New Scientist Podcasts

#255Why do some people seem to be naturally immune to covid-19? We may finally have the answer and it’s to do with differences in the way immune cells function. Will the finding help us predict who’s immune and who isn’t – and more?Artificial intelligence is being used to tackle the problem of clearing mines from enormous swaths of Ukraine. Russia has scattered vast amounts of ordinance across Ukraine, tearing up agricultural land and leaving behind chemical contamination. The clean-up operation could take 700 years to complete in total. AI is helping Ukraine to work out where to start.Chimpanzees are herbal medicine enthusiasts: when sick, they seem to seek out specific plants. But how effective are the plants they’re swallowing at actually dealing with illness? Wild chimps in Uganda’s Budongo Forest are helping researchers to understand the practice.Maxwell’s demon, a thought experiment that involves a tiny imp, was once thought to disprove the second law of thermodynamics. Now researchers have built a real-life Maxwell’s demon that is not only the largest of its kind so far but could be used to discover new drugs and clean CO2 from the air.Plus: Leeches can jump and we’ve finally seen them do it; why cashew nuts could help us decarbonise shipping; and do the methane seas of Saturn's moon Titan have waves that erode their shorelines?Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alexandra Thompson, Matthew Sparkes, Sam Wong and Alex Wilkins.To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We like to think of science and medicine as unbiased, unaffected by social constructs. But we see evidence to the contrary everyday, from false yet persistent claims that black people’s bones are denser to the reality that the covid-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted people of colour. In her debut book Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Ill, science journalist Layal Liverpool explores the health consequences of racism. She showcases how fatal stereotypes can leave people of colour in need of medical care undiagnosed, untreated and unsafe. In this episode, Liverpool explains how race and racism infiltrate every aspect of health – from living in polluted areas to being dismissed by doctors in the hospital. She lays out the problematic history of medicine and health science. And she highlights the many ways people are beginning to make meaningful change. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We know elephants are smart, but it seems we’ve only scratched the surface in understanding their intelligence. It turns out African elephants seem to have unique names for each other – maybe even nicknames. If it’s true, humans would no longer be alone in this practice. A team has been analysing their rumbly greeting calls using AI. Is this a hint that we’ve been wrong about other animals, too?It’s a weather report like no other: two to three million years ago, the protective bubble called the heliosphere that surrounds the sun and the planets crashed into a galactic cloud. This left Earth exposed to the radioactive particles of interstellar space for as long as ten thousand years. And it could even have impacted evolution.Naomi Klein won the Women’s Prize for nonfiction this week for her book Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World. Rowan Hooper speaks to Naomi following the win, as the pair dig into the strange confluence of the alt-right and wellness influencers, why conspiracy theories have become so widespread and how grifters and charlatans are exploiting the uncertain times we live in.Astronauts have been sending biological samples like blood and faeces to a new space “biobank”. It’s all in an effort to better understand the impact of space travel on human health. As a bonus, read Clare’s story on the ‘vomit comet’ here.And if you’ve ever completed a game of New Super Mario Bros. – congratulations, you’re smarter than a supercomputer. A new study shows supercomputers don’t just find it hard to analyse the game, but actually impossible. But why?Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Michael Le Page, James Woodford, Clare Wilson and Matthew Sparkes.To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com.Listen to New Scientist CoLab here:https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IxQD6EVa0spHtgP3OYT65?si=9447e1c69eb6467chttps://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/industrial-ai-and-the-sustainability-revolution/id1732113125?i=1000657139548 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the Dead Planeteers, one moon around Earth isn’t enough. They want to pack as many moons into the night sky as possible. But how many can you fit in orbit without everything becoming unstable and destructive?To answer this, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte enlist the help of astrophysicist Sean Raymond. Sean co-authored a research paper that sparked Leah’s New Scientist article titled: Moons can have moons and they are called moonmoons.So, not only do they work out how many moons we can fit around Earth, but also how many moons those moons could have, which involves fitting them out with mini thrusters for some reason. They also address the issue of the impact these moons would have on Earth, like stronger tides and an insanely bright night sky. But they also learn about the surprising (nay shocking) potential benefits too.Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare.Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte.If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at deadplanets@newscientist.com. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Physicists suggest drilling on the moon for particle research; Climate report warns of rapid warming; Calls for banning fossil fuel ads; Tips to combat loneliness; Gene therapy restores hearing in deaf children

Astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger discusses the search for alien life, exploring unique exoplanets, Earth's geological history, and advancements in technology. The conversation touches on the diversity of life forms, analyzing spectral fingerprints for signs of life, deciphering alien life signals, and exploring the potential for life on celestial bodies like Titan and Europa.

Google's AI search engine woes, sound symbolism in language evolution, time as a quantum illusion, and the science of slowing down ageing are intriguing topics discussed in this podcast.

When you bring a giant magnet to Mars, apocalyptic eruptions are just the beginning. In an attempt to suck out all of the iron from the red planet, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte end up shattering it like an Easter egg.Their new cosmic plaything, a U-shaped Wile E. Coyote-esque magnet, is used in various different ways for the purposes of complete annihilation. With the help of science journalist and volcanologist Robin George Andrews, the team squeeze the core out like it’s toothpaste, turn the magnet into a projectile, bring multiple magnets to the fray to create a work of cosmic art and even hollow out the planet to fill it up with… SPIDERS!Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare.Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte.If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at deadplanets@newscientist.com. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Record hurricane season predicted for Atlantic Ocean with up to 25 storms. Sun's magnetic field works differently from Earth's. Scientists study rare element Promethium. Deer drive evolution of dwarf plants in Japan. Argentine ants improve learning with caffeine. Greek army uses heavy Bronze Age armor. Most powerful X-ray pulse observed on Earth.

From Dune to The Three Body Problem, is science fiction having a moment? Attention to the genre, as well as TV and films based on it, seems to have exploded in the past few years. With sci-fi often getting a bad rap, it’s time to ditch the snobbery and celebrate its complexity and diversity. And who better to do this with than New Scientist’s science fiction columnist – and our former editor – Emily H. Wilson?Wilson is a journalist and author. In 2023 she published Inanna, the first of The Sumerians, a trilogy set in the ancient civilisation of Sumer. The books are an epic, speculative retelling of some of the oldest myths ever recorded.In this episode, Rowan Hooper speaks to Wilson about the enduring popularity of the genre, and why you should be proud to call yourself a science fiction fan. Plus, the pair share loads of recommendations and explore sci-fi’s many different sub-genres, from climate fiction to cyberpunk.You can learn more about Emily’s trilogy, The Sumerians, here.To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com.Books mentioned:- Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu- Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky- Ancillary Justice, Anne Leckie- Annie Bot, Sierra Greer- Dune, Frank Herbert- The Chrysalids, John Wyndham- Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham- The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick- Neuromancer, William Gibson- Burning Chrome, William Gibson- Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson- Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson- 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson- The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson- Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler- Patternmaster, Octavia Butler- The Broken Earth, N. K. Jemisin- Middlemarch, George Eliot- Impressions of Theophrastus Such, George Eliot- Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky- Autonomous, Annalee Newitz- Excession, Iain M. Banks- A World Out of Time, Larry Niven- Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card- The Ballad of Halo Jones, Alan Moore and Ian Gibson- Tank Girl, Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices