Briefing Chat: Can NASA return rocks from Mars? And why dogs have long ears
In this episode:00:40 The rock samples destined to remain on MarsNature: NASA won’t bring Mars samples back to Earth: this is the science that will be lost05:24 The genetics of dogs’ droopy earsNature...
16 Jan 10min
AI can turbocharge scientists' careers — but limit their scope
In this episode:00:47 AI can boost research productivity — at what cost?Research article: Hao et al.10:10 Research HighlightsNature: Ancient ‘snowball’ Earth had frigidly briny seasNature: Putting imm...
14 Jan 21min
A mysterious ancient fingerprint and a lemon-shaped planet — the stories you’ve missed
00:54 Turning an undersea cable into a seismic detectorResearchers have shown that they can piggyback a signal on a 4,400-kilometer-long telecom cable that runs from California to Hawaii, allowing it ...
7 Jan 16min
Science in 2026: what to expect this year
In this episode, reporter Miryam Naddaf joins us to talk about the big science events to look out for in 2026. We’ll hear about: small-scale AI models that could outcompete Large Language Models in re...
1 Jan 11min
Audio long read: Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment?
Anecdotal stories suggesting that weight-loss drugs can help people shake long-standing addictions have been spreading fast in the past few years, through online forums, weight-loss clinics and news h...
29 Dec 202517min
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2025
00:40 What a trove of potato genomes reveals about the humble spudResearchers have created a ‘pangenome’ containing the genomes of multiple potato types, something they believe can help make it easier...
24 Dec 202540min
Nature's News & Views roundup of 2025
Nature: Asteroids, antibiotics and ants: a year of remarkable scienceIn this episode:1:58 Evidence of ancient brine on an asteroidSamples taken from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft ...
19 Dec 202520min
The Nature Podcast festive spectacular 2025
00:46 The gifts that sparked a love of scienceNature put a call out for readers to tell us about memorable presents that first got them interested in science, or mementos of their life in research. Th...
17 Dec 202542min
