00:47 The mystery of the missing dark matterDark matter makes up most of the matter in the Universe, and is thought to be needed for galaxies to form. But four years ago, astronomers made a perplexing, and controversial discovery: two galaxies seemingly devoid of dark matter. This week the team suggests that a cosmic collision may explain how these, and a string of other dark-matter-free galaxies, could have formed.Research article: van Dokkum et al.News and Views: Giant collision created galaxies devoid of dark matter08:39 Research HighlightsHow fossil fuel burning has caused levels of helium to rise, and a high-efficiency, hybrid solar-energy system.Research Highlight: Helium levels in the atmosphere are ballooningResearch Highlight: Flower power: ‘Sunflower’ system churns out useful energy10:49 Researchers experiences of the war in UkraineWe hear the stories of scientists whose lives have been affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including researchers who have become refugees, soldiers and activists in the face of a horrifying conflict.Nature Feature: How three Ukrainian scientists are surviving Russia’s brutal war20:46 Imaging the black hole at the centre of the Milky WayLast week, a team of researchers released an image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive blackhole at the centre of our galaxy. We hear how they took the image and what it is revealing about these enormous objects.Nature News: Black hole at the centre of our Galaxy imaged for the first timeSubscribe 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.

Millions of people around the world have been left managing the complex and amorphous syndrome that is long COVID. But the underlying cause of this myriad of symptoms is not clear. One hypothesis is that the virus is able to find a safe haven in the body from which it can bide its time and potentially re-emerge - a viral reservoir. Now researchers studying long COVID have found evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in a series of organs around the body, most notably the gut, months after the infection appears to have been cleared from the respiratory system. While there is still a long way to go before the reservoir hypothesis can be confirmed, these data provide compelling new support for the theory. In this episode of Coronapod, we discuss how the studies were carried out, why the question of long COVID's cause is so difficult to crack, and what more needs to be done to get a firm answer.News: Coronavirus ‘ghosts’ found lingering in the gutSubscribe 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.

00:57 Reviving retinas to understand eyesResearch efforts to learn more about diseases of the human eye have been hampered as these organs degrade rapidly after death, and animal eyes are quite different to those from humans. To address this, a team have developed a new method to revive retinas taken from donors shortly after their death. They hope this will provide tissue for new studies looking into the workings of the human eye and nervous system.Research article: Abbas et al.08:05 Research HighlightsA technique that simplifies chocolate making yields fragrant flavours, and 3D imaging reveals some of the largest-known Native American cave art.Research Highlight: How to make a fruitier, more floral chocolateResearch Highlight: Cramped chamber hides some of North America’s biggest cave art10:54 Did life emerge in an ‘RNA world’?How did the earliest biochemical process evolve from Earth’s primordial soup? One popular theory is that life began in an ‘RNA world’ from which proteins and DNA evolved. However, this week a new paper suggests that a world composed of RNA alone is unlikely, and that life is more likely to have begun with molecules that were part RNA and part protein.Research article: Müller et al.News and Views: A possible path towards encoded protein synthesis on ancient Earth17:52 Briefing ChatWe discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the ‘polarised sunglasses’ that helped astronomers identify an ultra-bright pulsar, and how a chemical in sunscreen becomes toxic to coral.Nature: A ‘galaxy’ is unmasked as a pulsar — the brightest outside the Milky WayNature: A common sunscreen ingredient turns toxic in the sea — anemones suggest whySubscribe 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 How a move to microbial protein could affect emissionsIt’s well understood that the production of meat has large impacts on the environment. This week, a team show that replacing 20% of future meat consumption with protein derived from microbes could reduce associated emissions and halve deforestation rates.Research article: Humpenöder et alNews and Views: Mycoprotein produced in cell culture has environmental benefits over beef08:21 Research HighlightsHow saltwater crocodiles’ penchant for pigs is driving population recovery in Australia, and solving the mystery of some eighteenth-century porcelain’s iridescent lustre.Research Highlight: Pork dinners fuel huge crocodiles’ return from near-extinctionResearch Highlight: The nanoparticles that give a famed antique porcelain its dazzle10:47 The neurons that help mosquitoes distinguish smellFemale Aedes aegypti mosquitoes strongly prefer human odours to those of animals, but how they distinguish between them is not well understood. Now, researchers have shown that human odours strongly activate a specific area in the brains of these insects, a finding that could have important implications for mosquito-control strategies.Research article: Zhao et al.18:05 Briefing ChatWe discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how climate change could affect virus transmission between mammals, and how the link between a dog's breed and its temperament may not be as close as previously thought.Nature: Climate change will force new animal encounters — and boost viral outbreaksNature: Massive study of pet dogs shows breed does not predict behaviourOur Webby Award winning episode: What’s the isiZulu for dinosaur? How science neglected African languagesSubscribe 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.

The true disability cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown, but more and more studies are adding to the list of potential fallout from even mild COVID 19 infection. In this episode of Coronapod we discuss a massive association study which links COVID-19 cases with an increase in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. We delve into the numbers to ask how big the risk might be? Whether any casual relationship can be drawn from this association? And what might be in store from future research into COVID and chronic disease?News: Diabetes risk rises after COVID, massive study finds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:56 How video calls can reduce creativityAs a result of the pandemic, workers around the world have become accustomed to meeting colleagues online. To find out if this switch from face-to-face meetings came at a cost to creativity, a team compared the number of ideas generated by workers collaborating either online, or in-person. They showed that people meeting virtually produced fewer creative ideas than those working face-to-face, and suggest that when it comes to idea generation maybe it’s time to turn the camera off.Research article: Brucks & LevavNews and Views: Virtual collaboration hinders idea generationVideo: Why video calls are bad for brainstorming08:08 Research HighlightsFragments from an ancient pyramid suggest earliest known use of a Maya calendar, and how sweet snacks could damage rare iguanas’ metabolism.Research Highlight: Deer symbol hints at early adoption of Maya calendarResearch Highlight: Tourists’ sweet treats threaten rare iguanas’ health10:34 Fish skin reveals a new type of cell divisionResearchers looking at the skin cells of zebrafish have discovered a new type of cell division, which doesn’t require DNA replication. DNA is usually essential for healthy cells, but the researchers think this puzzling finding may be a temporary measure to help the fish produce skin more rapidly during growth spurts.Research article: Chan et al.News and Views: Stretched skin cells divide without DNA replicationVideo: A new kind of cell division16:59 Briefing ChatWe discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how laser-equipped submarines could help analyse gelatinous animals’ anatomy, and a push for a flagship mission to Uranus.The New Yorker: Shedding Light on Untouchable Sea CreaturesNature: Next stop, Uranus? Icy planet tops priority list for next big NASA missionSubscribe 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.

Results from a huge epidemiological study found that infection by the Epstein-Barr virus increases the risk of developing multiple sclerosis 32-fold. This result, combined with emerging mechanistic insights into how the virus triggers brain damage, are raising the prospect of treating or preventing MS.These advances come at a time when researchers are more interested than ever in what happens in the months and years following a viral infection, and highlights the issues untangling the relationships between infectious diseases and chronic conditions.This is an audio version of our Feature: The quest to prevent MS — and understand other post-viral diseases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:46 What COP26 promises will do for climateAt COP26 countries made a host of promises and commitments to tackle global warming. Now, a new analysis suggests these pledges could limit warming to below 2˚C — if countries stick to them.BBC News: Climate change: COP26 promises will hold warming under 2C03:48 Efficiency boost for energy storage solutionStoring excess energy is a key obstacle preventing wider adoption of renewable power. One potential solution has been to store this energy as heat before converting it back into electricity, but to date this process has been inefficient. Last week, a team reported the development of a new type of ‘photothermovoltaic’ that increases the efficiency of converting stored heat back into electricity, potentially making the process economically viable.Science: ‘Thermal batteries’ could efficiently store wind and solar power in a renewable grid07:56 Leeches’ lunches help ecologists count wildlifeBlood ingested by leeches may be a way to track wildlife, suggests new research. Using DNA from the blood, researchers were able to detect 86 different species in China’s Ailaoshan Nature Reserve. Their results also suggest that biodiversity was highest in the high-altitude interior of the reserve, suggesting that human activity had pushed wildlife away from other areas.ScienceNews: Leeches expose wildlife’s whereabouts and may aid conservation efforts11:05 How communication evolved in underground cave fishResearch has revealed that Mexican tetra fish are very chatty, and capable of making six distinct sounds. They also showed that fish populations living in underground caves in north-eastern Mexico have distinct accents.New Scientist: Blind Mexican cave fish are developing cave-specific accents14:36 Declassified data hints at interstellar meteorite strikeIn 2014 a meteorite hit the Earth’s atmosphere that may have come from far outside the solar system, making it the first interstellar object to be detected. However, as some of the data needed to confirm this was classified by the US Government, the study wasn never published. Now the United States Space Command have confirmed the researchers’ findings, although the work has yet to be peer reviewed.LiveScience: An interstellar object exploded over Earth in 2014, declassified government data revealVice: Secret Government Info Confirms First Known Interstellar Object on Earth, Scientists SaySubscribe 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.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a debate amongst researchers about whether the body's immune cells can themselves be infected by SARS-CoV-2. Now two new studies show that they can - and what's more, the work has revealed a new mechanism for the massive inflammatory response seen in severe COVID. In this episode of Coronapod, we dig into the papers, asking why it has taken so long to get an answer to this question? How immune cell infection could lead to severe disease? And whether this new mechanism could provide a new avenue for the development of therapeutics?News: What triggers severe COVID? Infected immune cells hold cluesSubscribe 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 How Mammals’ mutation rates affects their lifespanFor biologists, a long-standing question has been why some animals live longer than others. This week a team have attempted to answer this, by measuring the rates that different animal species accumulate mutations. They show that longer-lived animals acquire mutations at a slower rate, which helps to explain why cancer risk does not scale with lifespan.Research article: Cagan et al.News and Views: Mutational clocks tick differently across species07:56 Research HighlightsA clinical trial suggests a change to the treatment of a pregnancy ailment, and astronomers identify the largest known structure produced by a single galaxy.Research Highlight: Ambitious trial inspires a rethink on a common ailment of pregnancyResearch Highlight: Even among ‘giant’ galaxies this one is record-setting10:43 The war in Ukraine’s effects on global energyMany European countries are dependent on Russian fossil fuels for energy production. Following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, these countries are looking to wean themselves off these fuels, which could have short- and long-term impacts on emissions and food production.Feature: What the war in Ukraine means for energy, climate and foodEditorial: The EU can simultaneously end dependence on Russia and meet climate goalsEditorial: The war in Ukraine is exposing gaps in the world’s food-systems research19:58 A new measurement of a particle’s mass hints at new physicsLast week, a new estimate of the W boson’s mass caused much excitement among physicists. The result suggests that this particle is heavier than theory predicts, a finding that could be the first major breach in the standard model of particle physics. However, measuring W bosons is notoriously tricky, and further work will be needed to confirm the finding.News: Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.