Audio long read: How to speak to a vaccine sceptic — research reveals what works
Questions and doubts about vaccines are on the rise worldwide and public-health specialists worry that these trends could worsen. But while the shift in public attitudes towards immunizations can leave scientists, physicians and many others feeling disheartened, a surge of research on vaccine hesitancy is starting to offer ways to address the issue.This is an audio version of our Feature How to speak to a vaccine sceptic: research reveals what works Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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3D-printed fake wasps help explain bad animal mimicry
In this episode:00:45 Why animals evolve to be imperfect mimicsMany harmless animals mimic dangerous ones to avoid being eaten, but often this fakery is inaccurate. To help explain why evolution sometimes favours imperfect mimicry, a team 3D printed a range of imaginary insects. The novel creatures were designed to mimic wasps with varying degrees of accuracy and the team then presented these models to different predators. They showed that while birds were hard to fool, invertebrate predators were less able to discern between the mimics and accurate wasp models. The results suggest that predator perception plays a key role in the level of accuracy needed to fool them and may help explain the existence of inaccurate mimics in nature.Research article: Taylor et al.News and Views: 3D printing offers a way to study mimicry by insects12:53 Research HighlightsRitual ‘retirement’ rather than family feud may explain broken statues of a female pharaoh, and how kelp ‘loofahs’ made by killer whales might be the first example of toolmaking by a marine mammal.Research Highlight: The shattered statues of Queen Hatshepsut: the reasons for the wreckageResearch Highlight: Killer whales exfoliate each other with home-made scrubbers15:02 Briefing ChatThe sea slugs that steal chloroplasts to snack on, and the researchers re-enacting a Stone Age sea-voyage.Nature: ‘Wildest thing’: solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergenciesNature: These scientists re-enacted Stone Age voyage to Japan’s remote islandsSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Is AI watching you? The hidden links between research and surveillance
We’d like to learn more about our listeners, please help us out by filling in this short survey.In this episode:00:45 Is AI-research being co-opted to keep track of people?A significant amount of research in the AI field of computer vision is being used to analyse humans in ways that support the development of surveillance technologies, according to new research. By analysing the contents of thousands of research papers, the team behind the work showed that 90% of studies, and 86% of patents resulting from them, involved data relating to imaging humans. While there are many positive applications for this technology, such as in medical diagnostics, this work shows evidence of a pipeline from computer-vision research to surveillance.Research article: Kalluri et al.News and Views: Computer-vision research is hiding its role in creating ‘Big Brother’ technologiesVideo: Is AI powering Big Brother? Surveillance research is on the riseNews: Wake up call for AI: computer-vision research increasingly used for surveillanceEditorial: Don’t sleepwalk from computer-vision research into surveillance09:38 Research HighlightsA minuscule robot that can manipulate liquid droplets, and the sensors that can identify hydrothermal explosions at Yellowstone National Park.Research Highlight: This tiny robot moves mini-droplets with easeResearch Highlight: Sensors pinpoint the exact time of a Yellowstone explosion12:12 The first images from the world’s largest digital cameraThis week, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has unveiled the first images from its 3,200 megapixel digital camera. We discuss the images, and how the facility will help researchers learn more about the Universe.News: First images from world’s largest digital camera leave astronomers in awe19:18 Briefing ChatHow scientists created hexanitrogen, a new molecule made of six nitrogen atoms, and the why researchers are excited about the first confirmed skull of an extinct Denisovan.Chemistry World: Most energetic molecule ever made is stable – in liquid nitrogenNature: First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Flight simulator for moths reveals they navigate by starlight
We’d like to learn more about our listeners, please help us out by filling in this short survey.In this episode:00:45 The tiny moths that use the stars to navigateBogong moths use the stars to help them navigate during their enormous migration across Australia, according to new research. Every year, billions of these nocturnal moths travel up to 1,000 km to cool caves in the Australian Alps, despite having never been there before. By placing moths in a flight-simulator that also acted as a planetarium, the team behind the work showed that moths could use the bright Milky Way to help them fly in the correct direction.Research article: Dreyer et al.10:17 Research HighlightsNigeria's pangolins are under threat because their meat is delicious, and how the gravitational pull of other galaxies may prevent the Milky Way colliding with Andromeda.Research Highlight: Why pangolins are poached: they’re the tastiest animal aroundResearch Highlight: A long-predicted cosmic collision might not happen after all12:37 How humans expanded their habitats before migrating out of AfricaNew research suggests that shortly before modern humans successfully migrated out of Africa, they massively expanded the range of ecosystems they lived in. By combining climate modelling with data from archaeological sites across the African continent, researchers put forward evidence that 70,000 years ago, humans expanded the ecosystems they lived in to include diverse habitat types from forests to deserts. The authors suggest this ability to live in different places may have helped the later humans that migrated out of the continent around 50,000 years ago.Research article: Hallet et al.21:59 Briefing ChatBlowing bubble-rings could be humpback whales' way of trying to communicate with humans, and the research suggesting that everyone’s breathing pattern is unique.Science Alert: Humpback Whale Bubble Rings May Be an Attempt to Communicate With UsNature: How you breathe is like a fingerprint that can identify youSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hundreds of physicists on a remote island: we visit the ultimate quantum party
According to legend, physicist Werner Heisenberg formulated the mathematics behind quantum mechanics in 1925 while on a restorative trip to the remote North Sea island of Heligoland.To celebrate the centenary of this event, several hundred researchers have descended on the island to take part in a conference on all things quantum physics. Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney was also in attendance, and joined us to give an inside track on the meeting.News: Happy birthday quantum mechanics! I got a ticket to the ultimate physics party Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Nature Podcast brings you the best stories from the world of science each week. We cover everything from astronomy to zoology, highlighting the most exciting research from each issue of the Nature journal. We meet the scientists behind the results and provide in-depth analysis from Nature's journalists and editors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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