Disrupting snail food-chain curbs parasitic disease in Senegal
In this episode:00:45 A sustainable solution for schistosomiasis controlSchistosomiasis is a serious parasitic disease that affects millions of people, who become infected when they come into contact ...
19 Jul 202324min
ChatGPT can write a paper in an hour — but there are downsides
In this episode:00:23 Using ChatGPT to generate a research paper from scratchA pair of scientists have produced a research paper in less than an hour with the help of the generative artificial intelli...
12 Jul 202314min
Even a 'minimal cell' can grow stronger, thanks to evolution
In this episode:00:46 The effects of evolution on a minimal genomeIn 2016, researchers created a ‘minimal cell’ bacterium with a genome that only contains genes essential for the organism's survival. ...
5 Jul 202329min
Audio long read: ‘Almost magical’ — chemists can now move single atoms in and out of a molecule’s core
In the past two years, there has been an explosion in the number of papers published relating to 'skeletal editing', a technique that allows chemists to precisely edit a molecule by deleting, adding o...
30 Jun 202319min
Do octopuses dream? Neural activity resembles human sleep stages
In this episode:00:46 Inside the brains of sleeping octopusesResearchers have probed the brains of octopuses and confirmed previous reports suggesting that these invertebrates have a two-stage sleep c...
28 Jun 202330min
Why bladder cancer cells that shed their Y chromosome become more aggressive
In this episode:00:45 Why losing the Y chromosome makes bladder cancer more aggressiveLoss of the Y chromosome in bladder cancer cells is associated with increased severity of disease, but the reasons...
21 Jun 202329min
What IBM's result means for quantum computing
In this episode:00:47 How to make quantum computers ready for real world applicationsQuantum computers have long held the promise of being able to perform tasks that classical computers can’t. However...
14 Jun 202329min
A brain circuit for infanticide, in mice
In this episode:00:46 The mouse brain circuit controlling infanticidal behaviourIn mammals, infanticide is a relatively common behaviour, but not a default one. For example, virgin female mice will of...
7 Jun 202331min
