In this episode:

Researchers have made a big step towards the creation of the long theorized nuclear clock, by getting the most accurate measurement of the frequency of light required to push thorium nuclei into a higher energy state. Such a timekeeper would differ from the best current clocks as their ‘tick’ corresponds to the energy transitions of protons and neutrons, rather than electrons. Nuclear clocks have the potential to be more robust and accurate than current systems, and could offer researchers new insights into fundamental forces present within atomic nuclei.

Research Article: Zhang et al.

News and Views: Countdown to a nuclear clock

Nature News: ‘Nuclear clock’ breakthrough paves the way for super-precise timekeeping

Editorial: Progress on nuclear clocks shows the benefits of escaping from scientific silos

The star that got partially shredded by a supermassive black hole, not just once, but twice, and how heatwaves could mangle bumblebees’ sense of smell.

Research Highlight: This unlucky star got mangled by a black hole — twice

Research Highlight: Bumblebees’ sense of smell can’t take the heat

By harnessing T cells to fine-tune the inflammation response, researchers have limited the damage caused by spinal injury in mice, an approach they hope might one day translate into a human therapy. Following injury to the central nervous system, immune cells rush to the scene, resulting in a complex array of effects, both good and bad. In this work researchers have identified the specific kind of T cells that amass at the site, and used them to create an immunotherapy that helps the mice recover more quickly from injuries by slowing damage to neurons.

Research article: Gao et al.

How unprecedented floods in Brazil have helped and hindered paleontologists, and the ‘AI scientist’ that does everything from literature review through to manuscript writing, to an extent.

Nature News: The race to save fossils exposed by Brazil’s record-setting floods

Nature News: Researchers built an ‘AI Scientist’ — what can it do?

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The 'file-drawer problem', where findings with null or negative results gather dust and are left unpublished, is well known in science. There has been an overriding perception that studies with positive or significant findings are more important, but this bias can have real-world implications, skewing perceptions of drug efficacies, for example.

Multiple efforts to get negative results published have been put forward or attempted, with some researchers saying that the incentive structures in academia, and the ‘publish or perish’ culture, need to be overturned in order to end this bias.

This is an audio version of our Feature: So you got a null result. Will anyone publish it?

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A newly-developed method that can rapidly identify the type of bacteria causing a blood-infection, and the correct antibiotics to treat it, could save clinicians time, and patient lives. Blood infections are serious, and can lead to the life-threatening condition sepsis, but conventional diagnostic methods can take days to identify the causes. This new method does away with some of the time-consuming steps, and the researchers behind it say that if it can be fully automated, it could provide results in less than a day.

Research Article: Kim et al.

The discovery of a connection between three star-forming interstellar clouds could help explain how these giant structures form, and evidence of the largest accidental methane leak ever recorded.

Research Highlight: Found: the hidden link between star-forming molecular clouds

Research Highlight: Blowout! Satellites reveal one of the largest methane leaks on record

When artificial intelligences are fed data that has itself been AI-generated, these systems quickly begin to spout nonsense responses, according to new research. Typically, large language model (LLM) AI’s are trained on human-produced text found online. However, as an increasing amount of online content is AI-generated, a team wanted to know how these systems would cope. They trained an AI to produce Wikipedia-like entries, then trained new iterations on the model on the text produced by its predecessor. Quickly the outputs descended into gibberish, which highlights the dangers of the Internet becoming increasingly full of AI-generated text.

Research Article: Shumailov et al.

How psilocybin — the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms — resets communication between brain regions, and the surprise cancellation of a NASA Moon mission.

Nature News: Your brain on shrooms — how psilocybin resets neural networks

Nature News: NASA cancels $450-million mission to drill for ice on the Moon — surprising researchers

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Shocked by the impact of online misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, several researchers are launching efforts to survey scientists’ thinking on issues from vaccine safety to climate change. They hope that their projects will make scientific debate, and degrees of consensus, more visible and transparent, benefiting public conversation and policymaking. However, others suggest that these attempts might merely further politicize public debate.

This is an audio version of our Feature: Can giant surveys of scientists fight misinformation on COVID, climate change and more?

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In this episode:

Global demand for palm oil has resulted in huge expansion of the palm plantations needed to produce it, causing widespread tropical deforestation and species loss. To address this, researchers planted islands of native trees among the palms in a large plantation, and showed that this approach increases ecosystem health, without affecting crop yields. The team say that while protecting existing tropical rainforests should remain a priority, tree islands represent a promising way to restore ecosystems.

Research article: Zemp et al.

The oldest identified ‘blueprints’ depict vast hunting traps with extraordinary precision, and fossil evidence that pliosaurs swimming the Jurassic seas may have been as big as whales.

Research Highlight: Oldest known ‘blueprints’ aided human hunters 9,000 years ago

Research Highlight: This gigantic toothy reptile terrorized the Jurassic oceans

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how shredded nappies could partially replace sand in construction, and how CRISPR helped crack the mystery of the death cap mushrooms’s deadly toxin.

Nature News: World’s first house made with nappy-blended concrete

Nature News: Deadly mushroom poison might now have an antidote — with help from CRISPR

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In this episode:

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.

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

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.

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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Many researchers have been critical of the biases that the publication process can introduce into science. For example, they argue that a focus on publishing interesting or significant results can give a false impression of what broader research is finding about a particular field.

To tackle this, some scientists have championed the publication of Registered Reports. These articles split the peer review process in two, first critically assessing the methodology of a research study before data is collected, and again when the results are found. The idea being to encourage robust research regardless of the outcome.

In this episode of Nature's Take we discuss Nature's recent adoption of the format, the pros and cons of Registered Reports, and what more needs to be done to tackle publication bias.

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In this episode:

The first draft of the human genome ushered in a new era of genetics research. Since its publication, researchers have constructed ever more accurate ‘reference genomes’ – baselines against which others are compared. But these are based on the DNA of a small number of people, and don’t represent the genetic variation known to exist across human populations. To address this, a consortium of researchers have published the first draft of a ‘pangenome’, which combines the genomes of 47 genetically diverse individuals. This draft provides a more complete picture of the human genome, and is the starting point for a project that aims to include sequences from 350 individuals.

Research article: Liao et al.

Research article: Vollger et al.

Research article: Guarracino et al.

News and Views Forum: Human pangenome supports analysis of complex genomic regions

A wearable sensor that lets users see infrared light, and how a vulture’s culture can influence its dining habits.

Research Highlight: Wearable sensor gives a glimpse of ‘invisible’ light

Research Highlight: What drives a scavenger’s diet? Vulture culture

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a new phosphate-storing organelle found in fruit fly cells, and how extracted DNA revealed who held a deer-tooth pendant 20,000 years ago.

Nature News: New cellular ‘organelle’ discovered inside fruit-fly intestines

Nature News: Prehistoric pendant’s DNA reveals the person who held it

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In this episode:

Nature’s Kerri Smith and Heidi Ledford join us to discuss two Features published in Nature looking at topics surrounding women’s health. The first looks at efforts to understand how menopause affects brain health, while the second takes a deep-dive into research funding and shows how conditions affecting women more than men receive less money.

Feature: How menopause reshapes the brain

Feature: Women’s health research lacks funding – these charts show how

The herb that could be a new source of cannabinoid compounds, and the vibrating crystal that confirms Schrödinger’s cat.

Research Highlight: Old and new cannabis compounds are found in an African herb

Research Highlight: Schrödinger’s cat is verified by a vibrating crystal

Stars have a finite lifespan, and for many their fate is to expand as they reach the end of their lives. It’s long been speculated that these growing stars will consume any planets in their way, but this process has never been seen directly. Now though, a chance observation led to a team catching a dying star in the act of eating a Jupiter-like planet in the distant Milky Way.

Research article: De et al.

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a clearer image of the supermassive black hole M87*, and how elephant seals catch some shut-eye while diving.

Nature News: Black-hole image reveals details of turmoil around the abyss

New York Times: Elephant Seals Take Power Naps During Deep Ocean Dives

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Last year, researchers announced that the Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab lowered the amount of amyloid protein plaques associated with the disease in the brains of participants in a clinical trial, and slowed their cognitive decline.

Now, researchers are looking to drug combinations, vaccines and gene therapy to tackle different stages of the disease, as they forge the next generation of treatments for the condition.

This is an audio version of our Feature: Conquering Alzheimer’s: a look at the therapies of the future

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In this episode:

When it comes to the structure of DNA, everyone thinks they know Rosalind Franklin’s role in its discovery. The story goes that her crucial data was taken by James Watson without her knowledge, helping him and Francis Crick solve the structure. However, new evidence has revealed that this wasn’t really the case. Rosalind Franklin was not a ‘wronged heroine’, she was an equal contributor to the discovery.

Comment: What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure

How the growth of tiny iodine-engined satellites could damage the ozone layer, and how a pill-like detector that could measure radiotherapy dosages.

Research Highlight: How CubeSats could harm the ozone layer

Research Highlight: An easy-to-swallow pill monitors X-ray dosage

It’s recognized that multisensory experiences can create strong memories and that later-on, a single sensory experience can trigger memories of the whole event, like a specific smell conjuring a visual memory. But the neural mechanisms behind this are not well understood. Now, a team has shown that rich sensory experiences can create a direct neural circuit between the memory regions of fruit fly brains. This circuit increases memory strength in the flies, and helps explain how sense and memories are interlinked.

Research article: Okray et al.

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how video calls could help parrots feel less isolated, and a new method for recycling wind turbine blades.

The Guardian: Parrots taught to video call each other become less lonely, finds research

Nature Video: How to recycle a wind turbine in a test tube

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In this episode:

Plastic waste is an enormous problem, with much of it being incinerated or ending up in landfill. One way to give plastics another life is to break them down into their individual components using heat, but this method yields low amounts of usable product. Now, a team demonstrates a proof-of-concept method of heating that wicks the plastic like a candle through a layer of carbon material. They show that this method is more efficient and could be an additional way of breaking down waste plastics.

Research article: Dong et al.

Physicists model the best way to soar on a playground swing, and how wearing ‘perfume’ helps male orchid bees find a mate.

Research Highlight: Physicists’ advice on how to swing high at the playground

Research Highlight: Better than Chanel: perfumed male bees draw more mates

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the runaway supermassive black hole that’s racing through the cosmos, and the bizarre genomes of yellow crazy ants.

Scientific American: Astronomers Spy a Giant Runaway Black Hole’s Starry Wake

Nature News: Crazy ants’ strange genomes are a biological first

Vote for How the Black Death got its start in the ‘Best Individual Episode: Science & Education’ category.

Vote for Racism in Health: the harms of biased medicine in the ‘Limited-Series & Specials: Health, Science & Education’ category.

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In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, psychologist Sander van der Linden joins us to discuss his new book Foolproof, which focuses on misinformation and what can be done to prevent people being duped, particularly by the falsehoods found online.

We discuss how misinformation messages are crafted, why they can be hard to shake once someone is exposed, and how Star Wars: Episode 3 helped in the fight against them…

Foolproof, Sander van der Linden, Fourth Estate (2023)

Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images.

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A gel that encases proteins could be a new way to safely transport medicines without requiring them to be kept cold, according to new research. To test it, the team behind the work posted themselves a protein suspended in this gel, showing that it was perfectly preserved and retained its activity, despite being dropped in transit and exposed to varying temperatures. The researchers hope this gel will help overcome the need to freeze protein-based medicines, which can be expensive to do and difficult to maintain during transportation.

Research Article: Bianco et al.

News and Views: Gel protects therapeutic proteins from deactivation — even in the post

How an abundance of cicadas led to a host of raccoon activity, and how wine-grape harvest records can be used to estimate historical summertime temperatures

Research Highlight: Massive cicada emergence prompted raccoons to run wild

Research Highlight: Wine grapes’ sweetness reveals Europe’s climate history

By embedding a plastic with an engineered enzyme, researchers have developed a fully biodegradable material that can be broken down in a home compost heap. Plastic production often requires high temperatures, so the team adapted an enzyme to make it more able to withstand heat, while still able to break down a common plastic called PLA. They hope this enzyme-embedded plastic could replace current single-use items, helping to reduce the huge amount of waste produced each year.

Research Article: Guicherd et al.

This time, how to make lab-grown meat taste more meaty, and a subterranean Moon cave that could be a place for humans to shelter.

Nature News: This lab-grown meat probably tastes like real beef

The Guardian: Underground cave found on moon could be ideal base for explorers

Nature hits the books: Living on Mars would probably suck — here's why

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Researchers have shown that the suckers of octopuses are covered with specialised receptors that allow them to taste by touching things. Similar receptors are also found in squid, but there are differences that mirror differences in the animals’ hunting behaviours; while octopuses feel for their prey, squid pull things towards themselves before deciding whether or not to eat it.

Research article: Kang et al.

Research article: Allard et al.

Nature video: How octopuses taste with their arms

How climate change has been linked to a devastating avalanche in the Italian Alps, and evidence of hallucinogenic drug use in prehistoric Europe.

Research Highlight: A glacier’s catastrophic collapse is linked to global warming

Research Highlight: Hair buried in a cave shows hallucinogen use in ancient Europe

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, what climate scientists can learn from medieval descriptions of lunar eclipses; how to retrieve rock samples from the surface of Mars; and the ongoing debate about whether T. rex had lips.

Nature News: Medieval accounts of eclipses shine light on massive volcanic eruptions

Nature News: Mars rocks await a ride to Earth — can NASA deliver?

Nature News: Facelift for T. rex: analysis suggests teeth were covered by thin lips

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Supermassive black holes are found at the centre of galaxies across the universe. But observations of galaxies with more than one – caused by the merging of two galaxies – have been rare. Now, researchers have combined data from a number of telescopes and satellites, to reveal a pair of supermassive blackholes farther from Earth than any pair detected previously. They hope this will offer insights into how galaxies form.

Research article: Chen et al.

News and Views: Distant supermassive black holes spotted in galaxy merger

Why appetite can increase after dieting, and gliding mammals’ flight-associated genes.

Research Highlight: Can’t keep off lost weight? Blame your ‘hunger cells’

Research Highlight: How gliding mammals developed the flaps for ‘flight’

A team of researchers and clinicians report results of a clinical trial designed to test the ability of an AI to accurately interpret echocardiogram images – a technique frequently used to assess heart health. The results showed that the AI was as good at measuring a metric of cardiac function as a trained human, but was able to speed up the diagnosing process, suggesting this method could play a role in improving healthcare in future.

Research article: He et al.

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we hear the ultrasonic sounds that stressed plants make, and discuss a 3D printed glass made from amino acids.

Nature News: Stressed plants ‘cry’ — and some animals can probably hear them

Nature News: 3D-printable glass is made from proteins and biodegrades

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Last month, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing an estimated 50,000 people. Two decades ago, researchers suggested that an earthquake in this area was likely, but exactly where and when it would strike were unknown.

This shows both the promise — and limitations — of the science of earthquake forecasting. Years of research suggest that it may be impossible to predict exactly when an earthquake will occur. As a result, many in the field have now shifted to identifying high risk fault segments to help policymakers take steps to avoid death and destruction.

This is an audio version of our Feature: What Turkey’s earthquake tells us about the science of seismic forecasting

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A team of researchers have repurposed tiny syringe-like structures produced by some bacteria to deliver molecules directly into human cells. They hope that this method could be used to overcome a big challenge in modern medicine, namely ensuring that therapeutics are delivered into the precise cells that need to be treated.

Research article: Kreitz et al.

News and Views: Mix-and-match tools for protein injection into cells

A diamond-like material could protect spacecraft from intense radiation, and how gene editing could help in the treatment of a rare genetic condition.

Research Highlight: A gem of a material could provide a shield for spacecraft

Research Highlight: Gene editing holds promise for babies with deadly immune disease

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide and it can be debilitating. Research into the condition has come a long way in the past few years, but this knowledge hasn’t necessarily resulted in better outcomes for those with chronic pain. Nature’s Lucy Odling-Smee has written a Feature article on the topic, and she joined us to discuss why this disparity exists, and about her own experiences of chronic pain.

News Feature: Chronic pain: the long road to discovery

Resources for chronic pain: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/chronic-pain; https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/pain/ways-to-manage-chronic-pain/

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please reach out. You can find help through a suicide-prevention line: see https://findahelpline.com for information.

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Truly autonomous vehicles, ones that don't require a driver to be present and are driven by AI, aren't yet safe for public use. Part of the reason for this is it has been difficult to train them to deal with rare dangerous situations. Now researchers are unveiling a new approach to present lots of these infrequent events to the AI very rapidly, speeding up the training and testing process.

Research Article: Feng et al.

News and Views: Hazards help autonomous cars to drive safely

Video: The driving test for driverless cars

How bird-flu is adapting to mammals, and the effect of negative headlines.

Research Highlight: Bird-flu virus makes itself at home in Canada’s foxes and skunks

Research Highlight: It’s bad! Awful! Negative headlines draw more readers

Bats are known to tolerate a lot of viruses that are deadly to humans without much issue. With the ongoing pandemic, this has driven researchers to dive more into the world of bats in the hopes of applying bats' tolerance to humans. Reporter Smriti Mallapaty has been writing about this renewed interest and she joined us to tell us more.

News Feature: Bats live with dozens of nasty viruses — can studying them help stop pandemics?

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Researchers have engineered bacteria with synthetic genomes to be immune to viral infection. The team streamlined the bacteria’s genetic code, and re-engineered the protein-producing machinery to insert the wrong amino acid if used by a virus, effectively making the bacteria ‘speak’ a different language to any invaders. It’s hoped that this technique could be used to reduce unwanted sharing of genes from modified organisms.

Research article: Nyerges et al.

News & Views: Synthetic bacterial genome upgraded for viral defence and biocontainment

Estimating the methane output of an enormous wetland ecosystem, and how honeybees improve their dance moves with a little help from their elders.

Research Highlight: Methane from one of Earth’s largest wetland complexes is set to soar

Research Highlight: Watch them waggle: bees dance better after lessons from elders

Magnetic resonance imaging is a standard technique in clinical care. However many people, particularly those living in low- and middle-income countries have limited access to this technology. To address this, new types of smaller MRI scanners are being designed that are more affordable and practical for use in rural settings or small clinics. We hear from a researcher working on one of these systems about ways improve them and ensure they are available to all.

Comment: Five steps to make MRI scanners more affordable to the world

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how researchers have developed embryos from two male mice and new claims of room-temperature superconductivity.

News: The mice with two dads: scientists create eggs from male cells

Quanta Magazine: Room-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Meets With Resistance

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Smoke from the devastating Australian wildfires of 2019-2020 led to a reduction in ozone levels in the upper atmosphere, but it’s been unclear how. Now, a team proposes that smoke’s particulate matter can enhance the production of ozone depleting chemicals, matching satellite observations during the Australian fires. The results spark concerns that future wildfires, which are set to grow more frequent with ongoing climate change, will undo much of the progress towards restoration of the ozone layer.

Research article: Solomon et al.

News & Views: How wildfires deplete ozone in the stratosphere

A global analysis of bats reveals the species most likely to be hunted by humans, and the stem cells that allow deer antlers to regrow.

Research Highlight: Big bats fly towards extinction with hunters in pursuit

Research Highlight: Mice grow ‘mini-antlers’ thanks to deers’ speedy stem cells

Recent global crises have highlighted the fragility of the interconnected systems involved in getting food from farm to fork. However, siloed datasets have made it hard to predict what the exact impacts of these events will be. In a World View for Nature, researcher Zia Mehrabi argues that precise virtual models like those used in the aerospace industry should be developed for food systems. These so-called ‘digital twins’ could inform global food policy before emergencies unfold.

World View: Sims-style ‘digital twin’ models can tell us if food systems will weather crises

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, what the stray dogs of Chernobyl could reveal about the effects of chronic radiation exposure, and the debate surrounding the fate of Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’.

News: What Chernobyl’s stray dogs could teach us about radiation

News: Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ spark conservation row

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Anxiety can make the heart beat faster, but could the reverse be true as well? That question has been much debated, but hard to test. Now, a team has shown that artificially increasing a mouse’s heart rate can induce anxiety-like behaviours, and identified an area in the brain that appears to be a key mediator of this response. They hope that this knowledge could help to improve therapies for treating anxiety-related conditions in the future.

Research article: Hsueh et al.

News & Views: How an anxious heart talks to the brain

The chance discovery of the smallest rock seen so far in the Solar System, and the first brain recording from a freely swimming octopus.

Research Highlight: Asteroid photobombs JWST practice shots

Research Highlight: How to measure the brain of an octopus

In September 2022, NASA’s DART spacecraft smashed into a space rock known as Dimorphos, which orbits a near-Earth asteroid. The aim of the mission was to test whether asteroids could be redirected as a method to protect Earth against future impacts. This week, multiple papers have been published describing what researchers have learnt about the impact and its aftermath. Reporter Alex Witze joined us to round up the findings.

News: Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft

Research article: Thomas et al.

Research article: Daly et al.

Research article: Li et al.

Research article: Cheng et al.

Research article: Graykowski et al.

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Twitter has become indispensable to many scientists. It is a place to share findings, raise their profile, and is even used as a source of data in many studies.

In recent months though, the site has been in turmoil after a swathe of policy changes in light of Elon Musk's takeover. Never a stranger to misinformation and abuse, these problems have reportedly gotten worse. Additionally, the ability to use Twitter as a source of data is in peril, and malfunctions are more commonplace.

In this episode of Nature's Take we discuss how these changes are affecting the platform and the knock-on effects on science.

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Imprinting is a quirk of the immune system in which someone’s initial exposure to a virus biases their immune response when they meet the same virus again.

Studies are showing how imprinting shapes people’s responses to SARS-CoV-2; those infected with earlier strains can mount weaker responses to a later Omicron infection.

This phenomenon is dampening the hope that variant-tailored boosters will markedly reduce transmission of the virus, although researchers agree that variant-tailored boosters are worth getting because they still provide some immunity, and prevent serious illness.

This is an audio version of our Feature: How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity

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Researchers have developed a method to directly edit the genes of specific bacteria in the guts of live mice, something that has previously been difficult to accomplish due to the complexity of this environment. The tool was able to edit over 90% of an E. coli strain colonising mice guts, with other work showing the tool could be used to edit genes in pathogenic bacterial species and strains. It is hoped that with further research this technique could be adapted to work in humans, potentially altering bacteria associated with disease.

Nature News: This gene-editing tool alters bacteria in the gut of living mice

Research Article: Brödel et al.

The ants that perform life-saving surgery on their nest-mates, and why amber’s scarcity led ancient artisans to make imitation jewellery.

Research Highlight: Ants amputate their nest-mates’ legs to save lives

Research Highlight: Fake jewellery from the Stone Age looks like the real deal

During breastfeeding bones are stripped of calcium, while levels of oestrogen — which normally helps keep them healthy — drop off precipitously. This puts bones under tremendous stress, but why they don’t break down at this time has proved a mystery. Now, a team has identified a hormone produced in lactating mice that promotes the build up of bones, keeping them strong during milk production. Injecting this hormone into injured mice helped their bones heal faster, and the team hopes that their finding could ultimately help treat bone-weakening conditions like osteoporosis in humans.

Research Article: Babey et al.

This time, new clues about the neurological events that spark migraines, and a quick chemical method to recycle old clothes.

Nature News: What causes migraines? Study of ‘brain blackout’ offers clues

Nature News: Chemical recycling’: 15-minute reaction turns old clothes into useful molecules

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To better visualise how electrons are ‘moving’ in materials, a team have developed the Quantum Twisting Microscope. This instrument puts two 2D layers of atoms into close contact, allowing them to interact, which can give useful information about their properties. The microscope can also rotate one of the layers, helping researchers look for so-called ‘magic angles’, where 2D materials like graphene can exhibit extraordinary properties.

Research article: Inbar et al.

News & Views: A twist in the bid to probe electrons in solids

How an extinct insect larvae’s prodigiously long ‘neck’ may have helped it hunt, and surveying the levels at which coastal cities are converting water into land.

Research Highlight: Extinct insects hunted like predatory giraffes

Research Highlight: Cities worldwide claw vast amounts of land from the sea

This week marks the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We discuss how science has fared in Ukraine over the past 12 months, and how international collaborations are shaping the future of research in the country.

News Feature: The fight to keep Ukrainian science alive through a year of war

Editorial: Rebuilding Ukrainian science can’t wait — here’s how to start

World View: Ukrainian science has survived against the odds — now let’s rebuild together

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the US Food and Drug Administration’s requirements to increase diversity in clinical trials, and research suggesting that snakes are better listeners than previously thought.

Nature News: FDA to require diversity plan for clinical trials

Science Alert: Snakes Can Hear You Better Than You Think

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In the past, increasing the speeds of electronics required designing smaller components, but further reductions in size are being hampered by increasing resistance. To get around this, researchers have demonstrated a ‘metadevice’, which prevents resistance building up by concentrating the flow of signals into specific regions of the device. The hope is that this meta-method could be used to create even smaller electrical components in the future.

Research article: Nikoo & Matioli

How waiting times for services are higher for people in the US with low incomes, and how your brain hears an alarm while you’re asleep.

Research Highlight: Who wastes more time waiting? Income plays a part

Research Highlight: Noise shatters deep sleep thanks to dedicated brain circuit

In the last ten years, levels of social media use and reported levels of mental health issues among adolescents have both increased. There is much concern that these trends are linked, but hard evidence has been hard to come by. So how can scientists get a better understanding of what’s going on? In a Comment article for Nature, researchers argue that, rather than lumping ‘young people’ into one homogeneous group, future studies should consider where they are in terms of their development, as this could influence the potential impacts of social media use.

Comment: How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss self-burying devices that can plant seeds in remote areas from the air, and scientists’ reactions to a talk by CRISPR-baby researcher He Jiankui.

Nature Video: This device corkscrews itself into the ground like a seed

Nature News: Disgraced CRISPR-baby scientist’s ‘publicity stunt’ frustrates researchers

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Quaoar is a small, rocky object that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. In an unexpected discovery, researchers have shown that this object has its own orbiting ring, similar to those seen encircling planets like Saturn. However, Quaoar’s ring shouldn’t exist, as it is at a distance far outside the theoretical limit at which rings are thought to be stable, and researchers are trying to figure out why.

Research article: Morgado et al.

News and Views: A planetary ring in a surprising place

A repurposed skin-disease drug suppresses alcohol consumption in people with alcohol-use disorder, and how volcanic eruptions may have contributed to social unrest in ancient Egypt.

Research Highlight: Pill for a skin disease also curbs excessive drinking

Research Highlight: Volcanic quartet linked to bad times in ancient Egypt

Exposure to polluted air has been linked to millions of deaths each year. But while much is known about the sources and impacts of outdoor air pollution, significantly less is understood about the pollution that people are exposed to indoors, despite it causing a significant health burden. In a Comment article for Nature, a group of researchers argue for more research in order to inform future public health initiatives.

Comment: Hidden harms of indoor air pollution — five steps to expose them

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the discovery of a new type of ice, and how caffeine’s kick comes at a cost.

Nature News: Scientists made a new kind of ice that might exist on distant moons

The Conversation: Nope, coffee won’t give you extra energy. It’ll just borrow a bit that you’ll pay for later

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Mummification was a significant part of ancient Egyptian culture but, despite decades of research, much is unknown about the substances and methods used during the process. Now a team have analysed the contents of ceramic vessels uncovered in an embalming workshop that dates back to around 600 BC. The results reveal that some substances assumed to be a single thing were actually mixtures, while some came from far outside Egypt, providing a clearer picture of ancient mummification practices.

Research article: Rageot et al.

News and Views: Recipes for ancient Egyptian mummification

Modelling how fruit wrinkles as it ages, and a trove of ancient animal skulls suggest Neanderthals may have collected hunting trophies.

Research Highlight: A chilli’s wrinkles and a cherry’s dimples explained

Research Highlight: Neanderthals stashed dozens of animal skulls in a cave — but why?

CAR-T therapies are a type of cancer immunotherapy in which part of a person’s immune system – their T cells – are engineered to recognise and attack tumours. While these therapies have been shown to be effective at treating certain blood cancers, they are expensive and can have serious side effects. We hear about efforts to tackle these issues and even expand the range of diseases that CAR-T could be used to treat.

News Feature: The race to supercharge cancer-fighting T cells

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, why scientists need to agree on what time it is on the Moon, and the liquid-metal robots that can melt and re-form.

Nature News: What time is it on the Moon?

New Scientist: Metal robot can melt its way out of tight spaces to escape

Nature Video: The race to make a variant-proof COVID vaccine

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A new generation of anti-obesity medications are displaying striking results: drastically diminishing weight, without the serious side effects of previous medications.

These drugs have raised hopes the weight can be pharmacologically altered in a safe way, but some researchers are concerned about the drugs' high cost, and that these medications could feed into some societies' obsessions with thinness.

This is an audio version of our Feature: The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

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Nerve damage is a common complication of diabetes, and can even lead to limb amputation. Thus far, the only way for people to slow its onset is by managing their diet and lifestyle. Now though, research in mice shows how the amino acid serine may be key to this nerve damage, suggesting a potential role for the molecule in future therapeutics.

Research article: Handzlik et al.

News and Views: Serine deficiency causes complications in diabetes

DNA from chickens is spreading to their wild relatives, and a hidden magma chamber is revealed beneath an underwater volcano.

Research Highlight: Chickens’ DNA is fouling the genomes of their wild relatives

Research Highlight: Underwater volcano near Greece is a sleeping menace

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time: how the Hubble Telescope is still helping scientists, and the multimillion-dollar trade of paper authorships.

Nature News: Why the Hubble telescope is still in the game — even as JWST wows

Nature News: Multimillion-dollar trade in paper authorships alarms publishers

Nature Video: Drowning in seaweed: How to stop invasive Sargassum

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Scientists have shown that a specially designed laser can divert the course of lightning strikes in a real-world setting. The team fired the laser into the sky above a communications tower high in the Swiss Alps and altered the course of four strikes. In future they hope that this kind of system could be used to protect large infrastructure, such as airports.

Research article: Houard et al.

News: This rapid-fire laser diverts lightning strikes

The crabs that lean on bacteria to detoxify sulfur from hydrothermal vents, and how a persons’ nasal microbes might exacerbate their hay fever.

Research Highlight: Crabs endure a hellish setting — with help from friends

Research Highlight: Plagued by hay fever? Blame your nasal microbes

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time: how “hot mixing” has helped ancient Roman concrete stand the test of time, and the first vaccine for honeybees shows promise.

Ars Technica: Ancient Roman concrete could self-heal thanks to “hot mixing” with quicklime

New York Times: U.S.D.A. Approves First Vaccine for Honeybees

Nature Video: 3D printing adds a twist with a novel nozzle

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In this episode of the Nature Podcast, we catch up on some science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing.

We’ll hear: how Brazil’s President Lula has started to make good on his pro-environment promises; a new theory for why giant ichthyosaurs congregated in one place; how glass frogs hide their blood; about a new statue honouring Henrietta Lacks; and why T. rex might have cooed like a dove.

Nature News: Will Brazil’s President Lula keep his climate promises?

Science News: Mysterious ichthyosaur graveyard may have been a breeding ground

The Atlantic: How Glass Frogs Weave the World’s Best Invisibility Cloak

BBC News: Statue of Henrietta Lacks will replace Robert E Lee

Books & Arts: The woman behind HeLa

Editorial: Henrietta Lacks: science must right a historical wrong

News: Wealthy funder pays reparations for use of HeLa cells

BBC Futures: What did dinosaurs sound like?

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In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2023. We'll hear about vaccines, multiple Moon missions and new therapeutics, to name but a few.

News: the science events to look out for in 2023

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In April, we heard how a team investigated whether switching from face-to-face to virtual meetings came at a cost to creativity. 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.

Nature Podcast: 27 April 2022

Research article: Brucks & Levav

Video: Why video calls are bad for brainstorming

The Black Death is estimated to have caused the deaths of up to 60% of the population of Europe. However, the origin of this wave of disease has remained unclear. In June, we heard from a team who used a combination of techniques to identify a potential starting point in modern-day Kyrgyzstan.

Nature Podcast: 15 June 2022

Research article: Spyrou et al.

Hippos’ habit of aggressively spraying dung when they hear a stranger, and why being far from humans helps trees live a long life.

Ten years ago, scientists announced that they’d found evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle first theorised to exist nearly sixty years earlier. We reminisced about what the discovery meant at the time, and what questions are left to be answered about this mysterious particle.

Nature Podcast: 06 July 2022

Nature News: Happy birthday, Higgs boson! What we do and don’t know about the particle

In this episode of Coronapod we investigated a radical new collaboration between 15 countries — co-led by the WHO, and modelled on open-science — that aims to create independent vaccine hubs that could supply the global south. This project was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Coronapod: 29 July 2022

News Feature: The radical plan for vaccine equity

In September, we heard about the discovery of a skeleton with an amputated foot, dated to 31,000 years ago. The person whose foot was removed survived the procedure, which the researchers behind the find say shows the ‘surgeon’ must have had detailed knowledge of anatomy.

Nature Podcast: 07 September 2022

Research article: Maloney et al.

News and Views: Earliest known surgery was of a child in Borneo 31,000 years ago

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Researchers have been scanning the skies looking for black holes that formed at the very beginning of the Universe — one place where elusive and mysterious dark matter is thought to be located. If these black holes did contain dark matter, they would be especially massive and so researchers would be able to see the bending of light as they pass in front of stars. Such events would be rare, so to find them researchers trawled through a decades-long dataset. However, despite the large number of observations, the researchers didn't find many examples of these events and none that were long enough to show signs of much dark matter. So, the hunt for enigmatic material goes on.

Research Article: Mróz et al.

How some comb jellies survive the crushing ocean depths, and how giving cash to mothers in low-income households can boost time and money spent on children.

Research Highlight: Deep-sea creatures survive crushing pressures with just the right fats

Research Highlight: Families given cash with no strings spend more money on kids

A simple ‘sauna’ built of bricks and a supermarket-bought greenhouse, can help frogs rid themselves of a devastating fungal disease, new research has shown. While options to prevent or treat infection are limited, the fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis has an achilles heel: it can’t survive at warm temperatures. A team in Australia used this knowledge to their advantage to develop saunas where frogs can warm themselves to clear an infection. Frogs who spent time in these hot environments were able to shake the fungus, and gained some immunity to subsequent infections. While this research only involved one type of frog, it offers some hope in tackling a deadly disease that has driven multiple species to extinction.

Research Article: Waddle et al.

News and Views: Mini saunas save endangered frogs from fungal disease

This time, we discuss what the upcoming UK election could mean for science, and the return of rock samples from the Moon’s far side.

Nature News: UK general election: five reasons it matters for science

Nature News: First ever rocks from the Moon’s far side have landed on Earth

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In the first of our festive songs, we celebrate some of the big space missions from this year: Artemis which aims to get people back to the moon, and DART which could help defend the Earth from meteor strikes.

In this year’s festive game, our competitors work together to try and figure out some Nature Podcast headlines where all the words have been removed. Find out how they get on…

Research Highlight: Why does fat return after dieting? The microbiome might have a hand

Research Highlight: Revealed: massive Maya structures built by vast labour forces

Every year, Nature’s 10 highlights some of the people who have shaped science. We hear about a few of the people who made the 2022 list.

Nature’s 10

In our final song this year, we imagine ourselves in a wintry lab thinking on genetic data from the Omicron variant of coronavirus…

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This week, a team of researchers working with the World Health Organization have used statistical modelling to estimate the number of excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The work estimates that there were almost 15 million deaths either directly or indirectly attributed to the pandemic, almost three times higher than the official toll.

Research article: Msemburi et al.

News and Views: Global estimates of excess deaths from COVID-19

Editorial: Missing data mean we’ll probably never know how many people died of COVID

Why dinosaurs' tail clubs may actually have been used to battle rivals, and the ancient images that make up the earliest known narrative scene.

Research Highlight: Dinosaurs bashed each other with built-in tail clubs

Research Highlight: Prehistoric carvings are oldest known story sequence

Stark figures show that the representation of scientists from minority ethnic groups dwindles at each stage of UK academia. To get a sense of the issue and what can be done to tackle it, we spoke to Mahrukh Shameem, a PhD student and an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion.

News Feature: How UK science is failing Black researchers — in nine stark charts

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how the text-generating AI OpenGPT could spell the end for student essays, and what the successful test of NASA’s Orion capsule means for the Artemis programme.

Nature News: AI bot ChatGPT writes smart essays — should professors worry?

Nature News: NASA’s Orion Moon capsule splashes down! Here’s what’s next

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In this episode:

DNA recovered from ancient permafrost has been used to reconstruct what an ecosystem might have looked like two million years ago. Their work suggests that Northern Greenland was much warmer than the frozen desert it is today, with a rich ecosystem of plants and animals.

Research Article: Kjær et al.

Nature Video: The world's oldest DNA: Extinct beasts of ancient Greenland

Why low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol don’t predict heart disease risk in Black people, and how firework displays affect the flights of geese.

Research Highlight: ‘Good’ cholesterol readings can lead to bad results for Black people

Research Highlight: New Year’s fireworks chase wild geese high into the sky

While the global demand for plastics is growing, the manufacturing and disposal of these ubiquitous materials is responsible for significant CO2 emissions each year. This week, a team have modelled how CO2 emissions could vary in the context of different strategies for mitigating climate change. They reveal how under specific conditions the industry could potentially become a carbon sink.

Research Article: Stegmann et al.

News and Views: Plastics can be a carbon sink but only under stringent conditions

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In the second episode of Nature hits the books, science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince joins us to talk about her new book Nomad Century, which looks at how climate change could render large parts of the globe uninhabitable, and how surviving this catastrophe will require a planned migration of people on a scale never seen before in human history.

Nomad Century, Gaia Vince, Allen Lane (2022)

Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound/Getty images.

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Ant larvae metamorphose into adults by pupating. It was assumed that these inert pupae don’t play a role in the wider ant colony, but a team of researchers have found that they actually secrete a fluid that is consumed by both adult ants and larvae. This fluid is rich in proteins and metabolites, and appears to be an important source of larval nutrition. These secretions have now been seen in the pupae of multiple ant species, suggesting it is an evolutionary ancient behaviour.

Research Article: Snir et al.

News and Views: A fluid role in ant society as adults give larvae ‘milk’ from pupae

Ancient chefs made bitter plants taste better by soaking and grinding, and an electric fishing-hook attachment that reduces accidental catches of sharks and rays.

Research Highlight: Prehistoric rubbish hints that early cooks cared about flavour

Research Highlight: Off the hook: electrical device keeps sharks away from fishing lines

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how analysing mosquito blood meals could reveal evidence of infection in people and animals, and how prolific data generation has driven the need for new metric unit prefixes.

Nature News: Mosquito blood meals reveal history of human infections

Nature News: How many yottabytes in a quettabyte? Extreme numbers get new names

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Big data is playing an increasingly important role in football, with technologies capturing huge amounts of information about players' positions and actions during a match.

To make sense of all this information, most elite football teams now employ data analysts plucked from top companies and laboratories. Their insights are helping to steer everything from player transfers to the intensity of training, and have even altered how the game is played.

This is an audio version of our Feature: Science and the World Cup: how big data is transforming football

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Satellite navigation has revolutionized how humans find their way. However, these systems often struggle in urban areas, where buildings can interfere with weak satellite signals. To counter this, a team has developed an alternative, satellite-free system, which could improve applications that require precise positioning in cities, such as self-driving cars.

Research Article: Koelemeij et al.

News and Views: Phone signals can help you find your way in cities even without GPS

How deforestation is the biggest threat to a rare lemur’s existence, and ultraviolet-activated molecules can kick-start plastic polymerization.

Research Highlight: This rare primate will not survive deforestation

Research Highlight: Lights, chemical reaction! Plastics take shape with help from UV light

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a survey reveals the challenges facing international postgraduate students, and the key takeaways from COP27.

Nature Careers: Obstacle race: the barriers facing graduates who study abroad

Nature News: COP27 climate talks: what succeeded, what failed and what’s next

New York Times: U.N. Climate Talks End With a Deal to Pay Poor Nations for Damage

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NASA’s Artemis 1 mission has successfully reached Earth orbit. After weeks of delays and issues, and a nail biting launch, the rocket marks the first step in a new era of moon exploration, with plans to test a new way to return astronauts to the moon. We caught up with reporter for all-things-space, Alex Witze, for the latest.

News: Lift off! Artemis Moon rocket launch kicks off new era of human exploration

The unlevel playing field in women’s football, and domed structures provide evidence for a biological origin of stromatolites.

Research Article: Okholm Kryger et al.

Research Article: Hickman-Lewis et al.

Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that affects millions of people every year. Whilst the biggest risk factor of late-onset Alzheimer’s is age, there are a number of genes that have been implicated. How exactly these genes underpin this disease is unclear, but new research may now reveal how one of them does so, by affecting the myelination of neurons. The authors hope this work may help uncover treatments for Alzheimer’s.

Research Article: Blanchard et al.

News and Views: Alzheimer’s risk variant APOE4 linked to myelin-assembly malfunction

The second week of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference is underway, as policymakers and scientists try to come together to tackle climate change. Flora Graham, senior editor at Nature is in Egypt at the conference and we caught up with her for the latest.

News: ‘Actions, not just words’: Egypt’s climate scientists share COP27 hopes

News: Carbon emissions hit new high: warning from COP27

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Kathleen Folbigg has spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of killing her four children. But in 2018, a group of scientists began gathering evidence that suggested another possibility for the deaths — that at least two of them were attributable to a genetic mutation that can affect heart function. A judicial inquiry in 2019 failed to reverse Folbigg’s conviction, but this month, the researchers will present new evidence at a second inquiry, which could ultimately spell freedom for Folbigg.

This is an audio version of our Feature: She was convicted of killing her four children. Could a gene mutation set her free?

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Heavy water is molecule very similar to H2O but with deuterium isotopes in the place of hydrogen atoms. Heavy water is useful in nuclear reactions, drug design and nutritional studies, but it's difficult to separate from normal water because they have such similar properties. Now, a team have developed a new separation method using tiny molecular cages, which they hope opens up more energy efficient ways to produce heavy water.

Research article: Su et al.

News and Views: A molecular flip-flop for separating heavy water

How dancers can feel the beat even when they can’t hear it, and how climate change might move desert dunes.

Research Highlight: Dancers pick up the pace on a bass beat — even though it’s inaudible

Research Highlight: Desert dunes pose more danger as Earth warms

Bridges are vital pieces of infrastructure but their structural health is hard to monitor, requiring either sophisticated sensors or intense surveying by human engineers. Now though, researchers have utilized large amounts of smartphone accelerometer data to check the health of the Golden Gate Bridge. They hope this new technique can be used to effectively and cheaply monitor bridges around the world.

Research Article: Matarazzo et al.

Communications Engineering special issue: Resilient Infrastructure

This week the 27th UN Climate Change Conference began, with world leaders, scientists and activists coming together to continue negotiations aimed at reining in global warming. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joined us to talk about what’s been happening and what to expect, as the conference continues.

News: Climate change is costing trillions — and low-income countries are paying the price

News: As COP27 kicks off, Egypt warns wealthy nations against ‘backsliding’

News: COP27 climate summit: what scientists are watching

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In 2026, NASA aims to send humans back to the Moon's surface, as part of the Artemis III mission. In preparation, astronauts have been performing moonwalking simulations to ensure that they are able to make the most of their precious time on the lunar surface. In one dress rehearsal, a pair of astronauts took part in a training exercise in an Arizona volcanic field, working with a science team to practice doing geology work in difficult conditions designed to mimic some that will be experienced at the lunar south pole.

This is an audio version of our Feature: How NASA astronauts are training to walk on the Moon in 2026

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Companies are offering genetic tests of embryos generated by in vitro fertilization that they say allow prospective parents to choose those with the lowest risk for diseases such as diabetes or certain cancers. However, some researchers are concerned about the accuracy and ethics of these tests.

This is an audio version of our Feature: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby

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It's long been assumed flies’ eyes don’t move, and so to alter their gaze they need to move their heads. Now, researchers have shown that this isn’t quite true and that fruit flies can actually move their retinas using a specific set of muscles, which may allow them to perceive depth. The team also hope that this movement may provide a window into some of the flies’ internal processes.

Research article: Fenk et al.

How the 80-year-old wreck of a sunken warship is influencing ocean microbes, and tracing an epilepsy-related gene variant back to a single person from 800 years ago.

Research Highlight: A ship sunk during the Second World War still stirs up the seabed

Research Highlight: Families on three continents inherited their epilepsy from a single person

The eyes of the world will be focused on the UN’s upcoming COP27 conference to see what governments will pledge to do to reduce global emissions. But there’s one sector of countries’ carbon outputs that remains something of a mystery: the emissions of their militaries. We speak to Oliver Belcher, one of a group of researchers who have written a Comment article for Nature, calling for better reporting and greater accountability for these military emissions.

Comment: Decarbonize the military — mandate emissions reporting

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time: efforts from Middle East countries to cut greenhouse-gas emissions while still supplying fossil fuels; the upcoming demise of NASA’s InSight spacecraft; and new estimates for how long bacteria could survive on Mars.

Nature News: The Middle East is going green — while supplying oil to others

Nature News: NASA spacecraft records epic ‘marsquakes’ as it prepares to die

New Scientist: Bacteria could survive just under Mars's surface for 280 million years

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When COVID-19 hit it didn't kill indiscriminately. In the US, being Black, Hispanic, or Native American meant you had a much greater risk of death than if you were white. And these disparities are mirrored across the world.

In this episode we explore the complex tale behind this disparity. Throughout history, racism and biases have been embedded within medical technology, along the clinicians who use it. Cultural concepts of race have been falsely conflated with biology. The way medicine is taught, has reinforced flawed stereotypes. Disease itself, has been racialised. All of this adds up to barriers to care and worse health outcomes for many people, just because of the colour of their skin.

Science and scientists have played an influential part in embedding such racism into medicine But by challenging received wisdom science too has the power to right wrongs, and work towards solutions.

Read more of Nature's coverage of racism in science.

Click here for our list of sources

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