Nature Podcast

An anti-CRISPR system that helps save viruses from destruction

Oct 18, 2023

30:17

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Researchers discuss a new RNA-based anti-CRISPR system that protects viruses. The podcast also covers the powerful Viking queen, a fluffy exoplanet, Greenland's ice sheet melt, variation in ecological research results, and creating a solid surface on the moon.

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Quick takeaways

Scientists have discovered an RNA-based anti-CRISPR system that mimics bacterial immune defenses, offering potential applications in biotechnology and precise genome editing with CRISPR-Cas.

A study suggests that Greenland's ice sheet is likely to experience abrupt ice loss if the global mean temperature reaches 1.7°C to 2.3°C above pre-industrial levels, emphasizing the importance of keeping temperature rise below 1.5°C to mitigate ice loss.

Deep dives

The Challenge of Reproducing Ecological Findings

A reproducibility trial involving ecologists showed that different researchers can come up with varying answers to the same ecological questions when analyzing the same data set. The study highlights the need for more rigorous approaches to reproducibility in ecological research and the importance of considering different analytical methods and approaches to scientific investigations.

Introduction

2min

A New Type of Antichristper System in Viruses

8min

Queen Tyra: The Most Powerful Figure in Viking Age Denmark

2min

Discovery of a Super Puff Planet

7min

Variation in Ecological Research Results

6min

Creating a Solid Surface on the Moon

6min

Wrapping up the episode and recommending a podcast

2min

In this episode:

00:47 An RNA-based viral system that mimics bacterial immune defences

To protect themselves against viral infection, bacteria often use CRISPR-Cas systems to identify and destroy an invading virus’s genetic material. But viruses aren’t helpless and can deploy countermeasures, known as anti-CRISPRs, to neutralise host defences. This week, a team describe a new kind of anti-CRISPR system, based on RNA, which protects viruses by mimicking part of the CRISPR-Cas system. The researchers hope that this discovery could have future biotechnology applications, including making CRISPR-Cas genome editing more precise.

Research article: Camara-Wilpert et al.

09:05 Research Highlights

Carved inscriptions suggest a queen named Thyra was the most powerful person in Viking-age Denmark, and the discovery of a puffed-up exoplanet that has just 1.5% the density of Earth.

Research Highlight: Runes on Viking stones speak to an ancient queen’s power

Research Highlight: ‘Super-puff’ planet is one of the fluffiest worlds ever found

11:38 Modelling the future of Greenland’s ice sheet melt

Climate-change induced melting of Greenland’s vast ice sheet would contribute to 7m of sea level rise. But it has been difficult to calculate how the ice sheet will respond to future warming. This week, a team suggest that abrupt ice loss is likely if the global mean temperature is between 1.7 °C and 2.3 °C above pre-industrial levels. Keeping temperature rise below 1.5 °C could mitigate ice loss, if done within a few centuries, but even a short overshoot of the estimated threshold could lead to several metres of sea-level rise.

Research article: Bochow et al.

17:50 Briefing Chat

A massive reproducibility exercise reveals over 200 ecologists get wildly-diverging results from the same data, and how melting simulated lunar-dust with lasers could help pave the Moon.

Nature News: Reproducibility trial: 246 biologists get different results from same data sets

Nature News: How to build Moon roads using focused beams of sunlight

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