNature: Ancient ‘snowball’ Earth had frigidly briny seasNature: Putting immune cells into ‘night mode’ reduces heart-attack damage12:41 JWST images are full of red dots, what are they?Nature: Rusakov et al.Subscribe 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.

00:54 Turning an undersea cable into a seismic detectorResearchers have shown that they can piggyback a signal on a 4,400-kilometer-long telecom cable that runs from California to Hawaii, allowing it to act like 44,000 separate seismic-activity detectors. Their method takes advantage of impurities found in glass fibre-optic cables, which reflect light differently when they are stretched and distorted by the pressure of seismic waves.Science: Seafloor telecom cable transformed into giant earthquake detector04:17 The origin of an ancient boatChemical analysis of the caulking found on the wood an ancient boat has helped researchers identify the origins of the vessel, that sank off the coast of Denmark 2,400 years ago. The team’s analysis suggests it voyaged from much farther away that had been thought — perhaps coming from the Baltic Sea region. The team also found a fingerprint left in the caulk, although who it belonged to is unknown.LiveScience: Fingerprint of ancient seaborne raider found on Scandi

In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2026. We’ll hear about: small-scale AI models that could outcompete Large Language Models in reasoning, clinical trials of gene editing to treat rare human disorders, a sample collection mission from Phobos, and how changes to US policy by the Trump team are expected to impact science.Subscribe 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.

Anecdotal stories suggesting that weight-loss drugs can help people shake long-standing addictions have been spreading fast in the past few years, through online forums, weight-loss clinics and news headlines. And now, clinical data are starting to back them up.Over a dozen randomized clinical studies testing whether GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic can suppress addiction are now under way, and neuroscientists are working out how these weight-loss drugs act on brain regions that control craving, reward and motivation.Scientists warn that the research is still in its early stages, but some researchers and physicians are excited, as no truly new class of addiction medicine has won approval from regulators in decades.This is an audio version of our Feature: Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:40 What a trove of potato genomes reveals about the humble spudResearchers have created a ‘pangenome’ containing the genomes of multiple potato types, something they believe can help make it easier to breed and sequence new varieties. The potato’s complicated genetics has made it difficult to sequence the plant’s genome, but improvements in technology have allowed the team to combine sequences, allowing them to look for subtle differences in between varieties.Nature Podcast: 16 April 2025Research Article: Sun et al.10:28 Hundreds of physicists on a remote island: we visit the ultimate quantum partyAccording to legend, physicist Werner Heisenberg formulated the mathematics behind quantum mechanics in 1925 while on a restorative trip to the remote North Sea island of Heligoland.To celebrate the centenary of this event, several hundred researchers have descended on the island to take part in a conference on all things quantum physics. Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney was also in attendance, and jo

Nature: Asteroids, antibiotics and ants: a year of remarkable scienceIn this episode:1:58 Evidence of ancient brine on an asteroidSamples taken from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft suggest the parent body it originated from is likely to have contained salty, subsurface water. This finding provides insights into the chemistry of the early Solar System, and suggests that brines might have been an important place where pre-biotic molecules were formed.News & Views: Asteroid Bennu contains salts from ancient brineNature Podcast: Asteroid Bennu contains building blocks of life08:01 How gene expression doesn't always reflect a cell's functionCells are often grouped into categories according to the RNA molecules they produce. However a study of zebrafish (Danio rerio) brains revealed that cells can be functionally diverse even if they appear molecularly similar. This finding adds more nuance to how a cell's ‘type’ is ultimately defined.News & Views: Does a cell’s gene e

00:46 The gifts that sparked a love of scienceNature put a call out for readers to tell us about memorable presents that first got them interested in science, or mementos of their life in research. These include telescopes, yeast-themed wedding rings, and... cows’ eyes.Nature: The gift that shaped my career in science08:12 “I am the Very Model of a Miniature Tyrannosaur”In the first of our annual festive songs celebrating the science of the past year, we tell the story of a diminutive dinosaur that turned out to be its own species.Nature Podcast: Meet the ‘Wee-rex’. Tiny tyrannosaur is its own speciesNature Video: Hotly debated dinosaur is not a tiny T. rex after all11:43 A very scientific quizAn all-star cast competes for the glory or being the winner of the Nature Podcast’s 2025 festive quiz.Nature: Meet the ‘Wee-rex’. Tiny tyrannosaur is its own speciesNature: This company claimed to ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves. Then the fighting startedNature Podcast: 3D-printed fake w

00:46 Evidence of the earliest fire Baked soil, ancient tools, and materials that could be used to start fires show that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000 years ago — the earliest evidence of this skill found so far. Ancient humans are known to have used naturally occurring fires, but evidence of deliberate fire-starting has been hard to come by. A new suite of evidence pushes back the date of fire mastery by 350,000 years. The team behind the finding believe it helps create a more nuanced picture of Neanderthals, who perhaps gathered round fires and told stories in ancient Europe. Research Article: Davis et al.News and Views: Oldest known evidence of the controlled ignition of fire11:31 Research HighlightsMachine-learning algorithms can help to identify traces of life in ancient rocks — plus, why paintings containing a vivid green pigment lose their lu

00:46 How satellite mega-constellations could ruin space-based astronomyThe ability of space-based telescopes to image the distant Universe could be in peril, according to new research investigating the impacts of light-pollution from future satellites. Streaks of reflected light from satellites currently in low-Earth orbit are already seen in telescope images, and planned launches could raise the number of satellites from around 15,000 to over half-a-million. Computer modelling revealed that this drastic increase would result in images taken by instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope becoming unusable by astronomers. The team propose a series of strategies to help mitigate these impacts, preventing this future becoming reality.Research Article: Borlaff et al.Nature: Satellite swarms set to photobomb more than 95% of some telescopes’ images11:08 Research HighlightsHow researchers have sped up the trapping of antimatter atoms — plus, how hydrogen fuel emission benefits vary considerably from sect