Medicine podcasts

Alexandra Delbot échange avec Karine Clément et Christophe Magnan sur les médicaments analogues du GLP-1. L’épisode retrace leur développement contre le diabète, leur utilisation dans le traitement de l’obésité et les mécanismes de réduction de l’appétit. Les intervenants discutent les bénéfices, effets et risques associés, ainsi que le détournement à visée esthétique et ses conséquences pour la santé.

Hosted by Alexandra Delbot

Rachael Ralph examines how sugar is produced, the differences between common sugar products, and its effects on health. Perry Bateman discusses sugar manufacture, Mick Armstrong explains the connection to dental decay, and Lucy Chambers considers blood glucose and long-term disease. Gunter Kuhnle and Jason Halford discuss artificial sweeteners and the evidence surrounding alternatives to sugar.

Hosted by Rachael Ralph

Rafael Rosengarten talks with NVIDIA’s Stacie Calad-Thomson about connecting AI-driven drug discovery to physical laboratory work. They examine why consistent experimental data is essential, how agents and robotics could coordinate experiments, and how scientists’ responsibilities may change as laboratories automate. The discussion distinguishes proposing molecules or experiments from executing them, validating results and deciding the next research step.

Hosted by Rafael Rosengarten

A global analysis suggests protected areas are more extensive than existing conservation accounts imply, while biodiversity remains under threat. A second research segment examines a large study associating brown fat with a broader range of health benefits. Research highlights consider Solar System stability and differences in brain aging among great apes.

Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen discuss siRNA medicines that suppress production of harmful proteins without changing DNA. They examine the long path from discovery to treatment, why existing drugs concentrate on liver diseases, programmable and long-lasting effects, and prospects and limitations for treating infection, cardiovascular disease, rare disorders and cancer.

Hosted by Saloni Dattani, Jacob Trefethen

Jennie Erin Smith discusses research on noninvasive brain stimulation in women’s health, including postpartum depression, menstrual pain and fertility-related questions. Liisa Galea reviews the evidence on hormone therapy during perimenopause and associations between menopausal symptoms and later health outcomes, including dementia and cardiovascular disease. The discussion concerns research findings and open questions rather than individual treatment recommendations.

Hosted by Sarah Crespi

Francesca and Ilaria discuss taste-receptor research, mitochondrial biology and a reported ALS case study involving an antisense oligonucleotide treatment. Giuliana Galati interviews University of Padua physicist Francesco Recchia about nuclear phenomenology. The episode links these discussions to the underlying research papers and distinguishes a clinical case report from established treatment evidence.

Hosted by Francesca Cecilia Lauta, Ilaria Zanardi

Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove and Brianne Barker discuss a newly identified mechanism for RNA-guided DNA recognition and genetic control that may predate CRISPR pathways. They also examine research proposing that features of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology could have originated as a host response to infection in the brain, including evidence concerning phosphorylated tau and herpesvirus activity. The episode connects ancient molecular recognition mechanisms with questions about antiviral defence.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove

Medical physicist Nick Zacharopoulos, chief executive of Aktina Medical, talks with Tami Freeman about developing radiation-oncology technologies and combining industry with academic research. He traces a career that began building radiotherapy components with his father, discusses product development at Aktina, and explains how persistence and a conversation with a colleague led him to a doctorate at McGill University.

Hosted by Tami Freeman

Carnegie Mellon researcher and Abridge co-founder Zachary Lipton discusses where machine learning can help healthcare and why clinical work is harder to automate than software development. The conversation examines medical documentation, decision support, drug discovery, open models and model routing, then turns to academic research, doctoral training and the effects of automation on scientific careers. Hosted by Ravid Shwartz Ziv and Allen Roush. Watch the full conversation on the publisher’s YouTube channel.

Hosted by Ravid Shwartz Ziv, Allen Roush

Vincent Racaniello speaks with Roberto Cattaneo and Kalpana Yadav at the 2026 American Society for Virology meeting about measles persistence in the brain. They discuss selection for highly fusogenic viral variants when usual measles receptors are absent, neuron-to-neuron spread, and the development of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a rare, fatal delayed complication of measles infection.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello

Adrian Hill discusses the scientific challenges behind developing the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, its path from research to use, and efforts to make vaccination accessible in Africa. The conversation explores the complexity of the malaria parasite and the practical demands of vaccine production and delivery. The publisher credits Marushka Soobben and Chris Smith as presenters and provides the episode audio and interview transcript.

Hosted by Marushka Soobben, Chris Smith

Chris Smith presents a science-news episode examining how artificial intelligence could be misused to develop biological weapons and how researchers and regulators are responding. The programme also covers long-lasting genetic scars after childhood chemotherapy, ultra-strong ice as a possible construction material, and methods for tracking weather patterns on distant planets.

Hosted by Chris Smith

Rafael Rosengarten and BioPharmaTrend co-founder Andrii Buvailo discuss how to assess progress in AI-assisted drug discovery. They trace the move from individual computational tasks to connected research workflows and question whether counting AI-associated drug candidates captures the technology’s value. Topics include research productivity, trial design, biomarkers, human expertise and the use of patient-derived data, organoids and other representative biological systems to improve translation. The conversation also considers why AI has become polarising and how specialised models may fit into pharmaceutical research.

Melissa and Jam examine the chemistry and cell biology proposed to explain red-light therapy. They discuss photobiomodulation, mitochondria, collagen and the limitations of available studies, alongside the distinction between regulatory clearance and evidence for a particular consumer device.

Hosted by Melissa, Jam

This Nature Podcast episode examines human brain organoids transplanted into mice lacking a cerebral cortex, where extensive cellular integration could create an in-vivo platform for testing therapies and studying human neurobiology. It also covers research highlights and Paper2Agent, an AI system that turns research papers into interactive virtual corresponding authors able to answer questions and support complex scientific tasks.

Chris Smith and Rachael Ralph explore the mechanisms and forecasting of El Niño and its consequences for weather, livelihoods and health. Contributions from Aidan McGivern and Peter Gibbs explain the climate dynamics; Vicky Pryce discusses economic disruption; Rachel Tolhurst and Teresa Zakaria examine health vulnerabilities and preparedness. The episode connects climate science with the decisions facing public-health services and communities.

Hosted by Chris Smith, Rachael Ralph

The Science Show reviews a new approach to detecting and measuring concussion, a repurposed satellite for mapping the Universe, intervention to conserve a potentially sterile native plant, AI support for people with dyslexia, and how recommendation algorithms influence reading choices.

Hosted by Robyn Williams, Belinda Smith

Chris Smith presents a research-news episode covering a treatment for prematurely fused infant skull bones, discussion of advanced AI risks, animal-assisted observations in Greenland’s fjords, and a European commercial rocket launch. The surgery segment explains how biomedical modelling and engineered springs supported treatment planning.

Hosted by Chris Smith

Vincent Racaniello, Kathy Spindler and Brianne Barker discuss research using generative AI to design complete bacteriophage genomes, including reported viable phages active against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They also examine a study linking recombinant shingles vaccination with lower cardiovascular-event risk. The discussion connects genome modelling, experimental virology and vaccine research, alongside listener letters and weekly selections.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello, Brianne Barker