The Nature Podcast annual holiday spectacular

Games, seasonal science songs, and Nature’s 10.

01:12 "Oh powered flight"

In the first of our festive songs, We pay tribute to NASA's Ingenuity craft - which took the first powered flight on another planet earlier this year. Lyrics by Noah Baker and performed by The Simon Langton School choir, directed by Emily Renshaw-Kidd.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for the lyrics.

Video: Flying a helicopter on Mars: NASA's Ingenuity

News: Lift off! First flight on Mars launches new way to explore worlds

07:40 Communicating complex science with common words

In this year’s festive challenge, our competitors try to describe some of the biggest science stories of the year, using only the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. Find out how they get on…

Test your skills communicating complex science with simple words with the Up-Goer Five Text Editor

18:04 Alphafold oh Alphafold

Our second song brings some Hanukkah magic to Deep Mind's protein solving algorithm Alphafold. Lyrics by Kerri Smith and Noah Baker, arranged and performed by Phil Self.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for the lyrics.

News: ‘It will change everything’: DeepMind’s AI makes gigantic leap in solving protein structures

21:01 Nature’s 10

Every year, Nature’s 10 highlights some of the people who played key roles in science. We hear about a few of the people who made the 2021 list.

News Feature: Nature's 10 — Ten people who helped shape science in 2021

Oh Powered flight

O fateful night!

The stars are brightly shining

it is the night to look far beyond the Earth!

Long was the way to get to the red planet,

‘til he appear'd and the world felt his worth.

The thrills and hope as he warmed up his motors.

Delays cause stress until the glorious morn!

Rise! To the skies.

Above the Martian surface.

Oh powered flight.

Hearts are full, as history’s made.

Oh joy, it flies!

Mars-copter, for the first time.

Led by a team, adept in aeronautics,

they rethought all of their theories of flight.

So led by da-ta, they crafted all the rotors,

to create lift though the atmosphere was light.

Viscosity is what would make is happen,

but Reynold’s number drove the craft’s design.

Rise! To the skies.

Above the Martian surface.

Oh powered flight.

Hearts are full, as history’s made.

Oh joy, it flies!

Mars-copter, for the first time.

Truly it showed, our exploration’s boundless,

with caves and canyon’s now all within our grasp.

Ingenuity will pave the way for others,

to pair with rovers, or solo payload tasks.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise this great success.

Rise! To the skies.

Above the Martian surface.

Oh powered flight.

Hearts are full, as history’s made.

Oh joy, it flies!

Mars-copter, for the first time.

Alphafold oh Alphafold

Oh, Alphafold oh...

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