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

Alexandra Delbot reçoit Laurent Chauvaud et Frédéric Olivier pour explorer les coquilles de bivalves comme archives des milieux marins. La discussion explique comment les stries de croissance et leur composition chimique renseignent sur l’âge, la température, la salinité et les climats passés. Elle aborde aussi les pollutions, les perturbations acoustiques et les réponses biologiques des mollusques, envisagés comme indicateurs des changements de leur habitat.

Hosted by Alexandra Delbot

Sean Carroll talks with Caltech researcher Erik Winfree about programming DNA to process information and build microscopic machines. They discuss molecular computation, self-assembly, biological information processing and the prospects for DNA-based robots in biology and medicine.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Ethan Secor discusses additive manufacturing methods for printing electronic circuits onto complex three-dimensional surfaces. The conversation connects material choices, printing techniques and the design of electronics that conform to shaped objects, highlighting the research behind customized functional surfaces.

Robyn Williams and Belinda Smith explore biological cooperation and symbiosis, how bees protect their colonies against disease, and the pressures that climate change places on African lions. The programme also examines evolutionary competition between reptiles and mammals and the scientific accuracy of dinosaur displays. This edition brings together five science reports connecting interactions among organisms, environmental change and the communication of biological research.

Hosted by Robyn Williams, Belinda Smith

Benjamin Thompson and Elizabeth Gibney discuss an experiment trapping a single positron and how precise measurements could probe differences between matter and antimatter. The episode then turns to JAXA’s mission to Phobos, including the challenge of operating a wheeled rover under extremely low gravity. These conversations connect laboratory tests of fundamental physics with the engineering and scientific aims of planetary exploration.

Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham discuss astronaut training and future missions with European Space Agency reserve astronauts John McFall and Meganne Christian. The conversation includes plans for a private space-station mission and an Atlantic crossing in winter. Project scientist Geraint Jones explains the joint European–Japanese BepiColombo mission as it approaches Mercury.

Hosted by Sue Nelson, Richard Hollingham

Sarah Crespi and Tim Appenzeller discuss a resurfaced Rosalind Franklin X-ray photograph and its implications for the history of DNA structure. Elah Feder then speaks with Andreas Nieder about experiments comparing the speed of decisions in crows and primates, considering neural mechanisms and evolutionary advantages. Phil Levin and David Hassler discuss collaboration between ecological research and poetry, with a reading by Lara Volski.

Hosted by Sarah Crespi

Ippei Danshita of Kindai University and Daichi Kagamihara of Chuo University explain how they used a remotely accessible Bose–Einstein condensate to investigate anomalous tunnelling. Their theoretical study became an experiment through a cloud-controlled quantum-gas platform. The conversation examines collective excitations, quantum tunnelling and the practical possibilities of remote laboratory access.

Hosted by Hamish Johnston

Spencer McIntyre of VulnCheck joins Daniel Whitenack and Chris Benson to discuss AI-assisted vulnerability research and exploit development. The episode examines why many proof-of-concept exploits are unreliable, how initial-access intelligence helps security teams prioritise threats, and where agents can assist research. The conversation also considers the limitations of automated exploitation, the effects of AI guardrails on legitimate security work, and implications for threat intelligence.

Hosted by Daniel Whitenack, Chris Benson

Experiments using a giant wave machine test how salt marshes protect shorelines during extreme storms. The episode also explores evidence about Denisovan faces, orangutan mothers arranging play encounters, and the unequal effects of medieval lead exposure.

Ahmad Al-Dahle, Airbnb’s CTO, discusses Project Everest, an effort to capture institutional knowledge from employee workflows for use by AI agents. The conversation examines stale information, context poisoning and the costs of supplying excessive context, alongside evaluation of whether shared knowledge improves engineering work. It also considers productivity measures beyond token consumption and pull-request counts, limitations of chat interfaces, and the challenges of support agents mediating conflicting interests in a marketplace.

Paul Middlebrooks talks with Andrea Hiott, a philosopher at Universität Heidelberg with degrees across philosophy and neuroscience, about her book Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind. A theme running through her work is that we need to go beyond dichotomous thinking and learn to hold paradoxes as they are. The navigational approach is her proposal for what should replace the computational metaphor of the mind. In the book she uses the history of research on the hippocampus to illustrate both ideas: the hippocampus has two parallel research histories, one treating it as the seat of memory and the other as a cognitive map for how we move through the world and through our thoughts.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Daniel Litt discusses how he uses AI in mathematical research and why he changed his forecast about automated results. The conversation distinguishes technical proof work and literature coverage from choosing worthwhile questions and developing mathematical understanding. It examines checking machine-generated proofs, the guarantees and limits of Lean formalization, repeated discoveries by different models, and how research assessment might change. Further topics include publication incentives, competition between AI laboratories, teaching mathematics and questions about computational complexity. Statements about the future of mathematics are presented as the guest’s views.

Hosted by Ravid Shwartz Ziv, Allen Roush

Louise Willingale explains the NSF Zettawatt Equivalent Ultrashort Pulse Laser System, its role in high-intensity laser research and plans for further increases in capability. The discussion connects the facility’s technical design with the scientific experiments that an exceptionally powerful, short-pulse laser can enable.

This audio edition of Nature’s feature examines concerns that widespread reliance on large language models could weaken critical thinking. It draws on research in cognition and education to consider how people can preserve and practise reasoning skills while using AI tools. The feature distinguishes the concern about cognitive offloading from evidence and practical approaches developed by researchers studying critical thought.

Andy Hall of Stanford and Anthropic discusses how advanced AI could change work, wealth redistribution, public trust and democratic decision-making. The conversation considers open models, collective safety, legislative assistance, ideological bias, model governance and international competition. It distinguishes competing expectations about AI’s economic and political effects and examines the practical challenges of governing widely available agents.

This Briefing Chat examines a tattoo ink that becomes visible under ultraviolet light and then fades, before discussing whether epigenetic changes and jumping genes help explain why larger dogs age more quickly.

The episode connects historical evidence and modern biological methods. Meagan Cantwell and Christie Wilcox discuss nuclear history, a gene associated with hair graying and old Swiss cheese. Lizzie Wade explains how radiocarbon evidence is changing the chronology of the Inca empire. Nicholas Bush then describes neuronal recordings and computational approaches to understanding the circuits that generate rhythmic breathing.

Hosted by Sarah Crespi