Nature Podcast18 Syys 2024

Colossal 'jets' shooting from a black hole defy physicists' theories

In this episode:

00:45 The biggest black hole jets ever seen

Astronomers have spotted a pair of enormous jets emanating from a supermassive black hole with a combined length of 23 million light years — the biggest ever discovered. Jets are formed when matter is ionized and flung out of a black hole, creating enormous and powerful structures in space. Thought to be unstable, physicists had theorized there was a limit to how large these jets could be, but the new discovery far exceeds this, suggesting there may be more of these monstrous jets yet to be discovered.

Research Article: Oei et al.

09:44 Research Highlights

The knitted fabrics designed to protect wearers from mosquito bites, and the role that islands play in fostering language diversity.

Research Highlight: Plagued by mosquitoes? Try some bite-blocking fabrics

Research Highlight: Islands are rich with languages spoken nowhere else

12:26 A sustainable, one-step method for alloy production

Making metal alloys is typically a multi-step process that creates huge amounts of emissions. Now, a team demonstrates a way to create these materials in a single step, which they hope could significantly reduce the environmental burdens associated with their production. In a lab demonstration, they use their technique to create an alloy of nickel and iron called invar — a widely-used material that has a high carbon-footprint. The team show evidence that their method can produce invar to a quality that rivals that of conventional manufacturing, and suggest their technique is scalable to create alloys at an industrial scale.

Research article: Wei et al.

25:29 Briefing Chat

How AI-predicted protein structures have helped chart the evolution of a group of viruses, and the neurons that cause monkeys to ‘choke’ under pressure.

Nature News: Where did viruses come from? AlphaFold and other AIs are finding answers

Nature News: Why do we crumble under pressure? Science has the answer

Subscribe to the Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(907)

Nukes in space? Orbital detector could sniff out warheads

In this episode:00:45 A neutron detector could sniff out a secret space nukeResearch article: Danagoulian11:52 Research HighlightsNature: Volcanic magma sculpts eerie domes on the sea floorNature: Clu...

8 Heinä 25min

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 Collaborations takes a deep-dive into the world of co-operati...

1 Heinä 31min

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...

29 Kesä 16min

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 atrophyNature: I...

26 Kesä 11min

Medical records could be revealed by AI training-data vulnerability

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 ...

24 Kesä 19min

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 impactNat...

19 Kesä 12min

DNA from hunter-gatherer teeth reveals secrets of ancient plague

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 crust...

17 Kesä 26min

Briefing Chat: The epic journey of Stonehenge’s central stone

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 fr...

12 Kesä 11min