Nature

The pandemic's unequal toll on the research community, and a newly discovered mitochondria-like symbiosis.In this episode:00:48 The pandemic's unequal toll on researchersAlthough 2020 saw a huge...

A repository with millions of data points will track immunity and variant spread.To answer the big questions in the pandemic, researchers need access to data. But while a wealth has been collected,...

The surprising structure of protons, and a method for growing small intestines for transplantation.In this episode:00:45 Probing the proton’s interiorAlthough studied for decades, the internal...

Researchers in Japan are trying to understand why thunderstorms fire out bursts of powerful radiation.Gamma rays – the highest-energy electromagnetic radiation in the universe – are typically...

What’s the endgame for the COVID-19 pandemic? Is a world without SARS-CoV-2 possible, or is the virus here to stay?A recent Nature survey suggests that the majority of experts expect the virus to...

Researchers sequence the oldest DNA ever recovered, and the people bringing art and science together.In this episode:00:46 Million-year-old mammoth DNAThis week, researchers have smashed a...

The science behind how and when to give vaccines doses.As vaccines are rolled out, massive logistical challenges are leading scientists and policymakers to consider alternative dosing...

Looking back at the publication of the human genome, and how macrophages mend muscle.In this episode:00:45 The human genome sequence, 20 years onThis week marks the 20th anniversary of a scientific...

Researchers are scrambling to understand the biology of new coronavirus variants and the impact they might have on vaccine efficacy.Around the world, concern is growing about the impact that new,...

Exploring the properties of a vanishingly-rare man-made element, and the AI that generates new mathematical conjectures.In this episode:01:04 Einsteinium's secretsEinsteinium is an incredibly...

A year ago the WHO’s coronavirus emergency alarm was largely ignored. Why?On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, or...

Researchers are probing the subtle physical forces that sculpt cells and bodies.At every stage of life, from embryo to adulthood, physical forces tug and squeeze at bodies from within.These forces...

A neuroprosthetic device restores blood-pressure control after spinal-cord injury, and identifying the neurons that help us understand others’ beliefs.In this episode:00:47 A neuroprosthetic...

Analysis of hundreds of thousands of job searches shows that recruiters will discriminate based on ethnicity and gender, and the neural circuitry behind a brief period of forgetting.In this...

Benjamin Thompson, Noah Baker and Elie Dolgin discuss RNA vaccines.In this episode: 01:16 How RNA vaccines came to prominenceIn less than a year, two RNA vaccines against COVID-19 were designed,...

DNA clues point to how dire wolves went extinct, and a round-up of the main impacts of Brexit on science.In this episode:00:45 Dire wolf DNADire wolves were huge predators that commonly roamed...

Lessons from Iceland, which utilised huge scientific resources to contain COVID-19.When COVID reached the shores of Iceland back in March, the diminutive island brought it to heel with science....

The Nature Podcast team select some of their favourite stories from the past 12 months.In this episode:00:32 Following the Viking footprint across EuropeIn September, we heard about the researchers...

Benjamin Thompson, Noah Baker and Traci Watson discuss some of 2020's most significant coronavirus research papers.In the final Coronapod of 2020, we dive into the scientific literature to reflect...

A video game provides players with insights into pandemic responses, and our annual festive fun.In this episode:01:02 Balancing responses in a video game pandemicIn the strategy video-game Plague...