Nature Podcast24 Syys 2025

How a dangerous tick-borne virus sneaks into the brain

00:48 New insights into tick-borne encephalitis

Researchers have identified a key protein that helps tick-borne encephalitis virus enter the brain. In rare cases an infection can lead to serious neurological symptoms, but little was known about how the virus interacts with human cells. Now, a team show that a protein found on the outside of cells plays an important role in infection. In mouse experiments, they show that blocking the ability of the virus to bind to this protein protected the mice from disease. Currently no treatments exist, but the team hopes that this research will ultimately lead to a viable drug for this disease.

Research Article: Mittler et al.

08:47 Research Highlights

The squirming robot that speeds up the insertion of an emergency breathing tube — plus, the 10,000-year-old remains that could be the oldest intentionally preserved mummies

Research Highlight: Soft robot steers itself down the human airway

Research Highlight: Smoke-dried mummies pre-date Egypt’s embalmed bodies

11:21 How might cancelled NIH grants affect the future of US science?

To assess the potential impact of cuts to funding by the Trump administration, Nature trained a machine-learning bot to try and reproduce the NIH’s method of cancelling grants and applied it to science that was successfully funded around ten years ago. This thought experiment shows that highly impactful science and medical research might have been at risk had a similar process been followed a decade ago, revealing the potentially broad-reaching consequences of these actions today.

Nature Index: What research might be lost after the NIH’s cuts? Nature trained a bot to find out

News: Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature

20:54 Briefing Chat

What researchers understand about chatbot-induced psychosis, and the AI designed viruses capable of killing E. coli bacteria.

Nature: Can AI chatbots trigger psychosis? What the science says

Nature: World’s first AI-designed viruses a step towards AI-generated life

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

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Briefing Chat: An invisible tattoo that appears under UV light – and then disappears

In this episode:00:15 An appearing, disappearing tattoo inkNature: Watch this invisible tattoo appear under UV light04:13 How the epigenome could help explain why big dogs age fasterNature: Big dogs a...

16 Loka 9min

The world is closer to a major conservation target than scientists thought

Analysis suggests number of protected areas is hugely underestimated but biodiversity is still in peril — plus, a huge study looking at the health effects of brown fat.00:45 The world may have more co...

14 Loka 21min

Briefing Chat: Top researchers are being misled by sham academic societies

In this episode we discuss a recent Nature exclusive investigating an international constellation of sham academies and societies that have successfully misled some of the world’s leading scientists a...

9 Loka 12min

Nobel Prizes 2026: ‘ghost’ particles, mirror molecules and light switches in the brain

In this episode:00:45 The Nobel Prizes 2026Nature: Medicine Nobel awarded for brain ‘switch’ that controls neurons with lightNature: ‘What took them so long?’ This year’s medicine Nobel winner is over...

7 Loka 23min

‘Learning about physics changed my life’: author Hernan Diaz on his new novel Ply

In this episode, we speak with Hernan Diaz whose most recent novel Ply blends a vision of a dystopian future with questions about selfhood and asks whether advanced physics could be used to unravel th...

2 Loka 32min

These optical illusions are why butterflies are so hard to catch

High-speed footage of takeoffs reveal that the butterfly markings mislead the eye, making them harder to catch.00:45 Butterflies in flight create confusing motion cues that baffle birdsResearch Articl...

30 Syys 18min

Briefing Chat: Why scientists made papyrus scrolls, then burnt them

In this episode00:23 How detecting lead could help researchers read damaged Roman scrollsNature: Watch scientists decipher burned scrolls without unrolling them06:42 A biodegradeable, paper-inspired b...

25 Syys 11min

Bank accounts reveal the fingerprints of abusive financial control

00:45 Investigating the day-to-day impacts of Financial AbuseNature: Trendl et al.Support organizationsUK: Surviving Economic AbuseUS: National Domestic Violence Helpline12:14 Research HighlightsNatur...

23 Syys 24min