Episodes
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02:54 The death star moon and a win for the little guys
The shifting orbit of one of Saturn’s moons indicates that the satellite has a subsurface ocean, contradicting theories that its interior is entirely solid. The finding calls for a fresh take on what constitutes an ocean moon.
Nature Podcast: 14 February 2024
News and Views: Mimas’s surprise ocean prompts an update of the rule book for moons
07:05 Could red mud make green steel?Millions of tonnes of ‘red mud’, a hazardous waste of aluminium production, are generated annually. A potentially sustainable process for treating this mud shows that it could become a source of iron for making steel.
Nature Podcast: 24 Jan 2024
News and Views: Iron extracted from hazardous waste of aluminium production
12:09 A hierarchy of failureA design principle for buildings incorporates components that can control the propagation of failure by isolating parts of the structure as they fail — offering a way to prevent a partial collapse snowballing into complete destruction.
Nature podcast: 15 May 2024
Nature video: Controlled failure: The building designed to limit catastrophe
News and Views: Strategic links save buildings from total collapse
17:57 Programable enzyme for genpme editingRNA-guided recombinase enzymes have been discovered that herald a new chapter for genome editing — enabling the insertion, inversion or deletion of long DNA sequences at user-specified genome positions.
News and Views: Programmable RNA-guided enzymes for next-generation genome editing
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01:11 “Ozempic you’re able”
In the first of our annual festive songs celebrating the science of the past year, we pay homage to Ozempic, or Semaglutide, that's able to tackle obesity, diabetes and potentially a whole lot more.
05:20 A very scientific quizWe gather an all-star cast and see how well they can remember some of the big science stories from 2024 in our annual festive quiz.
21:31 “CAR T Cells”In the second of our festive songs, we look at CAR-T cells. These engineered immune cells have shown great promise at tackling cancer, but these treatments are not without their drawbacks.
25:43 Nature’s 10Every year, Nature’s 10 highlights some of the people who have helped shape science over the past 12 months. We hear about a few of the people who made the 2024 list, including an economist who now needs to run a country, a Russian science-sleuth, a researcher who’s been sounding the alarm on Mpox, and a PhD student who won a salary bump for researchers in Canada.
News Feature: Nature’s 10
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Categorizing things is central to science. And there are dozens of systems scientists have created to name everything from the trenches on the sea bed to the stars in the sky.
But names have consequences — unintended or otherwise. In our new series What’s in a name we’ll explore naming in science and how names impact the world — whether that’s how the names of storms impact public safety, how the names of diseases impact patient care, or even how the names of scientific concepts can drive the direction of research itself.
In this first episode we’re looking at species names. The modern system of species naming began in the 1700s and has played a vital role in standardizing academic communication, ensuring that scientists are on the same page when they talk about an organism. However, this system is not without its issues. For example, there has been much debate around whether species with names considered offensive — such as those named after historical racists — should be changed, and what rule changes need to be made to allow this to happen.
We speak to researchers about the history of this naming system, how it’s applied and how it might evolve in the face of growing pressures.
Sources
For a full list of sources, please visit https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04200-9
Music credits
Premiumaudio/Pond5
Alon Marcus/Pond5
Groove Committee/Pond5
Opcono/Pond5
Erik Mcnerny/Pond5
Earless Pierre/Pond5
Richard Smithson/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
Douglas Romayne/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
Sound effects via Pond5
Thick-billed Longspur/Andrew Spencer via CC BY-NC-ND 2.5
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00:45 A potential treatment for pre-eclampsia
Researchers have shown in mice experiments that an mRNA-based therapy can reverse the underlying causes of pre-eclampsia, a deadly complication of pregnancy for which treatment options are limited. Inspired by the success of mRNA vaccines, the team behind the work designed a method to deliver the genomic instructions for a blood-vessel growth factor directly into mouse placentas. This stimulated the production of extra blood vessels reducing the very high-blood pressure associated with the condition. Pre-eclampsia causes 15% of maternal deaths and 25% of foetal and newborn deaths worldwide and although the work is early and human trials will be required, the team hope that this work demonstrates the potential of using this approach to treat pre-eclampsia.
Research Article: Swingle et al.
11:00 Research HighlightsStacks of, mass-produced bowls suggest that people founded, but then abandoned an ancient Mesopotamian civilization, and analysis of Venus’s gases suggests that the planet was always dry.
Research Highlight: Ancient stacks of dishes tell tale of society’s dissolution
Research Highlight: Has Venus ever had an ocean? Its volcanoes hint at an answer
13:29 Programmable cellular switchesA team of scientists have created cellular switches on the surface of cells, allowing them to control their behaviour. Creating these switches has been a long-term goal for synthetic biologists — especially a group of proteins called G-protein-coupled receptors that already control many cellular processes. However, engineering these proteins has been challenging, as modifications can ruin their function. Instead, the team added another molecular component that blocked the receptors activity, but could be removed in response to specific signals. This allowed the researchers to activate these receptors on command, potentially opening up a myriad of new ways to control cell behaviour, such as controlling when neurons fire.
Research Article: Kalogriopoulos et al.
19:35 Google reaches a milestone in quantum computingA team at Google has shown it is possible to create a quantum computer that becomes more accurate as it scales up, a goal researchers have been trying to achieve for decades. Quantum computing could potentially open up applications beyond the capabilities of classical computers, but these systems are error-prone, making it difficult to scale them up without introducing errors into calculations. The team showed that by increasing the quality of all the components in a quantum computer they could create a system with fewer errors, and that this trend of improvement continued as the system became larger. This breakthrough could mean that quantum computers are getting very close to realising the useful applications that their proponents have long promised.
Nature: ‘A truly remarkable breakthrough’: Google’s new quantum chip achieves accuracy milestone
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Zoologist Arik Kershenbaum has spent his career studying animals and how they communicate in the wild. In his book Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication, Arik takes a deep dive into the various forms of communication, from wolf howls to gibbon songs, to look at how different species get their points across, why they do it the way they do, and what insights they provide into our own use of language.
Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication Arik Kershenbaum Penguin (2024)
Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
Wolf howl via NPS & MSU Acoustic Atlas/Jennifer Jerrett
Slowed down dolphin whistle via Arik Kershenbaum
Hyrax song via Arik Kershenbaum
Pileated gibbon song via Rushenb CC BY-SA 4.0
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00:48 Chemotherapy efficacy varies with the menstrual cycle
Breast cancer cells are more susceptible to chemotherapy at certain points in the menstrual cycle, new data in Nature suggests. Researchers studied the equivalent hormonal cycle in mice and found that during the oestrous phase, where progesterone levels are low, tumours are more susceptible to chemotherapy. The same effect was shown in humans in a small retrospective study. The team caution that a larger clinical trial would need to be conducted, but hope that this work could open up an, easy to implement, way to boost the effect of chemotherapy.
Research Article: Bornes et al.
News and Views: What is the best time of the month to treat breast cancer?
09:22 Research HighlightsHow coffee changes your gut microbiota, and the first amber deposits found in Antarctica hint at an ancient rainforest.
Research Highlight: Do you drink coffee? Ask your gut
Research Highlight: Antarctica’s first known amber whispers of a vanished rainforest
11:47 Is human-level artificial intelligence close?The latest AI system released by OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, is better able to break down problems into smaller chunks, making it closer to a human way of solving problems than other systems. This has reignited discussions about the likelihood of AIs achieving human-level intelligence. Although previously the realm of science fiction, researchers are now taking the idea of ‘artificial general intelligence’, or AGI, more seriously. Although this technology has the potential to help tackle humanity's biggest challenges, there are concerns about the safety of such technology if it were to become autonomous.
News Feature: How close is AI to human-level intelligence?
21:43 Briefing ChatHow making a bank of centenarians’ stem cells could help unlock the secrets of healthy ageing, and what some 1.5 million year old footprints reveal about how ancient hominin species may have interacted.
Nature: What’s the secret to living to 100? Centenarian stem cells could offer clues
Nature: These two ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years ago
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AI tools that help researchers design new proteins have resulted in a boom in designer molecules. However, these proteins are being churned out faster than they can be made and tested in labs.
To overcome this, multiple protein-design competitions have popped up, with the aim of sifting out the functional from the fantastical. But while contests have helped drive key scientific advances in the past, it's unclear how to identify which problems to tackle and how best to select winners objectively.
This is an audio version of our Feature: AI has dreamt up a blizzard of new proteins. Do any of them actually work?
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00:50 Fossilised faeces give news insights into dinosaurs’ diets and rise
A huge collection of fossilised digestive contents has provided clues as to how dinosaurs grew to become the dominant animals on the planet. Why these animals rose to dominance has been unclear, with one theory proposing that a chance event wiped out other species, whereas another suggests that dinosaurs had adaptations that better allowed them to thrive. By analysing over 500 vomit and faeces fossils, researchers have better identified what dinosaurs ate, and their interactions with other animals. The new work suggests both of these theories are correct, with dinosaurs benefiting from one or the other at different points in time. The researchers believe this work demonstrates how useful fossilised food contents are for understanding these ancient creatures.
Research Article: Qvarnström et al.
News and Views: Wastes of time — faeces and vomit track how dinosaurs rose to prominence
News: Fossilized poo and vomit shows how dinosaurs rose to rule Earth
10:05 Research HighlightsBacteria found on an asteroid actually came from Earth, and why play helps chimps to cooperate.
Research Highlight: Bacteria found on a space rock turn out to be Earth-grown
Research Highlight: Chimps tickle and wrestle in play to pave the way for teamwork
12:46 A commensal fungus found in mouse gutsBy testing mice across the United States, researchers have identified a fungus that is well adapted to living in the gastrointestinal tracts of mice, an important step in modelling the role these microorganisms play in the body. Fungi are known to be a constituent of the gut microbiome, but very little is known about what they do. Now, a team has identified that the fungus Kazachstania pintolopesii is likely a long-term resident of mice guts, which they hope will allow them to study how these microbes interact with the immune system, and the role they play in host defence and allergies.
Research Article: Liao et al.
21:57 The key takeaways from COP29The United Nations annual climate change conference, COP29, finished last week. Largely the discussions revolved around climate finance — the idea that wealthier countries who have benefitted most from past carbon emissions should pay to help poorer, vulnerable countries adapt to the effects of climate change. Although a last minute agreement was hammered out at the conference, not everyone was happy with the text and promised actions. We discuss this and the other key outcomes of COP29.
Nature: Is the COP29 climate deal a historic breakthrough or letdown? Researchers react
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00:45 A squid-inspired device for needle-free drug delivery
Inspired by squids’ ability to shoot ink, a team of researchers have developed swallowable devices that can deliver tiny jets of drugs directly into the gut lining, circumventing the need for needles. Previous studies have shown that most people prefer to take medication in pill form, rather than as an injection, but many drugs are degraded as they pass through the digestive system. The team’s new swallowable devices overcome this issue, and deliver drugs directly to where they need to be. So far, this approach has shown efficacy in animal models, but more work needs to be done to ensure their safety in humans.
Research Article: Arrick et al.
10:50 Research HighlightsThe largest ‘terror bird’ fossil ever found, and a simple solution to help prevent premature births.
Research Highlight: Huge carnivorous ‘terror bird’ rivalled the giant panda in size
Research Highlight: Reducing pregnancy risk could be as easy as chewing gum
12:52 A milder way to break down ‘forever chemicals’.Two papers describe how light-activated catalysts could be used to break down toxic ‘forever chemicals’, hinting at a new way to clean up pollution caused by these persistent compounds. Forever chemicals contain multiple carbon-fluorine bonds that give them useful physical properties, but these bonds are some of the strongest in organic chemistry, making these compounds energetically difficult to break down. The new, light-based methods demonstrate low-energy ways to sever these bonds, a milestone that could make forever chemicals less permanent.
Research Article: Zhang et al.
Research Article: Liu et al.
News and Views: Catalysts degrade forever chemicals with visible light
21:04 Briefing ChatAnalysis of far-side soil highlights the Moon’s turbulent past, and how CRISPR can help make sweeter tomatoes.
Nature: First rocks returned from Moon’s far side reveal ancient volcanic activity
CNN: Findings from the first lunar far side samples raise new questions about the moon’s history
Nature: CRISPR builds a big tomato that’s actually sweet
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00:46 The role of skull bone marrow in ageing
During ageing, bone marrow in the skull becomes an increasingly important site of blood-cell production. This is in stark contrast to most bones where the ability of marrow to make blood and immune cells declines. Studies in mice and humans showed that ageing results in skull bone-marrow expanding, and in mice this marrow was more resistant to inflammation and other hallmarks of ageing. The team behind the work hope by understanding this process better it may be possible to help organs become more resistant to ageing.
Research Article: Koh et al.
08:56 Research HighlightsElderly big brown bats show remarkable resistance to age-related hearing loss, and why search-engine algorithms may not be the main driver steering people towards misinformation.
Research Highlight: No hearing aids needed: bats’ ears stay keen well into old age
Research Highlight: Don’t blame search engines for sending users to unreliable sites
11:38 How to make lead a useful material to date the Solar SystemResearchers have overcome a major hurdle preventing the radioactive isotope lead-205 from being used as a ‘clock’ to date the age of the Solar System. 205Pb is made in some stars and thanks to its half life of around 17 million years has been proposed as a potential way to date ancient astronomical processes. However, exactly how much 205Pb can escape a star were unclear, limiting its dating potential. Now, researchers have mimicked the conditions seen in stars to pin down how much 205Pb can escape into space, paving the way for its use as a clock.
Research Article: Leckenby et al.
19:51 Briefing ChatHow millions of Android smartphones were used to map the Earth’s ionosphere, and the ethical implications of a virologist who treated her own cancer.
Nature: Google uses millions of smartphones to map the ionosphere
Nature: This scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab
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Samantha Harvey's Booker Prize shortlisted novel Orbital is set inside an International Space Station-like vessel circling 250 miles above Earth. It looks at a day-in-the-life of the crew, investigating the contrasts they experience during the 16 orbits they make around the planet, crossing continents, oceans and the line separating night and day.
On the latest episode of Nature hits the books, Samantha joins us to discuss why the ISS is a rich setting for fiction, the challenges of putting yourself in the shoes of an astronaut, and how distance can give new perspectives on global issues like climate change.
Orbital Samantha Harvey Vintage (2024)
Music supplied by Airae/Epidemic Sound
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00:46 Mitochondria divide their labour to help cells thrive
Researchers have uncovered that mitochondria divide into two distinct forms when cells are starved, a finding that could help explain how some cancers thrive in hostile conditions. Mitochondria are cellular powerhouses, creating energy and vital metabolic molecules, but how they are able to do this when resources are limited has been a mystery. It turns out that in nutrient-poor situations, mitochondria split into two separate types, one which concentrates on energy production, the other on producing essential cellular building blocks. Together these allow cells to make everything they need. The team showed that this also happens in certain cancer cells, which may help them survive and grow under hostile conditions in the body.
Research Article: Ryu et al.
News and Views: Division of labour: mitochondria split to meet energy demands
Video: A new kind of mitochondrion
07:53 Research HighlightsA tidy genome may explain naked mole rats’ long lifespans, and why the midlife crisis may not be as ubiquitous as previously thought.
Research Highlight: Naked mole rats vanquish genetic ghosts — and achieve long life
Research Highlight: The midlife crisis is not universal
10:41 A smashing way to snapshot an atomic nuclei’s shapePhysicists have revealed a new technique to image the shape of atomic nuclei — by smashing them together. The nucleus of an atom doesn’t really resemble what is shown in textbooks — they actually come in a variety of shapes, which drive an element’s behaviour. Current methods essentially take a long-exposure photo of an atom’s nucleus, which doesn’t capture the subtle variations in how the protons and neutrons arrange themselves. The new method overcomes this by colliding nuclei together and then using information on the resulting debris to reconstruct the shape of the nucleus. The researchers hope that this technique can help physicists resolve many more mysteries about atomic nuclei.
Research Article: STAR Collaboration
News: Scientists worked out the shapes of atomic nuclei — by exploding them
19:51 Briefing ChatAnalysing the genome of an ancient clone forest has revealed it could be up to 80,000 years old, and how putting limits on the famous infinite monkey theorem means they probably wouldn’t churn out Shakespeare before the end of the Universe.
Nature: The world’s oldest tree? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest
The Guardian: Universe would die before monkey with keyboard writes Shakespeare, study finds
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This series was originally broadcast in 2020.
Science and politics are not easy bedfellows - "Stick to the science" is a three part series which aims to find out why.
In the third and final episode we try to get to the bottom of how journalists, communicators and policymakers influence how science is perceived. We discuss the danger of politicization and ask the question - can science be part of the political narrative without compromising its values?
This episode was produced by Nick Petrić Howe, with editing from Noah Baker and Benjamin Thompson. It featured: Deborah Blum, Bruce Lewenstein, Dan Sarewitz, Hannah Schmid-Petri, Shobita Parthasarathy, and Beth Simone Noveck.
Further Reading
The great fish pain debate
Politicization of mask wearing
Masks work
Donald Trump used a quote from Anthony Fauci to falsely suggest Fauci approved of his actions in the pandemic
Comparing Norway and Sweden in their coronavirus combating actions
Beth Simone Noveck argues for more open and transparent governance
Solving Public Problems, by Beth Simone Noveck
Smart Citizens, Smarter State: The Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governing, by Beth Simone Noveck
The Received Wisdom Podcast, with Shobita Parthasarathy
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This series was originally broadcast in 2020.
Science and politics are not easy bedfellows - "Stick to the science" is a three part series which aims to find out why.
In this episode we're asking how politics shapes the life of a working scientist. Be it through funding agendas, cultural lobbies or personal bias, there's a myriad of ways in which politics can shape the game; influencing the direction and quality of research, But what does this mean for the objective ideals of science?
This episode was produced by Nick Petrić Howe, with editing from Noah Baker and Benjamin Thompson. it featured contributions from many people, including: Mayana Zatz, Shobita Parthasarathy, Michael Erard, Peg AtKisson, Susannah Gal, Allen Rostron, Mark Rosenberg, and Alice Bell.
Further Reading
Brazil’s budget cuts threaten more than 80,000 science scholarships
Move to reallocate funds from scientific institutions in São Paulo
Backlash to “Shrimps on a treadmill”
Explanation of the Dickey Amendment
After over 20 years the CDC can now fund gun violence research
Spirometer use “race-correction” software
Black researchers less likely to get funding from the National Institutes of Health in the US
Black researchers may get less funding from the National Institutes of Health due to topic choice
Black researchers fill fewer academic roles in the UK
Clinical trials use mostly white participants
The Received Wisdom Podcast, with Shobita Parthasarathy
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This series was originally broadcast in 2020.
Science and politics are not easy bedfellows - "Stick to the science" is a three part series which aims to find out why.
In this episode we delve into the past, and uncover the complicated relationship between science, politics and power. Along the way, we come up against some pretty big questions: what is science? Should science be apolitical? And where does Nature fit in?
This episode was produced by Nick Petrić Howe, with editing from Noah Baker and Benjamin Thompson. it featured contributions from many researchers, including: Shobita Parthasarathy, Alice Bell, Dan Sarewitz, Anna Jay, Melinda Baldwin, Magdelena Skipper, Steven Shapin, David Edgerton, Deborah Blum, Bruce Lewenstein and Chiara Ambrosio. Quotes from social media were read by: Shamini Bundell, Flora Graham, Dan Fox, Edie Edmundson and Bredan Maher. And excerpts from Nature were read by Jen Musgreave.
Further Reading
History of Education in the UK
Nature’s History
Nature’s Mission statement
Nature editorial on covering politics
Making “Nature”, by Melinda Baldwin
Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as if It Was Produced by People with Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority, by Steven Shapin
David Edgerton’s writing on the history of science and politics in the Guardian
The received wisdom podcast with Shobita Parthasarathy
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00:48 Rebuilding mental health after the floods
Researchers have been investigating the best ways to help people deal with trauma in the wake of a climate disaster. In April and May devastating floods surged across Rio Grande do Sul in the South of Brazil, affecting two million people and killing hundreds. As people try to put their lives back together scientists have been conducting surveys and investigating how to make sure that any mental health issues don’t become persistent. We hear from some of the affected people and researchers in the region.
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
News Feature: How to recover when a climate disaster destroys your city
13:48 Research HighlightsA new way to make ultra-heavy elements, and how some plankton swim by blowing up like a balloon.
Research Highlight: Atomic smash-ups hold promise of record-breaking elements
Research Highlight: This plankton balloons in size to soar upwards through the water
16:54 What are your thoughts on the US election?Nature has conducted a poll of its readers to get a sense of what is on researchers’ minds in the run up to the US election. Overwhelmingly, the survey respondents identified as researchers and reported that they supported Vice President Harris (86%). Many also voiced concerns about a possible victory for former President Trump, saying that they would consider changing where they would live if he wins. Reporter Jeff Tollefson tells us more about the results and what the election means for US science.
News: The US election is monumental for science, say Nature readers — here’s why
27:07 Briefing ChatThe possible benefits of ‘poo milkshakes’ for newborns, and how Tardigrades can withstand incredibly high levels of radiation.
Nature: ‘Poo milkshake’ boosts the microbiome of c-section babies
Nature: New species of tardigrade reveals secrets of radiation-resisting powers
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
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By the end of 2024 up to two billion people will have gone to the polls, in a pivotal year of elections around the globe. This is giving political scientists the chance to dive into each election in detail but also to compare the differing voting systems involved.
They hope understanding the advantages and drawbacks of the systems will help highlight whether some are more likely to promote democratic resilience or to stave off corrosive partisanship.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Which is the fairest electoral system? Mega-election year sparks debate
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00:48 The hidden cities of Uzbekistan
Researchers have uncovered the scale of two ancient cities buried high in the mountains of Uzbekistan. The cities were thought to be there, but their extent was unknown, so the team used drone-mounted LiDAR equipment to reveal what was hidden beneath the ground. The survey surprised researchers by showing one of the cities was six times bigger than expected. The two cities, called Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, were nestled in the heart of Central Asia’s medieval Silk Road, suggesting that highland areas played an important role in trade of the era.
Research Article: Frachetti et al.
Video: Uncovering a lost mountain metropolis
09:32 Research HighlightsHow children's’ movements resemble water vapour, and why coastal waters may be a lot dirtier than we thought.
Research Highlight: Kids in the classroom flow like water vapour
Research Highlight: Sewage lurks in coastal waters — often unnoticed by widely used test
12:06 Watermarking AI-generated textA team at Google Deepmind has demonstrated a way to add a digital watermark to AI-generated text that can be detected by computers. As AI-generated content becomes more pervasive, there are fears that it will be impossible to tell it apart from content made by humans. To tackle this, the new method subtly biases the word choices made by a Large Language Model in a statistically detectable pattern. Despite the changes to word choice, a test of 20 million live chat interactions revealed that users did not notice a drop in quality compared to unwatermarked text.
Research Article: Dathathri et al.
News: DeepMind deploys invisible ‘watermark’ on AI-written text
22:38 Briefing ChatWhat one researcher found after repeatedly scanning her own brain to see how it responded to birth-control pills, and how high-altitude tree planting could offer refuge to an imperilled butterfly species.
Nature: How does the brain react to birth control? A researcher scanned herself 75 times to find out
Nature: Mexican forest ‘relocated’ in attempt to save iconic monarch butterflies
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
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In this episode:
00:46 An unusual γ-ray producing microquasarA type of binary-system known as a microquasar has been found to be firing out γ-rays at high energy-levels, which may make it a candidate to be a long-theorized natural particle-accelerator known as a PeVatron. These objects are thought to be a source of galactic cosmic rays, the origins of which are currently a mystery.
Understanding how this microquasar works could also help researchers learn more about full-sized quasars — monstrous objects centred around supermassive black holes, which are too distant to study easily.
Research Article: Alfaro et al.
News and Views: High-altitude particle detector spots a second Galactic microquasar
09:27 Research HighlightsThe comb jellies caught fusing their bodies, and an ancient burial site reveals that Classical accounts of Scythian culture appear to be true.
Research Highlight: Two comb jellies fuse their bodies and then act as one
Research Highlight: Evidence of dead people posed on dead horses found in ancient tomb
12:08 A ‘smart’ insulin-molecule that could lower hypoglycaemia riskResearchers have developed a modified insulin-molecule that varies its level of activity depending on blood-glucose levels. It’s hoped that this ‘smart’ insulin could one day help those with diabetes regulate their blood sugar more easily.
Many people with diabetes rely on regular insulin injections, but because blood-sugar levels can be difficult to predict it can be hard to select the correct dose. This can lead to hypoglycaemia — a life-threateningly low level of glucose. To overcome this, a team created a modified form of insulin with a switch that activates the molecule when glucose levels are high, and deactivates it when levels are low. This insulin-molecule was effective at maintaining correct blood glucose in animal models, and may eventually help lessen diabetes-related complications in humans.
Research Article: Hoeg-Jensen et al.
News and Views: Smart insulin switches itself off in response to low blood sugar
20:33 Briefing ChatAncient DNA confirms that infamous lions hunted humans and a variety of game, and a new technique can sequence a cell’s DNA and pinpoint its proteins, without cracking it open.
Nature: Famed lions’ full diet revealed by DNA — and humans were among their prey
Nature: ‘Phenomenal’ tool sequences DNA and tracks proteins — without cracking cells open
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00:55 Graphene Tongue
Researchers have developed a graphene ‘tongue’ that uses AI to tell the subtle differences between drinks. Graphene has long been sought after as a chemical sensor, but tiny variations between devices have meant that it couldn’t be used very reliably. The team behind the ‘tongue’ got around this problem by training an AI to tell the difference between similar liquids regardless of variations between graphene devices. They hope that their work shows that it’s possible to use ‘imperfect’ chemical sensors to get accurate readings and that the ‘tongue’ will be able to help detect problems with food.
Research Article: Pannone et al.
09:22 Research HighlightsA 3D-printed optical microscope that can image biological samples with ultrahigh resolution, and how newly-hatched sea turtles dig their way up to the beach.
Research Highlight: A ‘Swiss army knife’ microscope that doesn’t break the bank
Research Highlight: Baby sea turtles ‘swim’ up from buried nests to the open air
11:32 How migrating salmon move nutrients and contaminants at a continental scaleStudies of migrating Pacific salmon have revealed that these animals transport thousands of tonnes of nutrients and kilograms of contaminants from the ocean to freshwater ecosystems. It’s been known that as the fish return to their freshwater spawning grounds from the sea they bring with them both nutrients and contaminants, but the impact of each has largely been studied separately. A new study combines datasets to estimate that over 40 years, the levels of nutrients these fish carry have increased at a proportionally higher rate than the contaminants, but the toxins could nevertheless be present at concerning levels to the animals that eat them.
Research Article: Brandt et al.
News and Views: Salmon’s moveable feast of nutrients with a side order of contaminants
23:19 Nobel NewsFlora Graham from the Nature Briefing joins us to talk about the winners of this year’s science Nobel Prizes.
News: Medicine Nobel awarded for gene-regulating ‘microRNAs’
News: Physics Nobel scooped by machine-learning pioneers
News: Chemistry Nobel goes to developers of AlphaFold AI that predicts protein structures
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