Nature Podcast

00:47 The robot shoulder that exercises cellsRecreating the movements that tendon cells experience as they develop in the human body is necessary for growing tissue for transplantation, but this has been difficult to achieve in a laboratory setting. Now, a team has developed a system that uses a robot shoulder to stretch and twist these cells, which they hope could be used to improve the quality of tissue grafts in the future.Research article: Mouthuy et al.Video: A robotic Petri dish: How to grow human cells in a robot shoulder07:56 Research HighlightsA robotic surgeon that works within an MRI chamber, and an ancient human genome from a resident of Pompeii.Research Highlight: Robot surgeons steer smoothly with help from magnet-free motorResearch Highlight: Vesuvius victim yields first human genome from Pompeii10:30 Overcoming COVID-19 vaccine hesitancyIdentifying sources of vaccine hesitancy is a key challenge in public health. This week, a team show that correcting misperceptions about doctor’s COVID-19 vaccine views increased vaccination rates in the Czech Republic. The team suggest this finding could extend to other countries, and represents a cost-effective intervention for reducing vaccine hesitancy.Research article: Bartoš et al.News and Views: Give physicians’ views to improve COVID vaccine uptake16:21 Briefing ChatWe discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, where metals are lost during their economic lifetime, and how pesticide use has spurred cockroach evolution and even affected their mating habits.Nature News: Metal-lifespan analysis shows scale of wasteNew York Times: Cockroach Reproduction Has Taken a Strange TurnSubscribe 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.

Despite the devastating loss of life caused by COVID-19, some researchers are arguing that the longest lasting impact of the pandemic will be on education. UN agencies calculate that more or less all school students on the planet - 1.6 billion - have faced an average of 4.5 months of school closures owing to the pandemic, the largest disruption to education in history. Teachers have been under immense pressure to keep their students happy and learning, but it is an uphill battle. In this episode of Coronapod, we discuss the research which might guide policymakers and teachers in their attempts to repair some of this damage, and ask how implementing an evidence-based system of education could have benefits beyond the pandemic.News Feature: COVID derailed learning for 1.6 billion students. Here’s how schools can help them catch upSubscribe 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.

00:45 The puzzle of PalaeospondylusOver a hundred years ago, palaeontologists discovered fossils of the aquatic animal Palaeospondylus. But since then researchers have been unable to place where this animal sits on the tree of life. Now, new analysis of Palaeospondylus’s anatomy might help to solve this mystery.Research article: Hirasawa et al.News and Views: Clues to the identity of the fossil fish Palaeospondylus08:18 Research HighlightsA strong, silk-based version of mother of pearl, and the parrots that use their heads when climbing.Research Highlight: Silk imitates mother of pearl for a tough, eco-friendly materialResearch Highlight: A ‘forbidden’ body type? These parrots flout the rules10:51 How lasers revealed an ancient Amazonian civilizationArchaeologists have used LiDAR to uncover evidence of an ancient civilization buried in the Bolivian Amazon. The team’s work suggests that this area was not as sparsely populated in pre-Hispanic times as previously thought.Research article: Prümers et al.News and Views: Large-scale early urban settlements in AmazoniaNature Video: Lost beneath the leaves: Lasers reveal an ancient Amazonian civilisation16:21 Briefing ChatWe discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the debate surrounding the first transplant of pig kidneys into humans, and the plants grown in lunar soil.Nature News: First pig kidneys transplanted into people: what scientists thinkBBC News: Moon soil used to grow plants for first time in breakthrough testSubscribe 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.

00:47 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.