Nature Podcast

In this episode of Nature hits the books, we speak with Nature's Helen Pearson whose book Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works looks at the history of using evidence, rather than opinion, in decision making.

The book traces the course of the movement in various disciplines, such as the rise of evidence-based medicine in the 90s, looking at the rebels who led the charge, the barriers they faced, and why the use of evidence is crucial at a time when misinformation is rife.

Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works Helen Pearson Princeton University Press (in the press)

Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

00:45 The table-tennis robot that can mix it with the pros
Research Article: Dürr et al.
News and Views: Robot can beat elite players at table tennis
Video: This robot can beat you at table tennis

14:13 Research Highlights
Nature: Venus’s impenetrable haze could be made of cosmic dust
Nature: Graves reveal plague’s inequitable toll

16:21 Why physicists can’t agree on the strength of Big G
Nature: How big is Big G? Mystery deepens after ten-year effort to measure gravity’s strength
Research Article: Schlamminger et al.

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

00:30 The penguins measuring environmental PFAS
Science: Penguins become marine detectives, thanks to pollutant-detecting anklets

05:14 Treating autoimmune diseases with CAR-T
Nature: One woman, three autoimmune diseases: CAR-T therapy vanquishes ultra-rare disease trio

10:34 Why an anglerfish’s lure might have two uses
Science: Why do anglerfish have glowing lures? It might be sex

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

00:46 A massive trial assessing the outcomes of ‘off label’ cancer treatment
Research Article: Verkerk et al.

12:49 Research Highlights
Nature: Microbial hockey: bacteria can spin a ‘puck’ just by swimming
Nature: Regular physical activity in midlife cuts risk of early death

15:14 10,000 years of western Eurasian evolution
Nature: Landmark ancient-genome study shows surprise acceleration of human evolution
Research Article: Akbari et al.

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:
On Monday, reporter Alexandra Witze was in the heart of the Artemis II mission’s science operations. She tells us about the experience and what NASA’s researchers have learnt from the mission so far.

Nature: I was with Artemis II’s scientists during the Moon fly-by. Here’s what I saw
Nature: First photos from Artemis II: see stunning ‘Earthset’ and more
Nature: Historic Artemis II Moon fly-by — Nature’s live coverage as it happened

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.