The scientist whose hybrid rice helped feed billions
A historian reflects on the life of Chinese crop scientist Yuan Longping, and the possible influence of geothermal energy production on earthquake aftershocks.In this episode:00:46 Remembering Yuan Lo...
30 Jun 202126min
Audio long-read: How COVID exposed flaws in evidence-based medicine
A deluge of trials has stress-tested the systems that produce evidence.Around the world, researchers have raced to test therapies to treat COVID-19. The speed and urgency of this task has revealed bot...
28 Jun 202122min
Coronapod: should you have a COVID vaccine when breastfeeding?
Early vaccine trials did not include pregnant or breastfeeding people which left some people asking whether COVID vaccines are safe and effective for those who are breastfeeding. The latest data sugge...
25 Jun 202111min
Quantum compass might help birds 'see' magnetic fields
Researchers isolate the protein thought to allow birds to sense magnetic fields, and astronomers pinpoint the stars that could view Earth as an exoplanet.In this episode:00:45 Homing in on the molecu...
23 Jun 202127min
CureVac disappoints in COVID vaccine trial
After a slew of wildly successful vaccine trials, this week marked a more underwhelming result. The third mRNA vaccine to complete phase three trials, developed by CureVac, is just 47% effective at st...
18 Jun 202113min
Communities, COVID and credit: the state of science collaborations
The pros and pitfalls of collaboration, with insights from researchers and beyond.This week, Nature has a special issue on collaborations, looking at the benefits to science and society that working t...
16 Jun 202130min
Coronapod: Counting the cost of long COVID
The global burden of COVID-19 has predominantly been measured using metrics like case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths. But the long term health impacts are more difficult to capture. In this epis...
11 Jun 202110min
Google AI beats humans at designing computer chips
An AI that designs computer chips in hours, and zooming in on DNA’s complex 3D structures.In this episode:00:46 An AI computer microchip designerWorking out where to place the billions of components t...
9 Jun 202125min
