Share
Nature Podcast
Revealed: the impact of noise and light pollution on birds
Researchers try to unpick the complex relationship between sensory pollutants and bird reproduction, and how to combat organised crime in fisheries.
In this episode:
00:46 Sensory pollution and bird reproduction
Light- and noise-pollution have been shown to affect the behaviour of birds. However, it’s been difficult to work out whether these behavioural changes have led to bird species thriving or declining. Now, researchers have assembled a massive dataset that can begin to give some answers. Research article: Senzaki et al.
10:17 Coronapod
Interim results from a phase III trial show compelling evidence that a coronavirus vaccine candidate can prevent COVID-19. However, amid the optimism there remain questions to be answered – we discuss these, and what the results might mean for other vaccines in development. News: What Pfizer’s landmark COVID vaccine results mean for the pandemic
23:29 Research Highlights
A tiny bat breaks a migration record, and researchers engineer a mouse’s sense of place. Research Highlight: The record-setting flight of a bat that weighs less than a toothbrush; Research Article: Robinson et al.
25:39 Organised crime in fisheries
When you think of fishing, organised crime probably isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. However, billions of dollars every year from the fishing industry are lost to criminal enterprises. We discuss some of the impacts and what can be done about it. Research Article: Witbooi et al.
32:13 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a time-capsule discovered on the Irish coast provides a damning indictment of Arctic warming, and some human remains challenge the idea of ‘man-the-hunter’. The Guardian: Arctic time capsule from 2018 washes up in Ireland as polar ice melts; Science: Woman the hunter: Ancient Andean remains challenge old ideas of who speared big game
More episodes
View all episodes
Briefing Chat: What tickling a chimpanzee can tell us about the evolution of speech
11:30|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 atrophyNature: Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good06:42 Humans and chimps share a laughNature: Oo oo, ha ha: why humans and great apes giggle alike when tickledSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Medical records could be revealed by AI training-data vulnerability
19:54|In this episode:00:46 How sensitive information can be gleaned from medical AIsResearch 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 HighlightsNature: A long-lived butterfly’s secret to graceful ageingNature: It slices! It dices! Sashimi-Bot handles seafood with ease13:57 Across the Universe, galaxies clump together more than physicists thought they shouldResearch article: Labini & GaloppoSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Briefing Chat: Testosterone and sperm may get a boost from obesity drugs
12:16|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 impactNature: At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back05:39 The possible benefits of obesity drugs on testosteroneNature: The latest benefit of obesity drugs: boosting testosterone and sperm qualitySubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.DNA from hunter-gatherer teeth reveals secrets of ancient plague
26:42|In this episode:00:45 Ancient evidence of deadly plague outbreaksResearch article: Macleod et al.12:33 Research HighlightsNature: Bones of Iron Age skeleton were whittled into toolsNature: Giant crustacean of the deep sea steals a trick from bacteria14:52 A prototype atom interferometerResearch article: Baynham 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: The epic journey of Stonehenge’s central stone
11:20|In this episode:00:37 Evidence that Stonehenge's Altar Stone travelled by glacierBBC Science Focus: We may have just cracked one of Stonehenge's greatest mysteries05:44 Fossilized faeces reveal DNA from ancient ecosystemNature: Ancient ground squirrels feasted on carcasses like ‘zombies of the Pleistocene’Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Newly-discovered whale graveyard dates back millions of years
21:38|In this episode:00:46 A giant, ancient whale necropolisResearch article: Peng et al.News & Views: A vast whale necropolis has been found08:52 Research HighlightsNature: Babies’ birth weight improves with help of payments to parentsNature: Earliest signs of vision recorded in ancient sea-floor tracks11:11 Turning plant material into chemical building-blocksResearch article: Mains 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: Spinosaurs with salt glands could have lived in marine environments
11:25|In this episode:00:23 Fossil evidence that spinosaurs had an aquatic lifestyleScience: Some spinosaurs cried salty tears to thrive in brackish waters04:57 The explosive immune cells that kill in minutesNature: Bang! Exploding immune cells splatter potent toxins everywhereSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Your phone can use tiny skin-colour changes to measure your heart rate
18:23|In this episode:00:57 How your smartphone’s camera could measure your heart rateResearch article: Liao et al.08:55 Research HighlightsNature: A star gone rogue tears through the GalaxyNature: Gold keeps glittering courtesy of surface chemistry11:04 Should you try something new in a restaurant? Maths has the answerNature: Feynman solved the ‘restaurant dilemma’ 50 years ago — now a study confirms his mathematicsSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Briefing Chat: When to trust eyewitness memory – according to science
17:14|In this episode:00:21 When witnesses identify suspects from police line-ups, confidence mattersNature: Memory on trial: the new science of when to trust eyewitness testimony07:15 Registered Reports: how this ‘double peer review’ process could benefit scientists and their resultsNature: Nature is expanding Registered Reports to all the fields in which we publish