Nature Podcast

00:48 The mystery of Stonehenge’s Altar StoneStonehenge’s central stone came from Northern Scotland, more than 600 miles away from the monument, according to a new analysis of its geochemistry. It is commonly accepted that many of the rocks that make up the iconic neolithic monument came from Wales, 150 miles from the site. Previously, it had been thought that a central stone, called the Altar Stone, had also come from this area, known as the Preseli Hills. The new work suggests that the ancient Britons went much further, perhaps ferrying the Altar Stone hundreds of miles, to place the rock at the centre of Stonehenge.Research Article: Clarke et al.News: Stonehenge’s massive slabs came from as far as Scotland — 800 kilometres away12:12 Research HighlightsHow a parasite could help scientists break through the blood-brain barrier, and the physics of skateboard moves.Research Highlight: Engineered brain parasite ferries useful proteins into neuronsResearch Highlight: How expert skateboarders use physics on the half-pipe14:13 A new way to break bondsChemists have demonstrated a way to break Selenium-Selenium bonds unevenly, something they have been trying for decades. Chemical bonds have to be broken and reformed to create new compounds, but they often don’t break in a way that allows chemists to form new bonds in the ways they would like. Breaks are often ‘even’, with electrons shared equally between atoms. To prevent such an even split, a team used a specific solvent and a combination of light and heat to force the selenium bonds to break unevenly. This could potentially open up ways to create compounds that have never been made before.Research Article: Tiefel et al.News and Views: Innovative way to break chemical bonds broadens horizons for making moleculesSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

AIs built on Large Language Models have wowed by producing particularly fluent text. However, their ability to do this is limited in many languages. As the data and resources used to train a model in a specific language drops, so does the performance of the model, meaning that for some languages the AIs are effectively useless.Researchers are aware of this problem and are trying to find solutions, but the challenge extends far beyond just the technical, with moral and social questions to be answered. This podcast explores how Large Language Models could be improved in more languages and the issues that could be caused if they are not.Watch our related video of people trying out ChatGPT in different languages.

00:48 Plant trait diversity in drylandsA study reveals that, unexpectedly, plants display a greater diversity of traits in drier environments. Trait diversity is a measure of an organism's performance in an environment and can include things like the size of a plant or its photosynthetic rate. Whilst there are good data on this kind of diversity in temperate regions, an assessment of drylands has been lacking. The new study fills this knowledge gap and finds that, counter to a prevailing expectation that fewer traits would be displayed, at a certain level of aridity trait diversity doubles. The team behind the new work hope that it can help us better protect biodiversity as the planet warms and areas become drier.Research Article: Gross et al.08:25 Research HighlightsButterflies and moths use static charge to pick up pollen, and quantum physics rules out black holes made of light.Research Highlight: Charged-up butterflies draw pollen through the airResearch Highlight: Black holes made from light? Impossible, say physicists10:59 The Great Barrier Reef is the hottest it’s been for centuriesAn assessment of coral skeletons has shown that the past decade has been the warmest for the Great Barrier Reef for 400 years. By looking at the chemical composition of particularly old specimens of coral in the reef, researchers were able to create a record of temperatures going back to 1618. In addition to showing recent record breaking temperatures they also developed a model that suggests that such temperatures are very unlikely to occur without human-induced climate change. Altogether, the study suggests that the reef is in dire straits and much of the worlds’ coral could be lost.Research Article: Henley et al.News and Views: Coral giants sound the alarm for the Great Barrier ReefNature News: Great Barrier Reef's temperature soars to 400-year high18:56 ‘Publish or Perish’ becomes a card gameMost researchers are familiar with the refrain ‘Publish or Perish’ — the idea that publications are the core currency of a scientist’s career — but now that can be played out for laughs in a new board game. Created as a way to help researchers “bond over shared trauma”, the game features many mishaps familiar to academics, scrambles for funding and scathing comments, all while players must compete to get the most citations on their publications. Reporter Max Kozlov set out to avoid perishing and published his way to a story about the game for the Nature Podcast.Nature News: ‘Publish or Perish’ is now a card game — not just an academic’s lifeSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

00:45 Increasing the energy efficiency of light-based computersComputer components based on specialised LEDs could reduce the energy consumption of power hungry AI systems, according to new research. AI chips with components that compute using light can run more efficiently than those using digital electronics, but these light-based systems typically use lasers that can be bulky and difficult to control. To overcome these obstacles, a team has developed a way to replace these lasers with LEDs, which are cheaper and more efficient to run. Although only a proof of concept, they demonstrate that their system can perform some tasks as well as laser-based computers.Research Article: Dong et al.News and Views: Cheap light sources could make AI more energy efficient10:36 Research HighlightsThe genes that make roses smell so sweet, and how blocking inflammation could reduce heart injury after a stroke.Research Highlight: How the rose got its iconic fragranceResearch Highlight: Strokes can damage the heart — but reining in the immune system might help13:02 What researchers know about H5N1 influenza in cowsThe highly-pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 was first identified in US cattle in March 2024 and has been detected in multiple herds across the country. We round up what researchers currently know about this spread, what can be done to prevent it, and the risks this outbreak may pose to humans.Nature News: Can H5N1 spread through cow sneezes? Experiment offers cluesNature News: Huge amounts of bird-flu virus found in raw milk of infected cowsNature News: Could bird flu in cows lead to a human outbreak? Slow response worries scientistsResearch article: Eisfeld et al.22:38 Briefing ChatNASA’s Perseverance rover finds a Martian rock containing features associated with fossilized microbial life, and how metallic nodules on the ocean floor could be the source of mysterious ‘dark oxygen’Space.com: NASA's Perseverance Mars rover finds possible signs of ancient Red Planet lifeNature News: Mystery oxygen source discovered on the sea floor — bewildering scientistsSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

In India, a group of researchers raced to develop a CRISPR-based genome editing therapy to save the life of a young woman with a rare neurodegenerative disease. Despite a valiant effort, the pace of research was ultimately too slow to save her life. While many are convinced that these therapies could offer hope to those with overlooked genetic conditions, it will likely take years to develop the techniques needed to quickly create bespoke treatments, something people in need don't have.This is an audio version of our Feature: Hope, despair and CRISPR — the race to save one woman’s life

00:48 A rapid way to identify serious bacterial infectionsA newly-developed method that can rapidly identify the type of bacteria causing a blood-infection, and the correct antibiotics to treat it, could save clinicians time, and patient lives. Blood infections are serious, and can lead to the life-threatening condition sepsis, but conventional diagnostic methods can take days to identify the causes. This new method does away with some of the time-consuming steps, and the researchers behind it say that if it can be fully automated, it could provide results in less than a day.Research Article: Kim et al.11:49 Research HighlightsThe discovery of a connection between three star-forming interstellar clouds could help explain how these giant structures form, and evidence of the largest accidental methane leak ever recorded.Research Highlight: Found: the hidden link between star-forming molecular cloudsResearch Highlight: Blowout! Satellites reveal one of the largest methane leaks on record14:22 AIs fed AI-generated text start to spew nonsenseWhen artificial intelligences are fed data that has itself been AI-generated, these systems quickly begin to spout nonsense responses, according to new research. Typically, large language model (LLM) AI’s are trained on human-produced text found online. However, as an increasing amount of online content is AI-generated, a team wanted to know how these systems would cope. They trained an AI to produce Wikipedia-like entries, then trained new iterations on the model on the text produced by its predecessor. Quickly the outputs descended into gibberish, which highlights the dangers of the Internet becoming increasingly full of AI-generated text.Research Article: Shumailov et al.25:49 Briefing ChatHow psilocybin — the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms — resets communication between brain regions, and the surprise cancellation of a NASA Moon mission.Nature News: Your brain on shrooms — how psilocybin resets neural networksNature News: NASA cancels $450-million mission to drill for ice on the Moon — surprising researchersSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

01:04 A gel to safely transport proteinsA gel that encases proteins could be a new way to safely transport medicines without requiring them to be kept cold, according to new research. To test it, the team behind the work posted themselves a protein suspended in this gel, showing that it was perfectly preserved and retained its activity, despite being dropped in transit and exposed to varying temperatures. The researchers hope this gel will help overcome the need to freeze protein-based medicines, which can be expensive to do and difficult to maintain during transportation.Research Article: Bianco et al.News and Views: Gel protects therapeutic proteins from deactivation — even in the post08:51 Research HighlightsHow an abundance of cicadas led to a host of raccoon activity, and how wine-grape harvest records can be used to estimate historical summertime temperaturesResearch Highlight: Massive cicada emergence prompted raccoons to run wildResearch Highlight: Wine grapes’ sweetness reveals Europe’s climate history11:24 Making a plastic biodegradableBy embedding a plastic with an engineered enzyme, researchers have developed a fully biodegradable material that can be broken down in a home compost heap. Plastic production often requires high temperatures, so the team adapted an enzyme to make it more able to withstand heat, while still able to break down a common plastic called PLA. They hope this enzyme-embedded plastic could replace current single-use items, helping to reduce the huge amount of waste produced each year.Research Article: Guicherd et al.19:53 Briefing ChatThis time, how to make lab-grown meat taste more meaty, and a subterranean Moon cave that could be a place for humans to shelter.Nature News: This lab-grown meat probably tastes like real beefThe Guardian: Underground cave found on moon could be ideal base for explorersNature hits the books: Living on Mars would probably suck — here's whySubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

00:47 Searching for dark matter in black holesResearchers have been scanning the skies looking for black holes that formed at the very beginning of the Universe — one place where elusive and mysterious dark matter is thought to be located. If these black holes did contain dark matter, they would be especially massive and so researchers would be able to see the bending of light as they pass in front of stars. Such events would be rare, so to find them researchers trawled through a decades-long dataset. However, despite the large number of observations, the researchers didn't find many examples of these events and none that were long enough to show signs of much dark matter. So, the hunt for enigmatic material goes on.Research Article: Mróz et al.09:42 Research HighlightsHow some comb jellies survive the crushing ocean depths, and how giving cash to mothers in low-income households can boost time and money spent on children.Research Highlight: Deep-sea creatures survive crushing pressures with just the right fatsResearch Highlight: Families given cash with no strings spend more money on kids12:39 A simple, solution to tackle a deadly frog diseaseA simple ‘sauna’ built of bricks and a supermarket-bought greenhouse, can help frogs rid themselves of a devastating fungal disease, new research has shown. While options to prevent or treat infection are limited, the fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis has an achilles heel: it can’t survive at warm temperatures. A team in Australia used this knowledge to their advantage to develop saunas where frogs can warm themselves to clear an infection. Frogs who spent time in these hot environments were able to shake the fungus, and gained some immunity to subsequent infections. While this research only involved one type of frog, it offers some hope in tackling a deadly disease that has driven multiple species to extinction.Research Article: Waddle et al.News and Views: Mini saunas save endangered frogs from fungal disease20:06 Briefing ChatThis time, we discuss what the upcoming UK election could mean for science, and the return of rock samples from the Moon’s far side.Nature News: UK general election: five reasons it matters for scienceNature News: First ever rocks from the Moon’s far side have landed on EarthSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.