Podcasts by Category
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 award-winning journalists.
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- 1004 - Briefing Chat: Why scientists made papyrus scrolls, then burnt them
In this episode
00:23 How detecting lead could help researchers read damaged Roman scrolls
Nature: Watch scientists decipher burned scrolls without unrolling them
06:42 A biodegradeable, paper-inspired battery
Nature: Edible batteries power medical devices in the body
Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast onApple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.
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Fri, 25 Sep 2026 - 11min - 1003 - Bank accounts reveal the fingerprints of abusive financial control
00:45 Investigating the day-to-day impacts of Financial Abuse
Nature: Trendl et al.
Support organizations
US: National Domestic Violence Helpline
12:14 Research Highlights
Nature: Mercury is shrinking with age — faster than thought
Nature: Cognitive resilience helps to predict Alzheimer’s dementia
14:55 How opposing forces in the Earth's core alter how the planet spins
Nature: Gravitational tug-of-war inside Earth is changing the length of our days
Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast onApple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.
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Wed, 23 Sep 2026 - 24min - 1002 - Briefing Chat: Evidence mounts for hidden chambers beyond Tutankhamun's tomb
In this episode:
00:22 Could secret rooms lie beyond Tutankhamun's tomb?
Nature:Exclusive: New evidence for hidden chambers beyond Tutankhamun’s tomb
05:55 A multifunctional brain–computer interface
Nature:‘Multifunctional’ brain implant translates speech and gestures in real time
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Fri, 18 Sep 2026 - 12min - 1001 - Transplanted human brain-tissue takes root in mice without a cortex
In this episode:
00:46 Human brain-organoids transplanted into mice missing their cortex
Nature:Human brain cells transplanted into mice in ‘most extensive’ integration ever
13:51 Research Highlights
Nature:Ruins of ancient Asian city show engineering prowess and organization
Nature:Distant sensors announced a fearsome tsunami’s birth
16:16 Paper2Agent: the AI tool that lets researchers talk to papers
Nature:AI tool turns any paper into an ‘agent’ that can collaborate and answer complex queries
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Wed, 16 Sep 2026 - 28min - 1000 - Briefing Chat: The Bunsen burner myth that turns out to be just hot air
Nature staff discuss an AI tool that can assess the impact of nine billion mutations — plus, how the Bunsen burner’s reputation for sterilization may be based on tradition alone.
00:21 Deepmind’s new tool helps scientists find the impact of mutations
Nature:DeepMind’s new genome ‘atlas’ charts effects of all nine billion human gene mutations
07:10 Bacteria can still contaminate plates near to active Bunsen burners
Nature:Bunsen burners’ reputation for sterilizing workplaces flames out
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Fri, 11 Sep 2026 - 15min - 999 - Phone tutoring boosts math scores when schools are forced to close
In this episode:
00:46 How telephone teaching could boost education during school shutdowns
Nature:Pick up the phone! Phone calls with tutors keep kids learning when schools shut down
11:42 Research Highlights
Nature:Super-precise optical clocks in four nations tick in harmony
Nature:These greenhouse-gas sources have trotters and snouts
14:15 Why atlases might need an update
Nature:Hello Equal Earth: what the UN’s new world map will change
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Wed, 09 Sep 2026 - 21min - 998 - Briefing Chat: How 1,000 pairs of buried underpants helped measure soil health
In this episode:
00:21 Our picks of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes
Nature:Buried underpants and a new definition of kissing win 2026 Ig Nobel prizes
07:47 Massive xenon experiment detects tantalizing hint of dark matter
Nature:Is this the first glimpse of dark matter? Data point excites physicists
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Fri, 04 Sep 2026 - 12min - 997 - Audio long read: Could mending damaged DNA prolong life?
Scientists are amassing evidence that unrepaired or poorly repaired DNA damage underlies many of the hallmarks of ageing. This has led to research into whether boosting DNA repair can keep people healthy for longer.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Could mending damaged DNA prolong life?
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Wed, 02 Sep 2026 - 18min - 996 - Briefing Chat: How Dolly Parton left her mark on science
In this episode:
00:18 Researchers celebrate Dolly Parton's contributions to science
Nature:Dolly Parton dies aged 80 — researchers celebrate her contributions to science
08:40 Phase III trial of melanoma vaccine shows promise
Nature:Moderna cancer vaccine stops melanoma returning: what’s next for personalized treatments?
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Fri, 28 Aug 2026 - 14min - 995 - Highest-ever ocean temperatures recorded as El Niño intensifies
Why extreme temperatures are expected to weaken ocean carbon sinks — plus, how mitochondrial injections could treat vision loss.
00:46 The world’s oceans reach a record temperature
Nature:Ocean temperatures set to break all-time record: what’s next?
10:05 Research Highlights
Nature:Astronaut vest cuts radiation exposure in half
Nature:Earth-shaking thunder probes underground geology
12:54 How mitochondrial injections could treat vision loss
Nature:Patient’s own mitochondria injected into eyes in attempt to restore vision
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Wed, 26 Aug 2026 - 19min - 994 - Briefing Chat: New narcolepsy drug could unlock host of novel brain therapies
Naturestaff discuss how an FDA-approved drug for narcolepsy could have promise beyond the condition, and the longest-lived human brain organoids yet.
00:28 The promise of a new narcolepsy drug
Nature:First-of-its-kind narcolepsy drug opens door to new therapies for the brain
05:53 Human brain organoids kept alive for over five years
Nature:Human organoids that mimic brain development grown for years in lab
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Fri, 21 Aug 2026 - 12min - 993 - A black hole's spin could finally be measured by a high-speed star
Star orbiting close to Sagittarius A* could reveal its spin — plus, how exoskeletons might change the way humans move.
00:46 The star that could reveal a black hole’s spin
Research article:Dayem et al.
13:23 Research Highlights
Nature: Rattlesnakes’ own antivenom could protect humans too
Nature: Shipping on rivers packs a surprisingly large climate punch
15:40 Commercial exoskeletons are hitting the market — what now?
Nature: Will you be wearing an exoskeleton in ten years? The tech that could change how we move
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Wed, 19 Aug 2026 - 29min - 992 - Briefing Chat: Anthropic rolls out new AI watermark — will it make a difference?
In this episode:
00:29 What does Anthropic’s new watermark mean for research?
Nature:Can Anthropic’s invisible watermarks curb ‘AI slop’? Researchers remain sceptical
10:57 Ticklishness is a distinct, specialized body sensation, research finds
Nature:Where are you ticklish? Researchers map the sensation across cultures
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Fri, 14 Aug 2026 - 16min - 991 - The probiotic bacteria engineered to treat diabetes
Genetically modified bacteria lower high blood-sugar in animal trials — plus, how to safely watch a solar eclipse.
00:45 A living diabetes treatment
Research article:Guan et al.
08:03 Research Highlights
Nature:Pumas are drivers’ guardian angels
Nature:How a steady drip-drip can erode the hardest stone
10:29 What eclipses might reveal about the Sun’s corona
Nature:Solar eclipse offers rare chance to solve Sun’s magnetic-field mysteries
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Wed, 12 Aug 2026 - 19min - 990 - Briefing Chat: Is DNA repair the secret to a long life? Whales and mole-rats offer tantalizing hints
Naturestaff discuss how animal studies are starting to uncover how DNA repair could prolong life, and how COVID-19 can reawaken dormant viruses.
00:25 Could reawakened viruses have a link to long-COVID?
Nature:COVID can wake up a slew of dormant viruses inside you
05:57 DNA damage can cause ageing, could boosting repair boost longevity?
Nature: Could mending damaged DNA prolong life?
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Fri, 07 Aug 2026 - 13min - 989 - Junk plastic turns into high-value commodity with chemistry trick
Researchers untangle the chemistry behind turning PVC into high-grade motor lubricant — plus, how engineered yeast can help make a cancer drug.
00:45 The chemistry behind converting PVC into lubricant
Research article:Munyaneza et al.
09:15 Research Highlights
Nature: Engineered yeast that make cancer drugs could spare a rare flower
Nature: Sickle-cell disease linked to prematurely aged stem cells in mice
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Wed, 05 Aug 2026 - 13min - 988 - Briefing Chat: Orcas smashed a sunfish to bits — researchers aren't sure why
In this episode:
00:24 The quest to count the Amazon's insects
Nature: Tiny patch of Amazon likely holds 40,000 insect species — many new to science
07:31 The orcas that exploded a sunfish
The Guardian:Orcas seen ramming prey so hard it explodes may be playing game
Tiktok:Orcas vs sunfish
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Fri, 31 Jul 2026 - 14min - 987 - Earthworks spotted in the Amazon hint at huge ancient civilization
In this episode:
00:45 Ancient structures hidden beneath the Amazon’s canopy
Research article:Pärssinen et al.
09:15 Research Highlights
Nature:It’ll grow on you: live fungi formed into sustainable fashion
Physical Review Fluids:Gourmandie et al.
11:48 Tiny fossils represent the earliest-known squid ancestor
Research article:Song et al.
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Wed, 29 Jul 2026 - 20min - 986 - Briefing Chat: Baby T. rex were killers from birth, suggest new fossils
Naturestaff discuss the young but deadly dinosaur kings, the prowess of ancient Egyptian princesses, and how London is becoming the world’s AI safety capital.
00:34 London is transforming into an AI-safety hub
Nature:A global capital for AI safety is emerging — and it’s not in Silicon Valley
05:52 Bones reveal that ancient Egyptian princesses weren’t pampered
Scientific American:Ancient Egyptian princesses were ‘powerful’ weapon users, new analysis suggests
9:30 T. rex was born ready to kill
Discover magazine:Fossil Evidence Indicates Baby T. rex Were Tiny, but Deadly
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Fri, 24 Jul 2026 - 12min - 985 - What counts as a moon? Huge ‘exosatellite’ sparks debate
00:45 The discovery of a moon-like object in a distant star system
Research article:Hoy et al.
10:34 Research Highlights
Nature:Moving floors keep buildings from swaying with the wind
Nature:Wearable sensors on the face are invisible to the eye
13:07 A discovery of a new type of rare transmissible-cancer
Research article:Curd et al.
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Wed, 22 Jul 2026 - 23min - 984 - Briefing Chat: Sweet! Elusive sugar molecules found in space
In this episode:
00:24 A sweet discovery near the Milky Way’s centre
Nature:First ‘true sugar’ molecule found in space — offering hints to life’s origins
05:05 Mathematical texts give insights into Maya mathematical prowess
Nature:Mathematics formula found on Maya wall rivals insights of ancient masters
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Fri, 17 Jul 2026 - 9min - 983 - ‘Holy grail’ of naked mole-rat research reveals how queens rule
00:45 The secret scent behind a naked mole-rat's rule
Research article:Khallaf et al.
08:34 Research Highlights
Nature:Pair of ‘super-puff’ planets are lighter than candyfloss
Nature:Alpine crossing took a heavy toll on Hannibal’s elephants and troops
10:59 The psychology behind a brand-new board game: the behaviour of beginners
Research article:Collins et al.
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Wed, 15 Jul 2026 - 22min - 982 - Briefing Chat: The 30 year-legacy of a science icon – Dolly the sheep
In this episode:
00:29 Dolly the sheep’s 30-year legacy
Metro:Dolly the sheep at 30: The clone that changed science (and celebrity petdom)
Nature:From cloning to gene-editing: the enduring legacy of Dolly the sheep
05:20 The ocean floor caught in the act of splitting at the seams
Nature:Ocean floor witnessed splitting apart for the first time — releasing lava
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Fri, 10 Jul 2026 - 10min - 981 - Nukes in space? Orbital detector could sniff out warheads
In this episode:
00:45 A neutron detector could sniff out a secret space nuke
Research article:Danagoulian
11:52 Research Highlights
Nature:Volcanic magma sculpts eerie domes on the sea floor
Nature:Clues to the sloth’s sloth found in its genome
14:18 How indigenous knowledge in the Amazon could disappear
Research article:Cámara-Leret et al.
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Wed, 08 Jul 2026 - 25min - 980 - Togetherness: How co-operation built the world
In this episode, we speak with science journalist Rowan Hooper, whose book Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborationstakes a deep-dive into the world of co-operation between organisms.
In the book, he argues that collaboration in nature has often been overlooked in favour of competition, and that organisms working together have played a vital role in making the world the way it is.
Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations Rowan Hooper Fern Press(2026)
Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
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Wed, 01 Jul 2026 - 31min - 979 - Audio long read: Is the peptide craze backed by science? The promise behind the hype
Peptides — short chains of amino acids — have become huge online. The popularity of these molecules has skyrocketed and they are now the latest cure-all trend on social media.
But what does the science say about their effectiveness? Animal research suggests that that some of these experimental peptides hold promise, but evidence they work in people is lacking.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Is the peptide craze backed by science? The promise behind the hype
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Mon, 29 Jun 2026 - 16min - 978 - Briefing Chat: What tickling a chimpanzee can tell us about the evolution of speech
Nature staff discuss how apes share a rhythm of laughter, and how AI use may degrade skills in medicine and computer science.
00:32 Early evidence suggests that AI use causes skills to atrophy
Nature:Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good
06:42 Humans and chimps share a laugh
Nature:Oo oo, ha ha: why humans and great apes giggle alike when tickled
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Fri, 26 Jun 2026 - 11min - 977 - Medical records could be revealed by AI training-data vulnerability
In this episode:
00:46 How sensitive information can be gleaned from medical AIs
Research article:Knolle et al.
Correction: The story about medical AI-data privacy incorrectly stated that the number of individuals at high risk of a membership inference attack increases as training-dataset size grows. It should have stated that the increase in risk occurs when the AI model increases in capacity and size.
11:31 Research Highlights
Nature:A long-lived butterfly’s secret to graceful ageing
Nature:It slices! It dices! Sashimi-Bot handles seafood with ease
13:57 Across the Universe, galaxies clump together more than physicists thought they should
Research article:Labini & Galoppo
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Wed, 24 Jun 2026 - 19min - 976 - Briefing Chat: Testosterone and sperm may get a boost from obesity drugs
Nature staff discuss preliminary data on the effects of GLP-1 drugs on male fertility plus a two-year trial of a brain-computer interface.
00:18 Brain-computer interface makes a life-changing impact
Nature:At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back
05:39 The possible benefits of obesity drugs on testosterone
Nature:The latest benefit of obesity drugs: boosting testosterone and sperm quality
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Fri, 19 Jun 2026 - 12min - 975 - DNA from hunter-gatherer teeth reveals secrets of ancient plague
In this episode:
00:45 Ancient evidence of deadly plague outbreaks
Research article:Macleod et al.
12:33 Research Highlights
Nature:Bones of Iron Age skeleton were whittled into tools
Nature:Giant crustacean of the deep sea steals a trick from bacteria
14:52 A prototype atom interferometer
Research article:Baynham et al.
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Wed, 17 Jun 2026 - 26min - 974 - Briefing Chat: The epic journey of Stonehenge’s central stone
In this episode:
00:37 Evidence that Stonehenge's Altar Stone travelled by glacier
BBC Science Focus:We may have just cracked one of Stonehenge's greatest mysteries
05:44 Fossilized faeces reveal DNA from ancient ecosystem
Nature:Ancient ground squirrels feasted on carcasses like ‘zombies of the Pleistocene’
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Fri, 12 Jun 2026 - 11min - 973 - Newly-discovered whale graveyard dates back millions of years
In this episode:
00:46 A giant, ancient whale necropolis
Research article:Peng et al.
News & Views:A vast whale necropolis has been found
08:52 Research Highlights
Nature:Babies’ birth weight improves with help of payments to parents
Nature:Earliest signs of vision recorded in ancient sea-floor tracks
11:11 Turning plant material into chemical building-blocks
Research article:Mains et al.
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Wed, 10 Jun 2026 - 21min - 972 - Briefing chat: Spinosaurs with salt glands could have lived in marine environments
In this episode:
00:23 Fossil evidence that spinosaurs had an aquatic lifestyle
Science:Some spinosaurs cried salty tears to thrive in brackish waters
04:57 The explosive immune cells that kill in minutes
Nature:Bang! Exploding immune cells splatter potent toxins everywhere
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Fri, 05 Jun 2026 - 11min - 971 - Your phone can use tiny skin-colour changes to measure your heart rate
In this episode:
00:57 How your smartphone’s camera could measure your heart rate
Research article:Liao et al.
08:55 Research Highlights
Nature:A star gone rogue tears through the Galaxy
Nature:Gold keeps glittering courtesy of surface chemistry
11:04 Should you try something new in a restaurant? Maths has the answer
Nature:Feynman solved the ‘restaurant dilemma’ 50 years ago — now a study confirms his mathematics
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Wed, 03 Jun 2026 - 18min - 970 - Briefing Chat: When to trust eyewitness memory – according to science
In this episode:
00:21 When witnesses identify suspects from police line-ups, confidence matters
Nature: Memory on trial: the new science of when to trust eyewitness testimony
07:15 Registered Reports: how this ‘double peer review’ process could benefit scientists and their results
Nature: Nature is expanding Registered Reports to all the fields in which we publish
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Fri, 29 May 2026 - 17min - 969 - Major Ebola outbreak is escalating: what happens next
On 17 May the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an ongoing Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Centred on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the outbreak has seen mounting numbers of suspected cases and deaths linked to the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus.
In this podcast we hear what's currently known about the outbreak and the efforts of clinicians, researchers and public health officials to halt its progress.
Nature:Ebola outbreak is a global health emergency: what happens next
Nature:Race begins to trial Ebola drugs amid current outbreak
Nature:Ebola outbreak spirals out of control: how might it have started?
Nature:Will this Ebola outbreak be the biggest yet?
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Fri, 22 May 2026 - 12min - 968 - AI ‘scientists’ promise to accelerate research — how do they work?
In this episode:
00:46 Meet the AI scientists designed to accelerate research
Research article:Ghareeb et al.
Research article:Gottweis et al.
Nature:Teams of AI agents boost speed of research
Editorial:Why AI cannot do good science without humans
Nature:Do you hate or love AI? Take Nature’s poll
13:25 Research Highlights
Nature:Dried to survive: desiccated tardigrades tolerate high heat
Nature:Pristine Antarctic ice records the Solar System’s travels
15:35 Using LiDAR to look around corners
Research article:Somasundaram et al.
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Wed, 20 May 2026 - 27min - 967 - Briefing Chat: Hantavirus — what this outbreak reveals about the disease
In this episode:
00:34 What questions remain about the hantavirus outbreak?
Nature:Hantavirus outbreak exposes uncertainty about how disease spreads
Nature:There is no vaccine for deadly hantavirus: what that means for future outbreaks
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Fri, 15 May 2026 - 9min - 966 - Red-light therapy is all the rage — does it work?
In this episode:
00:42 Is red-light therapy all hype?
Disclaimer: The opinions and assertions expressed herein by Juanita Anders are those of the speaker and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences or the Department of War.
Nature:The surprising science behind red-light therapy — and how it really works
10:52 Research Highlights
Nature:Trafficked pangolins can be traced to their source by DNA — even to a specific forest
Nature:A wispy wrapper for a chilly, Pluto-like world
13:11 The complex story of global obesity rates
Research article:NCD Risk Factor Collaboration
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Wed, 13 May 2026 - 21min - 965 - Audio long read: The air is full of DNA — here’s what scientists are using it for
Although scientists have long been able to gather DNA from water and soil, it's only recently that they've started to see the air as a source of genetic information.
Airborne DNA is already being used to monitor individual species, but researchers hope its abundance could have multiple uses, including judging the success of conservation efforts or attacks with biological weapons.
However, there remains much to understand, such as how far DNA travels in the air, and the ethics involved in the potential identification of a person's genetic information.
This is an audio version of our Feature: The air is full of DNA — here’s what scientists are using it for
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Mon, 11 May 2026 - 19min - 964 - Briefing Chat: Can't focus? It's not your attention span, it's your notifications
00:31 The science of attention spans
Nature Feature: Are attention spans really shrinking? What the science says
04:54 Data centres in space?
Nature News Explainer: AI data hubs in space: when will they take flight?
Nature Comment: Space diplomacy: bridging the operating gaps between myriad missions
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Fri, 08 May 2026 - 10min - 963 - Anaesthetized brains can still process podcasts
In this episode:
00:42 Probing the unconscious brain’s processing ability
Research Article:Katlowitz et al.
Nature:Even the unconscious brain can learn — and predict what you’ll say next
12:32 Research Highlights
Nature:An electrifying test to find a good coffee
Nature: Forest pests hit trees hard as temperatures rise
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Wed, 06 May 2026 - 15min - 962 - Briefing Chat: Stressed mitochondria spawn new 'organelles' in cells
In this episode:
00:27 How a parasite unveiled a mitochondrial secret
Nature: Mitochondria can spawn new ‘organelles’ — hinting at how modern cells evolved
06:13 The extinct cephalopods that could have been enormous
Nature: Did kraken-like octopuses rule Cretaceous seas? Massive jaw fossils offer clues
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Fri, 01 May 2026 - 12min - 961 - Immunity gets a boost from a surprising place — breakfast
In this episode:
00:45 How eating can boost the immune system
Research Article: Kumar et al.
08:28 Research Highlights
Nature: Cosmic-ray detection heralds era of mega-observatories for neutrinos
Nature: Little ants groom big ones in a desert spa
10:53 The pressing need to plan for future nuclear disasters
World View: Forty years after Chornobyl, more nuclear disasters are inevitable — plan for them
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Wed, 29 Apr 2026 - 20min - 960 - Inside the evidence revolution — how decision-making became data driven
In this episode of Nature hits the books, we speak with Nature's Helen Pearson whose book Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works looks at the history of using evidence, rather than opinion, in decision making.
The book traces the course of the movement in various disciplines, such as the rise of evidence-based medicine in the 90s, looking at the rebels who led the charge, the barriers they faced, and why the use of evidence is crucial at a time when misinformation is rife.
Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works Helen Pearson Princeton University Press (in the press)
Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
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Fri, 24 Apr 2026 - 26min - 959 - Meet Ace, the table-tennis robot that can beat elite players
In this episode:
00:45 The table-tennis robot that can mix it with the pros
Research Article: Dürr et al.
News and Views: Robot can beat elite players at table tennis
Video: This robot can beat you at table tennis
14:13 Research Highlights
Nature: Venus’s impenetrable haze could be made of cosmic dust
Nature: Graves reveal plague’s inequitable toll
16:21 Why physicists can’t agree on the strength of Big G
Nature: How big is Big G? Mystery deepens after ten-year effort to measure gravity’s strength
Research Article: Schlamminger et al.
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Wed, 22 Apr 2026 - 26min - 958 - Briefing Chat: Penguins pick up PFAS pollution
In this episode:
00:30 The penguins measuring environmental PFAS
Science: Penguins become marine detectives, thanks to pollutant-detecting anklets
05:14 Treating autoimmune diseases with CAR-T
Nature: One woman, three autoimmune diseases: CAR-T therapy vanquishes ultra-rare disease trio
10:34 Why an anglerfish’s lure might have two uses
Science: Why do anglerfish have glowing lures? It might be sex
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Fri, 17 Apr 2026 - 15min - 957 - Giant cancer study reveals effectiveness of 'off label' treatments
In this episode:
00:46 A massive trial assessing the outcomes of ‘off label’ cancer treatment
Research Article: Verkerk et al.
12:49 Research Highlights
Nature: Microbial hockey: bacteria can spin a ‘puck’ just by swimming
Nature: Regular physical activity in midlife cuts risk of early death
15:14 10,000 years of western Eurasian evolution
Nature: Landmark ancient-genome study shows surprise acceleration of human evolution
Research Article: Akbari et al.
Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.
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Wed, 15 Apr 2026 - 27min - 956 - Behind the scenes with Artemis II’s scientists during the historic Moon fly-by
In this episode:
On Monday, reporter Alexandra Witze was in the heart of the Artemis II mission’s science operations. She tells us about the experience and what NASA’s researchers have learnt from the mission so far.
Nature: I was with Artemis II’s scientists during the Moon fly-by. Here’s what I saw
Nature: First photos from Artemis II: see stunning ‘Earthset’ and more
Nature: Historic Artemis II Moon fly-by — Nature’s live coverage as it happened
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Fri, 10 Apr 2026 - 13min - 955 - Briefing Chat: The tongue trick that helps sunbirds suck
In this episode:
00:41 Exosome therapies could deliver drugs to hard to reach places
Nature: Eye drops made from pig semen deliver cancer treatment to mice
5:08 The impact of parenthood on women’s academic careers
Nature: Motherhood derails women’s academic careers — these data reveal how and why
10:34 The unusual suction that lets Sunbirds drink
Science: These birds suck—literally
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Wed, 08 Apr 2026 - 13min - 954 - Artemis II is go: humans head to the Moon after half-century absence
In this podcast we'll talk about NASA's Artemis II launch, which has ushered in a new era of lunar exploration.
Nature: Lift off! Artemis II mission sends humans to the Moon — opening a new era of exploration
Nature: Artemis II mission is about to fly humans to the Moon — here’s the science they’ll do
Nature: Humanity is heading back to the Moon — why aren’t more scientists thrilled?
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Thu, 02 Apr 2026 - 15min - 953 - These scientists chased a jet to learn more about ‘lean-burn’ contrails
In this episode:
00:46 Collecting contrails at 30,000 feet
Research Article: Voigt et al.
11:23 Research Highlights
Nature: Sunken Soviet nuclear submarine’s radioactive release
Nature: History of ‘forever’ chemicals is written in Antarctic snow
13:34 Fakery in science
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Wed, 01 Apr 2026 - 24min - 952 - Briefing Chat: ‘Zombie cells’ resurrected with new genes
Nature staff discuss some of the week's top science news.
00:18 ‘Zombie cells’ revived with genome transplant
Nature: ‘Zombie cells’ return from the dead — after a genome transplant
05:27 A limit to cloning, in mice
Nature: Can a mouse be cloned indefinitely? Decades-long experiment has answers
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Fri, 27 Mar 2026 - 11min - 951 - Why insects aren't huge: a new challenge to a decades-old idea
00:44 Why insects aren’t massive
Research Article : Snelling et al.
11:39 Research Highlights
Nature: Faster ticking of ‘biological clock’ predicts shorter lifespan
Nature: Mighty mini-magnet is low in cost and light on energy use
14:05 CRISPR creates CAR-T cancer therapy inside mice
Research Article: Nyberg et al.
News & Views: A gene-editing method generates immunotherapeutic CAR T cells in the body
Nature: CRISPR makes enhanced cancer-fighting immune cells inside mice
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Wed, 25 Mar 2026 - 22min - 950 - Briefing Chat: Are scientists funny? The evidence is in — and it's no joke
In this episode:
00:22 Exploring how gut microorganisms contribute to ageing
Nature: Memory loss is fuelled by gut microbes in ageing mice
04:30 How good jokes are in short supply during academic conferences
Nature: Knock knock, no one’s there. Study finds scientists’ jokes mostly fall flat
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Fri, 20 Mar 2026 - 9min - 949 - Botanical mystery solved: how plants make a crucial malaria drug
In this episode:
00:46 Piecing together a biochemical puzzle
Research Article : Lombe et al.
12:26 Research Highlights
Nature: Electric-vehicle batteries toughen up to beat the heat
Nature: Live parrots were carried across the Andes before the Incas’ rise
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Wed, 18 Mar 2026 - 15min - 948 - Briefing chat: ‘Can it run Doom?’ — why scientists got brain cells and a satellite to play the classic game
00:26 Why researchers keep using Doom in their research
Nature: How the classic computer game Doom became a tool for science
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Fri, 13 Mar 2026 - 10min - 947 - This fish shouldn’t exist — the weird genetics of clonal vertebrates
A study reveals how the asexual Amazon molly defies evolutionary expectations — plus, evidence of what may be powering superluminous supernovae.
In this episode:
00:46 Unravelling the genetics of an asexual fish that should be extinct
Research Article:Ricemeyer et al.
News and Views:How an all-female fish species defies evolutionary expectations
10:19 Research Highlights
Nature:Jam-packed star system is most compact of its kind ever found
Nature:Peanut-processing microbes ward off dangerous allergic shock
11:31 How a superluminous supernova got so bright
Research Article : Farah et al.
News and Views: Ultra-bright supernova wobbles like a spinning top
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday: https://www.nature.com/briefing/signup
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Wed, 11 Mar 2026 - 23min - 946 - Briefing chat: What Galileo’s scribbled margin notes reveal about his scientific journey
In this episode:
00:25 How paediatricians’ antibodies could treat serious viral infections
New Scientist: Paediatricians’ blood used to make new treatments for RSV and colds
04:22 Galileo’s annotations in an ancient text
Science: Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text
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Fri, 06 Mar 2026 - 9min - 945 - Heart surgery with quick-setting magnetic fluid could prevent strokes
Injectable fluid safely fills area in which blood clots can form, in animal trials — plus, strong evidence that an elusive form of diamond has been made in the lab.
00:47 A magnetic seal to stop clots forming in the heart
Research Article : Wang et al.
News and Views: Magnetic fluid offers better seal in heart-plugging medical procedure
Video:Magnetic gel injected into the heart could stop strokes
07:02 Research Highlights
Nature: Sewage systems secretly waft pollution into the air
Nature: This ant species is composed of only queens — no workers or males
11:31 Making hexagonal diamond
Research Article: Lai et al.
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Wed, 04 Mar 2026 - 18min - 944 - Audio long read: Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
This is an audio version of our Feature: Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
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Mon, 02 Mar 2026 - 18min - 943 - Briefing chat: Pokémon turns 30 — how Pikachu and pals inspired generations of researchers
In this episode:
00:15 How Pokémon inspired fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity
Nature: Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science
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Fri, 27 Feb 2026 - 11min - 942 - How earthquakes and lightning help explain squeaky sneakers
High-speed footage reveals shoe squeaks can start with a tiny bolt of lightning — plus, evidence that a debated brain phenomenon exists in humans.
00:44 The science of squeaky shoes
Research Article : Djellouli et al.
Basketball sound effects via Bradley Kanaris/Getty.
09:05 Research Highlights
Nature: Runaway black hole leaves a trail of stars
Nature: Super-sticky feet help a robot to climb the walls
11:31 Evidence of hippocampal neurogenesis
Research Article: Disouky et al.
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Wed, 25 Feb 2026 - 19min - 941 - Briefing chat: How hovering bumblebees keep their cool
00:25 How brains differ by sex and age
Nature: Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty
07:14 Bumblebees ‘fan themselves’ during flight to keep cool
Science: How do busy bees avoid overheating from flying?
Video: Birds gliding through bubbles reveal aerodynamic trick
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Fri, 20 Feb 2026 - 13min - 940 - This chunk of glass could store two million books for 10,000 years
00:46 Data stored in glass
Nature: Microsoft Research Project Silica Team
Nature: Microsoft team creates 'revolutionary' data storage system that lasts for millennia
08:09 Research Highlights
Nature: Parasitic wasps use tamed virus to castrate caterpillars
Nature: Flexible joints: robot morphs into a range of cyborg species
10:10 An mRNA vaccine for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Nature: Sahin et al.
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Wed, 18 Feb 2026 - 21min - 939 - Briefing Chat: Caffeine slows brain ageing, suggests decades of data
In this episode:
00:26 Moderate caffeine intake might reduce dementia risk, study suggests
Nature: Coffee linked to slower brain ageing in study of 130,000 people
04:15 Using AI to work out the rules of a long-forgotten board game
Scientific American: Rules of mysterious ancient Roman board game decoded by AI
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Fri, 13 Feb 2026 - 9min - 938 - These hungry immune cells tidy sleeping flies' brains
In this episode:
00:46 The immune cells that eat waste fats from fruit flies’ brains
Nature: Cho et al.
10:21 Research Highlights
Nature: Beetle is locked into an eternal dance ― with an ant
Nature: Super-sniffer aeroplane finds oil fields’ hidden emissions
12:41 Ancient DNA evidence reveals a nuanced story of the Bell Beaker Expansion
Nature: Olalde et al.
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Wed, 11 Feb 2026 - 25min - 937 - Briefing Chat: 'External lungs' keep man alive for 48 hours until transplant
In this episode:
00:42 External, artificial-lung system keeps patient alive for transplant
Nature: 48 hours without lungs: artificial organ kept man alive until transplant
06:22 How lung cancer in mice hijacks neurons to outwit the immune system
Nature: How tumours trick the brain into shutting down cancer-fighting cells
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Fri, 06 Feb 2026 - 11min - 936 - These mysterious ridges could help skin regenerate
00:46 Understanding how rete ridges form in the skin
09:32 Research Highlights
Nature: Genetically engineered ‘stinkweed’ comes up roses for making seed oil
Nature: Largest galaxy survey yet confirms that the Universe is not clumpy enough
11:52 The open-source AI that performs scientific literature reviews
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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 - 22min - 935 - Briefing Chat: What Brazilian centenarians could reveal about the science of ageing
In this episode:
00:36 Study probes genetics of extreme longevity
Nature: Still working at 107: supercentenarian study probes genetics of extreme longevity
05:32 Controlling fluorescent proteins’ brightness with magnets
Nature: ‘Remote controlled’ proteins illuminate living cells
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Fri, 30 Jan 2026 - 10min - 934 - How your brain chemistry rewards hard work
00:46 Why completing difficult tasks feels rewarding
Nature: Touponse et al.
11:34 Research Highlights
Nature: Disappearing ‘planet’ reveals a solar system’s turbulent times
Nature: Getting to the (square) root of stock-market swings
13:43 How extreme weather events could threaten malaria elimination efforts
Nature: Symons et al.
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Wed, 28 Jan 2026 - 24min - 933 - Audio long read: ‘I rarely get outside’ — scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI
This is an audio version of our Feature: ‘I rarely get outside’: scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI
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Mon, 26 Jan 2026 - 18min - 932 - Briefing Chat: The canny cow that can use tools, and how babies share their microbiomes
In this episode:
00:24 How babies share their gut microbes
Nature: Sending babies to nursery completely reshapes their microbiome
05:25 First evidence of tool use in cattle
Science: No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools
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Fri, 23 Jan 2026 - 12min - 931 - The biggest 'Schrödinger's cat' yet — physicists put 7,000 atoms in superposition
00:46 Protein-sized superposition surpasses previous experiments
Nature: Pedalino et al.
News: Schrödinger's cat just got bigger: quantum physicists create largest ever 'superposition'
11:46 Research Highlights
Nature: Ancient pottery reveals early evidence of mathematical thinking
Nature: Gifted dogs learn new words by overhearing humans
14:11 How Trump’s second term has impacted research
Nature: US science after a year of Trump
Nature: US science in 2026: five themes that will dominate Trump’s second year
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Wed, 21 Jan 2026 - 26min - 930 - Briefing Chat: Can NASA return rocks from Mars? And why dogs have long ears
In this episode:
00:40 The rock samples destined to remain on Mars
Nature: NASA won’t bring Mars samples back to Earth: this is the science that will be lost
05:24 The genetics of dogs’ droopy ears
Nature: Do their ears hang low? The genetics of dogs’ adorable floppy ears
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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 - 10min - 929 - AI can turbocharge scientists' careers — but limit their scope
In this episode:
00:47 AI can boost research productivity — at what cost?
Research article: Hao et al.
10:10 Research Highlights
Nature: Ancient ‘snowball’ Earth had frigidly briny seas
Nature: Putting immune cells into ‘night mode’ reduces heart-attack damage
12:41 JWST images are full of red dots, what are they?
Nature: Rusakov et al.
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Wed, 14 Jan 2026 - 21min - 928 - A mysterious ancient fingerprint and a lemon-shaped planet — the stories you’ve missed
00:54 Turning an undersea cable into a seismic detector
Researchers have shown that they can piggyback a signal on a 4,400-kilometer-long telecom cable that runs from California to Hawaii, allowing it to act like 44,000 separate seismic-activity detectors. Their method takes advantage of impurities found in glass fibre-optic cables, which reflect light differently when they are stretched and distorted by the pressure of seismic waves.
Science: Seafloor telecom cable transformed into giant earthquake detector
04:17 The origin of an ancient boat
Chemical analysis of the caulking found on the wood an ancient boat has helped researchers identify the origins of the vessel, that sank off the coast of Denmark 2,400 years ago. The team’s analysis suggests it voyaged from much farther away that had been thought — perhaps coming from the Baltic Sea region. The team also found a fingerprint left in the caulk, although who it belonged to is unknown.
LiveScience: Fingerprint of ancient seaborne raider found on Scandinavia's oldest plank boat
08:29 How heating up helps some plants pollinate
Some plants called cycads (Zamia spp.) heat up to attract the beetles that pollinate them. These beetles have heat-seeking sensors in their antennae, which they use locate the plants. Male cycads warm up around 3 hours before females, meaning that beetles head to them before first carrying pollen over to the females.
Science: Heat-seeking beetles drawn to plants that glow in infrared
13:08 The exoplanet shaped like a lemon
The discovery of exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b reveals how unusual other worlds can be. This exoplanet takes just 7.8 hours to orbit an ultra-dense pulsar whose intense gravity pulls PSR J2322-2650b into a lemon shape.
New Scientist: Strange lemon-shaped exoplanet defies the rules of planet formation
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Wed, 07 Jan 2026 - 16min - 927 - Science in 2026: what to expect this year
In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2026. We’ll hear about: small-scale AI models that could outcompete Large Language Models in reasoning, clinical trials of gene editing to treat rare human disorders, a sample collection mission from Phobos, and how changes to US policy by the Trump team are expected to impact science.
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Thu, 01 Jan 2026 - 11min - 926 - Audio long read: Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment?
Anecdotal stories suggesting that weight-loss drugs can help people shake long-standing addictions have been spreading fast in the past few years, through online forums, weight-loss clinics and news headlines. And now, clinical data are starting to back them up.
Over a dozen randomized clinical studies testing whether GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic can suppress addiction are now under way, and neuroscientists are working out how these weight-loss drugs act on brain regions that control craving, reward and motivation.
Scientists warn that the research is still in its early stages, but some researchers and physicians are excited, as no truly new class of addiction medicine has won approval from regulators in decades.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment?
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Mon, 29 Dec 2025 - 17min - 925 - The Nature Podcast highlights of 2025
00:40 What a trove of potato genomes reveals about the humble spud
Researchers have created a ‘pangenome’ containing the genomes of multiple potato types, something they believe can help make it easier to breed and sequence new varieties. The potato’s complicated genetics has made it difficult to sequence the plant’s genome, but improvements in technology have allowed the team to combine sequences, allowing them to look for subtle differences in between varieties.
Nature Podcast:16 April 2025
Research Article: Sun et al.
10:28 Hundreds of physicists on a remote island: we visit the ultimate quantum party
According to legend, physicist Werner Heisenberg formulated the mathematics behind quantum mechanics in 1925 while on a restorative trip to the remote North Sea island of Heligoland.
To celebrate the centenary of this event, several hundred researchers have descended on the island to take part in a conference on all things quantum physics. Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney was also in attendance, and joined us to give an inside track on the meeting.
Nature Podcast: 13 June 2025
19:54 Research Highlights
A minuscule robot that can manipulate liquid droplets, and the discovery of ancient puppets on the remains of a large pyramid offers a glimpse into rituals in Mesoamerica.
Research Highlight: This tiny robot moves mini-droplets with ease
Research Highlight: Ancient puppets that smile or scowl hint at shared rituals
23:03 These malaria drugs treat the mosquitoes — not the people
Researchers have developed two compounds that can kill malaria-causing parasites within mosquitoes, an approach they hope could help reduce transmission of the disease. The team showed that these compounds can be embedded into the plastics used to make bed nets, providing an alternative to insecticide-based malaria-control measures, which are losing efficacy in the face of increased resistance.
Nature Podcast: 21 May 2025
Research article: Probst et al.
33:49 Briefing Chat
The first skeletal evidence that Roman gladiators fought lions.
BBC News: Bites on gladiator bones prove combat with lion
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 - 40min - 924 - Nature's News & Views roundup of 2025
Nature: Asteroids, antibiotics and ants: a year of remarkable science
In this episode:
1:58 Evidence of ancient brine on an asteroid
Samples taken from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft suggest the parent body it originated from is likely to have contained salty, subsurface water. This finding provides insights into the chemistry of the early Solar System, and suggests that brines might have been an important place where pre-biotic molecules were formed.
News & Views: Asteroid Bennu contains salts from ancient brine
Nature Podcast: Asteroid Bennu contains building blocks of life
08:01 How gene expression doesn't always reflect a cell's function
Cells are often grouped into categories according to the RNA molecules they produce. However a study of zebrafish (Danio rerio) brains revealed that cells can be functionally diverse even if they appear molecularly similar. This finding adds more nuance to how a cell's ‘type’ is ultimately defined.
News & Views: Does a cell’s gene expression always reflect its function?
12:01 The disproportionate mortality risks of extreme rainfall
An assessment of death rates in India’s coastal megacity of Mumbai revealed that the impact of extreme rainfall events will be highest for women, young children and residents of informal settlements. This situation is likely to become more pronounced as a result of climate change.
News & Views: Extreme rainfall poses the biggest risk to Mumbai’s most vulnerable people
14:46 An AI-designed underwater glue
Inspired by animals like barnacles and aided by machine learning, researchers have developed a super-sticky compound that works as an underwater adhesive. To demonstrate its properties, researchers applied it to a rubber duck, which stuck firmly to a rock on a beach despite being battered by the sea.
News & Views: AI learns from nature to design super-adhesive gels that work underwater
Nature Podcast: Underwater glue shows its sticking power in rubber duck test
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Fri, 19 Dec 2025 - 20min - 923 - The Nature Podcast festive spectacular 2025
00:46 The gifts that sparked a love of science
Nature put a call out for readers to tell us about memorable presents that first got them interested in science, or mementos of their life in research. These include telescopes, yeast-themed wedding rings, and... cows’ eyes.
Nature: The gift that shaped my career in science
08:12 “I am the Very Model of a Miniature Tyrannosaur”
In the first of our annual festive songs celebrating the science of the past year, we tell the story of a diminutive dinosaur that turned out to be its own species.
Nature Podcast: Meet the ‘Wee-rex’. Tiny tyrannosaur is its own species
Nature Video: Hotly debated dinosaur is not a tiny T. rex after all
11:43 A very scientific quiz
An all-star cast competes for the glory or being the winner of the Nature Podcast’s 2025 festive quiz.
Nature: Meet the ‘Wee-rex’. Tiny tyrannosaur is its own species
Nature: This company claimed to ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves. Then the fighting started
Nature Podcast: 3D-printed fake wasps help explain bad animal mimicry
Nature Video: ‘Aqua tweezers’ manipulate particles with water waves
Nature Podcast: Sapphire anvils squeeze metals atomically-thin
Nature Video: Vesuvius volcano turned this brain to glass
Nature Podcast: Ancient viral DNA helps human embryos develop
Nature Video: Magnetic fibres give this robot a soft grip
Nature: These contact lenses give people infrared vision — even with their eyes shut
Nature Video: Is this really the world's largest mirror? Researchers put it to the test
Nature Podcast: World’s tiniest pacemaker could revolutionize heart surgery
Nature Podcast: Earth’s deepest ecosystem discovered six miles below the sea
Nature Podcast: Nature goes inside the world’s largest ‘mosquito factory’ — here’s the buzz
Nature Podcast: Apocalypse then: how cataclysms shaped human societies
Nature Podcast: Honey, I ate the kids: how hunger and hormones make mice aggressive
25:21 “Hard the Hydrogel is Stuck”
Our second festive song is an ode to a rubber duck that was stuck to a rock, thanks to a newly designed, super-adhesive hydrogel.
Nature Podcast: Underwater glue shows its sticking power in rubber duck test
Nature Video: Why did researchers stick a duck to a rock? To show off their super glue
28:42 Nature’s 10
Each 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 2025 list, including: a civil servant who stood up for evidence-based public-health policy; the science sleuth who revealed a retraction crisis at Indian universities; and the baby whose life was saved by the first personalized CRISPR therapy.
Nature: Nature’s 10
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Wed, 17 Dec 2025 - 42min - 922 - Neanderthals mastered fire — 400,000 years ago
00:46 Evidence of the earliest fire
Baked soil, ancient tools, and materials that could be used to start fires show that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000 years ago — the earliest evidence of this skill found so far. Ancient humans are known to have used naturally occurring fires, but evidence of deliberate fire-starting has been hard to come by. A new suite of evidence pushes back the date of fire mastery by 350,000 years. The team behind the finding believe it helps create a more nuanced picture of Neanderthals, who perhaps gathered round fires and told stories in ancient Europe.
Research Article:Davis et al.
News and Views:Oldest known evidence of the controlled ignition of fire
11:31 Research Highlights
Machine-learning algorithms can help to identify traces of life in ancient rocks — plus, why paintings containing a vivid green pigment lose their lustre over time.
Research Highlight:AI finds signs of life in ancient rocks
Research Highlight:The mystery of emerald green — cracked
13:55 How AI chatbots can sway voters with ease
Research suggests that artificial-intelligence chatbots can influence voters’ political views and have a bigger effect than conventional campaigning and advertising. One study found that chatbot conversations swung participants’ candidate preferences by up to 15 percentage points, while another revealed that the chatbots’ effectiveness stems from their ability to synthesize a lot of information in a conversational way.
Nature: AI chatbots can sway voters with remarkable ease — is it time to worry?
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Wed, 10 Dec 2025 - 22min - 921 - Photobombing satellites could ruin the night sky for space telescopes
00:46 How satellite mega-constellations could ruin space-based astronomy
The ability of space-based telescopes to image the distant Universe could be in peril, according to new research investigating the impacts of light-pollution from future satellites. Streaks of reflected light from satellites currently in low-Earth orbit are already seen in telescope images, and planned launches could raise the number of satellites from around 15,000 to over half-a-million. Computer modelling revealed that this drastic increase would result in images taken by instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope becoming unusable by astronomers. The team propose a series of strategies to help mitigate these impacts, preventing this future becoming reality.
Research Article: Borlaff et al.
Nature: Satellite swarms set to photobomb more than 95% of some telescopes’ images
11:08 Research Highlights
How researchers have sped up the trapping of antimatter atoms — plus, how hydrogen fuel emission benefits vary considerably from sector to sector.
Research Highlight: Laser cooling traps more antimatter atoms than ever before
Research Highlight: Hydrogen fuel isn’t always the green choice
13:41 The negative consequences of video call glitches
Glitches in video calls are an annoying feature of everyday life, but these brief interruptions could have serious real-world impacts, according to analysis from a team of researchers. In one experiment, the team found that video calls with glitches decreased the likelihood of someone being hired for a job. Analysis of other data suggested glitchy calls were associated with lower chances of individuals being granted parole. The team behind the work think that these visual errors break the illusion that a video call is a real face-to-face conversation, potentially impairing judgements about the quality of the information discussed.
Research article: Brucks et al.
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Wed, 03 Dec 2025 - 23min - 920 - Audio long read: Faulty mitochondria cause deadly diseases — fixing them is about to get a lot easier
CRISPR-based gene editing has revolutionized modern biology, but these tools are unable to access the DNA that resides inside mitochondria. Researchers are eager to access and edit this DNA to understand more about the energy production and the mutations that can cause incurable mitochondrial diseases.
Because CRISPR can’t help with these problems, researchers have been looking for other ways to precisely edit the mitochrondrial genome. And the past few years have brought some success — if researchers can make editing safe and accurate enough, it could eventually be used to treat, and even cure, these genetic conditions.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Faulty mitochondria cause deadly diseases — fixing them is about to get a lot easier
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Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 17min - 919 - This is what lightning on Mars sounds like
00:46 Martian ‘micro-lightning’
The sounds of ‘micro-lightning’ have been recorded by NASA’s Perseverance rover, ending a long search for the phenomenon on Mars. A lack of suitable equipment has made it difficult to gather evidence of lightning on the red planet, but a team of researchers realized that a microphone on Perseverance should be able to pick up the characteristic sounds of electrical discharges. In total they found 55 such examples, along with signs of electrostatic interference indicative of the phenomenon. They dubbed the electric bursts ‘micro-lightning’, as they are far smaller than the lighting seen on Earth, due to the thin Martian atmosphere. The team believe this finding could help better understand Martian chemistry and how best to design equipment to explore the planet’s surface.
Research Article: Chide et al.
News and Views: Is there lightning on Mars?
11:03 Research Highlights
How the biology of male seahorses’ brood pouches appears similar to mammalian pregnancy— plus, why Neanderthals’ jaws were so beefy.
Research Highlight: The origin of male seahorses’ brood pouch
Research Highlight: Neanderthal DNA reveals how human faces form
13:36 The key takeaways from COP30
The UN’s climate conference, COP30, came to a close last week in Brazil. Nature reporter Jeff Tollefson tells us what was and wasn’t agreed during the final negotiations.
Nature: What happened at COP30? 4 science take-homes from the climate summit
22:27 Why women may retract less than men
A new analysis suggests that female authors retract fewer medical science papers than their male counterparts. Women are known to be underrepresented in the medical sciences, but even accounting for this an AI-tool revealed that female authors featured on far fewer retracted research articles. Reporter Jenna Ahart has been investigating and told us why this might be, and what it means for research more broadly.
Nature: Women seem to retract fewer papers than men — but why?
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Wed, 26 Nov 2025 - 28min - 918 - Insulin cream offers needle-free option for diabetes
00:45 A molecule that delivers insulin through the skin
Researchers have developed a skin-permeable polymer that can deliver insulin into the body, which they say could one day offer an alternative to injections for diabetes management. The skin’s structure presents a formidable barrier to the delivery of large drugs but in this work a team show that their polymer can penetrate though the different layers without causing damage. Insulin attached to this polymer was able to reduce blood glucose levels in animal models for diabetes at a comparable speed to injected insulin. While further research is required on the long-term safety of this strategy, the team hope it could offer a way to non-invasively deliver other large-molecule drugs into the body.
Research Article: Wei et al.
09:23 Research Highlights
How extreme drought may be humanity’s biggest challenge after a huge volcanic eruption — plus, turning a bacterium into a factory for a colour-changing pigment
Research Highlight: Volcano mega-eruptions lead to parched times
Research Highlight: Dye or die: bacterium forced to make pigment to stay alive
11:42 How language lights up the brain, whatever the tongue
The human brain responds in a similar way to both familiar and unfamiliar languages, but there are some key differences, according to new research — a finding that may explain why learning a language can be difficult. A study looking involving 34 people showed that listening to an unfamiliar language triggers similar neural activity to listening to their native tongue. The finding implies that human speech triggers a common reaction in the brain regardless of understanding. However, there were subtle differences when listening to a known language that may help explain how people actually understand words.
Research Article: Bhaya-Grossman et al.
Neuron: Zhang et al
27:18 Briefing Chat
Signs that greenhouse-gas emissions may peak around 2030 — plus, evidence of dog breeding by ancient humans.
Nature: Global greenhouse-gas emissions are still rising: when will they peak?
Nature: How ancient humans bred and traded the first domestic dogs
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Wed, 19 Nov 2025 - 42min - 917 - ‘Malicious use is already happening’: machine-learning pioneer on making AI safer
Yoshua Bengio, considered by many to be one of the godfathers of AI, has long been at the forefront of machine-learning research . However, his opinions on the technology have shifted in recent years — he joins us to talk about ways to address the risks posed by AI, and his efforts to develop an AI with safety built in from the start.
Nature: ‘It keeps me awake at night’: machine-learning pioneer on AI’s threat to humanity
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Fri, 14 Nov 2025 - 15min - 916 - Huge eruption on a distant star confirmed at last
00:45 A coronal mass ejection from a distant star
Researchers have detected what they say is the strongest evidence yet of a coronal mass ejection (CME) coming from a star other than our Sun. CMEs are massive bursts of fast-moving plasma that can be detected thanks to the characteristic radio signal they produce. However, despite decades of searching, these signals have only been identified from the Sun. Now a team has identified a similar signal coming from a distant star in the Milky Way. They hope their discovery will lead to better understanding of the impact these colossal events might have on the atmospheres of exoplanets, and their chances of being habitable.
Research Article: Callingham et al.
12:28 Research Highlights
Video footage of a devastating earthquake provides a first-of-its-kind glimpse of a dramatic ground rupture — plus, a flock of comets seen outside our Solar System.
Research Highlight: Single video camera tells the story of deadly Myanmar quake
Research Highlight: A host of ‘exocomets’ swarms a distant star
14:29 The rare genetic variants that may increase the risk of ADHD
Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects around 1 in 20 young people, but its underlying causes are not fully understood. Now, a team of researchers show that three rare genetic variants are implicated in an increased risk of ADHD, which may play a role in the neurons involved in dopamine signalling. While this work provides a better understanding of the complex genetics at play, the authors caution more research is needed to unpick the complex interplay other factors involved in ADHD.
Research Article: Demontis et al.
18:41 Briefing Chat
A high-resolution digital map for Roman roads, and how speaking more than one language could slow brain ageing.
Nature: ‘Google Maps’ for Roman roads reveals vast extent of ancient network
Nature: Want a younger brain? Learn another language
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Wed, 12 Nov 2025 - 33min - 915 - Meet the ‘Wee-rex’. Tiny tyrannosaur is its own species
00:45 The debate around Nanotyrannus
A hotly debated species of dinosaur, assumed by many to be a juvenile T. rex, is actually a separate species, according to new research. Nanotyrannus was a dinosaur anatomically similar to T. rex, but about a tenth of the size, leading many to argue it was a young version of the iconic species. However, examination of the limb bones of a well-preserved Nanotyrannus fossil suggests it was close to finishing its growth and so would never become as large as a T. rex, leading the authors to argue that it is, in fact, a different species.
Research Article: Zanno and Napoli
News and Views: T. rex debate settled: contested fossils are smaller rival species, not juveniles
News: ‘Teenage T. rex’ fossil is actually a different species
Video: Hotly debated dinosaur is not a tiny T. rex after all
08:46 Research Highlights
An artificial ‘neuron’ could pave the way to build a brain-inspired computer — plus, how bats buck the trend by hunting prey their own size.
Research Highlight: Artificial brains with less drain
Research Highlight: By the time you hear these bats, it’s too late
11:19 A less invasive way to prevent breast cancer
An ‘anti-hormone’ therapy has shown promise in halting the onset of hallmarks associated with breast cancer, in a small trial. Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women worldwide, but preventative measures, such as mastectomies, are invasive. A new study examined the efficacy of a treatment that blocks progesterone, a hormone thought to play an important role in breast cancer progression. The therapy reduced both specific clinical markers of breast cancer and the number of cells that can become cancerous. Larger, longer trials are needed to show that this treatment could ultimately become part of a breast cancer prevention strategy, but the team think that this work shows the promise of this approach.
Research Article: Simões et al.
18:41 Briefing Chat
A new approach to speed up CRIPSR therapies reaching clinical trials, and how vocal cords could be healed using a tiny 3D printer.
Nature: Personalized gene editing helped one baby: can it be rolled out widely?
Nature: World’s smallest 3D bioprinter could rebuild tissue during surgery
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Wed, 05 Nov 2025 - 28min - 914 - Bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years – this protein might be why
00:47 How bowhead whales live so long
Researchers have uncovered a protein that enhances DNA repair and may explain how bowhead whales can live more than 200 years. The protein, cold-induced RNA-binding protein, was shown to enhance repair of double stranded DNA breaks, a particularly troublesome kind of damage. The team showed that this protein could also extend the lives of Drosophila flies and enhance repair in human cells. More needs to be understood about how this protein works, but the researchers hope that it could, one day, help prevent cancer and ageing in humans.
Research Article: Firsanov et al.
News: This whale lives for centuries: its secret could help to extend human lifespan
11:22 Research Highlights
A precise way to grow crystals, with lasers — plus, the specialist organ that allows stinkbugs to protect their eggs from wasps.
Research Highlight: How to grow crystals when and where you want them
Research Highlight: Stinkbug ‘ear’ actually hosts parasite-fighting fungi
13:31 An antivenom against a broad range of snakebites
Researchers have used ‘nanobodies’ to create an antivenom that works against 17 snake species’ venom. Snakebites kill millions each year, so getting the right antivenom can be life or death. But they are difficult to produce and often are very specific. Now, using nanobodies from llamas, researchers created an antivenom against a broad range of snake species’ venom. The new antivenom can now even be produced without the llamas, and the team hope it will pave the way for a more universal antivenom.
Research Article: Ahmadi et al.
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Wed, 29 Oct 2025 - 22min - 913 - Audio long read: How to get the best night’s sleep — what the science says
Advice on how to get good sleep is everywhere, with the market for sleep aids worth more than US$100 billion annually. However, scientists warn that online hacks and pricey tools aren’t always effective, and suggest that lessons learnt about the workings of a network of biological clocks found in the human body could ultimately lead to improved sleep.
This is an audio version of our Feature: How to get the best night’s sleep: what the science says
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Fri, 24 Oct 2025 - 15min - 912 - Honey, I ate the kids: how hunger and hormones make mice aggressive
00:48 How hunger, hormones and aggression interact in mouse brains
Researchers have uncovered the neural mechanisms that underlie an aggressive behaviour in mice prompted by hunger and hormonal state. Virgin female mice can become aggressive towards mouse pups when they are food deprived, but it seems that the relevant amounts of pregnancy hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, also played a role. By investigating the neurons involved, neuroscientists showed how hunger and hormones are integrated by the brain to lead to aggressive behaviour. This could help researchers understand more about how multiple stimuli are interpreted by the brain, something much harder to study than single stimulus effects.
Research Article: Cao et al.
09:35 Research Highlights
The overlooked environmental costs of wastewater treatment facilities — plus, an ancient communal hunting system that lasted well into the eighteenth century.
Research Highlight: Wastewater treatment produces surprising amounts of greenhouse gases
Research Highlight: Andean peoples hunted and gathered long after they embraced farming
11:53 What generative AI could mean for higher education
Around the world, universities and students are scrambling to adapt to the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. And while there is optimism that these tools could improve education, there are also concerns about the ways they could stifle independent, critical thought. We hear about the studies trying to unpick the potential impact of this new technology.
News Feature: Universities are embracing AI: will students get smarter or stop thinking?
21:26 Briefing Chat
A blood test for Alzheimer’s, and what should be the next ‘test’ for AI after the Turing test?
Nature: Blood tests are now approved for Alzheimer’s: how accurate are they?
Nature: AI language models killed the Turing test: do we even need a replacement?
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Wed, 22 Oct 2025 - 34min - 911 - New bird flu vaccine could tackle multiple variants with one shot
00:46 A multi-variant avian flu vaccine that could enhance pandemic preparedness
A vaccine capable of protecting against multiple strains of avian influenza virus might be a step closer, according to new research. The H5 subtype of avian influenza viruses has spilled over into mammals and is particularly concerning to researchers because of the risk that one of its variants may evolve to cause a pandemic. But because there are multiple variants of these viruses, it has been hard to pre-prepare vaccines. Now, a team has used information on how H5 viruses changed over time to design a vaccine that in animal studies provided protection against different H5 variants. They hope their approach could be applied to create stockpiles of a vaccine that could be used in the event of a pandemic, regardless of the variant that causes it.
Research Article:Kok et al.
10:53 Research Highlights
Making muon beams without a huge particle accelerator — plus, the bats hunting migrating birds in mid-air.
Research Highlight:Portable muon beam could accelerate archaeology scans
Research Highlight:European bats capture migrating birds and eat them on the wing
13:34 Briefing Chat
A new search engine that can sift through the staggering volumes of biological data, and the multiple failings revealed by an assessment of 25 years of carbon offsetting data.
Nature:‘Google for DNA’ brings order to biology’s big data
The Guardian:Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says
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Wed, 15 Oct 2025 - 22min - 910 - How stereotypes shape AI – and what that means for the future of hiring
00:48 The stereotypes hidden in Internet images
Stereotyped assumptions about women’s ages and their perceived job suitability are enhanced by Internet imagery, according to new research. A study of hundreds of thousands of online images shows that women appear younger than men. This stereotype extends to the jobs that people perceive women do, with men being associated with roles such as CEO or head of research, while women were linked to occupations like cook or nurse. The research shows that these biases have been embedded into the training data for AI models and could affect future hiring. The researchers caution that society is at risk of creating a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ where these stereotypes shape the real world.
Research Article: Guilbeault et al.
News and Views: Distorted representations of age and gender are reflected in AI models
13:24 Research Highlights
A very hungry planet — plus, how climate change is leading to larger trees in the Amazon.
Research Highlight: ‘Rogue’ planet is fastest-growing ever observed
Research Highlight: Trees of the Amazon are becoming even mightier
15:49 Astronomers name their favourite exoplanet
Thirty years ago, astronomers announced the discovery of the first exoplanet around a Sun-like star, sparking a renewed passion into spotting these planets that lie beyond our Solar System. In celebration, Nature asked researchers to tell us about their favourites.
News: These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why
Hear the music of a distant planetary system
25:51 Nobel news
Flora Graham from the Nature Briefing joins us to talk about the winners of this year’s science Nobel prizes.
Nature: Medicine Nobel goes to scientists who revealed secrets of immune system ‘regulation’
Nature: Groundbreaking quantum-tunnelling experiments win physics Nobel
Nature: Chemistry Nobel for scientists who developed massively porous ‘super sponge’ materials
Nature: Will AI ever win its own Nobel? Some predict a prize-worthy science discovery soon
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Wed, 08 Oct 2025 - 35min - 909 - Ancient viral DNA helps human embryos develop
00:50 How ancient viruses drive modern human development
Research suggests that ancient viral-DNA embedded in the human genome is playing a key role in early embryo development. Around 8% of our genome consists of endogenous retrovirus DNA — the remnants of ancient infections, but knowledge of their activity is limited. Now, a team show that these sequences are required for the correct development of lab-derived embryo analogues, and for the switching on of human-specific genes.
Research Article: Fueyo et al.
News and Views: Ancient viral DNA in the human genome shapes early development
10:39 Research Highlights
Longer whale mothers are more likely to give birth to daughters — plus, how the stink of the corpse flower waxes and wanes to attract pollinators.
Research Highlight: Big mother whales have more daughters than sons
Research Highlight: Corpse flowers waft out stinky compounds as fast as landfills do
13:05 How heat can fuel DNA computers
Researchers have developed a way to use heat to recharge DNA-based computer circuits, which could help overcome one of the stumbling blocks preventing this technology from being scaled up. Although DNA strands have been used to perform computational tasks for some time, current methods can run out of energy or build up waste products, preventing their continued use. Now, using just heat a team have demonstrated a reuseable neural network based on DNA. They hope that ultimately this could be a step in the development of bigger and more powerful DNA computers that could be used to power targeted clinical therapies.
Research Article: Song & Qian
22:20 Briefing Chat
A one-time gene therapy for Huntington’s disease show promise at slowing the brain disorder’s progression — plus, how mitochondria throw out ‘tainted’ DNA.
Nature: Huntington’s disease treated for first time using gene therapy
Nature: Mitochondria expel tainted DNA — spurring age-related inflammation
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Wed, 01 Oct 2025 - 33min - 908 - Audio long read: Autism is on the rise — what’s really behind the increase?
In April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr held a press conference about rising diagnoses of autism, and said he would soon be announcing a study to find the responsible agent. Although Kennedy said that environmental factors are the main cause of autism, research has shown that genetics plays a bigger part. Also, the rise in prevalence, many researchers say, is
predominantly caused by an increase in diagnoses rather than a true rise in the underlying symptoms and traits.
Although the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a US$50 million to fund studies on the causes of autism, many researchers were dismayed that these developments seemed to ignore decades of work on the well-documented rise in diagnoses and on causes of the developmental condition.
This is an audio version of our Feature: Autism is on the rise — what’s really behind the increase?
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Fri, 26 Sep 2025 - 25min - 907 - How a dangerous tick-borne virus sneaks into the brain
00:48 New insights into tick-borne encephalitis
Researchers have identified a key protein that helps tick-borne encephalitis virus enter the brain. In rare cases an infection can lead to serious neurological symptoms, but little was known about how the virus interacts with human cells. Now, a team show that a protein found on the outside of cells plays an important role in infection. In mouse experiments, they show that blocking the ability of the virus to bind to this protein protected the mice from disease. Currently no treatments exist, but the team hopes that this research will ultimately lead to a viable drug for this disease.
Research Article: Mittler et al.
08:47 Research Highlights
The squirming robot that speeds up the insertion of an emergency breathing tube — plus, the 10,000-year-old remains that could be the oldest intentionally preserved mummies
Research Highlight: Soft robot steers itself down the human airway
Research Highlight: Smoke-dried mummies pre-date Egypt’s embalmed bodies
11:21 How might cancelled NIH grants affect the future of US science?
To assess the potential impact of cuts to funding by the Trump administration, Nature trained a machine-learning bot to try and reproduce the NIH’s method of cancelling grants and applied it to science that was successfully funded around ten years ago. This thought experiment shows that highly impactful science and medical research might have been at risk had a similar process been followed a decade ago, revealing the potentially broad-reaching consequences of these actions today.
Nature Index: What research might be lost after the NIH’s cuts? Nature trained a bot to find out
News: Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature
20:54 Briefing Chat
What researchers understand about chatbot-induced psychosis, and the AI designed viruses capable of killing E. coli bacteria.
Nature: Can AI chatbots trigger psychosis? What the science says
Nature: World’s first AI-designed viruses a step towards AI-generated life
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Wed, 24 Sep 2025 - 32min - 906 - Apocalypse then: how cataclysms shaped human societies
Science journalist Lizzie Wade’s first book, Apocalypse: A Transformative Exploration of Humanity's Resilience Through Cataclysmic Events explores some of the cataclysmic events that humans have faced through history. Lizzie joined us to discuss what modern archaeology has revealed about these events, and the role these they’ve have played in shaping societies around the world.
Apocalypse: A Transformative Exploration of Humanity's Resilience Through Cataclysmic Events Lizzie Wade Harper (2025)
Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
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Fri, 19 Sep 2025 - 27min - 905 - This AI tool predicts your risk of 1,000 diseases — by looking at your medical records
00:50 The AI tool that predicts disease risk
Researchers have developed an AI tool that can calculate a person’s risk of developing over 1,000 different diseases, sometimes years in advance. The system, called Delphi-2M, was trained to identify patterns of disease progression using 400,000 people's health records from data repository the UK Biobank. This training allowed it to predict someone’s future disease risks, based on their current medical record. While AI health prediction systems do exist, they typically only estimate risks for a single disease — the authors hope that their system could one day save healthcare professionals time and be used to calculate disease burdens at a population level.
Research Article: Shmatko et al.
News: What diseases will you have in 20 years? This AI makes predictions
11:01 Research Highlights
Evidence that refugees hosted by local families integrate better into their adoptive country — plus, the squidgy shirt that can keep wearers cool.
Research Highlight: How to help refugees thrive: have local families host them
Research Highlight: Jelly-filled garment keeps wearers cool when heat and humidity soar
13:50 Give an AI a task and it may cheat for you
Using AI tools may make you more likely to cheat at tasks like tax reporting, according to a new study. Using a well-studied test of honesty, researchers looked to see if people were more likely to engage in unethical behaviour if given the option of delegating it to an AI. Including AIs seemed to increase the chance that someone would be dishonest, which raises concerns about the impacts of these tools on ethics.
Research Article: Köbis et al
News and Views: People are more likely to cheat when they delegate tasks to AI
24:54 Briefing Chat
Europe has a new supercomputer, JUPITER, that could boost its AI ambitions, and a catalogue of octopus movement.
Nature: World's most energy-efficient AI supercomputer comes online
New York Times: Building an Octopus Dictionary, One Arm Movement at a Time
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Wed, 17 Sep 2025 - 35min
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