The World, the Universe and Us

Episode 359 DNA analysis of 10 Neanderthal people is shedding light on why their populations declined 75,000 years ago - eventually leading to their extinction. After being hit by a cold spell, we can see Neanderthals lost a lot of genetic diversity as their numbers dwindled. Living in small, isolated groups, we see evidence in both genetic and archaeological evidence that this pushed the human species to die out. One exception to this trend is Thorin - known as the last Neanderthal. We explore why his tribe may have been able to cling onto existence for longer than the rest of their species. It wasn’t long ago this kind of understanding about ancient human species was well out of reach. Now the field is moving forward rapidly. What will we find next?  To discuss this new finding - and to look at the genetic history of interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals - Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by Alison George and Michael Marshall. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Image Credit: Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 358 The male G-spot exists - and scientists have found it. The most comprehensive study of the human penis has identified one specific location most involved in sexual pleasure - and it’s not what science thought. 14 penis slices from deceased donors were inspected under the microscope - and one region in particular was packed with nerve endings. Medical literature has long thought a different region was home to the most nerves, but this new finding debunks the old textbooks. Now we know the ‘frenula delta’ is the male g-spot, what can this teach us about male sexual health?  To discuss this, Rowan Hooper is joined by New Scientist Australia reporter Alice Klein.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 357 A global food shock is on the way because of the ongoing war in Iran. Your food bill is expected to rise significantly. The conflict is showing just how fragile our food system is, as spikes in fuel, fertiliser and pesticide prices begin to have knock-on effects around the world. With food availability in jeopardy, should we be stocking supplies at home? Coupled with the worsening climate and environment crises - and governments increasingly incentivising the production of biofuel - there could be tough times ahead. So how can we prepare? From eating less meat and raising less livestock, to countries focusing on renewable energy and becoming more self-sufficient - will this shock finally be what’s needed to force leaders to take action? To discuss this critical issue, Rowan Hooper is joined by climate, energy, and food systems professor Paul Behrens - and New Scientist reporter Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 356 A truck carrying antimatter has been driving around the campus at CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider. But why are scientists transporting this delicate and extremely expensive substance? Antimatter is regular matter’s counterpart, first theorised in the 1920s. Producing and storing it has proved difficult, as it’s prone to annihilating the moment it meets its opposite half. But CERN scientists found a way - and it’s the only facility on Earth able to create these particles. Carrying just 92 antiprotons, this truck experiment is the first step in setting up an antimatter delivery service, allowing scientists to send little pieces of antimatter on trucks to labs around Europe. To discuss why an antimatter delivery service is even needed, Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by Alex Wilkins, who recently visited the lab and saw the antimatter factory in person. We also hear from the new director-general of CERN, Mark Thomson. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 355 An entire pig’s brain has been preserved after death, using a technique that will keep the structure of the brain intact - potentially for hundreds of years. Scientists say they will offer the treatment to terminally ill humans, in the hopes that one day, in the distant future, we’ll be able to reconstruct their minds and bring them back to life. Because of the speed at which scientists need to preserve the brain tissue, the method will only work on people who opt in for assisted dying. But will we ever be able to digitally upload and reanimate a brain, or is this just offering false hope to those already suffering? And if we do develop the technology, what kind of world will these people wake up to? To discuss this new method, the ethics and science of consciousness, Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by Alexandra Thompson and Thomas Lewton.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 354 Women are being erased from AI technologies. When world-changing technology is built primarily by men, the impact for women is hugely damaging. This was the focus of a recent conference at the Royal Society in London. Panellists discussed how women are being left out of this major tech revolution, with Silicon Valley becoming increasingly hostile towards them. And as the conversation increasingly shifts to the existential risks of artificial intelligence, some argue the focus is intentionally being shifted away from making this tech more inclusive. But as AI is set to completely transform how we work, educate our children and treat diseases, what happens when women are cut out of the equation? AI gender biases already show up in our datasets and chatbots…so can we fix the current models, or is it time we start all over again? Penny Sarchet discusses the issue with Catherine de Lange, who was at the conference. Also hear from Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 353 The world might feel dark right now, but life is actually getting better, rapidly. From the rise of feminism and antiracism to environmental movements and shifting understandings of gender, the Western world looks nothing like it did 75 years ago.  Yet despite so many historic victories for rights and ideas in recent times, it often feels like we’re living in dark times - with progress that’s stalling or going backwards. In her new book, The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, writer and activist Rebecca Solnit explores how for decades social movements reshaped the world in ways we often fail to notice. Solnit argues that we are witnessing nothing less than the slow dismantling of an old worldview. And it’s time we pay attention.  Rowan Hooper speaks to Solnit about the power of a good story, our growing understanding of the interconnectedness of nature and humanity - and why recognising progress may be essential to shaping the future. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 352 Notwithstanding President Trump’s efforts to slow the growth of renewable energy, the US/Israeli attack on Iran has given the green revolution a huge boost. In response to the war in Iran, the Islamic Republic has stopped almost all traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil and one-fifth of seaborne gas supplies pass. They’ve also struck oil and gas fields with drones and missiles. This has given countries a much-needed wake-up call, showing just how precarious it is to rely so heavily on foreign states for energy security. As the cost of oil jumps from $70 to more than $100 a barrel, many countries are looking to produce more energy closer to home, accelerating plans to transition to clean and renewable energy. Rowan Hooper and Alec Luhn discuss whether this is the beginning of the end for fossil fuels. Also hear from Pavel Molchanov from Raymond James & Associates and Sam Butler-Sloss from Ember. Chapters (00:00) Intro - War in Iran speeds up the clean energy transition (00:59) A precedent set by the Ukraine/Russia war (02:27) Asia’s wake-up call (03:20) Are smaller countries pivoting to renewables already? (04:24) An energy security issue (07:16) Why oil is being impacted more than gas (08:56) Could China win big from this? (14:17) The impact on nuclear energy (15:57) When will countries give up fossil fuels for good? (18:05) The political will is shifting To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 351 Artificial intelligence is starting to solve mathematical theorems better than humans. Mathematicians say AI is now an existential threat to their work. As one professor puts it; “We are running out of places to hide.” From winning gold medals at mathematics competitions, to solving previously unanswered Erdős problems, multiple AI achievements have come together recently to exceed all expectations of its capabilities. Find out just how quickly the tech is advancing, how we can tell the AI isn’t just hallucinating answers, why it may help us formalise all of mathematics - and whether it will really put humans out of a job. And 10 years on since Google’s AlphaGo AI first beat human Go master Lee Sedol, we reflect on that epic moment and hear from Chris Maddison who saw it all unfold. Rowan Hooper is joined by New Scientist’s Alex Wilkins to discuss “one of the most remarkable stories” he’s ever worked on. Chapters (00:00) Intro - The biggest moment in the history of mathematics (01:10) The many problems AI is now solving (04:11) Are these models similar to ChatGPT or Claude? (05:09) Will AI help us advance the field of mathematics? (07:28) How can we check AI’s answers - are they just hallucinations? (10:51) Why it’s important to “formalise” maths (12:03) Will we become too reliant on this AI? (13:00) 10 years on since AI beat Lee Sedol at Go (14:54) AI creativity: The famous ‘Move 37’ (16:50) How it felt to watch this epic moment (19:21) How AlphaGo led to the LLMs of today (20:25) Are regular chatbots becoming more creative? To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 350 What If Alzheimer’s disease starts in the body, not the brain? A radical new theory upends everything we thought we knew about the disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia - the leading cause of death in the UK. And for 100 years we believed it all happened in the brain. Despite all of the major symptoms of Alzheimer’s being brain related, scientists studying gene activity have discovered something surprising. Most risk variants for the disease appear in the skin, lungs and gut - not the brain. This could mean the leading suspects of the disease - amyloid plaques and tau proteins - may not be to blame. But if not them, then what? Rowan Hooper is joined by New Scientist’s Australia reporter Alice Klein to discuss the findings. Chapters (00:00) Intro - A radical new understanding of Alzheimer’s (01:23) Why amyloid and tau treatments aren’t proving effective (02:16) How gum and dental health is linked to Alzheimer’s (03:09) Could proteins in the brain be a protective feature? (03:56) Why amyloid and tau really aren’t the full picture (04:35) Why scientists have gone back to the drawing board (05:37) Does Alzheimer’s start in the skin, lungs and gut? (06:14) Alzheimer’s risk genes found in the immune system and barrier tissues (07:12) Where inflammation fits into the puzzle of Alzheimer’s (09:10) The role of the blood brain barrier (10:00) How have scientists responded to these findings? (10:58) What other health conditions are linked to Alzheimer’s? (12:08) Preventative measures you can take to reduce your Alzheimer’s risk (15:03) How reframing diseases leads to better treatments To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Read the latest New Scientist CoLab article: https://newscientist.com/eternal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 349 One of the most vital systems of ocean currents - needed to keep life in northern Europe stable - is at risk of collapse. And now we can predict when it’s going to happen. Thanks to the work of climate scientists, we now have a model that tells us when major shifts in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are expected. The AMOC is the Atlantic conveyor belt that keeps northern Europe temperate. If it turns off, northern Europe would be plunged into freezing conditions that would decimate agriculture and upend life as we know it. And it’s becoming clear that it is already weakening. Rowan Hooper is joined by climate journalist Alec Luhn. Together they explain how the AMOC and gulf stream work, why fears of a “tipping point” have been growing in recent years, and how this new model helps us prepare for the worst. Also hear from climate scientist René van Westen, who co-authored the report in Nature. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Listen to the latest episode of New Scientist CoLab: https://newscientist.com/eternalpod  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 348 Thought extinct for 6,000 years, two marsupial species have been discovered alive in New Guinea. Biologists have found a new genus of marsupial glider and the Pygmy Long-fingered Possum on a small Western part of the island. One biologist said this discovery was “more important than finding a living Thylacine in Tasmania”. Host Rowan Hooper is joined by Tim Flannery of the Australian Museum in Sydney, who led the team that confirmed the discovery. He tells us all about these quirky and cute creatures, one of which is held up as sacred by some Indigenous communities - who won’t even utter its name in public. Learn about the glider’s habit of forming monogamous relationships and its gardening prowess. And discover why the long-fingered possum’s finger is so long. Other key players in this research are Professor Kris Helgen, multiple researchers from the University of Papua - and some of the local villagers. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Glider image credits: Dewa, Australian Museum Other image credits: Flannery et al Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 347 Drones have taken over the battlefield in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Tens of thousands of drones are being produced every day - operating as kill vehicles for both sides. Multiple types are being deployed, including flying artillery drones and ground drones. Now the deadliest war since World War 2 - and considered the first “drone war” - the conflict is being fought in a way unlike we’ve ever seen before. With more than 80 per cent of military hits now made by drones. So on this special edition of the podcast we ask: is this the future of warfare?  Driving these vehicles is in some ways like playing a video game, with operators sitting behind a screen with a handheld controller. And the gamification goes beyond this, with drone operators earning “points” for kills - that can be cashed in for more military equipment. AI is increasingly used to guide drones and to analyse targets.  Joining hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are Matt Sparkes, who’s recently returned from a drone factory in Ukraine, and Serhii Andriev, Deputy Company Commander of “Kraken” 3rd Army Corps drone regiment.  The team also hear from Andrii Hrytseniuk, CEO of Ukraine government organisation Brave 1 - and Trusta, an Ukrainian engineer and drone pilot trainer. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 346 The world is running out of water, with many countries suffering from significant water shortages. We’re now having to rely on groundwater that takes thousands of years to replenish – so what can we do? One group says, to save us from worldwide “water bankruptcy”, we need to artificially change the weather. Although “cloud-seeding” has been around for a long time, a new technique is getting big results in the US. But the idea is becoming increasingly controversial – with cloud-seeding held responsible for recent floods in Dubai and Texas. So will this help, or hurt? Grief is a very normal experience for those who suffer a loss. But for 1 in 20 of us, this intense sadness doesn’t go away. “Prolonged grief disorder” was recognised as a distinct psychiatric condition in 2022 – but it was controversial, with some concerned we’re pathologising a normal human response. But new research suggests there really are unique things happening in the brains of those suffering from PGD. Could this help us find better ways to treat the condition? Is the black hole in the centre of our universe actually a massive clump of dark matter? It seems ridiculous to ask, but the new theory is genuinely worth investigating. Researchers say Sagittarius A* is just the right size that it could defy everything we think we know about it. Could we have an answer to the puzzle of dark matter, right on our doorstep? Hosted by Penny Sarchet and Timothy Revell, with guests Alec Luhn, Alexandra Thompson and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 345 More than 8,500 years ago, ancient people crossed the ocean to the remote island of Malta for the first time. Long before compasses or sails were invented, these prehistoric people navigated the seas on logs, using the stars to travel vast distances. Recent findings show we’ve long underestimated the voyaging capabilities of stone-age hunter-gatherers. We discuss the many examples of ancient travel - and what this all tells us about the ancient mind. Could just one hour of brain training a day be enough to stave off dementia? For the first time, an intervention against dementia has been tested in a randomised control trial. Lasting an impressive 20 years, participants in the trial played a brain training game for just a few hours a week - and the results were remarkable. The legendary space scientist Maggie Aderin joins the show to discuss her new book, Starchild: My Life Under the Night Sky. The Sky at Night presenter discusses her motivation for writing a memoir, how her love of astronomy came about, what it was like as the only Black woman in her university class, her time working on the James Webb telescope - and more. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Maggie Aderin, Michael Marshall and Alexandra Thompson.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 344 Elon Musk has announced he wants to merge SpaceX with another of his companies, xAI, and launch one million satellites into space. One reason - according to Musk - is to eventually harness the entire power of the sun, a sci-fi sounding idea that would make us a Kardashev Type II civilisation. But he also wants the satellites to help power AI and move data centres off Earth. Is his goal realistic… and what would be the consequences? Parents desperate to get their children to sleep are resorting to melatonin gummies - and it’s proving very effective. Melatonin is a sleep hormone which is only available on prescription in many countries. So some parents are importing them from America - where they can be bought over-the-counter. The trouble is the long-term side effects are not really known - and cases of melatonin overdose in children are on the rise. Despite global agreement to cut the "overall risk" from pesticides by at least half by 2030 - new data shows we’re not even close. Countries made this commitment at a UN biodiversity meeting in 2022, but so far it’s been almost impossible to measure success. Thanks to a researcher in Germany, we now have a way to track our progress - and it’s not looking good. Could an increase in organic farming be the solution, or CRISPR gene editing? Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Jonathan O’Callaghan, Alice Klein and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 343 The task of growing human brains in a lab has taken a step forward. Scientists have been creating brain organoids since 2013, but have now grown blood vessels in them for the first time. These mini brains resemble the developing cortex - the area of the brain that thinks, feels and stores memories. These advancements will help us learn more about the brain and conditions like dementia. But what if we go too far and they become conscious? Geoengineering is being talked about more and more as countries fail to hit emissions targets. Without reductions we are on course to hit 4.5°C of warming by 2100, so new solutions are needed. But will artificially cooling the climate really help, or do even more damage? One popular method is solar radiation management - but that would require at least 100 aircraft working for hundreds of years. And new research shows that while it could work, the moment we stop doing temperatures would rebound rapidly. So is it worth even trying? An incredible trove of ancient fossils have been discovered in a quarry in China, dating from 512 million years ago, just after Earth’s first mass extinction event. More than 8000 fossils have been analysed and nearly 60 per cent of the species are new to science. This group of arthropods, molluscs and brachiopods contain some very weird and wonderful creatures - including one which looks remarkably like a penis with long branching tentacles growing out of the end. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Carissa Wong, Alec Luhn and Sam Wong. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 342 Social media began with the best intentions - but it soon went sour. Platforms that once fostered connection are now driven by an endless desire to monopolise our time. From the endless scroll to ragebait content, social media is no longer designed to connect us with friends and family - but to profit from our attention. And that’s not to mention the damaging political influence it can have. As countries and governments move to act against it, is there a good solution to these problems? Bitcoin is one big disaster for the environment. Mining bitcoin requires an inordinate amount of energy - and that cost only increases as more bitcoin is mined. It’s also a terrible investment these days, with some experts suggesting you’d be better off buying a load of Pokémon cards. Adding to that its role in fuelling crime on the dark web - and it becomes a strong contender for worst idea of the 21st century. Carbon off-sets - another well intentioned solution to the climate crisis that’s gone horribly wrong. The idea is you can lessen the environmental impact of your actions, by off-setting the damage. Maybe you take a long-haul flight, but you plant a tree in return. The trouble is, not only does this give people permission to keep polluting the environment, it’s not even clear if offsetting actually works. But perhaps it’s not all bad? Effective altruism is a surprising addition to the list, given that it’s meant to be a way of ensuring money goes to only the best causes. But judging which charities deserve donations above others is much more difficult than it seems. And part of the effective altruism movement suggests people should earn as much money as possible so they can one day give it away - which can obviously end badly. And then there are those who have taken it too far - ruining their life. One seemingly good fix for environmental damage is the promise of alternative fuels, like natural gases, hydrogen and biofuels. But it turns out they probably do a lot more damage than good. Biofuels in particular require massive amounts of farmland to produce, which alone is highly polluting. Add to that the fact they’re driving up prices at the supermarket - perhaps there’s a better way to stop the climate from warming? Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Abby Beall, with guests Matt Sparkes, Leah Crane, Michael Le Page and Joshua Howgego.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 341 "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." A compelling quote that sums up the thesis of Rutger Bregman’s new book. In Moral Ambition, the Dutch historian and the best-selling author argues that smart people need to stop wasting their lives in “BS” jobs - and turn their skills to causes that benefit humanity. By reflecting on the history of the abolitionist and women’s rights movements, he explains why it’s never too late to take action on major issues - like climate change or the exploitation of animals. He also explores how AI experts are preparing for a massive shift in the way we live, that we need to pay attention to. Same-sex sexual behaviour in primates is incredibly common - despite seemingly having no evolutionary advantage. But scientists have now noticed something counterintuitive. This behaviour happens more often in high-stress environments, where food is scarce, suggesting it may aid with social cohesion. It may even improve the success of straight sex - increasing the number of offspring in a group. If you want to live a longer, healthier life - it may be way easier than you think. Most modern longevity advice is about optimising every aspect of your life - and can feel overwhelming for many people. But a new study shows you can add a full year to your life, just by making very minor tweaks to things like sleep and exercise. Find out how. For three years in a row, average global temperatures have exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures. As we fail to get a handle on rising global heating, scientists are exploring a new - slightly odd - way of managing carbon levels. The idea is to protect Earth’s climate from future wildfires, but cutting down vast swathes of forest and sinking the trees in the Arctic ocean. But will it work - or make things worse? Hosted by Rowan Hooper with guests Rutger Bregman, Michael Le Page, Carissa Wong and Alec Luhn. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn about New Scientist CoLab and ViiV Healthcare’s roundtable discussion here: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 340 Acquiring Greenland has been deemed a national security priority by America. President Trump wants to use the country to deter adversaries in the Arctic, have control over its rare minerals and oil - and maybe even build experimental cities. But with the challenges of a changing climate, difficulty actually extracting any natural resources and the fact that Greenland isn’t free to occupy, how realistic are Trump's goals?  Human-plant hybrid cells are being used to answer the mystery of “dark DNA”. Also known as “junk DNA”, this refers to the fact that much of the human genome seems to be inactive. And this new experiment may have proven this claim, showing that only about 10 per cent of our DNA is useful…the rest is just rubbish. What does that mean for the story of evolution, or the future of genetic modification? The team explores two major ways to interpret the results. And two diet-related stories this week. First, that fibre seems to have a beneficial effect on sleep quality, according to a large observational study review. And second, how people who stop taking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, tend to regain the weight they lost within less than two years. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page, Alexandra Thompson, Anna Merril, Ruth Mottram and Martin Stendel.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 339 Humans are finally going back to the moon. NASA’s Artemis II mission is set to launch in April, taking four astronauts in a loop around the moon. If it goes well, it’ll set the stage for a lunar landing by Artemis III - bringing us closer to creating permanent settlements on the surface. And that’s not all - SpaceX is planning to visit Mars this year as part of its plans to colonise the Red Planet. Plus, in May we might see the launch of a new American space station. Will these missions mark 2026 as the year that kick-started our spread off planet? GLP-1 weight loss drugs are set to get cheaper this year. The patent on semaglutide - the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic - is about to run out, meaning more people will be able to access these hugely impactful medications. A pill version is also on the horizon, plus one upcoming drug that can cut body weight by a whopping 24 per cent. The first phase 3 trials of LSD are taking place this year. 55 years after being banned, the psychedelic drug is being tested once again for its ability to reduce anxiety and treat mental health conditions. Research suggests LSD can rewire your brain and relieve moderate to severe anxiety for at least three months. But will the trials prove its benefits outweigh any side effects? A carbon border tariff is being imposed by the EU - taxing imports of materials like steel from countries that aren’t doing enough to keep their emissions down. The policy is a positive step for climate action and will help to make EU industries more competitive. And it looks like countries around the world are soon to follow suit. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Jacob Aron, Michael Le Page and Alexandra Thompson. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 336 Looking for something great to read or watch on TV over the festive period? We’ve got you covered. In a special edition of the podcast, we share our favourite books, TV and films of 2025 - for those moments when you need a break from the festivities. From pure science fiction to books exploring climate change and the history of our early ancestors, we have something for everyone. Below is a list of our top picks. Films and TV Ocean with David Attenborough Andor Season 2 The White House Effect Human with Ella al-Shamahi Pluribus My Husband the Cyborg Severance Season 2 Books Every Version of You by Grace Chan The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything by Peter Brannen Clearing the Air by Hannah Ritchie Positive Tipping Points by Tim Lenton The Last Neanderthal by Ludovic Slimak Hello Cruel World by Melinda Moyer Hosted by Rowan Hooper with guests Bethan Ackerley and Alison Flood. Sign up to our book club for more recommendations, discussion and author interviews https://www.newscientist.com/bookclub/  To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 337 As we reach the end of the year, catch up on some of New Scientist’s most exciting and thought-provoking features of the past twelve months.  For decades we’ve got autism in girls all wrong. Symptoms present quite differently in girls to boys, meaning they often go undiagnosed. So why have we failed to see the differences - and why are girls so often neglected by autism research? We review a feature written by Gina Rippon - one of the scientists studying autism who admits to getting it wrong for years. If you’re interested in living a longer life, you may have heard the name Bryan Johnson. He’s the tech millionaire who’s doing everything in his power to live as long as possible. From a 6.5 hour morning routine, to experimental gene treatments and hypoxia therapy - we dig into the life of the man whose slogan is “Don’t Die”. There is no space, no time, no particles. This is the radical new quantum vision of reality proposed by physicist Vlatko Vedral. He argues that our current lens for looking at reality is full of problems, especially concerning observers - this idea that reality is somehow contingent on us looking at it. So what really lies beyond quantum theory? Over tens of thousands of years, waves of Homo sapiens set out across Europe and Asia, only for their societies and cultures to mysteriously vanish. At last, ancient DNA from fossils is revealing why. We shed light on the lives of the LRJ people, a group of a few hundred ancient humans who roamed across Europe 43,000 years ago. There are new hints that the fabric of space-time may be made of "memory cells" that record the whole history of the universe. If true, it could explain the nature of dark matter and much more. But how could pure emptiness ever remember, or store information? We discuss how Florian Neukart, the feature writer, has tested this theory inside a quantum computer. Most of us see body fat as something we need to attack or get rid of. But we’re beginning to figure out just how important fat is for shaping our health and mind. The fat in our bodies is a communicative organ with a role in everything from bone health to mood. And it isn’t just one thing - it comes in various forms and colours, each with distinct functions and found in different locations. So do we need to respect fat a bit more? A whole library’s worth of papyri owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law were turned to charcoal by the eruption of Vesuvius. But nearly 2000 years later, we can at last read these lost treasures. Discover how a particle accelerator is being used to decode messages once thought completely lost. Our emotions can often get the better of us, taking control over our feelings and actions. But what if there were a way to harness your emotions for a happier, calmer life? Researcher Ethan Kross has found ways to do just that. Based on his own experience of his Grandmother’s resilience, who endured the trauma of Nazi occupation, he’s developed an actionable guide for anyone to master how they feel. Hosted by Penny Sarchet, with guests Cat de Lange, Joshua Howgego and Claudia Canavan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 336 In an unlikely turn of events, orcas and dolphins have been observed teaming up - to hunt and kill massive chinook salmon in the pacific. Given that orcas sometimes prey on dolphins, what’s going on? Despite the promising signs of cooperation between these two species, there may be something less heartwarming at play. We dig into the findings and discuss other surprising ways animals cooperate with each other. From schizophrenia to bipolar disease, autism to OCD, many mental conditions are classified into different categories. But in the largest study of its kind, it’s been discovered that 14 different disorders fall into just five genetic groups. The finding could explain why people are often diagnosed with multiple psychiatric conditions at once - and bring comfort to those who are. Could it also help us find better treatments? Exploding stars might be to thank for our very existence. It’s thought that supernovae may spew out the heavy elements required for the creation of planets and the emergence of life. A new model shows this is possible - and may help us figure out where to look next for alien life. Could this open up a new field of cosmic ecology? Plus, news of a strange new kind of star from the James Webb Telescope. Black hole stars may explain a running mystery about odd galaxies spotted by the telescope, called little red dots.  Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alec Luhn, Michael Le Page and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 335 Exercise has been shown to shrink tumours by 60 per cent. A new study shows another link between regular exercise and cancer prevention, this time revealing that muscle cells may outcompete cancer cells for energy - basically starving them. We explore the links between metabolism and glucose - with the caveat that so far this has only been demonstrated in mice, in a small study. The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS may be even weirder than we thought. Ever since we spotted this comet from another star system, scientists have been studying every inch of it. And no - it’s not an alien spacecraft. But it does seem to be home to surprising amounts of chemicals like carbon dioxide and methanol - essential ingredients for life. Could this shed light on the origin of life in the universe? A 100-year-old debate between two titans of physics has finally been settled. In the 1920s, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr butted heads about the nature of light. Einstein said light is a particle. Bohr said it’s both a particle and a wave. They came up with an experiment to settle the argument - the trouble is, they had no way to run it. Now, 100 years later, we finally have the technology to perform the test - and the winner is… Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alexandra Thompson, Alex Wilkins and Jacob Aron. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 334 Which sperm is the oldest sperm - the ancestor sperm that came before all others? Well, you might think it links back to an ancient animal that came before us, but the oldest sperm may actually predate animals altogether. We explore this plus the enduring mystery of the s*****m - and why a male’s most important body part is so delicate and…exposed. The team hears about the variation in s*****m morphology across mammals, and the evolution of “non-scrotality”. Our brains undergo four major turning points throughout our lives. New research suggests the way our brains are wired shifts at key stages as we get older - and your adolescent years may last longer than you realised. We explore what is happening at each brain stage, how long they last and why this research could prove useful in figuring out conditions like depression or dementia. Politicians, scientists, celebrities and climate activists gathered at the National Emergency Briefing in London this week and the message was clear: environmental breakdown is escalating faster than expected. One report highlighted that the biggest health risk of the 21st century is climate change, and other scientists described scenarios of starvation, wars and ungovernable societies. But there were messages of empowerment and hope too. Hear from some of the scientists - and a British army general - at the event. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Sam Wong, Carissa Wong, Michael Le Page, Lt General Richard Nugee, Paul Behrens and Kevin Anderson. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Sign the National Emergency Briefing open letter here: https://www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-keir Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 333 It’s not often you get to see or hear someone playing music on a conch shell. So prepare yourself for a musical treat with musician and podcaster Steve Pretty, who brings into the studio a trumpet and a collection of his favourite conches, rigged up to some modern electronics. Steve is best known as the bandleader of the Hackney Colliery Band, and also hosts the Steve Pretty On the Origin of the Pieces podcast. Performing live on the show and recreating the acoustics of prehistoric cave gatherings (a rave in a cave!) Steve explains the science behind how conches and brass instruments can achieve so many different notes by manipulating air pressure and flow. He explores the evolution and origin of music - which may have evolved before language. And he explains the evocative nature of music, the different functions that it has in society and how it allows us to tap into different emotional states.  Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn about Steve’s conch playing here: https://www.shellectronica.com/  And find his podcast here: https://www.originofthepieces.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 332 For only the second time, the genome of an ancient Denisovan has been sequenced - thanks to the discovery of a 200,000-year-old tooth found in a Siberian cave. This ancient member of the human family has long been a mystery, so this genome is being described as a bombshell moment, revealing an early stage of Denisovan history. We explore how this reshapes our understanding about the origins of our species. Some 95 per cent of us have a dormant virus, lurking in our bodies - waiting to strike when the moment’s right. Epstein-Barr virus causes glandular fever - also known as mono or kissing disease - but only in a small number of people. Though new evidence is showing that even dormant viruses may still cause long term health problems. Formula E electric race cars may have surpassed their fossil fuel counterparts. From greater efficiency to faster acceleration, this is a big turning point for the sport - but they don’t have the edge on F1 cars in all areas just yet. We find out where they’re winning and where they’re falling behind - and how this could translate to better electric road cars for us. And the legendary science writer Bill Bryson joins the team to discuss the process of revising his bestselling book A Short History of Nearly Everything. He explores some of the most fascinating (and surprising) facts he’s had to update in the 20 years since the book came out. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:45) Second Denisovan genome sequenced (11:15) We all have dormant viruses that are causing diseases (18:37) Are Formula E cars faster than F1? (27:17) Bill Bryson on revising his bestselling book Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Bill Bryson and Alec Luhn. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Check out the CoLab feature with DEEP at https://newscientist.com/deep  Shop our Black Friday sale at www.newscientist.com/sale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 331 This week sees the broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK of a documentary called Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a dictator. Geneticists have managed to find a DNA sample from Adolf Hitler and have sequenced it and verified it, and now we have his genome. The big question is what does this really tell us – what can we tell from someone’s genome?  In this special episode of the podcast, Rowan Hooper is joined by two of the lead figures on the documentary. Turi King is a geneticist at the University of Bath and is best known for the identification of the remains of Richard III, and Alex Kay is a historian of Nazi Germany based at Potsdam University in Germany.  Rowan also discusses the documentary with New Scientist reporter Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 330 COP30 is nearly upon us - and this climate conference may be the most crucial so far. In a year where we’ve seen the first major global tipping point reached, destructive wildfires raging in Los Angeles and much more, joint action has never been more urgent. But as hope starts to wane and climate goals continue to be missed, many are questioning the value of the COPs. Even legendary figure  Christiana Figueres is showing signs of doubt. So 10 years on from Paris, in a year that countries are meant to come back with renewed, more ambitious pledges - will their commitments be enough? In a special COP30 episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Simon Evans, climate journalist and deputy editor of the website Carbon Brief, as well as Rupert Read, climate philosopher, activist and director of the Climate Majority Project. Together they outline what has actually been achieved since the Paris agreement was signed - and whether the COP process is fit for purpose. They discuss the growing need for adaptation, and disagree on the failure of mitigation goals. And they touch on America’s absence from the conference, promises of raising climate finance goals, the problem with net-zero and more. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 329 America’s health data system is in crisis. The US government has been bleeding public health experts – many of whom run crucial public health surveys and databases which help identify, monitor and respond to health threats across the country. From drug use to food security and birth data, discover the 5 surveys most critically hit by the axing of over 20,000 jobs. If nothing is done to address this, vital health information will be missed and the results could be catastrophic. Do you find it difficult to concentrate after a bad night’s sleep? This might be really common, but scientists are still trying to figure out why it happens. A new finding suggests it might have something to do with the brain’s “rinse cycle” – a process where your brain washes away metabolic waste and toxic proteins. Although this usually happens while you sleep, researchers have discovered it may continue in the day if you’re sleep deprived. Life might exist on Mars right now, thanks to a network of liquid water on the Red Planet. Researchers examining Mars’ soil say there’s a good chance tiny veins of liquid water are hiding under the Martian permafrost and that they could support microbial life. This finding has scientists excited, with one suggesting “it’s not impossible that life could exist in the Martian near surface.” Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:00) The collapse of America’s health data system (08:00) How sleep affects your focus (16:40) Best place to search for life on Mars Hosted by Penny Sarchet and Timothy Revell, with guests Grace Wade, Carissa Wong and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Check out Carissa’s story on the lymphatic system here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2499831-the-extraordinary-influence-of-the-lymphatic-system-on-our-health/  Find Wellcome’s podcast here: https://wellcome.org/insights/podcast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 328 Not only has the mRNA covid vaccine saved 14 million lives, it may also help our bodies fight off cancer. A study of cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment showed those who received an mRNA vaccine lived nearly twice as long - and this effect was discovered by accident. In a trial of cancer vaccines, Elias Sayour’s team at the University of Florida used standard mRNA vaccines as a control - they weren’t meant to do anything. Except they did - and the effect was huge. It’s still early days, but as we await more trial results, people are beginning to speculate how this might transform cancer treatment. Ahead of COP30, the World Resources Institute has published the State of Climate Action 2025 report - and it doesn’t make for good reading. It finds that we have failed to meet any of the goals laid out in the Paris agreement to avoid breaching 1.5°C of global warming. From deforestation to coal use, we’re not moving fast enough on anything. Hear from the authors of the report, who offer an important message of hope. Why do birds sing the dawn chorus? Many theories exist - 11 in fact - but a new one has emerged, after scientists were studying zebra finches in the lab. Hear their conclusion while enjoying the serenity of birdsong, recorded at some of the RSPB’s nature reserves. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:34) How mRNA vaccines fight cancer (10:00) State of Climate Action report (21:13) Why birds sing the dawn chorus Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page, Clea Schumer and Sophie Boehm. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about Yakult at www.yakult.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 327 A special episode recorded on October 18 at New Scientist Live in London, featuring experts in geoscience, dark matter and neuroscience. Anjana Khatwa is an Earth scientist and TV presenter. In her new book, The Whispers of Rock, she brings together Western scientific knowledge about the evolution of our Earth and indigenous knowledge and stories. She demonstrates this connection by exploring the volcanic formation of the Hawaiian islands, and the fascinating folklore attached to their origin. Chamkaur Ghag is a Professor of Physics at University College London and an expert on dark matter. He discusses the LZ Dark Matter Experiment, which is operating one mile under the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the search for a signal of this illusive particle.  Daniel Yon is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London. He explains how your brain influences your perception of reality - and how particular neurochemicals in the brain control our willingness to change, or to believe in a conspiracy theory. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet on the Engage Stage at the Excel Centre. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 326 The world’s first major climate tipping point has been triggered. The decimation of warm water coral populations caused by rising temperatures is now irreversible - passing the point of no return. The global consequences of widescale coral dieback could be catastrophic, so experts are sounding the alarm. But is anyone listening? A man with paralysis has telepathically controlled the hands of another person. Keith Thomas is unable to move or feel through his hands. But thanks to a new advancement, using brain and muscle electrodes, he was able to control the hands of a non-paralysed woman using his thoughts alone. Could this one day lead to Avatar-like body control technology? For only the second time in its 1,500-year history, professional Sumo wrestling has left Japan. A Grand Sumo Tournament is being held at London’s Albert Hall, where over 40 elite wrestlers are competing in a five day tournament. Sumo writer John Gunning discusses the physics of sumo, the incredible diets of the wrestlers and the worrying consequences of the sport on their longevity. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:34) Coral tipping point (11:23) Avatar brain implant (22:10) The longevity of sumo wrestlers Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Madeleine Cuff, Carissa Wong and John Gunning. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about Yakult at www.yakult.co.uk Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special episode all about the future of space exploration, recorded in front of a live audience at the Royal Society in London. Earlier this year, the Royal Society published ‘The Space: 2075 report’, which recognises the huge changes we’re seeing in space exploration, and urges for action to be taken to make sure the next 50 years of activity in space is sustainable and benefits all of humanity. We brought together a panel of space experts to discuss the accelerated advances we’re seeing. Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut, blasted off Earth on a Soyuz rocket in 1991. She explains what it’s like to journey into space, the various ways it impacts the body and why humans still have the edge over robots for certain missions. Irene Di Giulio is a Biomedical Engineer at King's College London. She explores her work helping to get the first disabled astronaut to space and why it’s critical we push towards making space flight accessible. And Katie King is Co-Founder and CEO of BioOrbit, a pharmaceutical company which plans to make drugs in space. Discover why space is the perfect place to create drugs - potentially bringing at-home cancer treatments to the market. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Abby Beall. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 324 The legendary primatologist Jane Goodall died last week aged 91, leaving behind a remarkable legacy. Her work studying tool use in chimpanzees completely reshaped the way we view animal intelligence. Fiercely protective of the natural world, she was also responsible for a huge amount of advocacy during her life. Primatologist Alejandra Pascual-Garrido worked directly with Jane and shares the story of her life and work. Will the universe end with a bang, or a quiet whimper? Katie Mack is a cosmologist, science communicator and best-selling author of The End of Everything. She explores why she’s fascinated by how the universe might end, the most likely scenarios for how it happens and why it’s an exciting time for both physics and cosmology. She also offers her thoughts on the recently announced Nobel Prize in Physics - and teases her upcoming book How To Build A Universe. Older fathers may have a bigger impact on the health of their offspring than we realised. We know that sperm accumulates mutations as men age, but a study sheds new light on the risks. Men aged 70 are twice as likely to have children with serious genetic disorders. And it’s all to do with “selfish sperm”. Chapters: (00:51) Jane Goodall’s legacy (20:52) Kate Mack on the end of the universe (38:47) Selfish sperm Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Katie Mack and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about Yakult at www.yakult.co.uk Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 323 Temperatures in Antarctica have soared by over 35°C. Scientists are concerned about how quickly things are changing on the continent as these warmer temperatures impact the polar vortex. Coupled with record lows in sea ice cover over the last decade, this could be a sign that Antarctic weather patterns have shifted permanently. What’s driving this change - and what happens if we have reached a tipping point of no return? Many mammals, including cats, can pivot their ears to focus on a particular sound. But our ears aren’t quite so flexible. But now it appears that a similar process happens inside our brain - ‘swivelling’ to focus on sounds from different directions. This has only recently been discovered thanks to new portable EEG equipment, as the process only happens when we’re moving. This finding may help us better understand how movement changes the brain - and could even help improve hearing aids.  Why do women tend to live longer than men? It could have something to do with the very chromosomes that determine biological sex. By looking at birds, whose sex chromosomes differ from those of mammals, researchers have discovered an intriguing hint at what’s going on. But does their new hypothesis hold up? Alongside all the emerging science, Rowan shares his own theory. And the team discusses the disappearance of the Y chromosome - and what that really means for men. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:04) Emergency in Antarctica (10:46) How movement changes the brain (19:34) Why women live longer than men Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Madeleine Cuff, Edward Doddridge, Caroline Williams and Sam Wong. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about Yakult at www.yakult.co.uk  Vote for New Scientist in the Signal Awards: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/science  Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 322 An ancient skull discovered in China may have just rewritten the story of human evolution. It’s widely accepted that the common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals came out of Africa. But this skull upends that assumption - potentially showing human evolution began in Asia. Discover how a new reconstruction of the Yunxian fossil skull could push back human origins by 400,000 years. Tylenol does not cause autism. The US government has made headlines with claims that this common painkiller, also known as paracetamol, is playing a big role in what’s been falsely dubbed the ‘autism epidemic’. As Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr call for pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, we discuss what we know from science, and hear from medical experts of the danger of this new advice. Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, is more active than we thought. Historically our black hole has seemed rather quiet. But a new discovery shows the first clear evidence of winds - streams of hot gas - coming from it. The finding could help us figure out what Sag A* looks like and what it’ll do in the future. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:05) This skull could rewrite the story of human evolution (16:39) Autism and Tylenol (26:26) Black hole discovery Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Marshall, Grace Wade, Alex Wilkins, Chris Stringer, Arthur Caplan and Gretchen Goldman. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Find the New Scientist CoLab episode with Octopus Energy here: https://www.newscientist.com/podcasts/inside-the-uk-s-energy-revolution/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 321 Humans live a lot longer than other primates - and much of that is down to our immune system. But there’s a price we pay for the capacity to fight off infections: inflammation. Chronic inflammation is to blame for a range of health issues, especially those related to older age. And now research has revealed exactly why inflammation is good for longevity but bad for health. Find out how proteins called death-fold domains often malfunction - and what this could mean for the future of drug development. Bigger than the Eiffel Tower and closer than the moon - the asteroid Apophis will skim past Earth in 2029 and will be visible to the naked eye. Don’t worry, astronomers assure us it will NOT hit us. But it could be a good testbed for NASA’s asteroid deflection technology, helping us to prepare for more dangerous space rocks in the future. With two major space agencies due to visit Apophis - what will we find? If you thought there was nothing new to learn about the extinction of the dinosaurs, think again. Something we hadn’t yet considered was the impact dinosaurs had on the ecosystem. Given they were so massive, dinosaurs made wide-ranging changes to the planet’s landscapes, such as shifting rivers. So when they were wiped out, there were huge knock-on effects, which researchers have now been examining.  Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:41) The evolutionary price we pay for longer lives (13:47) The asteroid coming very close to Earth (26:42) How dinosaurs shaped their ecosystem Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alison George, Alex Wilkins, Sam Wong and Richard Binzel. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 320 Was Mars once home to alien life? The evidence is stronger than ever, since NASA’s discovery of rocks marked by patterns similar to those made by microbes on Earth. Found in an area now named Bright Angel, these rocks give us a tantalising insight into Mars’ ancient past - but just how definitive is this finding? It’s long been thought that when the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain in the early 400s, the result was chaos and economic collapse. But a new archaeological discovery suggests that’s not the case. Signs show a boom in the ancient metalworking trade around that time. Do we need to rethink this period of our history entirely? We’re constantly discovering more and more ways to boost our microbiome and improve our health – everything from eating more fibre and fermented foods to having pets and embracing dirt. And now there’s something else to add to the list: weight lifting. After being put on a weight training programme, a group of sedentary adults showed a surprising uptick in beneficial gut bugs. But how are the two things connected? Chapters: (00:00) Intro (01:19) Strongest evidence for past life on Mars (14:55) The Romans impact on the British economy (23:19) Link between exercise and your microbiome Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Mike Marshall, Mike Tice and Sanjeev Gupta. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 319 Scientists have created the first complete activity map of a mouse’s brain. Combining brain images from multiple mice, researchers recorded more than 650,000 neurons while these mice manipulated little Lego steering wheels in a driving game. This complex behaviour has allowed scientists to examine the interplay between various parts of the brain - and could help us better understand consciousness. This might be the weirdest discovery about ants ever. Some eggs laid by Queen Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) contain males of another species - that of the builder harvest ant (Messor structor). They are somehow cloning these males to create workers for the colony - a highly unusual form of reproduction. Find out how they’re doing it - and let us know what your favourite ant is. Do you scroll on your phone when you’re on the toilet? Well, you might want to stop doing that. For a long time we’ve thought straining on the loo increased your risk of developing haemorrhoids, also known as piles. But a new study shows it might be more to do with how long you’re spending on the loo. Find out how scrolling through addictive apps could increase your risk of haemorrhoids by 50 per cent. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:21) First map of mammalian brain activity (14:21) Queen ant lays eggs of another species (23:53) The perils of scrolling while on the toilet Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alexandra Thompson, Sam Wong, Michael Le Page, Alexandre Pouget, Anne Churchland, Matteo Carandini and Jessica Purcell To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Get your ticket for New Scientist Live here: https://live.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 318 An ancient organism has been discovered that has been alive for at least 100,000 years. Found in the Siberian permafrost, this lifeform doesn’t appear to have just remained dormant - but instead has actually been growing extremely slowly. Our understanding of life is already quite fuzzy, and this finding adds to the idea that life itself is a fuzzy state of being.  A breakthrough method of treating previously untreatable chronic pain is showing promise. An intuitive form of deep brain stimulation, guided by machine learning, has provided targeted relief to patients in a small trial. The method also improved various other conditions and may even help with weight loss. Find out how it works. Throughout history, dramatic changes in the climate often coincide with major revolutions and rebellions. Rapid warming or cooling often have a cascading effect on food production, leading to shortages and rising prices. As the effect of climate change increase today, will we see a repeat of history? Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:22) 100,000-year-old organism (10:37) Brain implant treats chronic pain (18:02) How climate change leads to revolutions Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alexandra Thompson, James Dinneen and Karen Lloyd. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 317 Winter bugs are notoriously hard to vaccinate against. But as cold, flu and covid season is about to descend on us once more, one group researchers are working on an entirely new solution to the misery. A team out of Columbia University has been testing an mRNA-based treatment that could prime our immune systems to fight against any kind of viral infection, perhaps in the form of an asthma-like inhaler. But there is a catch… New life has been breathed into one of the most controversial ideas in science. In 1989, a surprising way to generate nuclear fusion at room temperature gained worldwide attention - but the initial experiment couldn’t be replicated. Dead in the water for many years, the idea of ‘cold fusion’ is now being revisited - and it could help us create futuristic electronics. Ever wondered what makes chocolate taste so good? As with many things, it turns out we have microbes to thank. Chocolate, like kimchi and cheese, is a fermented food product - and scientists are beginning to discover which microbes give chocolate its many flavours. These findings could help us create more delicious chocolate, or even create new flavours we’ve never tasted before. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:29) Could we end winter illness? (08:27) Cold fusion’s comeback (15:23) The delicious microbiome of chocolate Hosted by Penny Sarchet and Chelsea Whyte, with guests Michael Le Page, Alex Wilkins and Sam Wong. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 316 “All of the other planets out there are just complete garbage. The Earth is the only good place.” – Kate Marvel The climate crisis can leave many of us feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. But, as climate scientists Kate Marvel and Tim Lenton say, there are many reasons to be optimistic.Both have new books out that hope to reframe the way we think about the issue. Kate’s book Human Nature grapples with the complicated emotions that the climate crisis evokes, from anger to hope and love – and explores how we can harness each of them to fight for a better future. Tim’s book Positive Tipping Points looks at the possibility that we may cause irreversible damage to the Earth’s climate system, from Amazon dieback to ice sheet collapse. But as the name suggests, he also examines the opportunities in leveraging global action against climate change to create “positive tipping points”. Chapters: (0:00) Intro (01:26) Why Tim and Kate have dedicated their lives to climate science (3:53) Exploring Kate’s book Human Nature - starting with anger (6:33) How Tim channels his climate anger (10:16) Processing the 9 emotions of Kate’s book (13:10) What are negative tipping points? (15:33) How to use positive tipping points (21:13) Where can we find hope for change right now? (23:16) The positive emotions that inspire climate action (26:50) Kate’s process of writing (29:52) Why non-violent campaigns are so effective (35:19) Have we seen any of these positive tipping points yet? (39:31) How Americans really feel about climate change (40:46) Kate and Tim’s dream outcomes for their books Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff, with guests Kate Marvel and Tim Lenton. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 315 It’s been 80 years since the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war - events that altered the course of history. The consequences of the widespread destruction, deaths and nuclear fallout are still being dealt with today. On 6th August 1945, a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan, and three days later Nagasaki was also bombed. Tens of thousands of people were killed. Since then, many nuclear tests have been carried out. Despite efforts to clean up the fallout, a big threat looms… climate change. Not only does the changing climate risk dredging up old nuclear waste, worsening extreme weather events could even damage current nuclear facilities too. There’s also a lasting legacy felt by those who survived the bombs and their descendants, not just in Japan, but South Korea, too. The human cost doesn’t stop there. We hear about the communities who first mined the uranium needed for the bombs in the 1920s and 30s - as well as the health consequences for those living near nuclear test sites. Annie Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, adds her thoughts on the current threat of nuclear war - and how nuclear technology has become even more destructive.  It wasn’t just people who survived the bombs - there are trees that made it through too.   Seeds have been gathered from these survivor trees and we learn how one of them is being  grown in the Wakehurst botanical garden.  Chapters: (01:32) Nuclear waste and the threat of rising seas (11:31) Atomic bomb survivors (24:35) Annie Jacobsen on the knife-edge of danger (27:40) The trees that survived the bombs Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff, with guests Jeremy Hsu, Michael Gerrard, MG Sheftall, Annie Jacobsen and Elinor Breman. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 314 Weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to slow down - or even reverse - the ageing process. In a trial of 84 people taking semaglutide, their biological age dropped by 3.1 years on average, with some organs becoming almost 5 years younger. Based on this new research, this finding could make these some of the most impactful anti-ageing drugs on the market. So how are they doing it? Scientists have very nearly created a new lifeform. A synthetic bacterium has been created with 101,000 changes to its genome - clearing up redundant code in its DNA. By freeing up codons in its genetic code, this bacteria could make new kinds of proteins unlike anything that exists naturally - and pave the way for creating virus resistance bacteria. The recent earthquake off the coast of east Russia was the sixth biggest ever recorded. Thankfully the ensuing tsunami has been manageable - unlike previous record-setting quakes. With two large “foreshocks” before the big one, we ask a professor of tectonics about the geology of the region.  Chapters: (00:34) Weight-loss drugs slow down ageing (10:59) Creation of a new synthetic bacterium (21:52) Geology of the Russian earthquake Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Sam Wong, with guests Alexandra Thompson, Michael Le Page, Andrew Steele, Wes Robertson and Lisa Mcneill. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 313 AI has won gold at the world’s hardest maths event. For the first time, AI programs that use entirely natural language like ChatGPT, have used general reasoning to solve incredibly difficult tests at the International Maths Olympiad in Australia. Humans are still in the lead…for now. But could this be a big leap forward in the quest for artificial general intelligence? Mitochondria - famously the powerhouses of our cells - are linked to sleep in ways we never realised. In a study on fruit flies, researchers discovered that the longer they stay awake, the more damage is caused to their mitochondria. This pressure increasingly pushes the flies to go to sleep - to begin the repair cycle. They also showed ways of engineering and altering fruit fly mitochondria that could impact their sleep duration. Given how mitochondria is essential in all complex life forms - like us - could it one day lead to sleep treatments? An iconic psychology experiment has been used to trick octopuses. The rubber hand illusion has been used on people - and some other mammals - to fool them into thinking a fake hand is their own. And now it turns out octopuses are fooled just as easily. Researchers used a fake tentacle to recreate the trick - giving us a deeper insight into how octopus brains work. Chapters: (00:33) AI wins gold at maths Olympics (12:24) How mitochondria are linked to sleep (22:13) Octopus rubber hand illusion Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alex Wilkins and Alexandra Thompson. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 312 People have been given genetically engineered microbes to prevent a common health condition - and it worked. The gut microbiome is now known to be associated with many health conditions - and in this case, the team managed to treat 9 people who get recurring kidney stones. With the gut’s links to mental health, cancer and more, could engineered microbes be used to treat more conditions in the future? Is 1.5C dead? It’s looking increasingly likely that we’re going to breach 1.5C of global warming - the goal set out in the Paris agreement. So do we need to set a new goal now? As scientists come up with alternative numbers to aim for, many are worried that moving the goalposts will kill climate ambition. But is there a middle ground that keeps everyone happy? Where are all the aliens? We may now have a solution to the famous Fermi paradox, which questions why we’ve never met anyone else in the universe, despite the existence of many Earth-like planets. And it’s all to do with tectonic plates - a geological phenomenon that may be rare outside of Earth, helping complex life to emerge on our planet.  Chapters: (00:39) Genetically modified gut microbes (07:03) Setting a new goal for global warming (17:20) Solving the Fermi paradox Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Grace Wade, Madeleine Cuff, Alex Wilkins, Ilana Seid, Robert Stern and Taras Gerya. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 311 Geoengineering could be the best way to avoid catastrophic climate disaster - but there’s a big catch. In the recent Global Tipping Points Conference in the UK, scientists discussed growing concerns that the AMOC may be on the verge of collapsing. This is a system of ocean currents that plays a crucial role in regulating global climate. With the window of action rapidly closing, one climate model suggests geoengineering is the fastest way to stop this from happening. But without global consensus, the team explains how geoengineering could also damage the climate further or even lead to a new kind of warfare. We’re brushing up against the edge of mathematics with the uncovering of a number so large it’s hard to even describe. Busy Beaver numbers are used to describe the longest possible run-times of ‘Turing machines’ - a theoretical model of computation conceived by Alan Turing. These numbers are surprisingly hard to figure out. But after uncovering the fifth Busy Beaver number in 2021, an online community of mathematicians now thinks they’ve figured out the sixth number - and it’s beyond massive. What does this mean for the nature of mathematics? We’ve known for a long time that exercise is a great way of reducing cancer risk - and now we finally know why. A new study suggests changes in the microbiome caused by exercise can reduce tumour growth - and there appears to be one particular molecule that’s doing this good work. Does this mean we could one day use poop transplants as a cancer treatment? Chapters: (00:22) Can geoengineering save us from climate disaster? (16:59) Have we broken mathematics? (25:42) Why exercise reduces cancer risk Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page, Jacob Aron, Claudia Wieners and Marlies Meisel. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 310 An ancient Egyptian's complete genome has been read for the first time. The DNA of a man who lived in Egypt over 4500 years ago offers a new window into the ancient society and hints at surprising genetic connections with Mesopotamia. Based on forensic analysis of the man's skeleton and preserved images of different Egyptian occupations, the researchers think his most likely occupation was a potter. The team discusses what the breakthrough means for our understanding of early Egypt and even for the origin of writing. Wild orcas, or killer whales, have been seen giving gifts to humans - things like pieces of liver, rays and dead birds. This is the first time these apparent acts of altruism have been documented. Does this prove whales are capable of showing compassion or kindness? Images beamed back from the New Horizons spacecraft, which has left the solar system, have enabled the first test of interstellar navigation. By measuring the distance between two stars that it snapped images of, astronomers have been able to pinpoint its location in the galaxy. And in other interstellar news, we also just spotted an object hurtling towards our solar system. Recently named ‘Atlas’, this object will be whizzing by in October, close enough for us to study. Chapters: (00:42) Ancient Egyptian genome sequenced (12:33) Killer whales give humans gifts (18:59) First demonstration of interstellar navigation Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Mike Marshall, Alex Wilkins, Joel Irish and Lori Marino. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 309 A groundbreaking experiment in reproductive biology has resulted in mice being born from two biological fathers. By fusing sperm and putting them into an emptied egg cell, researchers in China have produced healthy and fertile offspring from two male mice. While it’s early days and the technique requires hundreds of embryos to get results, it opens up the possibility of same-sex reproduction in mammals, including humans, in the future. New insights into the power of sleep reveal how short naps can boost creativity. A study found that reaching a certain stage of sleep, known as N2, significantly increased people’s chances of having an “aha!” moment. It’s more evidence of how deeply intertwined sleep is with problem-solving and innovation, and why naps might be more productive than we thought. One ancient lizard family managed to survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, and they’re still around today! Scientists have traced the lineage of night lizards back to over 90 million years ago. Their ability to shelter underground and survive on little energy may have helped them live through one of Earth’s biggest disasters. Chapters: (00:38) Same-sex reproduction breakthrough (12:09) Power naps and creativity (22:37) Ancient lizard survives dinosaur-killing asteroid Hosted by Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 308 An ancient skull discovered in China has been confirmed to belong to a Denisovan. It’s been tough to study this mysterious human ancestor, as we’ve only ever found a finger and jaw bone - so this new discovery could reshape our understanding of them. After being kept secret for decades, the “dragon man” skull is opening up a new window into our past. We’ve unlocked another clue in our quest to decode whale language. Analysis of 15 sperm whales in the Caribbean suggest their language may contain vowels, used in a similar way to human language. Using their various clicks, researchers have discovered interesting patterns in the way they communicate. Feeling hot and sweaty? Well, strap in - because these heatwaves are set to continue…and get worse. Summers are evolving fast as a result of climate change and weather events that would’ve once been rare are becoming much more common. Find out how the UK could be in for a string of long 40C summers in the very near future. The winner of The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction has been revealed - Dr Rachel Clarke claims the title for her book “The Story of a Heart”. The book explores the history of heart transplants and tells the story of a nine year old girl whose heart saved two other children and two adults. Rachel explains why she chose to write this story and the surprising things she learnt along the way. Chapters: (00:41) Denisovan skull discovery (14:02) Deconding whale language (18:14) Hot summers becoming more common (26:16) Winner of The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Madeleine Cuff, Mike Marshall, Gillian Kay, Alison Flood and Rachel Clarke. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 307 Using new “ultrasoft” electronics, researchers at Harvard have effectively created tadpole cyborgs. A soft bioelectronic device has been implanted into their brains - one which grows with them as they develop into frogs. This neural implant is a first step in helping us better understand the inner workings of the brain. But could this work in mammals…or humans? Discussing just that, the Royal Society held a meeting this week called Cyborg Futures. How soon until humans become one with machines? A small fleet of cheap drones has been deployed by Ukraine’s security service, causing $7 billion of damage to Russian air power. Just 117 drones were able to take out a third of Russia’s nuclear bomb force. Difficult to catch, hard to jam and nearly impossible to shoot down - are drones a paradigm shift in warfare? The Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile has just opened, promising to carry out a legacy survey of space and time. US editor Chelsea Whyte visited the newly operational telescope to see how it will map out the night sky in never-before-seen detail. Learn how it hopes to answer some of the biggest mysteries about dark matter and dark energy - and find out about the legacy of Vera Rubin, the astronomer the telescope is named after. Think net-zero climate action is costing us way too much, driving up living costs and damaging the economy? Think again. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has taken on all of the misinformation circulating about our goal to achieve net zero emissions, showing that raising climate ambition would actually boost the global economy. Find out why. Chapters: (00:32) Frogs with cyborg brains…are humans next? (11:25) How drones are reshaping warfare (16:16) Vera Rubin observatory opens (24:59) How net zero will boost the global economy Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alexandra Thompson, Chelsea Whyte, Jonathan Rossiter, Tamar Makin, Robert Bunker and Simon Evans. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 306 It’s been discovered that the moon is probably home to $1 trillion worth of platinum. Researchers suggest nearly 6500 of the Moon’s craters were made by asteroids containing commercial quantities of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium. Does that mean space companies are going to head out on mining missions imminently…and should they? Hear the reasons for and against mining on the Moon. When you imagine something in your mind, how does your brain know that it’s not real? Certain brain regions have been identified in a new experiment which help keep reality and make-believe separate. This finding could tell us a lot about conditions like schizophrenia - or what’s going on when we dream. It may even answer that question; are we living in a simulation? Read our imagination special here: https://www.newscientist.com/issue/3545/  A newly discovered emergent behaviour has been found in nematode worms - the world’s commonest animal. These millimetre long worms are able to merge to form superorganisms, creating tentacles or towers that can straddle long distances. Learn about this collective behaviour and how it's coordinated.  Chapters: (00:16) Platinum on the moon (08:44) How your brain distinguishes between reality and imagination  (18:05) Rise of the hyperworm - nematodes merge to form superorganism Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Carissa Wong, Jayanth Chennamangalam, Steve Fleming and Serena Ding. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 305 As artificial intelligence grows into more and more aspects of our lives, it seems we’re just at the beginning of the boom. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being pumped into advancing AI capabilities, making it the best funded area in science. But, just like the dot-com revolution, is it a bubble waiting to burst? In this special episode of the podcast, we explore the growing promise of AI - and also the existential threat it poses. Despite the amount of money going into AI, chatbots are still making glaring mistakes, plagued with hallucinations. All the while students are relying on them to do their homework for them, and others are using them to replace very human tasks, like writing wedding speeches. So we hear from two authors who have been thinking hard about AI and machine learning - and what that means for the future. We also get into the idea of AGI, artificial general intelligence - and its cousin, artificial superintelligence, which may already exist in certain areas. With many researchers concerned about AI overthrowing humanity, is it even worth worrying about? We dig into whether AGI is even possible and who would want to develop it. This discussion has to include some mention of the human and environmental costs of these technologies, too. Energy demands are expected to skyrocket over the next few years - can the planet keep up with the demand? And alongside that, there’s a lot of human exploitation going on to help fuel these machines - a little-known fact that has to be tackled. Finally, is superintelligent AI a threat to the existence of humankind - will they want to wipe us out when they get smart enough? Or is the threat more insidious, one where we watch the slow erosion of truth and democracy? Chapters: (02:49) How chatbots and LLMs came to dominate (15:50) Superintelligent AI (18:18) What does $500 billion buy? (19:30) The high energy demand of AI (20:56) The murky ethics of the AI race (25:15) How AI is being thrust upon us (26:48) The existential threat of AI (29:57) Is AI a bubble waiting to burst? Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Sophie Bushwick, with guests Alex Wilkins, Adam Becker and Emily Bender.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 304 It seems the world is on heightened alert about the impact smartphones are having on our children’s brains. But are we right to be worried? Jonathan Haidt’s book the Anxious Generation has played a big role in this debate, with many researchers agreeing smartphones cause harm and action needs to be taken. But is there actually any scientific evidence to back all of these claims up? The “strongest evidence” for alien life was announced just a few weeks ago - but not everyone was happy with this discovery and it came under quite a lot of fire. The team that discovered this alien signal were analysing data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Now other researchers have looked at the same data and have come to different conclusions. But rather than proving critics right, it seems the evidence for aliens just got stronger. A digital oak tree is on display at Kew Gardens in London. Of the Oak is an immersive installation by art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast in collaboration with ecologists, biologists and researchers. The aim is to show the inner workings of the oak, to allow people to connect more deeply with it and to tune into “tree time”.  Chapters: (00:32) Are smartphones causing mental illness in teens? (05:58) More evidence for alien life (13:28) Of the Oak display at Kew Hosted by Timothy Revell and Madeleine Cuff, with guests Jacob Aron, Alex Wilkins, Rowan Hooper, Ersin Han Ersin and Ruth Mitchell.To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 303 China is becoming a de facto leader in the fight against climate change. Right now it’s the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, but after years of keeping its emissions steady, they have finally begun to fall. And this is all while China’s power demands have increased - suggesting its efforts to build clean energy are paying off. But is this enough to make a realistic dent on curbing global warming? And how will the uncertainty of President Trump’s administration impact this trend? A vaccine for the dreaded norovirus is in the works - and it’s already proving effective. Known as the winter vomiting bug, this nasty gastrointestinal illness affects 685 million people a year. Thanks to a company in San Francisco and some heroic people who served as test subjects, we may be closer than ever to staving it off. At some point, in a few billion years, our solar system may break up in the most spectacular fashion, simply because of random chaos and instability. But now researchers have found a bigger threat to the survival of our solar system - passing stars. Less random and chaotic, stars actually pass by our sun fairly regularly, and could dislodge planets like Pluto, flinging them out of orbit and impacting the other planets. Do you find yourself teary eyed when cutting onions? Well, you’re in luck. Scientists have found the perfect way to cut an onion without crying. We provide a live demonstration for your amusement. Chapters: (00:47) Decline of China’s carbon emissions (11:05) Norovirus vaccine (17:52) Catastrophic break-up of our solar system (23:26) Scientific way to cut an onion without crying Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests James Dinneen, Carissa Wong, Alex Wilkins, Lauri Myllivirta, Chris Packham and Sean Raymond. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dive into the mysterious world of the deep sea, sparked by a recent executive order aiming to ramp up offshore mineral extraction, as well as new research revealing that 99.999 per cent of the seabed remains unexplored. Experts discuss the surprising lack of deep-sea exploration, the ecological wonders already discovered, like hydrothermal vents and bizarre deep-sea creatures, and the debate over mining nodules from the ocean floor. With new battery tech on the horizon and mounting environmental concerns, questions grow about whether deep-sea mining is driven by necessity or a disregard for the ecosystems we barely understand. Researchers have captured the faint glow emitted by living things to explore what happens when life ends. First theorised a century ago by Russian physicist Alexander Gurwitsch, biophotons are ultraweak light emissions which appear to track metabolism and fade dramatically at death. Could this eerie glow one day help detect disease, or even confirm the moment of death? Chimpanzees across Africa have been observed rhythmically drumming on trees, but what are they trying to say? A new study spanning 11 chimp communities reveals that these drum beats may be individual signatures, offering fresh insight into the roots of musicality and communication. The team discuss how chimps may even show signs of awe or ritual, with their unique responses to storms, fire, and waterfalls. Could drumming mark not just the evolution of rhythm, but the first flickers of spiritual thought? Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:33 The mysterious deep sea and the race to mine its resources 13:43 The science of biophotons: what happens when we die? 20:27 Chimpanzee drumming: Rhythm, awe, and the roots of musicality Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alex Wilkins. Maddie Cuff, Dustin Mulvaney, Olive Heffernan, Alasdair Mackenzie, Catherine Hobaiter, and Jessica Battle. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 301 Our understanding of the nature of light might be completely wrong. The double-slit experiment is one of the most famous experiments in physics and is how we’ve understood light for over 200 years. But a team is now suggesting we’ve got the interpretation all wrong - that light is in fact not a wave and is only made up of particles. If true, this is major. The authors of this study were left scrambling as “all hell broke loose” when they made the discovery. And the best part? Dark photons may be involved. A 7 year study into the nature of consciousness has reached its conclusion - pitting two major theories against one another. Integrated information theory suggests levels of consciousness exist in any system, including rocks and fetuses. Global neuronal workspace theory claims specific brain regions are responsible for consciousness. After 256 brain scans - are we any closer to an answer? A decades-long study involving 170 wild dolphins has allowed biologists to decode their whistles. Hear dolphins recorded in the waters of Sarasota, Florida, which show how the animals communicate in various ways - and even give themselves names. Chapters: (00:45) Dark photons and our understanding of light (11:07) Major theories of consciousness go head-to-head (21:05) Decoding whale language Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Chelsea Whyte, Celso Villas-Boas, Gerhard Rempe, Christof Koch, Anil Seth and Laela Sayigh. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 299 In a climate justice special episode of the podcast, the biggest issue of the century is up for discussion. Find out the true impact of climate change on our planet and who should be paying to fix the crisis. Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff are joined by two climate experts - Friederike Otto and Joyce Kimutai from the World Weather Attribution project at Imperial College London. This episode is dedicated to answering three questions - starting with the issue of climate attribution. To what extent can we blame climate change for extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, floods and wildfires? Find out how climate attribution began as a fringe science and how it has evolved to become a firm part of public consciousness. The next question is one of climate justice - how can we make sure rich countries pay for the loss and damage caused to poorer countries by climate change? The argument is that poorer nations are least responsible for climate change, yet they are most affected by its impacts. So at the latest UN climate summit, COP28, a lot of money was pledged - yet hardly any of it has actually materialised. So what’s going on? And the third question is about litigation - can climate attribution be used to achieve justice, by forcing climate polluters to pay up? A trial is ongoing where a company in Germany is being sued for its role in damaging the climate - but it’s still unclear whether the case will be successful. The hope is with climate attribution, it’ll be easier to bring cases like this forward and offer up a more detailed picture of how much damage has been done - and how much money is owed. Chapters: (01:16) Weather attribution (19:58) Climate justice (32:52) Climate litigation To read more about stories like this, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 300 The first genetically engineered synapses have been implanted in a mammal’s brain. Chemical brain signals have been bypassed in the brains of mice and replaced with electrical signals, changing their behaviour in incredible ways. Not only did they become more sociable, they were also less anxious and exhibited fewer OCD-like symptoms. This work has sparked hope that one day we could use this technology to help humans with mental health conditions. But would you want someone making permanent edits to your brain? For the first time, climate scientists can now link specific fossil fuel companies to climate-related economic damages in particular places. A new method has been developed that can show the exact impact these companies are having on our environment - which the world’s top five emitters linked to trillions of dollars of economic losses. Find out how scientists have managed to piece this together - and whether these companies are about to face massive lawsuits. As we reflect on the death of Pope Francis, we explore his legacy on scientific issues and his transformative stance on climate change. As the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics, he became an influential figure in advocating for better care to be taken of our planet. Will his legacy continue with the next Pope? Chapters: (00:28) First brain engineering in a mammal (10:57) Landmark in fossil fuel lawsuits (19:33) Climate legacy of Pope Francis Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Alexandra Thompson, James Dinneen, William Schafer, Chris Callahan, Justin Mankin and Miles Pattenden. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 298 Big news has just broken - astronomers claim they’ve detected the strongest evidence for alien life yet. The news has got the world’s media fired up with excitement - but is this really a “revolutionary moment”? Astronomers studying the atmosphere of a distant planet called K2-18b say they have detected a molecule called DMS that is only produced on Earth by living organisms, so it’s thought life might be producing it there too. Hear from the lead researcher on this project, Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge, who says “these are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited”. But even if this biosignature detection is confirmed, would it be the slam dunk everyone thinks it is? In this episode, Alex Wilkins and Rowan Hooper offer a bit of balance to the discussion and explore how far this is from definitive evidence of alien life. We also hear the views of Laura Kreidberg, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. To read more about stories like this, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 297 The “de-extinction company” Colossal Biosciences claims to have brought dire wolves back from extinction. This is an ancient animal that roamed Earth 10,000 years ago and famously is depicted in Game of Thrones. After gene editing grey wolves, three pups have been born. But is it right to call them dire wolves, or are these just grey wolves in dire wolf clothing? It’s a turbulent time for US science, with massive and sweeping cuts being made to jobs and budgets. Departments like the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have been affected – raising major concerns about the future of public health in the country and beyond. Physicists have discovered the perfect way to pour a cup of coffee. Hot on the heels of the perfect cacio e pepe recipe and how to make the perfect boiled egg, this discovery is yet another hilarious hack that works in principle but is a massive faff.  Chapters: (00:31) Return of the dire wolf (08:58) Turbulent time for US science (16:36) Perfect way to brew a cuppa coffee Hosted by Penny Sarchet and Timothy Revell, with guests Michael Le Page and Chelsea Whyte. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 296 There’s a strange phenomenon in the plant world that we’ve known about for ages - but have only just figured out how to make use of it. Thanks to a process that sometimes happens during plant grafting, we can give plants skin transplants. This process produces ‘graft chimeras’, which have been seen as mere curiosities for many years. But now one company in the Netherlands is now planning to do something more with them, creating a whole new world of plant combinations that could produce more pest resistant crops or more delicious fruits. Air pollution in China has been a hot topic for many years, especially since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But China has been successful in bringing emissions from aerosols down drastically - a massive win for the health of people in the country. However, there’s been an unintended consequence, as their efforts to clean the air have caused a spike in the rate of global warming. What’s going on? Find out how this all links to the subject of geoengineering. The oldest ivory tools ever found have been discovered in Ukraine. Thought to be created by our ancient ancestor, Homo heidelbergensis, these tools made from mammoth tusks are 400,000 years old. They give a surprising window into the lives of ancient humans - who may have been more intelligent than we realised. Chapters: (00:31) Giving plants skin transplants (07:16) How China’s pollution win has spiked global temperatures (16:34) The oldest ivory tools ever found Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page, Madeleine Cuff, Jeroen Stuurman and Vadim Stepanchuk. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 295 The changes the body goes through during and after pregnancy have been examined in more detail than ever before. A landmark study is finally helping us to piece together some of the mysteries and myths surrounding this time – from how long it takes the body to go back to “normal” after birth to the extended periods of nutrient deficiency. This comes after a flurry of studies have given us the clearest picture yet of how the brain changes – and is dramatically remodelled – throughout pregnancy. Are you worried about your smartphone habit? Science is upending our understanding of phone use and just how damaging the urge to doom-scroll can be. Are smartphones really killing our sleep and distracting us more than ever? And is it really impacting the mental health of children? The answers are not what many people assume. One of the weirdest substances in our universe is one we very much take for granted – water. Not only does it perform impressive feats that we see every day, but water can also transform into a superacid, potentially resulting in diamond rain falling on planets in our solar system. Find out how it could be doing this somewhere in the cosmos right now. Chapters: (00:28) The effects of pregnancy (07:16) How bad is smartphone use? (16:34) Surprising facts about water Hosted by Penny Sarchet and Timothy Revell, with guests Carissa Wong and Alexandra Thompson. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 294 Markings discovered on rocks from Mars look to be good evidence that microbial life once existed on the Red Planet. NASA’s Perseverance rover spotted little speckles on rocks in part of Jezero crater, and minerals usually formed in the presence of water. New analysis suggests these markings also contain signs of organic compounds. Presented with the possibility of microbial Martians, can we now say Mars really did once have life? Dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be driving the expansion of the universe, might be getting weaker. If it is, that completely upends our understanding of the universe - from one that’s getting bigger and bigger, to one that could eventually collapse in a “big crunch”.  Results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in Arizona may be the biggest discovery about dark energy we’ve had in 25 years. Last year we had the controversial discovery that “dark” oxygen may be produced by metallic nodules on the seafloor. But it was widely contested and the exact mechanism unknown. But researchers in China now think they’ve figured out what’s going on - dark oxygen could be key to keeping deep sea creatures alive, with implications for life beyond Earth. Chapters: (00:31) Suggestions of past life on Mars (7:42) Dark energy and how the universe might end (11:56) Solving the mystery of dark oxygen Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Jacob Aron and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Video credit: Perseverance Explores the Jezero Crater Delta Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 293 The future of NASA and of US science is under threat, following cuts made by the Trump administration. Johns Hopkins University lost $800 million in grants this week which will impact the health of people all over the world. At the same time, there’s chaos at NASA where the budget is set to be cut in half, with multiple people losing their jobs overnight. What missions will we have to sacrifice - and will NASA survive? As we pump ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, some people argue this is actually a benefit to the world’s plant life. As carbon dioxide rises, photosynthesis can increase - but only up to a point. New research shows there’s a limit to this effect and many, many consequences. One study on trees suggests rising CO2  levels could impact the carbon storage capacity, and the lifespan, of the world’s forests. Our understanding of memory has been flipped on its head. Researchers have been looking into a memory illusion that warps our perception of time. In a clever experiment, they’ve shown that experiencing something multiple times not only makes our memory of it stronger, but also makes us think it’s an older memory too. Find out what’s happening - and how there is no single thing as “memory”.  Chapters: (00:21) The future of NASA (6:52) Photosynthesis collapse (19:59) The mystery of memory Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Jacob Aron, Madeleine Cuff, Sophie Berdugo, Rob MacKenzie, Gustaf Degen, Ian Billick and Alex Easton. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 292 Chimps are often seen as our hyper-aggressive ancestral cousins, while bonobos are famously more peaceful and caring. But studies of their sexual habits and practices show they are much more alike than we realised. Both apes appear to use sex and genital contact not just to reproduce, but also to smooth tensions in the group, deal with stressful situations and handle conflict at feeding time. Sophie Bergudo has recently finished a PhD on chimp behaviour and shares insights from her time spent with wild chimps in Bossou in Guinea, West Africa. Beyond sex, she also explores a unique display of tool use among these chimps, who use stone tools to crack open nuts. Find out why this UN protected cultural behaviour is on the brink of extinction.  Ancient humans were using tools made from animal bones over 1 million years earlier than we thought. We know our ancestors used stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, but have only had evidence of bone use from about 400,000 years ago. But now archaeologists have unearthed at least 27 bone tools from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, that are at least 1.5 million years old - shifting our understanding of the evolution of these technologies. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is exploring ways to grow massive biological structures in space, to be used as telescope antennas, huge nets to catch debris or space elevators linking Earth’s surface to orbit. The idea is quite ‘out there’, even for DARPA. The question is, is it even possible? Chapters: (00:58) Sexuality of chimps and bonobos (17:31) Ancient animal bone tools (22:41) Creating biological space structures Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Sophie Berdugo, Jake Brooker and Katarina Almeida-Warren. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Listen to our previous episode on why chimps are stuck in the stone age: https://www.newscientist.com/podcasts/weekly-why-chimps-are-still-in-the-stone-age-and-humans-are-in-the-space-age/  Read Sophie’s article on ancient tools here:  https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435164-200-before-the-stone-age-were-the-first-tools-made-from-plants-not-rocks/ Read Rowan’s column on building a lunar space elevator here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435200-200-how-a-space-elevator-could-make-trips-to-the-moon-affordable-for-all/  Image credits: CSIC Credit Jake Brooker/ Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust Zanna Clay/ Lola ya Bonobo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 291 Who got better sleep - hunter-gatherers or modern-day humans? We’re constantly being told we’re in the midst of an epidemic of poor sleep, but were our ancestors spending any longer in bed than we are? The answer may well surprise you. We weigh up the pros and cons of sleeping in industrialised societies and explore the real reasons why we’re always complaining about being tired. We often hear you can’t make up for a bad night’s sleep - once you’ve missed those precious hours in bed, no amount of lie-ins will fix the damage. But is that true? We look into the surprising impacts on your brain from racking up just a few hours of sleep debt, plus tips on how to recover from it. And if you’re in sleep debt and don’t know it, we share the signs to look out for. Our microbiome is linked to various aspects of our health - and now it seems it shares a two-way connection with sleep. Irregular sleep patterns have been shown to boost the number of “bad” microbes living in our guts, so we unpack what’s going on. We also learn what supplements and foods you can use to improve your sleep, if cheese gives you nightmares - and whether a poop transplant can help you rest easier. Many people are using sleep trackers these days to improve their sleep habits, but how useful are they? Some experts say sleep trackers are doing more harm than good, making you so stressed about your sleep that you struggle to get any. The team shares their experiences with sleep wearables and other tech - everything from temperature controlled mattresses to EEG brain scanners. Naps can be good for you - if you do them the right way. Nap too long and you’ll end up feeling worse. So what’s the perfect amount of time to snooze in the afternoon? We dig into the science of naps, why the military recommends “tactical naps” and whether offices should be bringing in “nap pods” for staff. We also take a look at the strange practices of polyphasic sleeping, where you sleep in chunks throughout the day. Sleep special: https://www.newscientist.com/subject/sleep/ Chapters: (00:52) Are we really in a poor sleep epidemic? (6:22) Getting into sleep debt (16:47) How sleep affects your microbiome (25:36) Sleep trackers and other tech (29:28) Perfect the art of the nap Offering their sleep tips in this special episode of the podcast are Rowan Hooper, Madeleine Cuff, Catherine de Lange and Alison George. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 290 Mice have been found saving the lives of their cagemates by performing a resuscitation technique similar to CPR. After opening the mouth of an unconscious mouse, the “attending mouse” yanks up its tongue to clear the airways and dislodges anything that’s stuck. This remarkable discovery shows that empathy and consolation behaviour is more widespread in mammals than we thought, and hints at a mouse theory of mind. Tiny, lab-grown bits of human brain are being combined to create something that resembles a more complete organ. This “multi-region brain organoid” contains 80 per cent of the cell types found in a 40-day-old fetal brain. The team behind it aims to study conditions like autism and schizophrenia - with some suggesting they could one day be used in artificial intelligence. But this all throws up major ethical issues…at what point do these brains start feeling pain, or gain consciousness? From wooden skyscrapers to wooden batteries, wood is being used in many innovative and surprising ways. Cross-laminated timber and densified wood are proving to be durable, sustainable alternatives to a range of other materials. And now a team has gone one step further, by creating a wood-based hair conditioner. But will this pitch black, funny smelling alternative catch on? Chapters: (00:29) Mice performing CPR (10:58) Lab-grown human brains (17:10) Making skyscrapers, cars and hair conditioner from wood Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page and Madeleine Cuff. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 289 Slices of mouse brains have been revived after being in deep freeze, hinting at the future possibility of reanimating humans who have been cryogenically preserved. While this is just a first step, researchers say the technique could one day be adapted to bring frozen human brains out of stasis. This may be good news for the more than 200 bodies currently in deep freeze in the US. But what kind of world will they wake up to if we do find a way? An asteroid named 2024 YR4 is threatening to smash into Earth in just over 7 years’ time. Alarm bells are ringing and several international bodies are stepping in to take action. Astronomers will assess the threat with the James Webb Space Telescope, so we can get a measure of how big - and on how dangerous an orbit - it really is. A technique used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is showing huge promise in the fight against climate change. Scientists have enhanced a natural process called rock weathering, getting farmers to spread crushed rocks on their fields. If this was done the world over, the climate impact could be dramatic. Hear from a farmer in Virginia who’s been testing the method. Have you ever been completely stuffed at the end of a meal, only to miraculously find room for a slice of cake? This is the mysterious phenomenon known as ‘dessert tummy’ - and it turns out it’s actually a real thing. Discover the science behind why you can always find extra room for a sweet treat. Timestamps: (00:34) Mouse brain resurrection (11:51) Asteroid threat (21:03) Enhanced weathering (27:20) Science of ‘dessert tummy’ Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Le Page, Leah Crane, James Dinneen and Grace Wade. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 288 President Trump has launched what’s being described as an all-out assault on science and medicine. Given America’s impact on global science, this affects the entire world. Web pages referencing climate change and global warming are being deleted, words like “transgender” are being banned from medical publications and USAID has been labelled evil. As access to fundamental scientific information is put at risk, we find out how anxiety is rising among US scientists - and what it means for the rest of us. Two studies of whale songs have uncovered striking similarities to the patterns of human language. In one study, researchers analysed and encoded around 150 unique sounds used by the males in their songs, while another study examined the length of whale “words”. What does this say about whale language - will we be able to understand what they’re saying one day? Want to boil the perfect egg? Got 30 minutes to spare? Researchers have been rigorously testing the most scientific way to boil an egg, to ensure perfect consistency of the white and yolk - and it seems they hit the jackpot. Alex Wilkins tests the method for himself and compares it to your regular 7 minute job. The question is, is this new method worth the extra effort? Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte, with guests James Dinneen, Grace Wade, Nancy Maclean, Gretchen Goldman, James Woodford and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 287 Chinese AI company DeepSeek unexpectedly stormed onto the scene just a few days ago - a move that has shaken the big US AI companies. The new large language model is similar to ChatGPT, but was developed for a fraction of the cost. How have they achieved this? We dig into the key technological innovations behind DeepSeek. We also discuss the potential climate gains of a more efficient AI model, whether this is the beginning of an AI-fuelled arms race between China and the US and perhaps most importantly - is it safe for you to use? All of this and a chat about the future of AGI - artificial general intelligence. Global ocean temperatures hit record highs for 450 days straight in 2023 and early 2024. This appears to be because the world’s oceans are absorbing heat from the sun at an accelerated rate. As warming hits the highest rates predicted by climate models, what is causing this sudden jump? Amazon river dolphins have been caught shooting pee into their friends’ snouts. A series of amazing images capture these dolphins, or botos, rolling upside-down and shooting a stream of pee into the air in a never-before-seen display. The team discuss why they’re doing it. Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff, with guests Alex Wilkins, Jeremy Hsu, Chris Merchant, Gavin Schmidt and Patty Brennan. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 286 President Trump has signed executive orders pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement, and out of the World Health Organization. Although he claims that withdrawing from Paris will save the US $1trillion a year, the reality is much less clear. As the world’s second largest emitter and amid bans on renewable energy permits, just how catastrophic is this for global climate action? Leaving the WHO raises concerns too over the future of global health action. You probably know of the placebo effect, but have you heard of the ‘nocebo’ effect? Known as the evil twin of the placebo, this is where being told something won’t work or is inferior can make it less effective or problematic. Find out how researchers have been testing it out. Last year we heard the shock discovery that oxygen is being produced in the deep ocean. Believed to be coming from metallic nodules on the sea floor, the finding could upend accepted wisdom. And now the researchers who discovered this have set out on a 3 year mission for more data. Hear about the planned research and why lead researcher Andrew Sweetman has been subjected to “online bullying”. A new exhibition at Somerset House in London is celebrating the wonder of soil, titled ‘SOIL: The World at Our Feet’. Hear from co-curators of the show, Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet discuss with guests James Dinneen, Michael Le Page, Alexandra Thompson and Madeleine Cuff. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Visit: https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/press/soil-the-world-at-our-feet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 285 New archaeological evidence from Iron Age Britain has shaken up long-held beliefs about the role of women in ancient civilisations. By studying the genes of the Durotriges tribe, who lived in Dorset 2000 years ago, researchers have discovered women were the centrepiece of Celtic society - supporting evidence that they had high status across Europe. Rachel Pope, Reader in European Prehistory at the University of Liverpool, explores the “jaw-dropping” findings. We also hear from author and archaeologist Rebecca Wragg-Sykes, who explains why we shouldn’t be surprised that women in prehistory had such power and autonomy. Sudden swings in weather extremes caused by climate change could be to blame for the wildfires spreading across Los Angeles. The effect, known as “climate whiplash”, is becoming increasingly common and has wide-reaching implications, threatening crops, water supplies and more. And with the news that we breached 1.5C of global warming in 2024, we discuss what this all means for our climate goals. The world’s first chatbot, ELIZA, has been resurrected. Created by MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s, it contains just 420 lines of code and is a very basic precursor to the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini. The team demonstrates its (limited) capabilities live on the show. They also discuss news of a woman who has an AI boyfriend on ChatGPT…that she has sex with. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet discuss with guests Rachel Pope, Rebecca Wragg-Sykes, James Dinneen and Madeleine Cuff. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Book your place on the Svalbard expedition here: https://www.newscientist.com/tours/new-scientist-arctic-cruise/  Read Maddie’s article on the climate impacts of broken jet streams here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26535264-100-is-a-broken-jet-stream-causing-extreme-weather-that-lasts-longer/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 284 Creating disease-resistant humans may before too long be a reality thanks to advancements in CRISPR gene editing. It’s now possible to make dozens - if not hundreds - of edits to different genes at once. As the field progresses rapidly, a controversial paper published in Nature explores just how powerful this technology could be in protecting against diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes. But how safe is gene-editing? The paper has been criticised amid safety and ethical concerns, as well as the danger this could give rise to eugenics and designer babies. A person in Louisiana has died from bird flu, the first known death related to the H5N1 virus in the United States. Alarms are now being raised that bird flu could mutate and lead to another covid-like pandemic. The virus has evolved to infect many species of mammals, most recently dairy cows. But given we’ve been aware of this disease for decades and have stockpiled vaccines, what are the real concerns here? Hear from experts Meghan Davis and Andy Pekosz from Johns Hopkins University. Italian physicists have been working on an extremely important question related to…pasta. While working in Germany, Ivan Di Terlizzi and Giacomo Bartolucci became frustrated that they couldn’t perfectly recreate one of their favourite pasta meals - cacio e pepe. Thankfully, using their knowledge of phase behaviour, they figured out what was going on…in incredible detail. And bizarrely they suggest the finding may have implications for our understanding of the origins of life. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet discuss with guests Michael Le Page and Grace Wade. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 283 On this special episode of the podcast, we set you up for the year ahead. 2025 has been declared the year of humanoid robots. Futuristic robots that look like us are already being rolled out by companies like BMW and Tesla - and production is set to ramp up. One company is even planning to create an army of 10,000 warehouse robots called Digit. We’re going to see big changes in the food industry too, as the US is set to approve CRISPR gene editing for pigs. The idea is to create elite livestock that are less prone to illness and can feed more people. Bananas are having their genes edited too, so they can fight off a major fungal disease that’s spreading around the world. And new types of butter, chocolate and ice cream are being made without the help of agriculture, just microbes. Ozempic is showing surprising promise in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Based on a growing body of evidence, two big trials are looking into this unlikely connection and are set to conclude in 2025. If the results are positive, this could be a real breakthrough for the treatment of the disease. Geoengineering is picking up, with more research and financing going towards plans to artificially cool the planet. Many methods are being explored, but one major area of interest this year is solar geoengineering, with the world’s largest conference on the subject set to take place in South Africa in May. COP30 arrives this year and after the blowout that was COP29, tensions are high and motivation is low. With the US set to pull out of the Paris Agreement, will we be able to move forward on climate action, or will we be dragged backwards? And it’s been more than 20 years since the last flight of Concorde, a supersonic commercial plane which failed for multiple reasons - one of those being just how loud it was. Now, in 2025, NASA is trying to fix that problem by creating a quiet supersonic plane, with other companies following suit. Will we go supersonic again this year? To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 282 Looking back at some of the best stories New Scientist has published in 2024, this episode is a treasure trove of knowledge that will serve you well over the holiday season. Rowan Hooper hosts a panel of New Scientist journalists, as they take it in turn to highlight their favourite moments from the year. Head of features Josh Howgego kicks off by looking at the race to find an amazing and strange form of hydrogen, known as ‘gold hydrogen’ - a game-changer for sustainability which may be more abundant than we first realised. He also discusses the mystery of kimberlites, supersonic volcanoes that spew diamonds which went extinct millions of years ago. Alison George takes on the story of Thorin the neanderthal, whose remains are shedding light on how the ancient species died out - and surprisingly, it may not have been our fault. She also explores the new science of tinnitus and how it might help us cure hearing loss one day. Thomas Lewton looks at some mad physics stories from the year, including an unnerving idea that a quantum fluctuation involving the Higgs boson could cause the universe to vanish at any moment. They also explore an old theory that quantum effects explain consciousness, which has been revived thanks to new research into anaesthetics and brain organoids. And Linda Rodriguez-McRobbie throws some nuance into the discussion about screen-time, something often blamed for the current youth mental health crisis - and why it might not be all bad. She also explains how researchers this year were able to reanimate a pig’s brain, four hours after it was separated from its body, upending our concept of death. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 281 In this special episode recorded live at the Science Museum in London, we celebrate some of the best, most awe-inspiring science stories of 2024.  Round one kicks off with the panelist’s stories of the year, including the discovery that thousand-year-old preserved brains are much easier to find than we realised, that metallic nodules found on the sea floor could be acting as “geobatteries”, creating oxygen in the deep sea, plus a surprising finding involving Dyson Spheres that may hint at the existence of advanced alien life. In round two the panelists discuss their cultural highlights of the year. On the line up is an installation in London called ‘Breathing with the Forest’, a time-travel novel called ‘The Other Valley’, the stage show reimagining of ‘Dr Stangelove’ and an absurdist comedy about climate diplomacy called ‘Rumours’. Round three is a quiz for the audience asking questions like, do warm drinks taste more alcoholic than cold ones? What animal can be added to milk to initiate the yoghurt-making fermentation process? And which animal can survive with almost no sleep?  And round four celebrates stories that will make you say “Wow!”, plus a moment of good cheer. These include flowers that can sequester nickel and be turned into metal, how brains and other body parts can be brought back from the dead, the discovery of the world’s largest coral reef and the invention of a hospital for fungal-infected frogs. On the panel are Rowan Hooper, Catherine de Lange, Sam Wong and Madeleine Cuff. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 280 Google claims it has pulled ahead in the race for quantum supremacy. Its new Willow chip has completed a task in 5 minutes that a classical computer would take 10 septillion years to complete. But the biggest breakthrough is how it excels in error correction. Find out what this means and why some scientists believe this new quantum computer proves the existence of the multiverse. Data from one of the world’s largest collections of brain scans is shedding new light on how to keep our brains young. Analysing scans from the UK Biobank project, scientists have identified 13 proteins that are responsible for how quickly or slowly your brain ages. But research on how to target these proteins is still ongoing. For now, the team reveals 8 science-backed ways you can keep your brain young and boost longevity right now. Get the New Scientist Christmas issue here: https://www.newscientist.com/issue/3521/  To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 279 Antarctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate. A collapse like the one we’re seeing was given just a 1 in 700 billion year chance of happening, based on climate models - we basically thought it was impossible. Melting ice in Antarctica will have global scale, knock-on ecological and climate consequences. To address the crisis, five hundred researchers met in Australia for an emergency summit for the future of the Antarctic. Sarah Thompson, one of the scientists at the conference, is working in Antarctica right now and shares her experiences assessing the damage in the region. Also hear from Sharon Robinson from the University of Wollongong, who explores how the ecology of the region is changing. A new type of brain implant technology is being developed that will allow direct access to a patient’s brain in a more intimate way. Most devices place metal electrodes and wires into the brain, but this method is instead using living neurons to form a connection with the brain. Brain-computer interfaces are used to help treat conditions like ALS or stroke, as well as allowing patients to control technology with their mind. Researchers at the Science Corporation in California have tested their new method on mice - but can it be done in humans? If you’re looking for a great science-based TV series or film to get stuck into this December, our resident TV critic Bethan Ackerley is here with all the highlights of 2024. She discusses everything from the unconventional superhero show ‘Supacell’, to the fabulous ‘3 Body Problem’ and the latest ‘Planet of the Apes’ film. Read Beth’s complete TV and film review here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435200-500-the-best-science-fiction-tv-shows-of-2024/  To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 278 Concerns about bird flu are rising as two cases in North America suggest the virus is adapting to humans. Evidence of human-to-human transmission is not yet conclusive but public health experts are worried. This year outbreaks have been found in both poultry and dairy cows in the US. Although it only causes mild symptoms in people at the moment, is there a chance it could evolve to become deadly? A last-minute deal has been struck at the UN climate summit COP29 – and people are not happy. Richer nations have agreed to give money to poorer nations to help them go green, but the financing promised doesn’t come close to what’s needed. Another year, another unsatisfactory outcome, once again begging the question is the COP process no longer fit for purpose?  Fancy stock-piling a load of new books ahead of the holiday season? We present to you 5 of the best science books of 2024, fiction and non-fiction. On the list are A City on Mars, What the Wild Sea Can Be, Frostbite, Nuclear War: A Scenario and Question 7. Read the full article of 18 must-reads here. Sign up to the New Scientist Book Club here:  https://www.newscientist.com/sign-up/bookclub/ Find more information about the Book Club here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2442618-welcome-to-the-new-scientist-book-club/ To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 277 Chimps are an intelligent species, capable of using tools and developing culture - so why have humans surpassed them to such a huge extent? How is it that we are busy exploring space while chimps remain stuck in the Stone Age? It’s long been thought it’s because their culture doesn’t evolve cumulatively, but that assumption has just been challenged. Hear from Cassandra Gunasekaram, the lead author of a paper that shows chimp culture develops in a more complex way than we realised. We also hear from primatologists Andrew Whiten from the University of St Andrews and Andrea Migliano of the University of Zurich. How often do you check the calories of your meal, before ordering at a restaurant? In 2020 in the UK it became mandatory for many restaurants to print calories on their menus, as part of an anti-obesity campaign - the question is, has it been effective or a complete waste of time? We dig into new research and the results may surprise you. We also explore why 85 per cent of overweight or obese people who lose a significant amount of weight end up putting it all back on again within a year. In a Black Mirror-like development, computer scientists have managed to create simulated replicas of 1000 real people. These digital twins were created using the model behind ChatGPT and can accurately simulate their personalities. The method is surprisingly simple to recreate - so should we be worried? To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 276 Are the COP climate summits doing enough to help us avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change, or are they not fit for purpose, and designed to fail? COP29 is underway in petrostate Azerbaijan, headed by a CEO who was secretly filmed making oil and gas deals. Despite this, the team finds reason for optimism. They also hear from climate philosopher and activist Rupert Read, who runs the Climate Majority Project. He argues the COP process was designed to fail, that 1.5 degrees is dead and that adaptation - not mitigation - is the way to go. What do you think? Bird migration is an extraordinary feat of evolution - but how exactly do they do it? We know the Earth’s magnetic field has something to do with it, but we’ve only just discovered the astonishing level of detail birds are able to get from it. Raising questions about bird intelligence, the team also hears how birds evolved from dinosaurs. Gophers have an incredible capacity to shape their landscape. Gophers are small, burrowing rodents with long front teeth. And a decades-long study has shown that just one day of work by a gopher can completely revitalise soil in an area, changing its microbial diversity and preventing disease. Gopher productivity surely puts humans to shame. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet discuss with guests Madeleine Cuff and Sophie Bushwick. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn about the Climate Majority Project here. Find Rupert Read’s book here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 275 The origins of the world’s oldest known writing system are being uncovered. Cuneiform was invented around 3200 BC in ancient Mesopotamia, but before it came a much simpler form of writing called proto-cuneiform. Researchers are now shedding light on how writing began along with the cultural factors that spurred on its invention. Just as the rather disappointing COP16 biodiversity conference comes to a close, another COP is nearly upon us. The famous climate conference is in its 29th year and is taking place in Azerbaijan. It’s fair to say the stakes are extremely high. With global emissions cuts still not happening fast enough, the existence of some countries hanging in the balance and Donald Trump returning to the White House, can COP29 move the needle? Pando, a quaking aspen in Utah, is the world’s largest tree – and it’s very, very old. Until now its exact age has been hard to pinpoint, but researchers have now found it is among the oldest organisms on the planet, alive during the time of the woolly mammoth. But just how old is it? Did you know vampire bats can… run? And they’re pretty fast too. Researchers stuck some of these bats on treadmills to learn about their unusual diets. How exactly do they survive only eating fresh blood? Hosts Penny Sarchet and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Michael Marshall, Madeleine Cuff, Rowan Hooper, James Woodford and Matthew Sparkes. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 274 World leaders are in Colombia for the COP16 biodiversity summit. As delegates hash out a path forward, have we actually made any progress to protect global biodiversity since they last gathered?  What would a Trump presidency mean for the climate? With the US election taking place on 5th November, two climate experts weigh in with their concerns. Leah Stokes works on climate policy at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Naomi Oreskes is a professor of earth and planetary science at Harvard. And in a special mega feature on the microbiome, take a deep dive into the science of our guts: First up, we know that antibiotics wipe out good and bad bacteria alike, but until now we didn’t realise just how intense those effects were. Now researchers have uncovered how many species of bacteria in our guts are killed off by antibiotics - and the truth of how long those impacts last. We also learn how our guts are battlegrounds, where microbes are in a constant state of war, fighting for resources and territory. Most surprising of all is how some microbes are turned traitors and end up killing off their own kind. And we provide a one-stop shop for all the science-backed ways to care for your gut and learn how the balance of microbes impacts healthy ageing, mental health and inflammation. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet (yes, she’s back!) discuss with guests James Dinneen, Michael Le Page, Carissa Wong and Alison George. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 273 The mystery of “Well Man”, an ancient cold case, has just been solved. A Norse saga tells that in 1197, in the midst of a Viking raid, warriors dumped a body in a well inside a castle. Over 800 years later, archeologists recovered a body from that very well – but didn’t have the technology to show it was the man from the saga… until now. Some welcome good news about the climate. Energy imbalance, a key measure of global warming, has been rising fast, sparking fears that warming is accelerating faster than models predicted. But new findings suggest those fears are overblown and that there is hope yet. Birth control pills may shrink your brain (a small amount). After experiencing mood and physical changes after coming off the pill, one neuroscientist discovered very little had been done to understand the impact of hormonal birth control on the brain. So she scanned her own brain 75 times over several months while on and off the pill. The results are in. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte discuss with guests James Woodford, Michael Martin, Michael Le Page, Ben Sandersen, Grace Wade and Carina Heller. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 272 SpaceX has made history with its Starship rocket, the largest rocket ever built and one that’s hoped to eventually take us to Mars. In its fifth test, SpaceX successfully returned the rocket’s booster back to the launchpad and caught hold of it – an engineering feat of great finesse. But how close are we to putting crew on the rocket–- and when will it take humanity to the Red Planet? Leah-Nani Alconcel, spacecraft engineer at the University of Birmingham, joins the conversation. We might be closer than ever before to bringing Tasmanian tigers (thylacines) back from extinction. That’s if de-extinction company Colossal is right about their latest discovery, of a nearly complete genome of the thylacine. Is this the breakthrough it seems to be? And can we truly bring back thylacines as they once were?   Brain scans have revealed that bullying has a physical effect on the structure of the brain. Young people who are bullied see changes in various brain regions and it seems to impact male and female brains differently. Are these changes permanent? And is this cause to take bullying more seriously? The “very fabric of life on Earth is imperilled.” That’s according to the latest annual State of the Climate report. Thirty-five “planetary vital signs” have been assessed by researchers and the outlook is bleak. But among all the worrying climate records we’ve broken there is hope. Hear from study author Tom Crowther of ETH Zurich.  Hosts Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte discuss with guests Leah Crane, Leah-Nani Alconcel, Michael Le Page, Alexandra Thompson, James Dinneen and Tom Crowther. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 271 If we overshoot 1.5 degrees of global warming, there is no going back. The hope has long been that if - and when - we blow past our climate goals, we can later reverse the damage. But there’s no guarantee we can bring temperatures back down, according to a paper published in Nature this week. The report suggests it would take decades to get back to normal - and some of the more devastating consequences will be irreversible. Hear from a variety of experts on the problem of climate overshoot. Living bacteria have been discovered in 2-billion-year-old rocks, making them very, very old. Find out how these primitive microbes survived for so long - and why this discovery is exciting news for the quest to find life on other planets. Do you think you’ll make it to the ripe old age of 100? Human life expectancy has steadily been going up and up - but now it’s grinding to a halt, looking unlikely to exceed 84 for men and 90 for women. What’s going on? Is there a limit to human ageing, or is something else at play? Hurricane Milton has caused immense damage across Florida and the death toll is rising. As it draws power from the hot oceans, there’s good reason to believe climate change is to blame for its rapid intensification. Hot on the heels of Hurricane Helene, why are extreme weather conditions picking up again so quickly? Hosts Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte discuss with guests Michael Le Page, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Joeri Rogelj, Wim Carton, Sam Wong, Carissa Wong and James Dinneen. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Get your tickets for New Scientist Live: https://www.newscientist.com/nslivepod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great auk was a flightless bird which was last spotted in Iceland in 1844. It is the subject of the book The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction. Written by Gísli Pálsson, an Icelandic anthropologist and academic, the book offers vital insights into the extinction of the species through accounts from the Icelanders who hunted them.  Pálsson is on the shortlist for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In the lead up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets all six of the shortlisted authors. In this conversation, Pálsson recounts how British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton travelled to Iceland in search of great auk specimens, only to find the birds had already vanished. He also explores the origins of the term "extinction" and shares his personal motivations for telling the story of the great auk. The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on the 24th October. You can view all of the shortlisted entries here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 270 There may be hope for the survival of coral reefs, a vital part of the global underwater ecosystem that is under massive threat from climate change. At 1.5 C degrees of warming we’re at risk of losing 70-90 per cent of coral - and more than 99 per cent is estimated to die off at 2 degrees. But new research suggests corals may be more adaptable and resilient than we thought. Hear from two experts on the matter, Chris Jury of the University of Hawaii and Terry Hughes, director of the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Australia. A new exoplanet has been discovered in orbit around Barnard’s star - Earth’s closest single stellar neighbour. But could it be home to extraterrestrial life? And in this, the golden age of exoplanet discovery, how close are we to finding one that looks like Earth? Remarkably preserved remains of a 16 month old toddler have been analysed, painting a detailed picture of life in ancient Italy. Despite being 17,000 years old, DNA samples have shown us the colour of the child’s skin, his eye colour, health conditions and even how closely his parents were related. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been dubbed the “first drone war”. As the war rages on, drone combat has shifted from ad hoc, random encounters to highly strategic and coordinated assaults. With the increasing capabilities of drones and a ramp up in the expertise of operators, is this the future of the war - and is it a good thing? Hosts Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte discuss with guests Terry Hughes, Chris Jury, Alex Wilkins, Sam Wong and Jacob Aron. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Get your tickets for New Scientist Live: https://www.newscientist.com/nslivepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything Is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World is a book about an 18th century mathematical rule for working out probability, which shapes many aspects of our modern world.  Written by science journalist Tom Chivers, the book has made it onto the shortlist for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In the lead up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets all six of the shortlisted authors. In this conversation, Tom explores the life of Thomas Bayes, the man behind the theorem, and how he had no clue his discovery would have such sweeping implications for humanity. He explains the theorem’s many uses, both in practical settings like disease diagnosis, as well as its ability to explain rational thought and the human brain. And he digs into some of the controversy and surprising conflict that has surrounded Bayes’ theorem over the years. The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on the 24th October. You can view all of the shortlisted entries here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to have more sensitive noses, sharper hearing at high frequencies, and longer life expectancy than men. But why have women's bodies been so under-researched? It’s one of the many questions Cat Bohannon raises in her book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.  Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, Eve explores how women’s biology has shaped human history and culture. In the lead up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets all six of the shortlisted authors. In this conversation, we hear what motivated Cat to spend more than a decade researching and writing the book, how understanding the evolution of female traits can give us deeper insights into the workings of our species, and the overlap between sexism and science.  The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on the 24th October. You can view all of the shortlisted entries here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why We Die is a book about ageing and death, written by Nobel Prize-winning biologist and former president of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan. Venki is on the shortlist for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In the lead up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets all six of the shortlisted authors. In this conversation, Venki explores humankind’s unique ability to understand and contemplate our own mortality, why some animals live such short lives and others for hundreds of years, if ageing is simply an inevitable and evolutionary practical part of life and whether emerging technologies will make it possible for us to life forever - if that’s really what we want. The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on the 24th October. You can view all of the shortlisted entries here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the heated race to settle humans on Mars continues, is it really a good idea? And what are the biggest challenges to making interplanetary life a reality? These are the questions Kelly and Zach Weinersmith explore in their book, A City on Mars. The pair have been shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, and ahead of the winner's announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets with all six shortlisted authors. In this conversation, Kelly and Zach dive into the potential and the perils of building a sustainable human colony on the Red Planet, shedding light on some of the biggest hurdles humans would face. We also hear what inspired them to write the book, and they answer the million dollar question… would they move to Mars?  The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on October 24th. You can view all of the shortlisted books here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How often do you upload a picture of yourself online? And what happens to that photo long after it's been posted? The truth may shock you, as we find out in this episode. In Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy, New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill investigates the world of facial recognition technology and its implications for privacy. The book traces the story of Clearview AI, a mysterious startup selling cutting-edge facial recognition software to corporations and law enforcement. Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, Your Face Belongs to Us raises urgent questions about the future of security and personal privacy in an age of pervasive surveillance. As part of the lead-up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist Books Editor Alison Flood interviews all six shortlisted authors. In this conversation, Kashmir recounts her journey to uncover the truth behind Clearview AI. She explores the significance of their vast facial recognition database and its impact on our privacy in the digital age. The winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize will be announced on the 24th October. You can view all of the shortlisted entries here: https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 269 Could we re-freeze the Arctic… and should we? The Arctic is losing ice at an alarming rate and it’s too late to save it by cutting emissions alone. Geoengineering may be our only hope. A company called Real Ice has successfully tested a plan to artificially keep the region cold - but what are the consequences and will it work on the scale we need? Octopuses and fish have been found hunting together in packs in an unexpected display of cooperation. Not only do the fish scout out potential prey, they even signal to the octopuses to move in for the kill. And a fish doesn’t prove helpful? They get punched. The world’s oldest cheese has been found in China - and it’s 3,500 years old. As we get a fascinating look into the fermenting habits of ancient humans, find out how modern day fermentation is being repurposed to help us create biofuels, break down microplastics and more. We hear from Tom Ellis, professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London. Our bodies are littered with microplastics - they’re in our livers, kidneys, guts and even our olfactory bulb. How worried should we be? Microplastics have been linked to some pretty serious health consequences - but are they the cause? Hosts Rowan Hooper and Sophie Bushwick discuss with guests Madeleine Cuff, Michael Le Page and Grace Wade. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/  Get your tickets for New Scientist Live: https://www.newscientist.com/nslivepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 268 Research has long linked loneliness to surprising health conditions, including diabetes and some cancers. The assumption has been that loneliness in some way causes these issues, perhaps through increased stress or inflammation. But in a study of tens of thousands of people’s biomedical data, that link has gotten more complicated. Where does this leave the relationship between loneliness and health, and the public health programs that are trying to tackle both? Supermassive black holes are so big and existed so early in the universe’s history that astronomers are unsure how they formed. Dark matter to the rescue? Among the theories of how they formed is “direct collapse,” which a study finds may be possible with some help from decaying dark matter. But a specific type of dark matter is needed to make this theory work…so what’s next? A photon has been observed travelling in negative time. It was caught leaving a cloud of atoms before it ever entered it. How is this possible? Is this a time travelling photon? Well, somehow, no laws of physics were broken. Obviously some quirky quantum effects are in play – but what exactly is going on? Plus: How Earth may have once had a ring around it; a pair of black hole jets that are 23 million light years across; how some long-stemmed flowers have evolved to help bats pollinate them; and the discovery of a brand new, teeny tiny chameleon. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Leah Crane, Sophie Bushwick and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Get 10 weeks of unlimited digital access to newscientist.com and our app for £10/$10 by visiting: https://www.newscientist.com/podcast  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 267 The remains of an ancient Neanderthal man discovered in France may be one of the last members of a lost line. Researchers analysing the DNA of the fossil nicknamed “Thorin” (named after the dwarven king in the Hobbit) made the surprising discovery that he’s possibly one of the last of his line. He may have been part of a group that lived in isolation for 50,000 years. How can we tell climate change is to blame for specific heat waves, hurricanes, or other extreme weather events the planet has been hit by in recent years? That’s where attribution science comes in. Find out how the fingerprints of climate change could one day make it into your daily weather report. Elephants, chimps and even chickens have shown signs of self-awareness. Even a fish, the cleaner wrasse, has passed the famous ‘mirror test’ in recent years. But new research on this territorial fish has found it can also use mirrors as a tool – to decide if they’re big enough to fight another wrasse. Learn more about how cleaner wrasse size themselves up before picking fights, and what this may say about their cognition. Private astronauts on a SpaceX mission performed the first ever civilian spacewalk on Thursday. Hear reaction to the historic news and why their state-of-the-art spacesuits are grabbing people’s attention. Plus hear how researchers have created a “cloud atlas”, full of gorgeous pictures of the weird and wonderful – and informative – clouds that fill Mars’ sky. Reporter James Woodford recently took control of one of the most advanced humanoid robots ever created. An energy company is helping NASA test a robot from its Valkyrie programme in Perth, Australia. James met the robot, nicknamed Val, and even helped use virtual reality tools to control her movements. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alison George, Madeleine Cuff, Corryn Wetzel and James Woodford. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever heard a haddock knock? What about a cusk eel’s chatter?  Sound travels four-and-a-half times faster through water than air and can be heard across huge distances. It’s how whales are able to communicate hundreds of kilometres apart. Yet, for all its wonder, much of the underwater acoustic world remains a mystery to scientists. Although human ears can’t detect most marine sounds, the invention of hydrophones – microphones designed to capture underwater audio – is helping scientists begin to unravel this hidden world. So how does sound move through water? And how do underwater creatures perceive and use sound? Amorina Kingdon’s new book ‘Sing Like Fish’ explores these questions, revealing how marine life depends on ingenious uses of sound to communicate, navigate, and thrive. In this episode, Kingdon and host Christie Taylor explore the fascinating ways fish and other marine animals produce sound, the physics of underwater ears, and how humans are impacting critical underwater soundscapes. Plus, samples of some of the most captivating underwater sounds she’s encountered in her research. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. How The Light Gets In: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/london Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎧 Episode 266 ⚡️ The first human blood stem cells have been created in a lab and successfully turned into functioning bone marrow. This research could revolutionise the treatment of blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma. So far it’s only been tested on mice, but researchers are hopeful it could work in humans too. ⚡️ In other mouse news, we are now able to turn mice see-through. Using a surprisingly common food dye, researchers have turned the skin of living mice transparent. The technique, which didn’t harm the mice, offers a new (though gruesome) look into the living body. ⚡️ The US is planning to launch spy balloons to carry out surveillance and act as backup communication links. The news comes just a year after the US shot down a Chinese balloon that was full of intelligence-gathering equipment. Coincidence? Find out why balloons are making a comeback. ⚡ Bats have a huge role in human health, often harbouring diseases that are then passed onto us, such as rabies and covid-19. But it turns out when bat populations collapse, that’s also bad for human health. New research finds that when bats die, insecticide use in agriculture goes up and so does infant mortality – find out how the three are linked. ⚡ How dark is deep space? Are there any regions of the universe that are completely and utterly devoid of all light? Researchers now have an answer. Plus, ISS astronauts report a strange noise on Boeing’s stranded Starliner capsule. 🎙️ Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests James Woodford, Chris Simms, Jeremy Hsu and Michael Le Page. 📕 To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎧 Episode 265 ⚡️ The latest mpox variant has infected a record number of people in central Africa, has been found in travellers in Sweden and Thailand, and the World Health Organization has now declared it a public health emergency of international concern – just 15 months after the previous such declaration for mpox expired in 2023. But is this virus likely to become another covid? And as health authorities in the most affected countries struggle to keep it under control, will we be able to avoid further global outbreaks of the disease? ⚡️ New rogue worlds have been discovered in our galaxy that resemble both planets and stars but are neither. Thought to be brown dwarfs, the sheer number of them calls into question our understanding of how planet-sized objects form. This, plus another failed – but also successful – attempt to find dark matter’s hypothesised WIMPs. ⚡️ As a piece of music builds up to its crescendo, our brains know exactly when the beat is about to drop. Researchers have discovered the parts of our brains that are responsible for making sense of musical changes or “boundaries” – and this is true whether you’re listening to Mozart or Metallica. ⚡ Clothes made from…potatoes? An idea to turn fibres from potato stems into fabric has turned from concept to reality. If we can use potato fibres instead of other more energy intensive materials, the designers say, we could reduce the environmental footprint of clothing production.  🎙️ Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alexandra Thompson, Leah Crane, Grace Wade and Madeleine Cuff. 📕 To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wondered how your teenage years shaped the person you are today? Or why certain rebellious behaviours, like underage drinking, seem almost inevitable, no matter which generation you look at? Adolescence is a crucial, yet often misunderstood, phase of life.  Adolescent psychologist Lucy Foulkes’s new book ‘Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us’ will leave you reflecting on your own formative years in a whole new light – and offers insights that may help settle your anxieties as a parent of teens.  In this episode, Foulkes explains to New Scientist editor Catherine de Lange why adolescence is often such a challenging period, explains how these struggles are essential for self-discovery and shares tips on how adults can help the young people in their lives navigate this tricky period.  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. How The Light Gets In: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/london Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#264 Some people in comas can understand what’s happening around them. Previously estimated to be 1 in 10, that figure has now shot up to 1 in 5 – meaning this hidden awareness is much more common than we realised.  Another new drug has been approved to reverse opioid overdoses. Zurnai is more powerful than previous medications, which may be useful as the supply of illicit drugs becomes increasingly toxic. But with the opioid epidemic having killed more than 80,000 people in the US last year alone, are there ways to abate this crisis so fewer people overdose in the first place? The mysterious Wow! signal, detected by the Big Ear radio telescope in the 70s, was an unusual burst of radio waves that astronomers couldn’t explain – except, for some, the answer was aliens. Alien hunters have clung to this as the best potential evidence of extraterrestrial life, as the signal's origins have remained unexplained for 50 years. But we may have just figured out the answer to where it came from.  Many mainframe computers in big organisations like banks, airlines and government departments still rely on ancient computer code dating back to the 60s. The trouble is, as mainframe computers have gone out of use in most other contexts, the programming language COBOL is no longer taught to up-and-coming coders. Could AI help, as our understanding of COBOL dies out? Record fast cooling in part of the Atlantic Ocean is baffling scientists. This cooling isn’t linked to the normal La Niña wind patterns, so what else is at play? And how could it affect our global weather in the coming season? Hosts Rowan Hooper and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alexandra Thompson, Grace Wade and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#263 Anxiety. We’ve all felt it – some worse than others. But what exactly causes anxiety and why are some of us more likely to be hit by it? Science is finally unpacking the ins and outs of this evolutionary response. Whether you experience anxiety getting on a plane or when doing something out of your comfort zone, understanding why it happens is the best way to take control of it. In this special episode, New Scientist journalists and expert guests look at the phenomenon of anxiety. What is happening inside the brain when anxiety kicks in? Why do we need to better understand our own internal, bodily processes to fight anxiety? How much of our tendency towards anxiety is down to genetics? And they bring actionable advice too, including simple, science-backed lifestyle changes you can make to become less anxious, plus the surprising reasons anxiety can actually be a good thing – and how to make it work for you Host Christie Taylor discusses with guests Alexis Wnuk, Eleanor Parsons, Sahib Khalsa, David Robson, Caroline Hickman and Todd Kashdan, with additional reporting from Helen Thomson, Graham Lawton and Bethan Ackerley.  This episode is part of a special issue of New Scientist magazine. Find all the articles at https://www.newscientist.com/issue/3485/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With so many new TV series and documentaries available, it can be tough to decide what's truly worth your time. That’s where our TV columnist Bethan Ackerley comes in. From the genetically-gifted superheroes of Supacell…to a sobering documentary about the ethics of assisted dying, she has a wealth of options for your next night in. Bethan and host Christie Taylor share a rundown of the top science TV shows from 2024 so far. They also get excited for what’s still to come this year and next, with recommendations on what to keep an eye out for. Explore all of Bethan’s TV columns at newscientist.com/author/bethan-ackerley. In this episode Christie and Bethan discuss the following series: Science fiction: Dr. Who (BBC/Disney+) Time Bandits (Apple TV+) Supacell (Netflix) The 3-Body Problem (Netflix) Fallout (Amazon Prime Video) Scavengers Reign (Netflix) Historical fiction: The Decameron (Netflix) Documentary: Our Living World (Netflix) Better Off Dead? (BBC - UK-only at this time) The Space Shuttle that Fell to Earth / Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight (BBC/Max/Hulu/Others) Yet to come: Secret Lives of Orangutans (Netflix, August) Dune: Prophecy (Max/Sky/NOW, November) Silo, season 2 (Apple TV+, November) Squid Game, season 2 (Netflix, December) Severence, season 2 (Apple TV+, January 2025) Andor, season 2 (Disney+, early 2025) The Last of Us, season 2 (Max/Hulu/Others, 2025) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#262 Geologists have just drilled deeper into Earth’s mantle than ever before. The hole is in an area of the ocean called Atlantis Massif, where the upper mantle is exposed. Reaching 1268 metres deep, this incredible sample core could help uncover secrets to the very origins of life. Ancient human ancestors called Homo floresiensis and known as the “hobbits” may have evolved their short stature much faster than expected. Remains found on the Indonesian island of Flores suggest a much older group of hominins may have been slightly smaller, averaging just 1 metre tall, and possibly the ancestors of Homo floresiensis. How could this change the story of our mysterious cousins? Quantum telepathy may allow stock market traders to act faster and get richer. Using quantum entanglement, coordinating transactions in distant stock exchanges could happen faster than the speed of light. And surprisingly, this type of technology wouldn’t be hard to get up and running – so what happens if someone tries it? If we want to move to Mars one day, we have to make it a bit more enticing to live on. Ideas to terraform the Red Planet, or make it more Earth-like, have mostly been too expensive and unworkable. A method involving glittery clouds could be the answer to coaxing better conditions for human life.  Plus: The microbes and bacteria that can survive the harsh heat of your microwave; how the microbiome of a baby horse impacts its racing performance in adulthood; and the special trick leeches use to hunt the ultrafast blackworm. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Chen Ly, Sam Wong, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earth and all the other planets in our solar system are being dragged on a joyride through the universe, as the Dead Planeteers attempt to move the sun. How slowly would you have to move the sun for its gravity to hold onto the planets? Would any planets end up flinging out of orbit? And which planets can we afford to lose along the way? To answer their many questions, Leah and Chelsea are joined by Jay Farihi, an astrophysicist at University College London. A big hurdle they first have to overcome is how exactly to move the sun in the first place. Luckily, the team has a variety of whacky ideas, including black holes. From sun sails to graviton generators to popping the sun like a balloon, hear the team’s unconventional methods for getting the job done and discover where in the universe their final destination is. Pillars of creation anyone? Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#261 What was the first life on Earth like? Ancient fossils hint it could be a primitive kind of bacteria – but these 3.5 billion-year-old fossilised cells are controversial since they’re vastly bigger than any modern bacteria. But there’s now reason to believe that maybe, just maybe, they really are what they seem. Three game-changing drugs approved by the US for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease may be less impressive than we first hoped. These are the first drugs to actually slow the progression of the condition – but they also come with risky side effects. Is the benefit worth the risk? Galaxies usually come in spiral or blob form, but it turns out there may be some that are shaped like… bananas. First spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope, we initially thought their shape was a trick of light. But the much more powerful James Webb Space Telescope is seeing them too. The problem is this doesn’t fit with our understanding of how galaxies form – it may be time for a rewrite. Do you ever feel addicted to your smartphone? Well, there’s a term for that – problematic smartphone use. The question is, what constitutes addiction and is your smartphone habit impacting you enough to be considered problematic? One group of researchers are working to find out, starting by looking at the link between problematic use and mental health in teenagers. The diversity of life on Earth may be best safeguarded on the moon. Parts of the lunar landscape are colder than anywhere on Earth, so it may be the best place to cryogenically freeze cells for things like fish, cows and even useful bacteria like those used in cheesemaking. But, as you might expect with the moon, such a biorepository faces some logistical challenges. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Michael Le Page, Alexandra Thompson, Alex Wilkins, Carissa Wong and James Woodford. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Find Dr Karan Explores here: https://www.drkaranrajan.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quantum theory describes the tiny building blocks that make up everything around us. It has made many successful predictions but could a new, more radical idea help us make better sense of the world around us? Could it even be the answer to creating world peace? Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist and writer behind the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. His idea suggests that the fundamental building blocks of the universe are not particles or objects as many of us are taught in school, but relationships and interactions between them. In this episode, Rovelli explains why he believes we should all be applying his theory to our everyday lives and relationships. And how it could even help improve international relations.  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#260 Most of us imagine plants when we think about the production of oxygen. But turns out, in the deep sea, metal-rich rocks also seem to generate oxygen. This surprising discovery suggests they may have a much more important role in their ecosystem than we originally thought – and is fueling more calls to ban deep sea mining, which would target these same rocks.  Drinking a glass of wine once in a while can’t be that bad, right? Over the decades we heard that drinking a little alcohol might reduce your risk of heart disease, and even make you live longer, but a new review of the research has found serious flaws in these studies. So what’s going on with alcohol and our health? Physicists have been crashing atoms together for decades, in the hopes of creating heavier and heavier elements. And now, a new method to make the rare, super-heavy element livermorium may also pave the way towards making the elusive element 120, unbinilium. If successfully created, it would be the heaviest element on the periodic table. So what is this new method? Some disheartening news: our attempts to be more environmentally friendly might still make some things worse. Biodegradable plastics appear to damage soil and hinder plant growth more than conventional ones. What’s going wrong? Plus: How AI mathematicians are finally catching up to humans; how AI could spy on you through HDMI cables; and what caused the biggest cosmic explosion ever seen. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Madeleine Cuff, Michael Le Page, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Alexandra Thompson. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would it take to set Uranus ablaze? Is it even possible to burn it in the typical sense? If anyone can figure it out, it's the Dead Planets Society. Join Dead Planeteers Leah and Chelsea as they invite planetary scientist Paul Byrne back to the podcast, to join in more of their chaotic antics.  This mission is less about destruction (though it’s definitely also about destruction) and more about advancing science. Uranus is an ice giant, one of the most common types of planets in the universe, so burning it could teach us a lot about the cosmos. The planet may also be full of diamonds - and the potential for treasure derails the team’s destructive intentions. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#259 More people in the US are getting bird flu. Though numbers are small – just five new cases, all mild – every new case is a reason for concern. How and why is it being transmitted – and how is it being monitored? What if you could make a sailboat that’s pushed not by wind, but lasers? Breakthrough Starshot is a mission attempting to send a spacecraft to our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, using such a lightsail. While lightsail designs have been too expensive and unworkable so far, a new prototype is looking promising. Climate change is threatening a key part of the global climate system. The Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation (AMOC) system transports heat and salinity between the tropics and the poles. Scientists have ongoing concerns about its stability, but it’s now showing signs of potential collapse much sooner than expected. And if it does shut down, the knock-on effects would be drastic. What makes a planet a planet? Defining this is what knocked Pluto off planetary status, but now one researcher has proposed a new set of criteria. Is the new method useful – and does it change which objects are considered planets? Believe it or not – sea slugs hunt in packs. A species of sea slug has been seen ganging up on brown sea anemones to avoid its poisonous tentacles. How are they capable of teaming up like this? Hosts Rowan Hooper and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Grace Wade, Alex Wilkins, Madeleine Cuff and Sophie Bushwick. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if we told you plants can hear and see? And memorise information? And track time to adapt their pollination techniques? And even look out for their family members? These are just some of the remarkable behaviours plants are capable of – many of which we’re only just learning about now.  Science journalist Zoë Schlanger’s new book The Light Eaters will make you question everything you currently assume about the green life around us, and even what “intelligence” can mean.  In this episode, Schlanger walks us through some of the incredible abilities and behaviours plants employ to not only survive, but thrive – from orchids sexually deceiving wasps, to shape-shifting vines that flew under the radar of researchers for decades. And, she suggests, it might be time to rethink how we do science to accommodate the seemingly endless adaptability of plants.   To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#258 Fancy a bite of woolly mammoth jerky? A beef-jerky-like fossil of this prehistoric creature has been discovered – a metre-long piece of skin still covered in hair. And the most amazing thing is that the entire genome has remained intact, giving more insight into these creatures than ever before. Could this help bring woolly mammoths back to life? There is a way to make butter not from cows, not from vegetable oils or even microbes, but from pure carbon. And if you want a climate friendly way of producing a delicious spreadable fat, this may just be it. A company called Savor is using a process that can convert captured CO2 or natural gas into fatty acids.  The origin of life is a huge scientific mystery: how can something so complex emerge from inert and random molecules? Well, Google has created a simulation to figure this out. The company has used computer code to recreate the random ‘primordial soup’ of early Earth, with results that might baffle you.  When mammals breastfeed, calcium is stripped from their bones to make the milk, but their bones don’t get significantly weaker. How does that work? Well, a new, bone-strengthening hormone found in mice may have finally solved the long-standing mystery – and could benefit human health. Plus: How our pupils change size with every breath; how cosmic rays could help protect financial markets; and how ancient Denisovan DNA may have helped the people of Papua New Guinea adapt to their environment. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Corryn Wetzel, Madeleine Cuff, Matthew Sparkes and Grace Wade. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Primordial black holes are tiny versions of the big beasts you typically think of. They’re so small, they could easily fit inside stuff, like a planet, or a star… or a person. So, needless to say, this has piqued the curiosity of our Dead Planeteers. Leah and Chelsea want to know, can you put primordial black holes inside things and what happens if you do?  Black hole astronomer Allison Kirkpatrick at the University of Kansas is back to help them figure this one out. And it turns out, despite being very small, these black holes are incredibly heavy, so ingesting and/or hugging them seems firmly off the cards - much to Chelsea’s displeasure. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#257 Two extraordinary findings have been unearthed about our ancient ancestors. The first is a discovery from a cave in Australia – evidence of what could be the world’s oldest ritual, practised continuously for 12,000 years. And the second is the discovery that the world’s oldest evidence of storytelling may be even older than we thought. We may be able to mine for nickel using flowers. The method is much more sustainable than traditional mining and is actually being used by some companies. Is it enough to turn mining green? Quantum communication is going wireless. The new chip responsible for this quantum Wi-Fi is a huge step forward for the technology and could speed up the creation of safer, unhackable internet networks. From onboard a kayak roaming the Arctic Ocean, Rowan Hooper brings a report from his trip to Svalbard, where he saw first-hand the retreating glaciers that have been melting rapidly due to climate change. As these glaciers disappear, soil is being exposed for the first time. What impact is this having on the landscape? Rowan speaks to arctic biogeochemist James Bradley of Queen Mary University, London. Plus: The first non-human animal to perform medical amputations; giving the moon a time-zone; and how eggshells can help regrow broken bones. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests James Woodford, James Dinneen, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Rowan Hooper and James Bradley. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite humans having never set foot on Mars, scientists have been working for decades to paint a picture of life on the red planet. With the help of photos and videos from robotic rovers, scientists now know more than ever about its rocky terrain, early history and current climate. Now, experts are painting a fuller picture of the dusty planet by using audio recordings captured by these rovers. Composer David Ibbett has used that data in epic fashion: to create an immersive concert that harnesses the sounds of Mars and transforms them into musical instruments and melodies.  In this episode, Ibbett explains to host Bethan Ackerley how ‘Mars Symphony’ includes the real sounds of Mars’ winds, dust devils and seismic rumbles and takes the audience on an interplanetary journey through the past, present and future of the red planet.  Still curious? Attend an upcoming performance or experience the music of Mars from your computer, at MarsSymphony.com. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#256 A new gene editing technique may be more powerful than CRISPR. Bridge editing is still in its infancy, but could be revolutionary for its ability to more specifically target gene substitutions. This method of altering DNA may let us create single treatments for gene mutations across large groups of people – something even CRISPR can’t do. China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft has returned to Earth with samples from the far side of the moon – the first ever. Hear what the samples may tell us about this hard-to-study part of the lunar surface, plus what China is planning for its next big exploration missions. A dangerous new strain of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A thousand cases have been reported since September and several hundred people have died. What makes this strain so dangerous and can it be kept under control? A fossil has been discovered that is thought to be a Neanderthal child who had Down’s syndrome. It’s estimated the child lived to at least 6 years old and may have received extra care from the community – more evidence that Neanderthals weren’t as brutish and unfeeling as thought. Plus: The kind of paper that’s most likely to give you a papercut; AI being trained to perform elegant chess moves; a creepy robot made with human skin Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Michael Le Page, Leah Crane, Alexandra Thompson and Chris Simms. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ancient Greeks once proposed the Earth was at the centre of our solar system and everything orbited us. We like that idea. Let’s make it happen. But as Dead Planeteers Leah and Chelsea find out, if you bring back geocentrism, Earth would only be king of the universe for a very, very short time – before all hell breaks loose. It starts with enlarging the earth and potentially turning it into a black hole, we then have all the planets hurtling towards us through space, then it ends with a visit from Alpha Centauri.  Helping them to work out the science (and suspend the rules of physics now and again), is asteroid researcher and planetary astronomer Andy Rivkin. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#255 Why do some people seem to be naturally immune to covid-19? We may finally have the answer and it’s to do with differences in the way immune cells function. Will the finding help us predict who’s immune and who isn’t – and more? Artificial intelligence is being used to tackle the problem of clearing mines from enormous swaths of Ukraine. Russia has scattered vast amounts of ordinance across Ukraine, tearing up agricultural land and leaving behind chemical contamination. The clean-up operation could take 700 years to complete in total. AI is helping Ukraine to work out where to start. Chimpanzees are herbal medicine enthusiasts: when sick, they seem to seek out specific plants. But how effective are the plants they’re swallowing at actually dealing with illness? Wild chimps in Uganda’s Budongo Forest are helping researchers to understand the practice. Maxwell’s demon, a thought experiment that involves a tiny imp, was once thought to disprove the second law of thermodynamics. Now researchers have built a real-life Maxwell’s demon that is not only the largest of its kind so far but could be used to discover new drugs and clean CO2 from the air. Plus: Leeches can jump and we’ve finally seen them do it; why cashew nuts could help us decarbonise shipping; and do the methane seas of Saturn's moon Titan have waves that erode their shorelines? Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alexandra Thompson, Matthew Sparkes, Sam Wong and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We like to think of science and medicine as unbiased, unaffected by social constructs. But we see evidence to the contrary everyday, from false yet persistent claims that black people’s bones are denser to the reality that the covid-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted people of colour.  In her debut book Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Ill, science journalist Layal Liverpool explores the health consequences of racism. She showcases how fatal stereotypes can leave people of colour in need of medical care undiagnosed, untreated and unsafe.  In this episode, Liverpool explains how race and racism infiltrate every aspect of health – from living in polluted areas to being dismissed by doctors in the hospital. She lays out the problematic history of medicine and health science. And she highlights the many ways people are beginning to make meaningful change.  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We know elephants are smart, but it seems we’ve only scratched the surface in understanding their intelligence. It turns out African elephants seem to have unique names for each other – maybe even nicknames. If it’s true, humans would no longer be alone in this practice. A team has been analysing their rumbly greeting calls using AI. Is this a hint that we’ve been wrong about other animals, too? It’s a weather report like no other: two to three million years ago, the protective bubble called the heliosphere that surrounds the sun and the planets crashed into a galactic cloud. This left Earth exposed to the radioactive particles of interstellar space for as long as ten thousand years. And it could even have impacted evolution. Naomi Klein won the Women’s Prize for nonfiction this week for her book Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World. Rowan Hooper speaks to Naomi following the win, as the pair dig into the strange confluence of the alt-right and wellness influencers, why conspiracy theories have become so widespread and how grifters and charlatans are exploiting the uncertain times we live in. Astronauts have been sending biological samples like blood and faeces to a new space “biobank”. It’s all in an effort to better understand the impact of space travel on human health. As a bonus, read Clare’s story on the ‘vomit comet’ here. And if you’ve ever completed a game of New Super Mario Bros. – congratulations, you’re smarter than a supercomputer. A new study shows supercomputers don’t just find it hard to analyse the game, but actually impossible. But why? Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Michael Le Page, James Woodford, Clare Wilson and Matthew Sparkes. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Listen to New Scientist CoLab here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IxQD6EVa0spHtgP3OYT65?si=9447e1c69eb6467c https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/industrial-ai-and-the-sustainability-revolution/id1732113125?i=1000657139548 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the Dead Planeteers, one moon around Earth isn’t enough. They want to pack as many moons into the night sky as possible. But how many can you fit in orbit without everything becoming unstable and destructive? To answer this, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte enlist the help of astrophysicist Sean Raymond. Sean co-authored a research paper that sparked Leah’s New Scientist article titled: Moons can have moons and they are called moonmoons. So, not only do they work out how many moons we can fit around Earth, but also how many moons those moons could have, which involves fitting them out with mini thrusters for some reason. They also address the issue of the impact these moons would have on Earth, like stronger tides and an insanely bright night sky. But they also learn about the surprising (nay shocking) potential benefits too. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#253 The moon may hold the answer to a decades-long physics conundrum – all we need to do is drill several kilometres into its surface. For years, physicists have been searching for protons that fall apart or decay into other particles, but they’ve always come up empty handed. So why do they think they might find them on the moon?  A new update on the state of the world’s climate has not brought cheery news. A report looking at 2023 has revealed the world is warming at a record rate – with estimates suggesting we may blow past our 1.5oC temperature goals in just five years. As the UN Secretary General calls for urgent action, we hear about calls to ban fossil fuel advertising, just as ads for smoking were banned in the past.  If you ever feel lonely… you’re not alone. Social connections are hugely beneficial for our health. But many of us aren’t reaping their full therapeutic benefits, often due to our own misconceptions about social situations. But researchers are on the case, with simple tools and tricks to help us connect better to other people. David Robson shares some actionable tips, as he discusses his new book The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network. Five children born deaf have gained the ability to hear in both ears after receiving a new gene therapy. The groundbreaking treatment targets a gene called otoferlin, which is defective in some people with deafness – and the results are very encouraging. It’s been uncovered that as many as 1 in 6 people who come off antidepressants end up with severe withdrawal symptoms, like mood swings, anxiety and headaches. Why a better understanding of these symptoms could help people make more informed choices about their use and how to safely stop. Plus: Boeing launches its Starliner capsule to the International Space Station with two Nasa astronauts aboard; and SpaceX’s performs its fourth test launch of Starship – the largest rocket ever built. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alex Wilkins, Madeleine Cuff, Michael Le Page and Clare Wilson. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Read Clare Wilson’s award-winning story about DNA testing here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25734303-400-new-dna-tests-predict-your-disease-risk-are-we-ready-for-them/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If (or maybe when) we find alien life in the universe, will it look like us? As telescopes become bigger, our ability to peer into the cosmos is only getting better. So the question may not be “will we find something?” but rather “what exactly should we be looking for?” Lisa Kaltenegger is an astrophysicist and founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute. She even works out of Sagan’s old office and shares the same optimism and enthusiasm he brought to the search for extraterrestrial life.  Abby Beall speaks to her about her new book Alien Earths: Planet Hunting in the Cosmos, which takes readers on a cosmic adventure to faraway exoplanets with oceans of lava and multiple suns.  Through the conversation Lisa explains how Earth’s geological history can help inform our search for life, while acknowledging alien life may not look the same as us. She discusses the technology that has allowed us to enter a new epoch of exploration – and what technological advancements are needed to help advance our search for alien life. And she examines the alien worlds that feature in various science fiction worlds, like those in Star Wars and Avatar, and whether they could actually exist somewhere in the universe. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#252 It is not wise to stick cheese on your pizza with glue, even if Google tells you to do it. This is just one recommendation in a string of blunders made by Google’s new AI search engine. It uses a large language model to summarise your searches, but clearly it’s not always working as planned. Can (and will) the company fix it?  No matter what language you speak, when you hear the word “bouba”, you probably imagine a round shape. And “kiki’ will likely make you think of a sharp shape. This example of sound symbolism is thought to be a precursor to human language. But it may not be unique to humans – even chickens may make this association too, hinting at a deeper evolutionary role.  Some physicists have long theorised that time is just an illusion that emerges from quantum properties of the universe. And there’s even a new study that backs this idea up. If the maths is right, it could finally help us unite the worlds of big and small physics. We now know enough about the ageing process that scientists believe we can start to slow it down or even stop it altogether. Nobel Prize winning biologist Venki Ramakrishnan has written a new book, Why We Die, which explores the new science of ageing and longevity. Find out what he’s learnt and what he thinks are the most promising areas of research. The clean energy revolution relies on rare earth metals for things like batteries and solar panels. But mining for them has its own environmental drawbacks. But seaweed may be able to help us with that. It turns out some species collect the minerals we need without damaging the environment. Will seaweed mining be the next big thing? Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Matthew Sparkes, Chen Ly, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and James Dinneen. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Links: https://www.newscientist.com/science-events/consciousness/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you bring a giant magnet to Mars, apocalyptic eruptions are just the beginning. In an attempt to suck out all of the iron from the red planet, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte end up shattering it like an Easter egg. Their new cosmic plaything, a U-shaped Wile E. Coyote-esque magnet, is used in various different ways for the purposes of complete annihilation.  With the help of science journalist and volcanologist Robin George Andrews, the team squeeze the core out like it’s toothpaste, turn the magnet into a projectile, bring multiple magnets to the fray to create a work of cosmic art and even hollow out the planet to fill it up with… SPIDERS! Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#251 Hurricane season in the Atlantic ocean is set to be extremely active, according to forecasts. Expect to see as many as 25 named tropical storms, with many likely to become hurricanes. Find out how high sea surface temperatures and shifting El Niño conditions are creating the perfect conditions for a potentially record breaking season.  The sun’s magnetic field may function quite differently to Earth’s. We’ve long assumed it originates from deep within but it seems the sun has a different way of doing things. Promethium is a lesser known and rare element on the periodic table that is incredibly hard to find naturally. And even though scientists know how to produce it, it’s still incredibly hard to study, as the radioactive material decays quickly. But that’s all changing as researchers have figured out a way to keep it stable for longer. What will they learn about this mysterious element? Dwarf plants found on the Japanese island of Yakushima may have evolved to be small thanks to deer. Sika deer are the island’s resident herbivore and their voracious appetites seem to have driven the evolution of many local plant species – giving us new insights into how unrelated organisms evolve together. Plus: How Argentine ants get better at learning the more caffeine you feed them; why the Greek army has been suiting up in extremely heavy Bronze Age armour; and the most powerful pulse of X-rays ever seen on Earth. Hosts Christie Taylor and Sophie Bushwick discuss with guests James Dinneen, Leah Crane, Alex Wilkins and Molly Glick. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Links: https://newscientist.com/survey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Dune to The Three Body Problem, is science fiction having a moment? Attention to the genre, as well as TV and films based on it, seems to have exploded in the past few years. With sci-fi often getting a bad rap, it’s time to ditch the snobbery and celebrate its complexity and diversity. And who better to do this with than New Scientist’s science fiction columnist – and our former editor – Emily H. Wilson? Wilson is a journalist and author. In 2023 she published Inanna, the first of The Sumerians, a trilogy set in the ancient civilisation of Sumer. The books are an epic, speculative retelling of some of the oldest myths ever recorded. In this episode, Rowan Hooper speaks to Wilson about the enduring popularity of the genre, and why you should be proud to call yourself a science fiction fan. Plus, the pair share loads of recommendations and explore sci-fi’s many different sub-genres, from climate fiction to cyberpunk. You can learn more about Emily’s trilogy, The Sumerians, here. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Books mentioned: - Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu - Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky - Ancillary Justice, Anne Leckie - Annie Bot, Sierra Greer - Dune, Frank Herbert - The Chrysalids, John Wyndham - Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham - The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin - The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick - Neuromancer, William Gibson - Burning Chrome, William Gibson - Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson - 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson - The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson - Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler - Patternmaster, Octavia Butler - The Broken Earth, N. K. Jemisin - Middlemarch, George Eliot - Impressions of Theophrastus Such, George Eliot - Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky - Autonomous, Annalee Newitz - Excession, Iain M. Banks - A World Out of Time, Larry Niven - Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card - The Ballad of Halo Jones, Alan Moore and Ian Gibson - Tank Girl, Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#250 There are signs that aliens might be harnessing the power of stars in our galaxy to fuel their civilisations. Dyson spheres are structures that surround entire stars to absorb their energy. Although these are just hypothetical, researchers have detected hints of their existence. But aliens aren’t the only possible explanation. Being able to freeze human brain tissue could be a game-changer for medical research. While freezing brains is easy, thawing them out without damaging the tissue is much harder. But now a method involving a cocktail of chemical ingredients seems to have solved the problem..  The largest ever ‘ecoacoustic’ survey is being conducted throughout the forests of Costa Rica. Sound recordings of various habitats, from degraded pastures to regenerating forests, are being gathered to assess the biodiversity and health of the country’s ecosystems. Hear some of the amazing soundscapes that have been captured for the survey. Orchids may share food with their offspring. Lab experiments have shown for the first time that parent orchids may be using fungal pathways – the mycorrhizal network – to send vital sugars to seedlings that cluster around them. Ancient Egyptians were reliant on the Nile river to transport materials used to build the world famous pyramids. But many of those pyramids are built on inhospitable, arid land, far from the Nile. So how did they get the materials there? Geoscientists may have uncovered an ancient clue. Hosts Christie Taylor and Rowan Hooper discuss with guests Jacob Aron, Alexandra Thompson, James Dinneen and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Galaxies come in only a few shapes, which are all very round looking. You’ve got spirals and you’ve got blobs. Not content with this boring assortment, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte want to shake things up a bit. First up they want to give our own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way, more arms. One, two… eight? As many as possible. But they don’t stop at “octogalaxy”. They also ponder on what it would take to defy the laws of physics and create a giraffe-shaped galaxy. Aided by Vivian U, an astronomer at UC Irvine, the team discusses whether smashing galaxies together would help in their quest, how shooting black holes into orbit via rail gun may create interesting patterns and whether the galaxy sculpture can be made using dark matter. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#249 Do whales have their own alphabet? We’ve long thought the clicking sounds that sperm whales make is their way of chatting to each other, but those clicks may be even more sophisticated than we realised. After analysing whale recordings, researchers suggest the different click patterns are complex enough to form an alphabet – the closest thing to human communication we’ve yet seen in animals.  We know very little about dark energy – and it turns out we may know even less than we thought. This mysterious force, which accelerates the expansion of the universe, may be changing in an unexpected way, calling our entire understanding of cosmology into question. This discovery by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument in Arizona could make room for some exciting new physics. There’s a bird flu outbreak in the US, spreading through herds of dairy cows in nine states. One dairy worker in Texas has even tested positive, though has also recovered. Underreporting and insufficient testing mean we know very little about how fast the virus is spreading. And as officials warn against drinking raw milk, how worried should we be?  Quantum batteries, while mostly still theoretical, could make charging your phone or electric car unimaginably fast. Researchers are looking at the quickest way to charge these batteries, harnessing the advantages of quantumness – like charging in two different places at once.  Plus: Which breeds of cats live the longest; good climate news as renewable energy crowds out gas and coal; why reaching out to long-lost-friends is so hard. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Clare Wilson, Molly Glick, Grace Wade and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we understand the stakes of climate change, and communicate them? As we’re facing the consequences of climate change and our historical inaction as a species, how do we come to terms with the reality and uncertainty of our situation? In H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z, Journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert breaks things down for us, alphabetically. She dissects the narratives around climate change, from sobering facts about our warming planet, to innovations to fuel our optimism. In this episode, Kolbert reminds us how dangerous our current situation is, and what we are missing in this fight – including gaps in our understanding of how fast the climate is changing. Plus, the role of narratives in shaping how we decide to act.  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#248 Last year marked the hottest on record, shattering previous temperature benchmarks across both land and sea. The rapid escalation – seemingly at odds with the expected cooling after coming out of a La Niña cycle – has prompted scientists to question if climate change is accelerating beyond our models' predictions  Just eight minutes of anger can significantly impair blood vessel function and potentially increase the risk of a heart attack. A study has looked into the physiological mechanisms of how intense emotions can affect cardiovascular health. GPS jamming continues to increase in European airspace, a concerning trend that has intensified since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Now, attacks in Estonia have prompted one airline to completely abandon flights to the city of Tartu. We discuss the implications for civilian and military aviation and the potential need for alternative navigation technologies. Birds do it, bees do it and so do many species of fly – it’s pollination. In fact, migrating flies play an even bigger role in pollination than we thought. These tiny travelers contribute to ecological diversity and resilience by transporting pollen over vast distances. Plus: A newly discovered sensory organ in praying mantises, used specifically for tasting leaves; the possibility of carbon negative cement; and just how thick is the boundary between air and water? Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Madeline Cuff, Clare Wilson, Jeremy Hsu, and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you miss out on the recent total eclipse? Don’t fear, we’ve got the solution. We bring you the constant solar eclipse. Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane have decided not to destroy the Sun this time. Instead, they just want to block it from view at all times. But it’s all in the name of good – so everyone gets to experience the same “primal fear” Leah did when she first saw an eclipse. What starts with a modest-sized sunshade in low-Earth orbit creating 5 second eclipses, quickly turns into moving entire planets at the risk of all life on Earth. With the help of astronomer Bruce Macintosh from UC Santa Cruz, they also create the biggest piece of art ever made and call on the help of the world’s knitters. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#247 What does India’s election season mean for climate change? Last year India overtook the European Union as the third largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases. And as voters head to the polls in the middle of an intense heat wave, it’s critical whichever party wins continues to push towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2070. But as the country continues to invest in expanding coal power, is that target achievable? Animals of all kinds communicate in so many different ways, but what are they saying to each other? Arik Kershenbaum is the author of Why Animals Talk, and has been studying everything from wolves to gibbons in their natural habitats. He explains what he’s learnt about animal communication and shares some of the sounds he’s captured during his travels. Hear the haunting howl of a lone wolf, the crescendo of a gibbon chorus and more. There’s no such thing as empty space. Quantum theory says where there looks to be nothing, there is always something – namely a soup of particles and antiparticles flickering in and out of existence. And researchers have, for the first time, used these quantum fluctuations to create tiny, self-assembling devices that can manipulate light. Botanists at Kew Gardens have mapped what’s known as a “tree of life” for over 9500 species of flowering plants. This work gives us the most detailed look at the origins and evolutionary history of these plants to date – and could tell us about their future too. After 5 months of radio silence, NASA has made contact with its Voyager 1 spacecraft again. We recap the epic story of the Voyager mission, which launched 46 years ago, and find out how engineers managed to fix a spacecraft that’s currently 15 billion miles away in interstellar space. Hosts Christie Taylor and Rowan Hooper discuss with guests James Dinneen, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Consciousness event: newscientist.com/newyorkmind Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much faith should we be putting in artificial intelligence? As large language models and generative AI have become increasingly powerful in recent years, their makers are pushing the narrative that AI is a solution to many of the world’s problems. But Meredith Broussard says we’re not there yet, if we even get there at all. Broussard is the author of More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech. She coined the term “technochauvinism,” which speaks to a pro-technology bias humans often have, where we believe technological solutions are superior to anything else.  In this episode, she tells New Scientist’s Sophie Bushwick that our trust in AI systems could have devastating consequences. From discriminatory mortgage-approval algorithms, to the racial biases of facial recognition technology, to the misinformation that appears in chatbots like ChatGPT, Broussard explains why there’s no such thing as trustworthy AI. And she discusses the need for greater education about AI, to help us separate reality from marketing. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#246 Our best climate models for helping limit global warming to 1.5oC may have wildly overestimated our chances. To reach this goal, models are relying heavily on geological carbon storage, a technology that removes carbon from the atmosphere and places it underground. But it may not be nearly as effective as models have suggested, making the task of decarbonising much more difficult. Do we need to rethink our approach? Intel has announced it has constructed the world’s biggest computer modelled on the human brain and nervous system. This neuromorphic computer, called Hala Point, may only be the size of a microwave oven, but its innovative technology could someday run artificial intelligence that’s smarter and more energy efficient. After a blast of sound from a keyboard shot through her whole body, experimental musician Lola De La Mata was hit with debilitating tinnitus. It was so profound it left her with vertigo, difficulty walking, speech problems and unable to make music. Years later, she is now putting a spotlight on the condition with a new album, Oceans on Azimuth. Hear her story and music from the album in a special feature. Plus, read Clare Wilson’s recent feature about the future of tinnitus and hearing loss. Do birds dream? They just might. Birds’ vocal cords move in their sleep, as if they’re singing, but don’t actually make a sound. Now researchers have managed to use these vocal movements to synthesise their songs and hear them aloud – with surprising results. Does this prove that birds dream? Plus: The biggest stellar mass black hole ever found is very close by; fossil hunters uncover the jawbone of an extinct reptile that may have been the biggest ever to swim the oceans; how skin wounds can cause gut problems. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Madeleine Cuff, Matt Sparkes and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you destroy a black hole? Turns out they're pretty tough cookies. Kicking off a brand new series of Dead Planets Society, Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane take on the universe's most powerful adversaries. With the help of their cosmic toolbelt and black hole astronomer Allison Kirkpatrick at the University of Kansas, they test all the destructive ideas they can think of. Whether it’s throwing masses of TNT at it, blasting it with a t-shirt gun full of white holes, loading it up with a multiverse worth of matter, or sending it back in time – they try everything to kill a black hole. Will they succeed? Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#245 The multiverse may be bigger than we thought. The idea that we exist in just one of a massive collection of alternate universes has really captured the public imagination in the last decade. But now Hugh Everett’s 60-year-old “many worlds interpretation”, based on quantum mechanics, has been upgraded. The northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction but we may be able to save it. Scientists plan to use frozen genes from 12 now dead rhinos to rebuild the entire subspecies. But how do you turn skin cells into actual rhinos and will it work? A single-celled alga has done something thought to have happened just three times in the entire history of life on Earth. Braarudosphaera bigelowii has formed a unique bond with a bacterium living inside it and has developed a new cellular structure. This organelle may be why this alga became so successful and widespread. We’ve got a new way of looking for aliens without having to go planet hopping. The method involves scouting the universe for planets that are close together and look similar to each other – hinting that an advanced civilisation may have colonised them. We’ve had the orbits of the planets turned into music, we’ve heard the sonification of data and even heard what a black hole sounds like. This time, it’s the turn of mushrooms. Musician and artist Brian D’Souza has used a process called biosonification to produce musical tones from Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms. Learn more about Brian D’Souza here. And get details of his live performance on April 19th here. Plus, we mark the passing this week of Peter Higgs, who first proposed the existence of the Higgs boson and later won the Nobel Prize for his efforts. Hosts Timothy Revell and Rowan Hooper discuss with guests Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Michael Le Page and Corryn Wetzel. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Half of the human population undergoes the menstrual cycle for a significant proportion of their lifetimes, yet periods remain a taboo topic in public and private life. And that makes it harder both to prioritise necessary scientific research into conditions like endometriosis and for people to understand the basics of how their bodies work. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation is gynaecologist Jen Gunter’s latest book. In this practical guide, she dispels social, historical and medical myths about menstruation and offers answers to your biggest period-related questions – including why we menstruate in the first place, when a missed period is a health concern and “how heavy is too heavy?” In this episode, Christie Taylor speaks to Gunter about how humans are part of an exclusive club of menstruators in the animal kingdom, the persisting social stigma around menstruation and menopause, and why these processes remain under-researched in science despite their vast importance. Plus, a call from Gunter to take seriously the very individual and sometimes painful experiences people may have with their periods, while also creating more access to menstrual care.   To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#244 Researchers have successfully turned lymph nodes into miniature livers that help filter the blood of mice, pigs and other animals – and now, trials are beginning in humans. If successful, the groundbreaking medical procedure could prove life-saving for thousands of people waiting for liver transplants around the world. So far, no complications have been seen from the procedure, but it will be several months before we know if the treatment is working as hoped in the first of 12 trial participants with end-stage liver disease. Even on a remote island untouched by tourists, fishing, pollution and development, the climate crisis is still wreaking havoc on the coral of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Reporter James Woodford visited One Tree Island, a refuge ordinarily spared from the reef’s past catastrophic bleaching events, and discovered that this year’s marine heatwave has managed to reach even that protected spot. There, he spoke with coral experts and now shares both the science and the difficult experience of witnessing environmental devastation.  Russia is suspected of launching a record-breaking GPS jamming attack, a form of electronic warfare that’s been on the rise in parts of Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Lasting more than 63 hours, the newest attack impacted thousands of aircraft, which rely on GPS for navigation. Is the threat set to continue – and how can GPS-reliant airlines adjust? Snakes might be self-aware just like humans – another animal to add to the growing list. The mirror test, which investigates how animals respond to versions of their reflections, has long been used to detect self-recognition in everything from orangutans to roosters and horses. To test snakes, however, a smell-based method had to be invented, which garter snakes have passed. Does this change our understanding of reptiles? Plus: Detecting what may be the smallest galaxy in the known universe; how babies recognise spoken nursery rhymes heard in the womb; and why you should “yell at” your misbehaving robot. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Grace Wade, James Woodford, Jeremy Hsu and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in March 2021. From beetle explosions to the deep dark depths of the ocean, this episode is all about escape. The team discusses the amazing (and sometimes disgusting) way bombardier beetles escape predators. They explain what it takes for an object to reach escape velocity, celebrating the mathematical mind of Katherine Johnson while they’re at it. And they explore the daunting realms of free-diving, and the lengths people will go to for a bit of peace and quiet. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#243 As we age our immune systems do too, making us less able to fight infections and more prone to chronic inflammation. But a team of scientists has been able to reverse these effects in mice, rejuvenating their immune systems by targeting their stem cells. But there’s a long road to trying the same thing in humans. Have you seen the incredible new black hole image? Just a couple of years since the Event Horizon Telescope’s first, fuzzy image of Sagittarius A* – the black hole at the centre of our galaxy – a new picture offers a closer look. The stunning image released this week features the spiralling lines of Sgr A*’s magnetic field, which is seeding new questions about how black holes behave. Millions of tonnes of unexploded ordnance litter the globe from conflicts both ongoing and long past. And as time passes these bombs are not getting any less dangerous – new research finds some are actually becoming more prone to exploding. Physicists have theorised that there is a particle called the graviton that carries the force of gravity – much like a photon carries light, or a gluon carries the strong nuclear force. But the graviton has so far remained elusive. Now, researchers think they’ve seen one, or at least a particle with the correct properties to be a graviton. How this experiment unfolded, and why even a possible sighting is exciting to theorists. Plus: How a bad night’s sleep makes you feel older; why therapy horses get stressed when they don’t have a choice; and a robot that can design, build and test paper planes. Hosts Christie Taylor and Sophie Bushwick discuss with guests Grace Wade, Alex Wilkins, Michael Le Page and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fish you wear like a gas mask, moss that turns a robot sentient and critters that will eat your rash – all these oddities and more cohabit on the planet Vesta, the setting for the animated miniseries Scavengers Reign, where a group of human space travellers must innovate with what they find in the landscape to survive. While all this sounds fantastical, there are many parallels with Earth’s ecosystem and the way we regularly borrow technology from the natural world.  New Scientist physics reporter Karmela Padavic-Callaghan often writes about biomimicry and bio-inspired devices and has been fascinated by the symbiotic, connected ecosystem the show portrays.In this episode, they speak to biophysicist Saad Bhamla and ecologist Meghan Brown about the the science that underpins the series and how surprisingly close to reality some of the ecological interactions are. Plus how even fantastical fiction can shape a scientific mind. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#242 Human population growth is coming to an end. The global population is expected to peak between 2060 and 2080, then start falling. Many countries will have much lower birth rates than would be needed to support ageing populations. These demographic projections have major implications for the way our societies function, including immigration and transportation, and what kinds of policies and systems we need.  Remember Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons? Humanoid robots capable of many different tasks may be one step closer after two big announcements from chip-making giant NVIDIA. The company revealed what it calls its most powerful AI chip yet, as well as a new computer for humanoid robots called Jetson Thor. A group of California orcas known as transient killer whales have been observed using a never-before seen way of hunting down prey in the deep waters of the open ocean. Until now, their distance from the coast had kept this group’s hunting methods mysterious. It turns out these orcas have ingenious and brutal methods for hunting whale calves and other mammals.  Two big maths stories this week. The Abel prize has gone to mathematician Michel Talagrand for his groundbreaking work in understanding randomness. His work has been integral in everything from weather forecasts to large language models and quantum computers. Plus, a group of mathematicians plans to direct a computer to prove the famously complex final theorem of the long-dead Pierre de Fermat – which could advance the field of mathematics research immensely if successful.  Plus: Archaeologists uncover a perfectly preserved ancient settlement in Britain; bad news for life in the universe as one in twelve stars may be gobbling up their orbiting planets; why teenagers’ sweat is particularly smelly. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Clare Wilson, Jeremy Hsu, Chen Ly and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in March 2021. From the quickest animal in the world to the fastest supercomputer, this episode is all about speed. Opening with the cries of the peregrine falcon, the team finds out how the bird has evolved to endure flying at more than 200mph. Then they explain how scientists, starting from Galileo, attempted to measure the speed limit of the universe, the speed of light, and how Einstein understood what it meant. And they explore the mind-blowing capabilities of Fugaku, the fastest supercomputer in the world. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#241 More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza face widespread hunger, disease and injury as the war quickly becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in modern memory. Even once the war ends, the devastating physical and emotional health consequences will be felt for many years to come, especially by children. And aid groups like UNICEF and the World Health Organization have no long-term plans to meet the post-war health needs of the population. Gravity on Mars may occasionally be strong enough to stir up the oceans on Earth, even from 225 million kilometres away. A team led by researchers at the University of Sydney says Mars could be responsible for creating tiny wobbles in Earth’s orbit – just enough to slightly warm the oceans. What if every piece of music ever recorded was replaced by AI-generated Taylor Swift covers? Researchers dreamed up this implausible-sounding thought-experiment to demonstrate the vulnerability of data to AI corruption – but is this actually a risk? Phonon lasers, which use ultra-concentrated sound vibrations instead of light, may one day help us with things like medical imaging and deep-sea monitoring. A team has now created the most powerful phonon laser ever made. It’s brighter and narrower than its competition and can stay on far longer. But challenges remain in moving this technology out of the lab.  Plus: Why Jupiter’s moon Europa may be less likely to host life than scientists hoped; how North America’s threatened sequoia trees are thriving thousands of miles from home; and why pythons may be the most sustainable meat for us to eat. Hosts Christie Taylor and Sophie Bushwick discuss with guests Grace Wade, Jacob Aron, Matthew Sparkes and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s no moon like our moon. A celestial body twinned with Earth, the moon guides the tides, stabilises our climate, leads the rhythms of animal behaviour and has long been a source of wonder and awe.  Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are, is a new book from science journalist Rebecca Boyle. In it she takes an intimate look at our satellite and how it’s influenced everything from our species’ understanding of long cycles of time to the development of science itself. In this episode, Christie Taylor speaks to Boyle about many wonderful and lesser known facts about the moon, like the magic of solar eclipses and how it’s only by chance that we get to experience them. Plus, how the moon may have been responsible for war-time tragedy – and even our own evolution. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#240 A major step has been made toward bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction – sort of. The company Colossal has the ambitious goal of bringing its first baby mammoth into the world by 2028. And its newest advance, announced this week, is in turning adult Asian elephant cells into stem cells. But it’s still a long way from here to the company’s vision of cold-adapted elephants fighting climate change in the Arctic – or even that 2028 baby mammoth.  When did humans begin to affect the Earth’s systems enough to mark the beginning of a new geological era? The Anthropocene is often informally used to describe the current era of Earth’s geological timeline, one in which human activity has reshaped the planet – and some geologists have been lobbying to say it began officially in 1950, with the first detectable nuclear fallout. But in a leaked decision that shocked many, scientists have apparently voted not to make the Anthropocene textbook-official yet. But the story doesn’t end there. US Army researchers are trying to figure out if AI can help them make better decisions during conflict. Using commercial chatbots powered by models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, the US military has been letting AI call the shots in the midst of battle – in the video game Starcraft II. Is the technology good enough?  Bumblebees may be capable of culture. It’s a finding that’s causing much debate in the scientific community. Researchers challenged bees to complete a tricky puzzle box, which the bees could not do without being shown how – but the bees who were trained to solve the puzzle then quickly taught their hivemates. Teaching others something they can’t do alone could be considered cumulative culture, which was thought to be unique to humans. Is it time to rethink our exceptionalism? Plus: How the creation of new strains of cheese mould could lead to brand new flavours of blue cheese and even new drugs; how microplastics found in our bodies may increase heart disease risk; why some white dwarfs look younger than they are – with consequences for astronomy. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Michael Le Page, Chen Ly, Jeremy Hsu and Sofia Quaglia. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in February 2021. Keeping you cosy this week is an episode all about warmth - emotional, physiological and geological. We have an unexpected start to the show, with bees taking the spotlight, but it turns out these cold-blooded little insects can generate immense warmth when necessary. The team then takes a much bigger view of warmth, discussing the heat of the planet, and of the many uses of geothermal energy. Finally they wrap up by finding out what it takes to make a robot seem warm and friendly. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#239 Two decades ago, following the Human Genome Project’s release of a first draft in 2001, genetic testing was set to revolutionise healthcare. “Personalised medicine” would give us better treatments for serious conditions, clear pictures of our risks and individualised healthcare recommendations. But despite all the genetic tests available, that healthcare revolution has not exactly come to fruition. Amid news that genetic testing poster child firm 23andMe has hit financial troubles, we ask whether personalised medicine was overhyped. Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras once established strict mathematical rules for what constitutes pleasing music – those rules involve ratios and harmonies that were the basis of much of Western music theory. But comprehensive new research finds people’s preferences have little to do with Pythagoras’ rules. The invention of the numeral zero to represent nothing is a cornerstone of some of our greatest accomplishments as a species, like calculus, literature and philosophy. Now researchers have figured out how our brains comprehend the idea of nothing – and it may have started as registering the absence of predators, prey, or even weather conditions. The experiment finds where “nothing” lives in our brain and traces back the invention of the numeral zero to our animal roots. If you want to make friends with a dog but are wary of petting them, there is a way. All you need to do is follow them around and copy their movements. Research into this behavioural synchronisation could prove beneficial to helping nervous pups connect better with people. Plus: Making plankton poo heavier with clay – for the environment; YouTube’s recommendation algorithm seems to have stopped inadvertently radicalising people; the specific chemical compounds that make an orange taste orangey. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Clare Wilson, Jacob Aron, James Woodford and Sam Wong. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Music credit: “Bonang,” Wesleyan University Virtual Instrument Museum 2.0, accessed February 29th, 2024, https://wesomeka.wesleyan.edu/vim2/items/show/3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freezing temperatures, dust storms, radiation, marsquakes – living on Mars right now would be hellish. And getting there remains a multi-year journey. But what if we could make it habitable? Could we one day build settlements on the Red Planet or send human scientists to search for life? That’s the premise of the TV series For All Mankind, which explores a future where the space race continued after the moon landing and humanity kept spreading out across space. But in the name of a good story, real science occasionally took the backstage.  In this episode, TV columnist Bethan Ackerley speaks to NASA Astronaut Garrett Reisman, who was also a consultant on the show, as well as planetary scientist Tanya Harrison who’s worked on multiple NASA missions to Mars. Between them, they explore how far off we really are from living on Mars, what it would take to surmount the remaining challenges – and why it’s still a dream worth pursuing in the real world. Want more? Read Bethan’s review of For All Mankind Season 4. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#238 ADHD is a condition that affects millions of people and is marked by impulsivity, restlessness and attention difficulties. But how did ADHD evolve in humans and why did it stick around? Through the help of a video game, a study shows that these traits might be beneficial when foraging for food.  In 2023, we hit record after record when it comes to high temperatures on Earth, including in the oceans and seas. From the surface to 2000 metres down, it was hard to find a part of the ocean not affected. This week, about 5000 scientists gathered in New Orleans for the American Geophysical Union’s biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting. Heat was the one thing on everyone’s mind, as researchers grapple to understand the drivers and consequences these new records have – but also look for promising solutions. The future of AI deepfake technology is not looking good. You might remember the infamous fake images of Taylor Swift that included non-consensual, intimate images of her on social media. Or the fake robotcall that mimicked President Joe Biden’s voice and discouraged voters from coming to the polls. As voice, picture and video generating technologies become cheaper and easier to use, can anything be done to prevent more harm? A “useless” structure on the ovary may in fact be key to fertility in mammals. The structure, a tiny series of tubes called the rete ovarii, was first discovered in 1870  and doesn’t even appear in modern textbooks. Now, researchers accidentally stumbled back onto it – and suggest that the rete ovarii may help control ovulation and the menopause.  Plus: Humpback whales’ huge and specialised larynxes; physicists are excited about a new “unicorn” in the world of black holes; the “dogbot” that becomes three-legged to open doors. Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Chen Ly, James Dinneen, Jeremy Hsu and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in February 2021. Prepare to feel relaxed, tingly and amazed all in the space of 20 minutes. This episode is all about sound. We start with the musical tones of an elephant trumpeting, followed by a recording from Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project, showing how they communicate at an infrasonic frequency, which humans can’t ordinarily detect. The team then attempts to send shivers down your spine by recreating ASMR, explaining why some people enjoy the sound of whispering, rustling crisp packets or apple biting. They also share a range of audio illusions, and close the show with the soothing sounds of white noise, created by Stephane Pigeon from www.mynoise.net. Shepard Tone and Binaural Beats courtesy of Alexander from www.orangefreesounds.com under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Bethan Ackerley and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#237 Glaucoma, which can cause blindness by damaging the optic nerve, may be reversible. Researchers have managed to coax new optic nerve cells to grow in mice, partly restoring sight in some. How the treatment works through an eyeball injection and why, for humans, prevention and early detection are still the best options. Black holes, just like planets and stars, spin. But they may be spinning a lot slower than we thought. When black holes gobble up matter around them, they start spinning faster and we’ve largely used this understanding to guess their speed. But new research also weighs the slowing effect of massive gas jets that black holes emit – revealing that many may have slowed dramatically since their births. How these new estimates of spin also offer insights into a black hole’s history.  What if we could generate solar power in space, far more efficiently than on Earth – and then beam it down to our houses? An MIT experiment has managed to do one of the most crucial steps of that science fiction-seeming process, converting electricity from a satellite into microwaves that were then successfully received by a collector in California. How these microwaves could supply the power grid on Earth and help ween us off of fossil fuels – if they can overcome some major hurdles.  Apes like to playfully tease each other, just like humans do. While their methods may be a bit different from ours – poking, hitting, pulling on hair and stealing – it looks like they’re often doing it for fun, rather than to harass or assert dominance. This new finding could explain why humans evolved to enjoy jokes. Plus: A weird cooling quirk of Antarctica’s atmosphere; the microbes that make your tea taste delicious; and the flamboyant love languages of cuttlefish, scorpions and even dog-loving humans. Hosts Christie Taylor and Chelsea Whyte discuss with guests Michael Le Page, Alex Wilkins and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Real tech billionaires are reportedly building secret bunkers in case of post-apocalyptic societal collapse. It’s a frightening prospect, a world where only the super rich survive catastrophe. But it’s a world one author is exploring in her latest novel. Naomi Alderman is the prize-winning and best-selling author of The Power. Her latest book The Future imagines a world where billionaires survive a world-shaking cataclysm, only to find out they’re not as in charge of events as they think they are.  The Future has been the centrepiece of the New Scientist book club. In this episode culture and comment editor Alison Flood asks Naomi all about it. They explore her motivations for writing the book, the real mysteries of human evolutionary history and why Alderman thinks artificial intelligence can’t actually predict what’s to come for humanity. This conversation contains some spoilers. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#236 This week marks two major milestones in the world of fusion. In 2022 a fusion experiment at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created more power than was required to sustain it – now, the same team has improved this record by 25 per cent, releasing almost twice the energy that was put in. Meanwhile, the UK’s JET reactor set a new world record for total energy output from any fusion reaction, just before it shut down for good late last year. Why these two milestones inch us closer to practical, sustainable fusion energy – but still leave a significant distance to go. A historic drought has caused a shipping traffic jam in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Record low levels of water mean fewer ships can pass through the intricate system of locks that carry them across the narrow strip of land. As climate change increases the likelihood of extreme drought, how could this impact both the cost of shipping goods and Panama’s economy? Microdosing LSD may not have psychedelic effects, but it still causes noticeable changes in the brain. Researchers gave people tiny amounts of the drug while measuring their brain activity and noticed their brain signals became far more complex, even though they didn’t feel any hallucinatory effects. What this study tells us about the relationship between consciousness and neural complexity. Magma flowing into a giant crack formed by this year’s volcanic eruption in Iceland was caught moving at a rate of 7400 cubic metres per second – the fastest ever recorded for this kind of event. The kilometres-long crack first began producing eruptions in December last year, and another began just this week. So what’s next for the people living nearby?  Plus: The asteroid Bennu may be a chunk of an ocean world; a new, lightning-dense thunderstorm spotted by satellites; rediscovering the bizarre-looking sharp-snouted Somali worm lizard after more than 90 years. Hosts Christie Taylor and Sophie Bushwick discuss with guests Matt Sparkes, James Dinneen, Grace Wade and Michael Le Page. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in February 2021. From some of the lightest creatures on earth, to the heaviest things in the cosmos, this episode is all about mass. It’s a magical opening to the show as the team discusses a group of insects called fairy wasps which are so light it’s near impossible to weigh them. They then turn to matters of massive proportions, discussing a little thing called dark matter. Finally the team wraps up by looking at the surprising, and slightly hilarious ways that a kilogram is measured. On the podcast are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#235 In very rare cases, Alzheimer’s disease could be transmitted from person to person during medical procedures. This finding comes as five people have developed the disease after receiving contaminated human growth hormone injections in the late 1950s to early 1980s – a practice that is now banned. What this finding means for medical settings and why most people don’t need to be concerned.   Elon Musk’s mind-reading brain implant company Neuralink is carrying out its first human trial. The volunteer who has received the surgically implanted device and is now, Musk said earlier this week, “recovering well”. Neuralink promises to connect users to their smartphones and computers, reading brain signals and translating a person’s intentions into text or other functions. While this isn’t the first device of its kind, it is the only one being marketed as a consumer technology device, as opposed to a medical device.  Contrails, the streams of white vapour that form behind planes in the sky, are to blame for a huge proportion of air travel’s impact on the climate. But there’s good news. Small changes in altitude may be sufficient to reduce their formation – and implementing these changes may be easier than we thought. Plus why flying at night has a bigger climate impact. Tiny tornadoes have been discovered inside the egg cells of fruit flies. These twisters circulate the jelly-like cytoplasm inside the cells and could be essential to the successful reproduction of these fruit flies. Excitingly, these tornadoes may be happening in the cells of other animals too – just not humans. Plus: Revealing which dogs live the longest; how an army of Twitter bots spreaded fake news about 2023’s Chinese spy balloon incident; an ancient gadget that turns fibres into rope. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Chen Ly, Matt Sparkes, James Dinneen and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Very few places on our planet appear untouchedby humans, but in those that do, nature is still very much in charge – and the scenery is breathtaking. In the new BBC series Wilderness with Simon Reeve, journalist Simone Reeve takes us into the heart of Earth's last great wild areas, including the Congo Basin rainforest, Patagonia, the Coral Triangle and the Kalahari desert in Southern Africa. In this episode of CultureLab, TV columnist Bethan Ackerley asks Simon about the series and his many exciting expeditions, including meeting bonobos in the depths of the Congo and a “staggering experience” trekking up the South Patagonia icefield. We hear about his meetings with Indigenous peoples and what they can teach us about living more intune with nature. And we discover why now is the time to focus on Earth’s wildernesses. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#234 Is AI really ready to take our jobs? A team looked at whether AI image recognition could replace tasks like checking price tags on items or looking at the pupils of patients in surgery.  The researchers found only a small fraction of these vision-reliant tasks could be cost-effectively taken over by AI – for now, anyway. There’s an old myth that singing to your plants helps them grow – apparently this actually works with fungus. A pair of experiments has found that fungus grows much more quickly when it’s blasted with an 80 decibel tone, compared to fungus that receives the silent treatment.  Roe v Wade, the landmark US Supreme Court decision that protected the right to an abortion, was overturned in 2022. Many states passed new restrictions on the procedure in the years that followed, some total or near-total – meaning few exceptions for pregnancies that result from sexual assault. New estimates suggest that more than 65,000 people in those states have since experienced rape-related pregnancy and been unable to legally receive abortion care where they live. Chickpeas have been grown in moon dust for the first time. Moon dust is low on nutrients and full of toxic heavy metals, making it a difficult place for plants to grow.But by turning the dust into more of an ecosystem, complete with fungi and earthworms, a team has gotten a generation of chickpeas to survive and even flower. And given chickpeas are more nutrient dense than other plants we’ve managed to grow so far, this is great news if we ever want to settle on the lunar surface. Plus: Maybe owls can actually turn their heads around, 360 degrees. A robot avatar that lets you see and feel what it sees and feels. And a bacteria that turns from prey to predator when the temperature drops. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Jeremy Hsu, James Woodford, Grace Wade and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in February 2021. This episode is all about music, so today’s journey of escapism comes complete with odd, relaxing, soothing and interesting sounds to guide you through. The team opens with the sounds of animals, specifically the singing - if you can call it that - of gorillas, and the jazzy birdsong of the thrush. They then treat you to the sounds of data sonification, courtesy of Milton Mermikides, who translates motion into music, like the swinging of a pendulum, the crystallisation of salt, or the orbits of planets. Finally they tackle the small matter of just why exactly it is we humans love music so much. On the podcast are Rowan Hooper, Bethan Ackerley and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#233 A cloned rhesus monkey named ReTro is said to be in good health more than three years after his birth – a landmark achievement, as no other rhesus clone has lived to adulthood.. However, the method used to clone ReTro used fetal cells, a method that cannot create identical clones of adult primates. The method could still be useful for medical research.  Fermented foods are meant to be healthy and good for our guts, but there’s a problem. Researchers have found antibiotic resistant bacteria in a small pilot study of some fermented foods. In vulnerable people, these bacteria could damage the gut and cause more severe health issues – and be resistant to antibiotic treatment. This ancient practice may need an update to deal with a modern problem. Is it a black hole, is it a neutron star? No it’s a… mystery. A strange object has been found in the depths of space that could be the smallest black hole we’ve ever detected, or a neutron star that’s larger than we thought possible. Either result would be interesting, offering exciting new insights into our understanding of the universe. A new type of computer promises to be more efficient than your standard PC. Normal Computing’s device uses the laws of thermodynamics – and tiny, random fluctuations in electrical current – to compute. And maybe most importantly, it’s already been used to solve some difficult problems. Tardigrades are some of the hardiest creatures on the planet. These microscopic “water bears” can survive harsh conditions by entering a deep, dehydrated state of hibernation. And now researchers have figured out how they do it. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Sam Wong, James Woodford, Alex Wilkins, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NASA astronaut Christina Koch not only took part in the first ever all-female spacewalks, but she also holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, after spending 328 days on board the International Space Station. So what does it take to live in space for such a long time, what does it mean to be a record-breaking astronaut – and how do you get used to gravity again when you finally come back home? New Scientist space reporter Leah Crane asks Chrstina all of these questions and more in a special interview for CultureLab.  Plus: the surprising sport of human bowling, what things smell like when you leave planet Earth and how Christina’s sights are now set on the Moon as she prepares for the Artemis 2 mission. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#232 During pregnancy the brain undergoes profound changes – almost every part of the cortex thins out and loses volume by the third trimester. It’s such a big change that you can tell if someone’s pregnant just by looking at a scan of their brain. How researchers discovered these changes and why they might be occurring. A massive, ancient group of cities has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest using lasers. It’s the biggest pre-Columbian urban area ever found in the Amazon and parts of it date back further than any other settlement too. So why have we only just found it and why was it abandoned? Where does stuff go when it’s sucked into a black hole? Based on Stephen Hawking’s theory that black holes slowly evaporate, most of it just disappears. But in physics, information about that matter can’t just disappear – so what’s going on? Many teams have tried to solve this paradox, but an intriguing new idea may bring us closer to an answer. Once we develop a whole range of groundbreaking new spacecraft technology, that is. Every single year, hammer corals change their sex, swapping between male and female. While many animals, including corals, change their sex across their lifetimes, this clockwork, routine schedule is quite unusual. But it turns out a habit of change might be useful to help ensure successful reproduction in the ocean.  Plus: Making lithium-ion batteries with 70 per cent less lithium – with help from AI; staving off the amphibian apocalypse with fungus-resistant frogs; and the discovery of the oldest known fossil skin. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Alex Wilkins, Grace Wade, Michael Le Page and Sophie Bushwick. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in January 2021. The theme of this episode is alliances - human, biological and atomic. We start by celebrating the amazing properties of lichen, the symbiotic relationships it forms, how it shaped the earth and simply how beautiful it is to look at. Then we explore how carbon is able to create such an incredibly diverse range of materials, including soot, diamonds and graphite. We wrap up by delving into the life of renowned Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős, the world’s greatest human alliance maker, who wrote research papers with over 500 mathematicians. On the podcast are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#231 It’s a new year and that means new science. But what (that we know so far) does 2024 hold?  On the space front, agencies around the world have as many as 13 missions to Earth’s moon, while Japan’s MMX mission will launch to take samples from the Martian moon Phobos. NASA will finally launch the Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon.  On the technology front, Europe’s first ever exascale supercomputer, capable of performing billions of operations per second – only the third officially recognised such machine in the world, and an extraordinary tool for physicists, mathematicians and even AI development. Plus why we’re increasingly close to the time when quantum computers may break encryption as we know it. And while 2023 was officially the hottest year on record, 2024 is poised to be even hotter, thanks to even higher concentrations of greenhouse gases and more months of El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean. How this combination should leave us expecting the unexpected when it comes to drought and rainfall, while nations grapple with the renewable energy and fossil fuel transition pledges they made at 2023’s COP28 climate summit.  And why the story isn’t over for hormone-mimicking weight loss injections like Ozempic and Wegovy – or the many similar drugs that are following close on their heels. Host Christie Taylor discusses all of this and more with guests Leah Crane, Matthew Sparkes, James Dinneen and Clare Wilson. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com/2024preview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a re-airing of a podcast originally released in January 2021. An episode of Escape Pod all about understanding. We start by discussing the self-awareness of dolphins and whales, and the intricacies of their language and vocalisations. Then we marvel at the seemingly impossible abilities of gymnasts and ballerinas, most notably Simone Biles who performed a legendary triple double. And then we take a look at the Chinese board game Go - a game with more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe. On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Anna Demming and Timothy Revell. Find out more at newscientist.com/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What was your favorite science story of 2023? Was it the rise of orca-involved boat sinkings? Or maybe the successful landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission at the moon’s south pole?  This week, it’s the second and final part of our annual event about the best science stories of the year, with a roundup of some of the good news, animal news and all-around most important stories of 2023. Like how researchers discovered the high-tech material called graphene can also occur naturally…and did, deep in the Earth, 3 billion years ago. Or how the World Health Organization ended the global health emergency declaration for covid-19. Plus, wonders from the animal kingdom: innovative bird nests made of anti-bird spikes,  cooperation between dolphins and fishermen in Brazil and the incredible clogging power of hagfish slime. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this and more with guests Clare Wilson, Sam Wong, and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. And if you’re still looking for more of the best stories from 2023, enjoy our best features free December 27-31.  What’s behind the recent explosion in ADHD diagnoses? Is the entire universe a single quantum object? Climate change: Something strange is happening in the Pacific and we must find out why The civilisation myth: How new discoveries are rewriting human history Revealed: What your thoughts look like and how they compare to others Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you looking forward to catching up on some reading over the holiday season? Or perhaps you are on the prowl for book recommendations after receiving a few literary gift cards? If so, you are in luck – this episode is all about the books we think you’ll love to read. In this episode of CultureLab, culture and comment editor Alison Flood appears in her role as professional bookworm to share some of her favorite reads of the year. From a sobering story of life in the human-polluted ocean (narrated by a dolphin) to science fiction that takes you to parallel worlds, to the real story of the world’s longest study of happiness.  The full list of Alison’s recommendations (and a few from host Christie Taylor) is below.  Non-fiction The Good Life: lessons from the world’s longest scientific study of happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz Being Human: How our biology shaped world history by Lewis Dartnell Of Time and Turtles: Mending the world, shell by shattered shell by Sy Montgomery The Power of Trees: How ancient forests can save us if we let them by Peter Wohlleben Enchantment: Reawakening wonder in an exhausted age by Katherine May Elderflora: A modern history of ancient trees by Jared Farmer The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship with the cosmos by Jaime Green Breathe: Tackling the climate emergency by Sadiq Khan Wasteland: The dirty truth about what we throw away, where it goes, and why it matters by Oliver Franklin-Wallis Fire Weather: A true story from a hotter world by John Vaillant Fiction In Ascension by Martin McInnes The Ferryman by Justin Cronin Bridge by Lauren Beukes The Future by Naomi Alderman Starter Villain by John Scalzi Pod by Laline Paull Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#229 Your hands are heavier than you think. Beer goggles aren’t real. And many water utilities in the United Kingdom still use dowsing to find leaks in pipes.  It’s the first part of our annual best-in-show of science stories from the year, with a roundup of some of the funniest and most futuristic-feeling headlines from 2023. Like the Euclid Space Telescope’s successful start to a mission that will map the sky and offer new insights into dark matter and the very structure of the universe. And a half-synthetic yeast that might feel (half) at home in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Or how generative AI has gone so far as to flood the submissions of the magazine Clarkesworld with too many badly written science fiction stories. Plus, why a handful of doctors swallowed the heads of LEGO toys. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this and more with guests Clare Wilson, Sam Wong and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Composer Erland Cooper is known for playful, innovative, experimental projects. For example, he buried the only audio copy of a 2021 composition – then left treasure hunt clues for people to try to find it. Which one couple, eventually, did. In this episode of CultureLab, Cooper talks to writer Arwa Haider about his newest album, Folded Landscapes, where he is deep in conversation with the environment and our changing climate. The movements of the piece were recorded with the Scottish Ensemble chamber orchestra, in both sub-zero temperatures and a sweltering studio. He then exposed the audio master tape to the sun on the UK’s hottest day in history, in July of last year.  Cooper describes encasing recording equipment in ice, recreating the acoustics of glacial caves in Norway’s Svalbard, and why he prefers a slower kind of activism in the name of celebrating and cherishing the natural world and encouraging change.  Read Arwa Haider’s full piece about Cooper’s work. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cannabis is one of the oldest products of human cultivation. And as it becomes increasingly legal for medical and recreational use around the world, its popularity is growing as well – even as researchers, limited by government prohibitions of the past and present, race to understand how the hundreds of chemicals in pot actually affect us and what the benefits and risks may be. But the object of all this research is itself changing: cannabis consumed today is more than ten times more potent than pot of the past. And even as we begin to understand the breathtaking environmental costs of cultivation – both legal and illicit – we’re already finding ways we might harvest its benefits without even growing a single plant.  In the final episode of this three-part special series on the science of cannabis, Christie Taylor visits what the future may hold for hemp and how this plant fits into society writ large. From meaningful regulation of driving while stoned to tweaking that distinctive but controversial skunky odor and the high tech promise of making CBD in yeast. Learn more: The team at New Scientist investigates cannabis and the brain, the environmental cost of growing cannabis and other questions in this special reporting series. Visit newscientist.com/cannabis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#228 We have a new, landmark climate deal, signalling the beginning of the end of fossil fuels. But even as the announcement at COP28 includes commitments for some of the most pressing issues, including giving money to countries most affected by climate change and setting goals for more renewables, some critics aren’t satisfied. With weak language around  “transitioning away from” fossil fuels, does the deal go far enough? The first ever scientific discoveries have been made by an artificial intelligence chatbot, says Google Deepmind. The company claims its new large language model FunSearch has discovered solutions to mathematical and computing problems. Why this could be a promising source of advances – even if 90 per cent of its output is essentially useless. Arctic-dwelling seals don’t just rely on their big blubbery bodies to keep warm, but their noses too. How intricate nose bones – the most intricate ever studied, in fact – help them to retain heat and moisture as they breathe.  There’s a problem with the universe. At least, with our understanding of it. The way that matter clumps together on very large scales seems to be a little off, and the two main measurement methods just don’t agree with each other. While it's not unusual for there to be discrepancies with the standard model of cosmology, this issue is potentially a biggie, and could reflect significant gaps in how we understand the very stuff our universe is made of.  Plus: How to stop stress from affecting sleep, what makes a “good” didgeridoo and a mind-reading cap that converts thoughts to text. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests James Dinneen, Matthew Sparkes, Chen Ly and Leah Crane. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Australian outback is vast and the population is really spread out. This makes getting access to emergency healthcare incredibly challenging, as you may be a thousand kilometres or more from the nearest major hospital. The solution? Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service – one of the largest aeromedical organisations in the world, and, at nearly 100 years old, the first of its kind. In this bonus episode of the podcast, Australia reporter Alice Klein speaks to two RFDS team members about some of their incredible rescue operations, from saving a man who crashed his motorbike into an emu, to rescuing a child with a broken femur. She also hears the gut-wrenching tale of Michelle, who says she owes her life to the RFDS. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human beings have cultivated cannabis for thousands of years. We have been using it for its euphoric effects for at least several thousand. And as prohibition in the United States and other nations gives way to legal, recreational use, more people are picking up pot for help with sleep, pain, or simple relaxation. But as medical and recreational use become more popular and increasingly accessible, what’s actually going on inside your body and brain when you imbibe? Cannabinoids, the chemicals in cannabis, trigger an entire system of receptors in our nervous systems, immune systems and elsewhere in our tissues. And this internal, endocannabinoid system regulates so much of our physiology that it may explain everything from the post-pot munchies…to runner’s high. In the second of this three-part special series on the science of cannabis, Christie Taylor visits the stoned mind, where memory gets hazy, time passes weirdly and creativity…maybe just feels easier to achieve. And why there’s so much we don’t know yet about how cannabis affects us, both for good and for ill. Learn more: The team at New Scientist investigates cannabis and the brain, the environmental cost of growing cannabis, and other questions in this special reporting series. Visit newscientist.com/cannabis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#227 Quantum computing researchers at IBM have stepped up the power of their devices by a huge amount. The company’s new device Condor has more than doubled the number of quantum bits of its previous record-breaking machine, which was released just last year. This massive increase in computational power is just one of the company’s latest achievements. It has also announced Heron, a smaller quantum computer but one that’s less error-prone – and therefore more useful – than any IBM has made. We’ve seen a lot of big wins at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, but many of them have come with caveats. From exciting commitments on loss and damage negotiations to the 120 countries that have pledged to triple their renewable energy by the end of this decade, the latest agreements bring a lot of promise. But as funding targets fall short, the world’s highest emitters sit out on certain pledges and people with financial stakes in fossil fuels negotiate pledges of their own, the summit’s success remains in flux. An antibody treatment may protect people from overdosing on the dangerous opioid drug fentanyl, even as the opioid epidemic kills more than 150 people each day in the United States. Although this treatment has not yet been tested in humans, a single infusion protects monkeys from overdose for a month. Why this new approach is so promising and could even treat addiction to the drug. Honeyguides are a type of bird that guide humans to bees' nests by responding to specific calls made by people hunting honey. It's a remarkable example of partnership between species: this cooperation means the humans get honey and the birds get a tasty snack of wax and bee larvae. Even more amazing is the finding that honeyguides respond to different calls depending on where they are in the world. Plus: A new species of hedgehog has been discovered, how self-replicating nanorobots could be used to make drugs or chemicals inside our bodies and which brain regions are involved in understanding (and enjoying) jokes. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Jacob Aron, Grace Wade and Sam Wong. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did your chemistry lessons involve baking chocolate lava cakes? Have you ever wanted to eat your biology homework? While ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ brought a fictional cooking-as-chemistry story to TV viewers this fall, real-life scientist Pia Sörensen’s students are some of the few who can actually answer “yes.” Sörensen’s directs Harvard University’s Science and Cooking program, which teaches science lessons through the culinary arts. She is the author and editor of several books, including the best-seller “Science and Cooking: Physics meets Food, from Homemade to Haute Cuisine”. In this episode of CultureLab, Pia explains how understanding chemistry and biology can help us to make the perfect cheese sauce, offers up a masterclass in fermentation and teaches us what insects have to do with why your avocado goes brown – and why acids can stop the process. She also describes how to make Lutfisk, Sweden’s gelatinous answer to ceviche, an admittedly ‘acquired taste’ of a dish. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#226 This year’s COP28 could be the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015. After opening in Dubai on Thursday, this will be the first time countries will formally take stock of climate change since agreeing to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. While we can expect world leaders to make some major commitments regarding renewable energy, sceptics are concerned the location of the summit will mean that fossil fuel interests end up disproportionately shaping the meeting. You may want to thank dirt for the evolution of life on Earth and the incredible biodiversity on the planet. We now know from computer simulations that a spike in nutrient-rich soil led to a boom in marine biodiversity millions of years ago. And thanks to plate tectonics and continental drift, that soil built up on land too and was an essential ingredient to life as we know it. What would happen to our solar system if the Sun suddenly had some competition…like if a roaming star flew too close? Would it snatch one of our planets, disrupt their orbits or send Mercury hurling towards the Sun? As researchers have found out, these and many other frightening scenarios are all possible - but thankfully not that likely.  Bottlenose dolphins can sense electric fields with tiny pits in their skin and could be using them to hunt or even navigate. This new finding puts them on par with sharks, who also have this superpower.  Plus: How chinstrap penguins sleep 11 hours a day, but in thousands of 4-second micro-naps. AI predicts there could be more than 2 million different ways to make a crystal. And how to pour a cup of tea as quietly as possible. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests James Dinneen, Jacob Aron, Leah Crane and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cannabis is having a moment. Half of the US population lives in a state where marijuana is legal, and 9 in 10 people nationwide support legalisation in some form. This is a stark difference from mere decades ago, when prohibition was the norm in the entire US. Meanwhile, if you live in Malta, Uruguay, Canada – and maybe soon, Germany – your entire country is one with legal recreational pot. And access to medical marijuana extends to even more countries, including the UK and Australia. But as medical and recreational use become more popular and increasingly accessible, how exactly did we get to this moment of change? What has research been able to tell us – so far – about how the plant produces its euphoric effects, what medical purposes it may be able to serve or how it might be harmful? And how could our relationship with this unassuming leaf change in the coming decades? In the first of this three-part special series on the science of cannabis, Christie Taylor explores our deep history with cannabis, from the first domestication 12,000 years ago in Northwest China, to the current skyrocketing popularity in the United States and around the world. Learn more: The team at New Scientist investigates cannabis and the brain, the environmental cost of growing cannabis, and other questions in this special reporting series. Visit newscientist.com/cannabis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#225 Life on Mercury? That would be a shocking discovery. The planet is incredibly inhospitable to life… as we know it. But the discovery of salt glaciers on its surface has opened up the possibility that extremophile bacteria could be buried beneath its surface. Lucky then that the BepiColombo mission is planned to take another look at Mercury soon. Ever wondered why you can go all night without getting hungry but can’t last a few hours in the day? Well, there may be cells in our brains that tell us when it’s time to eat. A mice study found AgRP brain cells fire faster right around the time the rodents usually chow down. If this is true in humans too, it may clue us into our own hunger cues. Earth has been hit by a powerful cosmic ray, the second most powerful ever detected. This tiny subatomic particle contains a massive amount of energy and is thought to have come from a place in space called the cosmic void. How it got here is a mystery and has scientists excitedly searching for an answer. Babies are learning how to speak before they’re even born. While we know babies come to know the sound of their parents’ voices while in the womb, it turns out just hearing people talk enhances their future language skills and ability to recognise specific languages. Plus: Why one bat in Europe uses its penis as a hand, how a robot is being trained to pick up your dirty washing and why plants in Europe are more productive on the weekend. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Leah Crane, Clare Wilson, Alex Wilkins and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Event: Separating the science from the hype with the latest research on cannabis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turning the Earth into a cube, the gift that just keeps giving. Last episode we had fish bowl spaceships, this time we have sea monsters! If you thought cubifying the Earth couldn’t get more wacky, you’re in for a treat. In the Dead Planets Society season finale, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte are once again joined by geophysicist Mika McKinnon. This time she explains what time would be like on a 6-faced planet, how you’d be able to experience all four seasons in a single day on Cube Earth and why this re-formed planet would spur on the evolution of some pretty strange lifeforms, including sea monsters. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode… And if you just want to chat about this episode or wrecking the cosmos more generally, tweet @chelswhyte and @downhereonearth.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is it, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. We’ve killed the sun, smushed the asteroid belt, burrowed into other planets… but now it’s time for the big one… Earth. In this two-part season finale, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte do irreparable damage to our planet by turning it into a cube. Joining the pair in this mammoth task is geophysicist and disaster consultant Mika McKinnon. In this first episode Mika tackles the many life-changing knock-on effects of cubifying Earth, such as how only portions of the planet would be habitable, why we would need giant fish bowls on wheels to cross from one face to the other and why earthquakes would become the new normal. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode… And if you just want to chat about this episode or wrecking the cosmos more generally, tweet @chelswhyte and @downhereonearth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#224 Tree planting has become an incredibly popular way of attempting to store carbon dioxide and slow global warming. But new research estimates we may be able to store huge amounts of carbon dioxide without planting any new trees at all. All we have to do is protect the ones we already have. The world’s existing forests could store up to 228 billion tonnes of carbon, but is protecting them an achievable goal? Life expectancy for everyone in the US is on the decline, but especially for men, with the “death gap” between men and women increasing dramatically in recent years. Why are men now dying nearly six years before women on average? Covid-19, opioid use, suicide and firearms are all influencing the worrisome trend. Bonobos are the peacekeepers of the primate world. While their close cousins, chimpanzees, prefer to fight with rival groups to resolve conflict, bonobos prefer to have sex – and they generally get along with members of other groups. Why some bonobos are friendlier than others, and what that might tell us about human aggression and cooperation. Physicists have created tiny lasers from soap bubbles. This whimsical sounding technological feat is surprisingly simple to recreate. With a few ingredients, you too could create a bubble laser at home. Useful for detecting electric fields and pressure changes, this could become a much more affordable way of producing sensors in the future. Plus: How 20 per cent of people who take Paxlovid, a covid-19 drug that reduces the risk of severe illness, rebound and get the virus again a few days after they stop taking it; how to seed new life on a planet by “catching” a comet; and how one artificial intelligence model has learned how to beat us at both chess and poker, and what this might say about creating more “generally” intelligent AIs. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests James Dinneen, Corryn Wetzel, Sam Wong and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123; US 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988; hotlines in other countries. Event: Separating the science from the hype with the latest research on cannabis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As astronauts look down on Earth from space, the experience is often life-altering. The “pale blue dot” looks fragile from way up there. And in the novel Orbital, we get to see our planet from the perspective of astronauts aboard the International Space Station, giving us a glimpse into why the distant view shifts their perspectives so dramatically.  The book follows the team of astronauts as they observe Earth, collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But author Samantha Harvey says she hopes Orbital is as much a painting as it is a novel, writing in expressive prose to capture the epic vistas witnessed from space each day. From glaciers and deserts, to the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans – and even the destructive force of an intensifying typhoon.  In this episode, Rowan Hooper asks Harvey about her inspirations and how she was able to so vividly capture this sense of Earth from afar. Plus a meditation on what it means, emotionally, to look at our planet from space and reckon with how we are changing it.  To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#223 Spinal cord stimulation has, for the first time, been used to improve the mobility of someone with Parkinson’s Disease. Marc, who has battled the condition for 30 years, once fell five to six times daily, but now is able to walk kilometres per day thanks to an array of electrodes that stimulate the movement-related neurons in his spine.  Though it was successful for Marc, the treatment is also highly customised and more research is needed before it might benefit people more broadly.  In the world of synthetic biology, an international team has crafted a yeast cell with half its DNA manufactured in a lab, marking a significant step in our ability to rewrite and alter complex genomes. While yeast is already used to create useful substances such as beer and insulin, synthetic yeasts could be engineered to create an even wider variety of molecules more easily. Why yeast might be just the beginning for synthetic organisms. Can the secret to affordable, clean energy have been in the ocean all this time? Engineers are bringing a 140-year-old idea back to life, with the aim of harnessing the massive temperature difference between warm surface water and cold, deep sea water. A process known as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was originally proposed in the 19th century and is now being tested in some island nations. How this sustainable method works and the obstacles to its widespread adoption. New evolutionary research shows that crabs evolved to leave the ocean up to 17 different times in the 230 million years since they arose. What these crustaceans’ remarkable evolutionary flexibility might reveal about adaptability across the animal kingdom. Plus: Using tiny microphones to record happy rat squeaks, a breakthrough in underwater radio communication and a smashing fact about left-handed badminton players.  Hosts Christie Taylor and Chelsea Whyte discuss all of this with guests Michael Le Page, James Dinneen and Alexandra Thompson. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Asteroids are cool, but they’re all spread out across the solar system. Wouldn’t it be neater if we could smush them all together to make one MEGA asteroid? Maybe even an asteroid… planet. From an asteroid sausage machine to a Jell-O infused asteroid donut, Leah and Chelsea discover just how difficult and disastrous it would be to merge the asteroid belt – with one surprising silver lining. Joining them in their quest are planetary scientists Andy Rivkin of John Hopkins University, and Kathryn Volk of the University of Arizona. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt to destroying the sun – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. It may just feature in a later episode… And if you just want to chat about this episode or wrecking the cosmos more generally, tweet @chelswhyte and @downhereonearth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#222 At this point, most people have heard the accepted wisdom that you need 8 hours sleep every night, especially for a healthy brain. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? If you lie awake at night worrying about getting enough sleep, you may be in luck. A reminder that correlation is not causation, and some surprising new research into how our brains respond to lower amounts of sleep. In space news, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has just completed a fly-by of a ‘nearby’ asteroid, in preparation for a much bigger excursion out into the solar system. Lucy’s next mission takes it to Jupiter, where it’ll be exploring the asteroids that follow in the gas giant’s orbit, and which may be fragments from early planetary formation. Also, unusual dense spots buried deep within Earth’s mantle may actually be remains of an ancient planet that collided with ours. What buried bits of ‘Theia’ might tell us about Earth’s cosmological history and the creation of our moon. The UK’s first summit to discuss the safety and security of AI and its role in society has now drawn to a close. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak brought together more than 100 delegates from 28 countries, including tech CEOs such as Elon Musk. Amid frustrations over transparency, and a lacklustre policy result, what did the summit actually achieve? Can you find the head on a starfish? Researchers investigating the animal’s genes are finding that starfish are actually just heads, and perhaps nothing else, crawling around on their lips. What this finding tells us about the way ecology and natural selection shape animal evolution. Plus: Why some flatworms are great at sex, while others can regrow their heads – and why they can’t do both at the same time. How a desert plant is adapting to low moisture environments with salty sweat. And why chimps seek out high ground to spy on their rivals. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests Clare Wilson, Leah Crane, Matt Sparkes and Claire Ainsworth. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: newscientist.com/tours Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know we have King Louis XIV to thank for fistula surgeries? After surgeons worked hard to find a cure for his rear-end ailment, the operation became the height of fashion, with people queuing up to go under the knife so they could be just like their king.   That’s just one of the incredible stories from Suzie Edge’s new book Vital Organs: A History of the World’s Most Famous Body Parts. Suzie Edge is a medical historian and frequently takes to TikTok to surprise (and sometimes shock) her followers with the true health stories of famous people from the past. In this episode, Suzie explores some of the most fascinating tales from her book, including the tale of Alexis St. Martin, who became a medical curiosity after an accident left his stomach partially open to the world. She explains why she loves talking about the bodies of famous people from the past – how it makes them feel less like myths or legends, and more like real people. And she touches on our obsession with stigmatising people based on their physical appearance – how movie villains often have facial disfigurements, or how historians often blamed Kaiser Wilhelm’s warlike ways on his disabled left arm. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#221 Independent researchers have found new ways that OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool can assist bad actors, from providing the code needed to hack computer databases to teaching people how to make homemade explosives. While the company continually updates security safeguards, it turns out some languages can be used to bypass these guardrails.  It has long been thought that only humans and some toothed whales go through the menopause. But are there other mammals out there who experience it too? And if so, is it a rarity, or much more common than we realised? The answer may depend on how you define “menopause.” A US start-up has broken a record in quantum computing, fitting the largest ever number of qubits – or quantum bits – into its new machine, finally exceeding the 1000-qubit milestone and more than doubling the previous record. Qubits are what allow quantum computers to do their calculations, and are essential in increasing reliability and stability. Still, more qubits aren’t the only step in the quest for more practical quantum computers. Measuring self-awareness in animals usually involves a well-known mirror test, where an animal is given a mark before being placed in front of a mirror. If they touch the mark after seeing it on their reflection, they pass the test.  But few animals have passed, and it isn’t without controversy. Now, researchers using a new kind of mirror test to investigate self-awareness in chickens – who fail the classic mirror test – think they have found new evidence that the birds recognise their reflections as “self.” This might reveal self-awareness in a greater variety of animals.  Plus: Perfecting vegan cheeses with the help of fermentation, smart glasses that could mimic echolocation for people who are blind and measuring the weight of the human immune system. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests Jeremy Hsu, Michael Le Page, Chelsea Whyte and Alex Wilkins. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: www.newscientist.com/halloween Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether it’s searing heat, sapphire winds striking the sky like rain, or an atmosphere that makes your eyes pop out of your head, some planets are just horrible for life. But even though some pretty horrific planets already exist, the team is not satisfied – they want to bring all of these calamitous qualities together to design the worst of all worlds. In a special bonus edition of Dead Planets Society, recorded on stage in front of an audience at New Scientist Live, Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane rope two guests in on their mission of destruction.  Joining our hosts in their quest to make the most inhospitable planet are astrobiologist and author Lewis Dartnell at the University of Westminster and Vincent Van Eylen, professor and exoplanet researcher at University College London. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt. The hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like us to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. Or if you just want to chat about this episode or wrecking the cosmos more generally, tweet @chelswhyte and @downhereonearth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#220 When you’re asleep, you’re completely dead to the world, right? Well, it turns out we can actually communicate with people while they’re sleeping and even get them to smile or frown on command – at least some of the time., Why this window into the sleeping brain could have important implications for treating people with certain sleep-related health conditions, or even better insights into why and how we dream. In space, scientists have discovered the source of the largest ever recorded marsquake, which rattled the red planet last year. Unlike other quakes on Mars, which does not have plate tectonics to explain seismic events, this one was not the result of an asteroid impact. And the oldest fast radio burst ever detected shocks researchers – a blast with power enough to microwave a bowl of popcorn twice the size of our Sun. What both these events can tell us about unearthly environments. As a record bird flu outbreak continues to devastate bird populations across the globe, we’ve got a surprising finding about its origins. Unlike previous outbreaks, the virus currently circulating originated in Europe and Africa, not Asia. Why this geographical shift? And how can knowing its origins help prevent future outbreaks? The world’s best known particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, is the largest machine on the planet. But it turns out particle accelerators don’t need to be so big. Scientists have made a truly miniature accelerator, so small it could fit into a pen tip, which could have hugely practical benefits for medical care.  Plus: How to reduce the energy footprint of massive data centres, why hitting ‘snooze’ on your alarm clock may not actually be a bad thing and how dung beetles can help us keep track of highly endangered lemurs. And if you want one final chance to win a free copy of Rob Eastaway’s Headscratchers, email your guess for this week’s puzzle to [email protected], or send a voice message to hear yourself on the show. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests Clare Wilson, Alex Wilkins, Grace Wade and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: newscientist.com/20497 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you feel uneasy or relieved to know that free will doesn’t exist? For those who have been fortunate in life, it may feel an attack to suggest they are not captains of their own ships - that their success was down to biological and environmental chance. But for others it may feel a lot more liberating. Robert Sapolsky is an author, eminent neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University, known by many for his work studying baboons and human biology. But his latest book is much more associated with the field of philosophy. Determined: Life Without Free Will explores the notions of choice, responsibility and morality, arguing that free will does not exist and why acknowledging this should cause us to rethink the fundamentals of human society. In this episode of CultureLab, Timothy Revell asks Sapolsky why humans are so-hardwired to believe that free will does exist, how our understanding of free will has shifted over the years and whether we could avoid societal collapse if everyone began believing their actions are not their own. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#219 The most detailed map yet of the human brain has been unveiled. The human brain atlas visualises the brain more precisely than we’ve ever been able to before. Cell by cell the map can illuminate how the brain is as specialised and organised as it is and how it develops throughout our lifetimes. How has this been achieved and what can we do with this new level of detail? Two distant icy planets have smashed into each other, turning them into a doughnut of vaporised rock orbiting their nearest star. It’s the first time we’ve been able to pinpoint an event like this, and it may reshape our understanding of how star systems evolve. A prominent cryptography expert is warning that one of the United States’ top intelligence agencies may be trying to weaken the next generation of encryption. When quantum computers become widespread, modern encryption will be all but useless. But as scientists work to come up with new mathematical techniques to safeguard our online data, one mathematician has claimed the National Security Agency is intentionally watering down proposed new standards for cryptographic algorithms – with potential consequences for everyone’s security. Despite being made of solid metal, Earth’s inner core is unusually soft and squishy – more like clay or rubber than cast iron. A game of high-pressure musical chairs involving iron atoms may explain it all.  Plus: How Neanderthals hunted cave lions, how to make solid roads on our moon and celebrating the winner (and all the runners-up) of Fat Bear Week. And if you want the chance to win a free copy of Rob Eastaway’s Headscratchers, email your guess for this week’s puzzle to [email protected], or send a voice message to hear yourself on the show. Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests Clare Wilson, Jacob Aron, Rob Eastaway, Matthew Sparkes and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: newscientist.com/20497 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leah finally takes on her arch-nemesis; the two-faced, arrogant, cold-hearted… moon. And despite her lunar love, Chelsea gets roped into the destruction. Together, they plot to crack it like an egg, vaporise it into nothingness and drill into it with a giant jackhammer… all while dodging the space police. Our space marauders recruit the assistance of astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Haym Benaroya at Rutgers University. Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt. The hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte. If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at [email protected]. Or if you just want to chat about this episode or wrecking the cosmos more generally, tweet @chelswhyte and @downhereonearth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#218 The 2023 Nobel Prize winners have been announced. Winners of the science prizes include two scientists who helped develop mRNA vaccines, physicists who’ve managed to generate ultra-short pulses of light to study electrons and chemists who’ve made unimaginably tiny crystals, called quantum dots. Why all these discoveries have touched our lives – and how one almost didn’t happen. We’ve got some science-based puzzles that’ll have you scratching your head… Rob Eastaway, the man behind New Scientist’s Headscratcher puzzle column, has helped author a new book of brain teasers, aptly named ‘Headscratchers’. To celebrate its launch, Rob shares a tricky clock-based puzzle to try your hand at – plus a chance to win a free copy of the book. From SpaceX to Amazon to OneWeb, the race is on to launch thousands of satellites into space, capable of providing internet access to almost anywhere in the world. But at what cost to the environment? The first study comparing the carbon footprint of these satellites is out now. Plus: How electrons from Earth may be influencing the creation of water on the moon, why chicken hatcheries in Europe are starting to sex-test unhatched chicks and why hippopotamuses are so bad at chewing their food. And a plug for our favourite feast of the year: Fat Bear Week.  Hosts Timothy Revell and Christie Taylor discuss all of this with guests Clare Wilson, Alex Wilkins, Rob Eastaway, Jeremy Hsu and Corryn Wetzel. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: The Royal Institution’s exciting autumn season of public science talks is on. To book, visit www.rigb.org/  Vote for your favourite bear for Fat Bear Week, and learn how brown bears know it’s time to bulk up. New Scientist Live tickets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our planet has gone through a lot. If we peer into the deep history of Earth’s climate, we see ice ages, rapid warming events and mass extinctions. All of which led to the advent of humankind. But as today’s climate warms at a pace we’ve never seen before, can these past climate events tell us anything about our future? University of Pennsylvania climate scientist and activist Michael Mann explores this in his new book Our Fragile Moment, which looks at how climate change has shaped our planet and human societies for better and for worse. The big take home message is that it’s not too late to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. In this episode of CultureLab, environment reporter James Dinneen speaks to Mann about the climate extremes we’ve seen this year, what we can learn from ancient rapid warming events like the P.E.T.M (Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum) and why climate doom is now a bigger threat than denial to taking action. To read about subjects like this and much more, visit newscientist.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#217 Antimatter is the counterpart to regular matter, but with an opposite electric charge, as well as other differences. So if it’s the opposite of normal matter, does it fall up instead of down? Studying antimatter is notoriously difficult, but scientists at CERN have scraped together just enough to take a closer look at its behaviour under gravity – their results are consistent with Albert Einstein’s predictions.  With remote school and work during the covid-19 pandemic, it’s no wonder telehealth startups popped up all over the US. With telemedicine, you don’t even need to leave your house to get a prescription – medicine can be delivered straight to your door, a boon for people who live in remote areas or have other difficulties in accessing a doctor’s office. But does this convenience come at a price? An “apocalypse” of declining insect populations was first reported in 2017 . But what is to blame? New research finds a culprit that’s neither habitat loss nor pesticides, but something potentially more fickle. Move over cows, there’s a new ‘moo’ in town. It turns out crocodiles can moo too – African dwarf crocodiles to be exact. In an effort to monitor their populations remotely, scientists have been recording the surprising noises they make. Plus: The best crater to set up a base on the Moon, why classroom therapy dogs are so helpful and how carrots became orange. Hosts Christie Taylor and Chelsea Whyte discuss all of this with guests Alex Wilkins, Grace Wade, James Dinneen and Sofia Quaglia. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com. Events and Links: The Royal Institution’s exciting autumn season of public science talks is on. To book, visit www.rigb.org/ New Scientist Live tickets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices