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Nature Podcast
Higgs boson turns ten: the mysteries physicists are still trying to solve
Ten years ago this week, scientists announced that they’d found evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle first theorised to exist nearly sixty years earlier.
To celebrate this anniversary, we reminisce about what the discovery meant at the time, and what questions are left to be answered about this mysterious particle.
Nature News: Happy birthday, Higgs boson! What we do and don’t know about the particle
Nature Editorial: Particle physics isn’t going to die — even if the LHC finds no new particles
11:09 Research Highlights
Clever clothes that can cool or warm the wearer, and finding hidden DNA from the endangered red wolf.
Research Highlight: ‘Smart’ clothing flexes to provide relief from the heat
Research Highlight: ‘Ghost’ DNA from the world’s rarest wolves lingers in coyotes
13:27 Supporting scientists who stutter
Stuttering is a speech condition that affects around 70 million people worldwide, which can make things like speaking in public, or even one-on-one incredibly daunting. We hear the experiences of one researcher of stuttering, who also has a stutter, as they explain the best way to offer support to others.
Careers Feature: The conference challenges faced by scientists who stutter
22:10 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss how having similar smells could spark a friendship, and how viruses can alter our odour to make humans more attractive to mosquitos.
New Scientist: You're more likely to become friends with someone who smells like you
Nature News: How some viruses make people smell extra-tasty to mosquitoes
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Briefing Chat: When to trust eyewitness memory – according to science
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27:55|In this episode:00:46 Meet the AI scientists designed to accelerate researchResearch article: Ghareeb et al.Research article: Gottweis et al.Nature: Teams of AI agents boost speed of researchEditorial: Why AI cannot do good science without humansNature: Do you hate or love AI? Take Nature’s poll13:25 Research HighlightsNature: Dried to survive: desiccated tardigrades tolerate high heatNature: Pristine Antarctic ice records the Solar System’s travels15:35 Using LiDAR to look around cornersResearch article: Somasundaram et al.Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Briefing Chat: Hantavirus — what this outbreak reveals about the disease
09:34|In this episode:00:34 What questions remain about the hantavirus outbreak?Nature: Hantavirus outbreak exposes uncertainty about how disease spreadsNature: There is no vaccine for deadly hantavirus: what that means for future outbreaksSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Red-light therapy is all the rage — does it work?
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19:06|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
Briefing Chat: Can't focus? It's not your attention span, it's your notifications
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