The Potential Benefits of Pollinator Interactions

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Researchers have seen a lizard pollinating a flower, which is something that I'd certainly never heard of. So it seems like that this process could be a lot more sort of diverse than previously expected. It's quite hard actually to see pollination occurring, and we can't really rely on people just seeing stuff happening. But with the sort of technologies that we have now, we have a lot more like long-term monitoring and camera technology so we can witness these things happen.

In this episode:

00:46 What JWST has revealed about an ancient galaxy

Researchers have pointed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at JD1, one of the universe's most distant known galaxies. The power of JWST has filled in some of the gaps in what was known about the galaxy, giving greater insight into its age, structure and composition. The team behind the work hope that learning more about how early galaxies like JD1 formed will help explain how the universe evolved into its present state.

Research article: Roberts-Borsani et al.

10:09 Research Highlights

Why your choice of soap might make you irresistible to mosquitoes, and how tardigrade-inspired claws help tiny robots cling to blood-vessels.

Research Highlight: Your favourite soap might turn you into a mosquito magnet

Research Highlight: Claws like a tardigrade’s give swimming microrobots a grip

12:34 How coral reef fish evolved to grow more quickly

Fish that live in coral reefs are some of the fastest growing in the world, despite the environment they live in being relatively nutrient poor. This contradiction has long puzzled researchers, but now, a team has looked deep into the evolutionary history of the fish and discovered a critical point in time when they shifted towards faster growth, much earlier than was previously thought.

Research article: Siqueira et al.

21:29 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the first frog thought to pollinate flowers, and a field-trial to vaccinate wild koalas against chlamydia.

Scientific American: This Frog May Be the First Amphibian Known to Pollinate Flowers

Associated Press: Koalas are dying from chlamydia. A new vaccine effort is trying to save them

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