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Nature Podcast

Podcast Nature Podcast
Springer Nature Limited
The Nature Podcast brings you the best stories from the world of science each week. We cover everything from astronomy to zoology, highlighting the most excitin...

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  • Targeted mRNA therapy tackles deadly pregnancy condition in mice
    00:45 A potential treatment for pre-eclampsiaResearchers 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 dissolutionResearch Highlight: Has Venus ever had an ocean? Its volcanoes hint at an answer13:29 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 milestoneSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Will humans ever speak wolf? A scientist unravels the complexities of animal chatter
    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 ImagesWolf howl via NPS & MSU Acoustic Atlas/Jennifer JerrettSlowed down dolphin whistle via Arik KershenbaumHyrax song via Arik KershenbaumPileated gibbon song via Rushenb CC BY-SA 4.0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Why breast cancer treatments might work best just after your period
    00:48 Chemotherapy efficacy varies with the menstrual cycleBreast 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 gutResearch Highlight: Antarctica’s first known amber whispers of a vanished rainforest11:47 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 cluesNature: These two ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years agoSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Audio long read: AI has dreamt up a blizzard of new proteins. Do any of them actually work?
    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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Fossilised faeces helps explain dinosaurs' rise to dominance
    00:50 Fossilised faeces give news insights into dinosaurs’ diets and riseA 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 prominenceNews: Fossilized poo and vomit shows how dinosaurs rose to rule Earth10:05 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-grownResearch Highlight: Chimps tickle and wrestle in play to pave the way for teamwork12:46 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 reactSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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About Nature Podcast

The Nature Podcast brings you the best stories from the world of science each week. We cover everything from astronomy to zoology, highlighting the most exciting research from each issue of the Nature journal. We meet the scientists behind the results and provide in-depth analysis from Nature's journalists and editors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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