Research shows that, over the past two decades, rates of mental illness have been increasing in adolescents in many countries. While some scientists point to soaring use of smartphones and social media as a key driver for this trend, others say the evidence does not show a large effect of these technologies on teenagers’ psychological health.At the heart of the dispute is a large, complex and often conflicting body of research that different researchers interpret in different ways. This has left parents unsure what to do.This is an audio version of our Feature: Do smartphones and social media really harm teens’ mental health? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:27 Five people see ‘olo’, a brand-new colourUsing a laser system to activate specific eye cells, a team has allowed five study participants to perceive a vibrant blue-greenish hue well outside the natural range of colours seen by humans. Although the setup required to accomplish this feat is currently complicated, this finding could provide more understanding about how the brain perceives colour and could one day help boost the vision of people with colour blindness.Nature News: Brand-new colour created by tricking human eyes with laser08:30 US regulator greenlights pig-liver transplant trialThe US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first trial to test whether genetically modified pig livers can be used safely to treat people with organ failure. In the initial phase of the trial, four people with severe liver failure will be temporarily connected to an external pig liver that will filter their blood. Participants will then be monitored for a year for safety and changes in liver function. The organs have been genetically modified to make them more compatible with humans.Nature News: Pig livers for people: US regulator greenlights first safety trial14:08: A chunk of lab-grown chickenUsing a designer ‘circulatory system’, a team of researchers have created what they think is the largest piece of meat grown in the laboratory yet. One of the challenges to producing larger pieces of lab-grown meat has been providing cells with sufficient oxygen and nutrients, something the team’s new setup helps overcome. They used it to grow a chunk of chicken muscle about the size of a nugget, but multiple challenges remain before meat produced in this way could make it to market.Nature News: Winner, winner, lab-made dinner! Team grows nugget-sized chicken chunkSubscribe 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.

Categorizing things is central to science. And there are dozens of systems scientists have created to name everything from the trenches on the sea bed to the stars in the sky.But names have consequences. What’s in a name is a series exploring naming in science and how names impact the world. We look at whether the system of naming species remains in step with society, how the names of diseases can create stigma, and how the names chosen by scientists can help, or hinder, communication with the public.In episode three, we're looking at how the names chosen for concepts in physics can inadvertently send researchers down very specific research avenues while distracting them from others. In this podcast we hear five stories about the importance of names and how much can be lost in translation when physicists try and label the unknown.For a list of sources and music used, please visit the podcast show notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:46 Complete sequencing of ape genomesResearchers have sequenced the complete genomes of six ape species, helping uncover the evolutionary history of our closest relatives and offering insights into what makes humans human. The genomes of chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang have been sequenced end-to-end, filling in gaps that have long eluded researchers.Research Article: Yoo et al.News and Views: Complete ape genomes offer a close-up view of human evolutionNews: What makes us human? Milestone ape genomes promise clues08:47 Research HighlightsHow sunflower stars are evading a mysterious epidemic, and how solar panels made of moon dust could power lunar bases.Research Highlight: Revealed: where rare and giant starfish hide from an enigmatic killerResearch Highlight: Solar cells made of Moon dust could power up a lunar base11:36 How to make a competitive laser-plasma acceleratorAfter decades of research, physicists have demonstrated that, in principle, an alternative kind of particle accelerator can work just as well as more conventional designs. Many particle accelerators that power huge experiments like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are radio-frequency accelerators, but they are large and limited in how strong their magnetic fields can be. The new work shows that accelerators that instead use plasma to accelerate particles could be a viable alternative and could be built at much smaller scales.Research article: Winkler et al.19:55 Briefing ChatA drug that makes blood poisonous to mosquitoes, and how an AI worked out how to solve key challenges in Minecraft by ‘imagining’ solutions.Science Alert: Drug For Rare Disease Turns Human Blood Into Mosquito PoisonNature: AI masters Minecraft: DeepMind program finds diamonds without being taughtVote for us in this year's Webby AwardsVote for How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solvedVote for What's in a name: Should offensive species names be changed? The organisms that honour dictators, racists and criminalsSubscribe 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.

Science writer and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer's latest book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life we Breathe dives into the invisible maelstrom of microbial life swirling in the air around us — examining how it helped shape our world, and the implications that breathing it in can have on human health. Carl joined us to discuss historical efforts to show that diseases could spread large distances through the air, the staunch resistance to this idea, and what the rivalry between these two groups meant for public health.Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe Carl Zimmer Dutton (2025)Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With money pouring in and an unprecedented level of public attention and excitement, scientists are publishing a steady stream of papers on ways to measure how rapidly a person’s body is declining.However, there are mixed feelings of enthusiasm and apprehension among researchers about efforts to develop tests that measure the impact of ageing on the body, as they are often interpreted and presented without a full reckoning of the uncertainties that plague them.This is an audio version of our Feature: How quickly are you ageing? What molecular ‘clocks’ can tell you about your health Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:00:46 Newly discovered molecule shows potent antibiotic activityResearchers have identified a new molecule with antibiotic activity against a range of disease-causing bacteria, including those resistant to existing drugs. The new molecule — isolated from soil samples taken from a laboratory technician’s garden — is called lariocidin due to its lasso-shaped structure. The team say that in addition to its potent antibiotic activity, the molecule also shows low toxicity towards human cells, making it a promising molecule in the fight against drug-resistant infections.Research Article: Jangra et al.09:36 Research HighlightsA reduction in ships' sulfur emissions linked to a steep drop in thunderclouds, and the epic sea-voyage that let iguanas reach Fiji.Research Highlight: Ship-pollution cuts have an electrifying effect: less lightning at seaResearch Highlight: Iguanas reached Fiji by floating 8,000 kilometres across the sea13:54 Assessing the nuances of humans’ biodiversity impactsA huge study analysing data from thousands of research articles has shown that the human impacts on biodiversity are large but are in some cases context dependent. The new study reveals that at larger scales, communities of living things are becoming more similar due to human influence, but at the smaller scale they are becoming more different. "These are generally unwanted effects on biodiversity," says study author Florian Altermatt, "this is one more very strong argument that stopping and reducing these pressures to halt and reverse biodiversity declines is needed."Research article: Keck et al.21:45 Briefing ChatHow a proposed green-energy facility in Chile could increase light pollution at one of the world’s most powerful telescopes, and how a calving Antarctic iceberg revealed an unseen aquatic ecosystem.Nature: Light pollution threatens fleet of world-class telescopes in Atacama DesertScientific American: Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks AwaySubscribe 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.

00:46 Microsatellite makes messaging secureA tiny satellite has enabled quantum-encrypted information to be sent between China and South Africa, the farthest distance yet achieved for quantum communication. Using a laser-based system, a team in the city of Hefei was able to beam a ‘secret key’ encoded in quantum states of photons, to their colleagues over 12,000 km away. This key allowed scrambled messages to be decrypted — including one containing a picture of the Great Wall of China. The team’s system is drastically smaller and cheaper that previous attempts, and they think it represents a big step towards the creation of a global network of secure, quantum communication.Research Article: Li et al.News: Mini-satellite paves the way for quantum messaging anywhere on Earth09:53 Research HighlightsHow storms known as ‘atmospheric rivers’ could replenish Greenland’s ice, and a prosthetic hand that can distinguish objects by touch almost as well as a human.Research Highlight: Mega-storm dumps 11 billion tonnes of snow ― and builds up a melting ice sheetResearch Highlight: Robotic fingers can tell objects apart by touch12:27 An AI that gives other AIs helpful feedbackResearchers have created an AI system called TextGrad which can provide written feedback on another AI’s performance. This feedback is interpretable by humans, which could help researchers tweak the incredibly complicated, and sometimes inscrutable models that underpin modern AIs. “Previously optimising machine learning algorithms requires quite a lot of human engineering,” says James Zou, one of the team behind this work, “but with TextGrad, now the AI is able to self-improve to a large extent.”Research Article: Yuksekgonul et al.20:55 How the Trump administration’s cuts are affecting scienceThe first two months of Donald Trump’s presidency has seen swingeing cuts to US federal funding for research, particularly to research associated with DEI. We hear the latest on these cuts and their impact from reporter Max Kozlov.Nature: ‘My career is over’: Columbia University scientists hit hard by Trump team’s cutsNature: How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in chartsNature: ‘Scientists will not be silenced’: thousands protest Trump research cutsNature: Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grantsSubscribe 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.

00:46 2D metals made using sapphire pressTaking inspiration from industrial forging, researchers have demonstrated a way to squeeze molten metals into atomically-thin layers, creating relatively large flakes of 2D metals. Using a hydraulic press containing two sapphire anvils, a team was able to create sub-nanometer thick sheets of different metals — these sheets had diameters exceeding 0.1 mm, orders of magnitude larger than other methods have achieved. 2D metals have been theorized to possess several useful properties not seen in their larger, 3D counterparts, but have been difficult to make at scale, something this method may help overcome.Research Article: Zhao et al.News and Views: Metals squeezed to thickness of just two atoms09:36 Research HighlightsThe discovery of ancient puppets on remains of a large pyramid offers a glimpse into rituals in Mesoamerica, and how the presence of a certain pattern of sleep brainwaves might help predict which people will recover from an unresponsive state.Research Highlight: Ancient puppets that smile or scowl hint at shared ritualsResearch Highlight: Who’s likely to wake up from a coma? Brainwaves provide a clue12:17 The virology lessons learnt from the COVID pandemicSARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has become one of the most closely examined viruses on the planet. In the five years since the pandemic, over 150,000 articles have been written about it, and 17 million genome sequences have been generated. We discuss the lessons virologists have learnt from this intense study of a single organism, and how these might help the world prepare for future pandemics.News Feature: Four ways COVID changed virology: lessons from the most sequenced virus of all time23:36 Briefing ChatHow an AI alert-system could help researchers train their telescopes on a neutron star collision, and how expiration dates on plastic food-waste helped biologists age birds’ nests.Nature: How AI could let us watch epic star collisions in real timeScience: Plastic waste in bird nests can act like a tiny time capsuleSubscribe 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.

00:46 Ancient humans made bone tools 1.5 million years agoA 1.5-million-year-old cache of animal-bone tools reveals that ancient humans systematically crafted with this material much earlier than previously thought. Researchers uncovered 27 bone artefacts in Tanzania honed into sharp tools almost 40 cm long. This discovery pushes back the dedicated manufacture of bone tools by around a million years and could have helped these early humans develop new kinds of technology. “This raises a lot of interesting questions,” says study author Ignacio de la Torre.Research Article: de la Torre et al.09:11 Research HighlightsCane toads’ remarkable homing abilities, and evidence that the block of rock that makes up southern Tibet originated in what is now Australia.Research Highlight: Take me home, country toadsResearch Highlight: Lhasa′s rocks reveal an Australian birthplace11:45 A trove of antibacterial molecules hidden in human proteinsTo help protect against infection, cells in the body will selectively cut proteins to produce molecules known as antimicrobial peptides, according to new research. A team has found that many potential peptides appear to be locked up within proteins — to get them out, cells shift the activity of a waste-disposal system called the proteasome, known for its role in protein degradation and recycling. In tests, one of these peptides showed efficacy at protecting mice from infection, indicating that these molecules could one day have therapeutic potential.Research Article: Goldberg et al.News and Views: Protein waste turned into antibiotics as a defence strategy of human cells21:08 Briefing ChatAn update on two missions heading to the Moon to look for water, and why fears that a crucial ocean-current system will collapse in the face of climate change may be incorrect.Nature: Meet the ice-hunting robots headed for the Moon right nowNature: Iconic ocean-current system is safe from climate collapse ― for nowSubscribe 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.

Over the past two decades, research has emerged showing that opportunities for risky play are crucial for children's healthy physical, mental and emotional development. However, because play is inherently free-form it has been difficult to study. Now, scientists are using innovative approaches, including virtual reality, to probe the benefits of risky play, and how best to promote it.This is an audio version of our Feature: Why kids need to take more risks — science reveals the benefits of wild, free play Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:47 A ‘smart’ way to quickly detect cardiac arrestGoogle researchers have developed an AI for a smartwatch that will call for help if its wearer is having a cardiac arrest. Trained, in part, on data gained when patients had their hearts deliberately stopped during a medical procedure, the team’s machine learning algorithm can automatically detect the telltale signs of cardiac arrest. The team think this system could save lives, although more testing is required. "Our hope is that as these capabilities expand it provides a new way to keep people safer,” says Jake Sunshine, one of the researchers behind the study.Research Article: Shah et al.09:15 Research HighlightsEvidence that a low dose of yellow fever vaccine might be enough to provide lasting immunity, and the odd umbrella-shaped tree fossil that suggests that early plants may have been more complex than previously thought.Research Article: Kimathi et al.Research Article: Gastaldo et al.11:10 Briefing ChatMicrosoft’s new AI that helps create video game ‘worlds’, and why dogs blink more when other dogs do the same.Nature: Microsoft builds AI that creates ‘impressive’ video-game worldsScience: Dogs, like people, may use blinking to bondSubscribe 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.