Nature Podcast
803 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 672 ratingsThe 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.
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Episodes
The 'ghost roads' driving tropical deforestation
April 10, 2024 15:00 - 23 minutes - 31.6 MBIn this episode: 00:46 Mapping ‘ghost roads’ in tropical forests Across the world, huge numbers of illegal roads have been cut into forests. However, due to their illicit nature, the exact numbers of these roads and their impacts on ecosystems is poorly understood. To address this, researchers have undertaken a huge mapping exercise across the tropical Asia-Pacific region. Their findings reveal over a million kilometers of roads that don’t appear on official maps, and that their constructi...
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
April 05, 2024 12:00 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBAround the world, rates of cancers that typically affect older adults are increasing in those under 50 years old. Models based on global data predict that the number of early-onset cancer cases like these will increase by around 30% between 2019 and 2030. The most likely contributors — such as rising rates of obesity and early-cancer screening — do not fully account for the increase. To try and understand the reasons behind this trend, many researchers are searching for answers buried in st...
Pregnancy's effect on 'biological' age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg
April 03, 2024 15:27 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this episode: 00:35 Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back Growing a baby leads to changes in the distribution of certain chemical markers on a pregnant person’s DNA, but new research suggests that after giving birth, these changes can revert to an earlier state. Nature News: Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back 08:07 Bird gestures to say 'after you' A Japanese tit (Parus minor) will flutter its wings to invite t...
How climate change is affecting global timekeeping
March 27, 2024 16:00 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MBIn this episode: 01:28 Inflammation’s role in memory How memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA damage is repaired may play a role. As inflammation in the brain is often associated with disease, the team were surprised by this finding, whi...
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs
March 20, 2024 16:00 - 29 minutes - 40.8 MBThis podcast has been corrected: in a previous version at 5:55 we stated that that the team's 200mm devices currently contain only a couple of magnetic tunnelling junctions, in fact they studied 500-1000 devices in this work. 00:48 How mysterious skyrmions could power next-generation computers Skyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that some researchers believe have useful properties that could unlock new kinds of computing. However getting skyrmions to perform useful computational...
Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why
March 13, 2024 16:00 - 27 minutes - 37.4 MBIn this episode: 00:45 Making a map of the human heart The human heart consists of multiple, specialised structures that all work together to enable the organ to beat for a lifetime. But exactly which cells are present in each part of the heart has been difficult to ascertain. Now, a team has combined molecular techniques to create an atlas of the developing human heart at an individual cell level. Their atlas provides insights into how cell communities communicate and form different struc...
These tiny fish combine electric pulses to probe the environment
March 06, 2024 16:00 - 36 minutes - 50.4 MBIn this episode: 00:48 Bumblebees can learn new tricks from each other One behaviour thought unique to humans is the ability to learn something from your predecessors that you couldn’t figure out on your own. However, researchers believe they have shown bumblebees are also capable of this ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ approach to learning. Bees that were taught how to complete a puzzle too difficult to solve on their own, were able to share this knowledge with other bees, raising t...
Could this one-time ‘epigenetic’ treatment control cholesterol?
February 28, 2024 16:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBIn this episode: 00:49 What caused the Universe to become fully transparent? Around 13 billion years ago, the Universe was filled with a dense ‘fog’ of neutral hydrogen that blocked certain wavelengths of light. This fog was lifted when the hydrogen was hit by radiation in a process known as reionisation, but the source of this radiation has been debated. Now, researchers have used the JWST to peer deep into the Universe’s past and found that charged particles pouring out from dwarf galaxi...
Audio long read: Chimpanzees are dying from our colds — these scientists are trying to save them
February 26, 2024 14:05 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBThe phenomenon of animals catching diseases from humans, called reverse zoonoses, has had a severe impact on great ape populations, often representing a bigger threat than habitat loss or poaching. However, while many scientists and conservationists agree that human diseases pose one of the greatest risks to great apes today there are a few efforts under way to use a research-based approach to mitigate this problem. This is an audio version of our Feature Chimpanzees are dying from our col...
How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solved
February 23, 2024 08:00 - 14 minutes - 19.9 MBThe deep haunting tones of the world's largest animals, baleen whales, are iconic - but how the songs are produced has long been a mystery. Whales evolved from land dwelling mammals which vocalize by passing air through a structure called the larynx - a structure which also helps keep food from entering the respiratory system. However toothed whales like dolphins do not use their larynx to make sound, instead they have evolved a specialized organ in their nose. Now a team of researchers have...
Why are we nice? Altruism's origins are put to the test
February 21, 2024 16:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBIn this episode: 00:45 Why are humans so helpful? Humans are notable for their cooperation and display far more altruistic behaviour than other animals, but exactly why this behaviour evolved has been a puzzle. But in a new paper, the two leading theories have been put the test with a model and a real-life experiment. They find that actually neither theory on its own leads to cooperation but a combination is required for humans to help one another. Research article: Efferson et al. News ...
Smoking changes your immune system, even years after quitting
February 14, 2024 16:00 - 21 minutes - 29.7 MB00:45 Smoking's long-term effects on immunity It's well-known that smoking is bad for health and it has been linked to several autoimmune disorders, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Now, researchers have investigated the immune responses of 1,000 people. Whilst some effects disappear after quitting, impacts on the T cell response lingers long after. The team hopes that this evidence could help better understand smoking's association with autoimmune diseases. Research article: S...
Why we need to rethink how we talk about cancer
February 09, 2024 20:00 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBFor over a century, cancer has been classified by areas of the body - lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer etc. And yet modern medical research is telling us that the molecular and genetic mechanisms behind cancers are not necessarily tied to parts of the body. Many drugs developed to treat metastatic cancers have the capacity to work across many different cancers, and that presents an opportunity for more tailored and efficient treatments. Oncologists are calling for a change in the way ...
Cancer's power harnessed — lymphoma mutations supercharge T cells
February 07, 2024 16:00 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBIn this episode: 0:46 Borrowing tricks from cancer could help improve immunotherapy T cell based immunotherapies have revolutionised the treatment of certain types of cancer. However these therapies — which involved taking someone’s own T cells and reprogramming them to kill cancer cells — have struggled to treat solid tumours, which put up multiple defences. To overcome these, a team has taken mutations found in cancer cells that help them thrive and put them into therapeutic T cells. The...
Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here's how
February 04, 2024 12:00 - 17 minutes - 23.9 MBCervical cancer is both treatable and preventable, and the WHO has called for countries to come together to to eliminate the disease in the next century. However the disease still kills over 300,000 people each year, and levels of screening, treatment and vaccination need to be stepped up in order to achieve this goal. These challenges are particularly stark in low- and middle-income countries, where a lack of funding, staffing and infrastructure are obstacles. Vaccine hesitancy, especiall...
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools
January 31, 2024 16:00 - 28 minutes - 39.5 MBIn this episode: 0:48 How hominins spread through Europe Ancient stone tools are often uncovered in Europe, but it can be difficult to identify who crafted them, as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens coexisted in the region for several thousand years. The makers of one type of tool found in northern Europe has long puzzled researchers, but now through genetic analysis of nearby skeletal fragments, it has been revealed that they were made by Homo sapiens. The age of these tools suggests that mod...
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
January 26, 2024 12:00 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBEvidence so far suggests that the prevalence of long COVID in low- and middle-income countries could be similar to that of wealthier countries. For example, by some estimates, more than four million people in Brazil have long COVID. However, an absence of research on the condition in less-wealthy countries has left advocates hamstrung: few physicians acknowledge that long COVID exists. A lack of data is also hampering efforts to search for the mechanisms of the condition and tailor treatmen...
Toxic red mud could be turned into 'green' steel
January 24, 2024 16:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this episode: 0:46 Turning a toxic by-product into iron Red mud is a toxic by-product of aluminium manufacture, and millions of tonnes of it is produced each year. The majority ends up in landfills, pumped into vast lakes or stored in dried mounds, posing a serious environmental risk. This week, researchers demonstrate how red mud can be reused to make iron, a vital component in the production of steel. As their method uses hydrogen plasma rather than fossil fuels, they suggest it could...
This AI just figured out geometry — is this a step towards artificial reasoning?
January 17, 2024 16:00 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBIn this episode: 0:55 The AI that deduces solutions to complex maths problems Researchers at Google Deepmind have developed an AI that can solve International Mathematical Olympiad-level geometry problems, something previous AIs have struggled with. They provided the system with a huge number of random mathematical theorems and proofs, which it used to approximate general rules of geometry. The AI then applied these rules to solve the Olympiad problems and show its workings for humans to c...
The science stories you missed over the holiday period
January 10, 2024 16:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this episode of the Nature Podcast, we catch up on some science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing. We chat about: an extra-warm sweater inspired by polar bear fur; the fossil find revealing what a juvenile tyrannosaur liked to snack on; why scientists are struggling to open OSIRIS-REx’s sample container; how 2023 was a record for retractions; and how cats like to play fetch, sometimes. Nature News: Polar bear fur-inspired sweater is thinner than a down j...
Science in 2024: what to expect this year
January 03, 2024 16:00 - 13 minutes - 18.7 MBIn this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2024. We'll hear about the mass of the neutrino, the neural basis of consciousness and the climate lawsuits at the Hague, to name but a few. News: the science events to look our for in 2024 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio long read: A new kind of solar cell is coming — is it the future of green energy?
December 29, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 238 MBPerovskites are cheap, abundant photovoltaic materials that some have hailed as the future of green energy. Around the world, companies are layering perovskites on top of traditional silicon to develop so-called tandem solar cells that some think could deliver at least 20% more power than a silicon cell alone. However, there remain multiple issues to overcome before these products are ready for widespread uptake in the notoriously competitive solar-power market. This is an audio version o...
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023
December 27, 2023 16:00 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBIn this episode: 00:54 Franklin’s real role When it comes to the structure of DNA, everyone thinks they know Rosalind Franklin’s role in its discovery. The story goes that her crucial data was taken by James Watson without her knowledge, helping him and Francis Crick solve the structure. However, new evidence has revealed that this wasn’t really the case. Rosalind Franklin was not a ‘wronged heroine’, she was an equal contributor to the discovery. Nature Podcast: 25 April 2023 Comment: W...
How AI works is often a mystery — that's a problem
December 22, 2023 16:00 - 37 minutes - 51.9 MBMany AIs are 'black box' in nature, meaning that part of all of the underlying structure is obfuscated, either intentionally to protect proprietary information, due to the sheer complexity of the model, or both. This can be problematic in situations where people are harmed by decisions made by AI but left without recourse to challenge them. Many researchers in search of solutions have coalesced around a concept called Explainable AI, but this too has its issues. Notably, that there is no re...
The Nature Podcast Festive Spectacular 2023
December 20, 2023 16:00 - 45 minutes - 62.5 MBIn this episode: 01:55 “Oh GPT” In the first of our festive songs, we pay homage to LLMs, the generative AI chat bots which have taken 2023 by storm. 05:32 Twenty questions In this year’s festive game, our competitors try to guess some of the biggest science stories of the year, solely by asking yes/no questions. 24:40 “Warming night” In our final song this year, we take stock as 2023 is named the hottest year since records began. As worsening climate change continues to threaten live...
Navigating planets, plays and prejudice — a conversation with Aomawa Shields
December 15, 2023 15:35 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBIn the latest episode of Nature hits the books, astronomer Aomawa Shields discusses her memoir Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe. The book tracks her career path as a scientist and a classically-trained actor, explores her experiences as an African American woman in STEM, and interrogates science’s place in culture — some of the things we discussed in this podcast. Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe Aomawa Shields Constable...
Inhaled vaccine prevents COVID in monkeys
December 14, 2023 16:00 - 7 minutes - 10.9 MBCurrent COVID-19 vaccines offer great protection from serious illness, but they don't prevent people from becoming infected in the first place. Because of this, researchers have been searching for ways to boost mucosal immunity — the immune response on mucosal surfaces — as this is where the virus is first encountered by the body. Now a team have shown that mucosal immunity can be improved enough to block infection in rhesus macaques by administering booster vaccines directly into their lung...
Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish
December 13, 2023 16:00 - 25 minutes - 35.5 MBIn this episode: 00:48 A new way to grow a tricky parasite in the lab Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes the zoonotic disease toxoplasmosis, has a complex, multi-stage life cycle. Some of these stages will only grow in the intestines of cats, making it difficult to study. Now, a team has found a way to grow one of these stages in vitro for the first time, which they hope will help researchers learn more about this parasite, estimated to have infected around 30% of the world’s popu...
The world’s smallest light-trapping silicon cavity
December 06, 2023 16:00 - 31 minutes - 42.6 MBIn this episode: 00:48 A gap for trapping light Confining photons within materials opens up potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunications. But capturing light requires nanoscale cavities, which are difficult to make. This week, a team has created the smallest silicon gap yet for this purpose, just two nano-metres wide, by exploiting the intermolecular forces that are usually an obstacle when creating such small structures. They show this gap can trap light effectively,...
Sanitary products made from plants could help tackle period poverty
November 30, 2023 16:00 - 9 minutes - 12.4 MBAround 500 million people are estimated to be in period poverty, lacking adequate access to sanitary products. Many of these people rely on donations, but this is far from a long-term solution. To tackle this researchers have developed a method to extract absorbent materials for menstrual pads from a common plant, Agave sisalana. The researchers say that their method can be performed using local techniques and has a lower environmental impact than the manufacture of other period products. Th...
Why COP28 probably won't keep the 1.5 degree dream alive
November 29, 2023 16:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBIn this episode: 00:49 What to expect at COP28. The UN’s annual climate change conference is starting soon in Dubai. This time will be the first time that humanity formally assesses its progress under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, so we ask if this challenge of keeping warming below 1.5 ˚C can be met and what needs to happen at COP28 to make it a reality. News Feature: Is it too late to keep global warming below 1.5 °C? The challenge in 7 charts 10:49 Research Highlights Falcons sh...
Audio long read: Apple revival — how science is bringing historic varieties back to life
November 24, 2023 15:56 - 17 minutes - 16.5 MBResearchers have been resurrecting apple trees to revive forgotten varieties of the fruit. They hope that sequencing these apples' genomes could uncover mutations that influence flavour, colour, crispness and other characteristics. This knowledge could help unlock the next blockbuster fruit, and develop trees that are more resistant to disease, climate change and other environmental pressures. This is an audio version of our Feature Apple revival: how science is bringing historic varieties ...
Polio could be eradicated within 3 years — what happens then?
November 22, 2023 16:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBIn this episode: 00:46 What happens after polio is eradicated Since 1988, cases of polio have fallen by more than 99%, and many observers predict that the disease could be eradicated within the next three years. However, eradication isn’t the same as extinction, so the next challenge is for researchers to make sure the disease won’t return. We discuss what a post-polio future may look like, and how to ensure that the disease is gone for good. News Feature: Polio is on the brink of eradica...
Dust: the tiny substance with enormous power
November 17, 2023 16:15 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MBIn the latest episode of Nature hits the books, writer and researcher Jay Owens joins us to discuss her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles. Much like dust itself, Jay’s book travels the globe, looking at the impacts that these microscopic particles are having on the world, our health and environment, as well as exploring the role that humanity has played in creating them. Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles Jay Owens Hodder & Stoughton (2023) Music supplied by ...
How to 3D print fully-formed robots
November 15, 2023 16:11 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBIn this episode: 00:46 Machine vision enables multi-material 3D printing 3D printers are capable of producing complex shapes, but making functioning objects from multiple materials in a single print-run has proved challenging. To overcome this, a team has combined inkjet printing with an error-correction system guided by machine vision, to allow them to print sophisticated multi-material objects. They used this method to make a bio-inspired robotic hand that combines soft and rigid plastic...
How to tame a toxic yet life-saving antifungal
November 08, 2023 16:00 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MBIn this episode: 00:46 Modifying a fungal drug to make it less toxic Amphotericin B is a drug used to treat life-threatening fungal infections. But while it is effective against many fungal species, it is also extremely toxic to kidneys, meaning it is mostly used as a drug of last-resort. This week, a team has unpicked the mechanism behind the drug’s toxicity, allowing them to modify it and reduce side effects in human kidney cells. The researchers hope this new version of the drug could b...
Nature's Take: How will ChatGPT and generative AI transform research?
November 03, 2023 14:00 - 30 minutes - 41.7 MBIn the past year, generative AIs have been taking the world by storm. ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E and more, are changing the nature of how content is produced. In science, they could help transform and streamline publishing. However, they also come with plenty of risks. In this episode of Nature's Take we discuss how these AIs are impacting science and what the future might hold. Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox e...
A new hydrogel can be directly injected into muscle to help it regenerate
November 01, 2023 16:00 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBIn this episode: 00:46 An injectable gel for healing muscles Severe muscle injury can be debilitating, with long recuperation periods. Now, researchers have developed a material that can be directly injected into injured muscle, helping to stimulate and heal damaged tissue. The team showed this approach could rapidly restore walking ability in severely injured rats and regenerate muscles within four weeks. They hope that this solution could one day help humans with similar injuries, and ov...
Audio long read: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity
October 30, 2023 16:00 - 11 minutes - 11 MBFor decades, BMI — calculated by dividing weight by height squared — has been as an international standard to determine healthy weights. However, BMI does not measure body fat, and ignores many other factors that can affect how healthy someone it. Now, a small but growing movement of reseachers and clinicians are calling for other metrics to be used in conjunction with BMI when diagnosing and treating obesity. This is an audio version of our Feature: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefin...
Martian sounds reveal the secrets of the red planet's core
October 27, 2023 13:00 - 13 minutes - 18.4 MBFor years, researchers have been listening to Mars and the quakes that ripple through it, to understand the planet's internal structure and uncover its history. But often these results have left more questions than answers. Now, though, new research published in Nature reveals the composition and size of Mars's core, finding that it is much smaller than previously thought. Research Article: Khan et al. Research Article: Samuel et al. News and Views: Deep Mars is surprisingly soft Subscri...
Sounds of recovery: AI helps monitor wildlife during forest restoration
October 25, 2023 15:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBIn this episode: 00:47 An automated way to monitor wildlife recovery To prevent the loss of wildlife, forest restoration is key, but monitoring how well biodiversity actually recovers is incredibly difficult. Now though, a team have collected recordings of animal sounds to determine the extent of the recovery. However, while using these sounds to identify species is an effective way to monitor, it’s also labour intensive. To overcome this, they trained an AI to listen to the sounds, and fo...
An anti-CRISPR system that helps save viruses from destruction
October 18, 2023 15:00 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MBIn this episode: 00:47 An RNA-based viral system that mimics bacterial immune defences To protect themselves against viral infection, bacteria often use CRISPR-Cas systems to identify and destroy an invading virus’s genetic material. But viruses aren’t helpless and can deploy countermeasures, known as anti-CRISPRs, to neutralise host defences. This week, a team describe a new kind of anti-CRISPR system, based on RNA, which protects viruses by mimicking part of the CRISPR-Cas system. The re...
Gene edits move pig organs closer to human transplantation
October 11, 2023 15:00 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBIn this episode: 00:46 Engineered pig kidneys show transplantation promise Kidneys from genetically-engineered miniature pigs have been transplanted into non-human primates, in some cases keeping the animals alive for more than a year. Using CRISPR, a team made dozens of edits to the pig genome to prevent the monkeys’ immune system from attacking the organs. They also removed pig retrovirus genes that could represent an infection risk. These steps are necessary if pig organs are to be used...
'This doesn't just fall on women': computer scientists reflect on gender biases in STEM
October 10, 2023 15:30 - 14 minutes - 20.6 MBIn this Podcast Extra, two computer scientists, Shobhana Narasimhan and Sana Odeh, join Nature's Anne Pichon to discuss the barriers that women and gender-diverse people still face when working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They share their experiences and perspectives on the challenges facing women in research, and reflect on potential ways to move forward. Comment: ‘I wrote my first piece of code at seven’: women share highs and lows in computer science for Ada Lov...
Astronomers are worried by a satellite brighter than most stars
October 04, 2023 16:37 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBIn this episode: 00:45 A bright satellite is concerning researchers Satellites reflect sunlight down to Earth, and some do so with such intensity it risks obscuring astronomers' observations from ground-based telescopes. A paper in Nature suggests that the telecommunications satellite called BlueWalker 3 at times outshines most stars visible from Earth. Astronomers worry about the increasing number of such bright satellites making astronomy more difficult, and so the team suggest that futu...
Audio long read: These animals are racing towards extinction. A new home might be their last chance
September 29, 2023 12:30 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBAustralia's swamp tortoise is one of the most endangered species in the world. This species lives in wetlands that are under threat due to rising temperatures and a reduction in rainfall. In an effort to save the tortoise, researchers are trialling a controversial strategy called assisted migration. This approach has seen captive-bred tortoises released in other wetlands some 330 kilometres south of where they are naturally found. The aim is to see whether the animals can tolerate cooler cl...
This isn't the Nature Podcast — how deepfakes are distorting reality
September 27, 2023 15:00 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBIn this episode: 00:45 How to tackle AI deepfakes It has long been possible to create deceptive images, videos or audio to entertain or mislead audiences. Now, with the rise of AI technologies, such manipulations have become easier than ever. These deepfakes can spread misinformation, defraud people, and damage economies. To tackle this, researchers and companies are developing tools to find and label deepfakes, in an attempt to rob them of their potential to wreak havoc. News Feature: Ho...
Why does cancer spread to the spine? Newly discovered stem cells might be the key
September 20, 2023 15:05 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBIn this episode: 00:45 A new insight into cancers' selective spread Cancer cells can spread to bones in the late stages of disease and in many cancers, cells actually preferentially metastasise to the spine. The reason for this has been a puzzle to researchers for years, but now a team has found a new kind of stem cell that may be involved in this process. The stem cell is found in mice and humans and could represent a clinical target in the treatment of cancer. Research article: Sun et a...
A mussel-inspired glue for more sustainable sticking
September 13, 2023 15:00 - 33 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this episode: 00:46 A sustainably-sourced, super-strong adhesive The modern world is held together by adhesives, but these fossil-fuel derived materials come at an environmental cost. To overcome this, a team have developed a soya-oil based adhesive, which also takes inspiration from the proteins that marine animals like mussels use to stick firmly to rocks. The researchers say their glue is strong, reversible, and less carbon intensive to produce than existing adhesives. Research arti...
Our ancestors lost nearly 99% of their population, 900,000 years ago
September 06, 2023 15:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBIn this episode: 00:30 Early humans pushed to brink of extinction Around 900,000 years ago the ancestors of modern humans were pushed to the brink of extinction, according to new research. Genetic studies suggest that the breeding population of our ancestors in Africa dropped to just 1,280 and didn’t expand again for another 117,000 years. This population crash would likely have had an impact on human genetic diversity, and may have driven the evolution of important features of modern huma...