Nature Podcast archive

This week: sequencing the genomes of Darwin’s finches, financial trading nears light speed, an ancient book of optics, and mitochondrial transplants get the UK yes vote. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: a new way to protect plants in drought prone areas, studying the driving force behind plate tectonics, an octopus-inspired robot that can zoom through water and Obama’s budget wishlist seeks a big boost for science. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: an Israeli skull piece could be from a human hybrid, a rethink on what makes sodium explode in water, protecting Libyan archaeology and the hunt for Philae hangs in the balance. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: the restorative power of young blood, improving the safety of genetically modified organisms, the rise of deforestation for gold mining in South America, what meteorites found on earth could teach us about the early solar system, and the reappearance of the Beagle 2. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

Bat ecologists have made it their life’s work to find out, philosophers argue we may never understand, and one blind woman knows better than anyone. In the first episode of Audiofile, Nature’s new sound science series, find out how much we can really know about what it’s like to be a bat, and what it tell us about the limits of human perception. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: what hibernation could tell us about brain degeneration, managing climate-induced resettlement, a closer look at expansion microscopy, monkeys and mirrors - and introducing our newest journal, Nature Plants. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: a look at what the New Year may hold for science, the reopening of the Large Hadron Collider, a new antibiotic that’s hard to resist, how less activity has given us lighter bones – and why aren’t there any green mammals? www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: reef fish adopt chemical camouflage, the stories that mattered in science this year, we attempt a game of audio charades, and physicists argue that cosmology must insist upon experimental proof of its theories. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: spider-inspired motion detectors, electric eels zap the neurons of their victims, a new type of pluripotent cell is revealed, and we take stock of how much life exists on earth today – and how quickly it could vanish in the future. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: the development of cultures in wild birds, a new paper confirms earthquakes in the north of England were caused by fracking, how primates got their first taste of alcohol 10 million years ago, and old shells reveal early artwork by Homo erectus. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week – a newly designed coating that can help cool buildings without the need for electricity, the science of sex laid bare, brain-linked devices attract serious attention from the FDA – and weaknesses in the modern publishing system are exposed as authors are caught reviewing their own papers. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: an experiment reveals how professional identity can increase dishonesty in the financial industry, beams of twisted light carry data over Vienna's skyline, how the norovirus could actually benefit the body - and we capture the bumpy moment The European Space Agency’s Philae probe successfully landed on a comet surface. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: the global diet and its effect on human and environmental health, a look at the burden and stigma of depression, the threat of invasive plant species, how the gut microbiome could affect the brain - and physicist Kip Thorne discusses the science he embedded in space blockbuster Interstellar. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: an ancient skull discovered in Madagascar provides insight into the mysterious Gondwanathere mammals, wild chimps plan ahead to improve their chances of a tasty breakfast, a new technique that could open up low-cost technology for particle colliders, and a look at the unfortunate events in space travel this week. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: we explore the 100 most cited papers of all time, mysterious radio pulses that look like they came from deep space may actually be from earth, questions are raised about NASA’s plans to retrieve part of an asteroid – and how Mary Somerville became one of the most popular science writers of her day. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: palaeontologists have completed the picture of a rather unique looking dinosaur, hundreds of exocomets are found circling around another star, an insight into what gladiators ate before going into battle – and drugs given to cattle poison a vulture in Spain. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Natural gas from fracking may not ease carbon dioxide levels, large cities relying on surface water will get thirstier as urban populations boom, watching Alzheimer's unfold in a mini 3D brain - and doubt is cast on the use of mirrors in behavioural experiments as some fish fail to see their reflections as rivals. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: a cave in Indonesia that's home to some of the oldest paintings in the world, increased plant cover in the Arctic may speed up regional warming, David X. Cohen on how ‘The Simpsons’ is secretly scattered with hidden maths jokes - and Nobel Prize week ushers in a new cast of Laureates. www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: A genetic analysis of the bugs that live on our skin, visible rifts in the moon may actually be remnants of a magma plumbing system, the rush to save a rare South African plant from extinction and how a biopiracy ban could lead to unintended consequences for some researchers. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This Week: Artificial sweeteners may induce glucose intolerance, vaginal microbe produces an antibiotic, lack of diversity in clinical trials causes drug development bias, next-generation stem cells used to treat an eye condition, and a taster of our new podcast Backchat. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: The gibbon genome reveals why the animal has remarkable tree climbing abilities, scientists work on ways to mend defects in the retina, China now generates the most energy from renewable sources and scientists are divided over the impending Scottish referendum on independence. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

The latest episode: Europe’s oldest art linked to Neanderthals, a new gene editing technique sheds light on genetic diseases, ice sheets move rocks in California's Death Valley and did Aristotle invent science? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: scientists raise fish on land, turning yeast into morphine, how microbes make cheese, the ongoing Ebola outbreak and how whale watching is harming marine mammals. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: genomes reveal seals transported tuberculosis to the New World, astronomers photograph comets spitting out chemicals, scientists date the disappearance of Neanderthals from Europe and federal regulations ground drones at private universities. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists investigate a giant earthquake in Iquique, why fish on anti-anxiety drugs are surprisingly healthy, monitoring the environmental effects of deep sea mining and what keeps asteroids made of rubble intact? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists work out a way to grow only specific types of carbon nanotube, rodents are turned transparent to get whole-body images, artist Joan Fontcuberta chronicles strange species and forgotten archives, and the scientists on a quest to make a machine that could churn out any organic molecule on demand. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Climate change is threatening Antarctic fur seals, cheese rinds prove useful as models for microbial societies, frozen carbon dioxide, not water, could be carving out gullies on Mars - and start-ups get into nuclear fusion. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists are squeezing diamond to test how matter inside giant planets might behave, a protein leaked by tumours could explain cachexia - and the first boron buckyball could prove useful for storing hydrogen. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: A new Archaeopteryx skeleton with feathered legs suggests feathers didn’t originally evolve for flight, predicting which teens are most likely to abuse alcohol - and Neanderthal poo reveals they ate vegetables as well as meat. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: A method for identifying hidden nuclear warheads, a new and less toxic way of making 'thin film' solar cells, how butterflies use a magnetic compass to migrate - and mixing research and romance in the lab. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: stem cell treatments with no evidence that they work - a group of scientists fight to outlaw the method, Also featured - spider chastity belts, physicists' new way of measuring Newton’s elusive gravitational constant and making 3D digital models of soldiers from the Terracotta Army. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: a new book looks at the recent history of science / art collaboration, the 'magic' of quantum computers - and a pesticide made using spider venom that is safe for honeybees. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists have sifted through thousands of antibiotic resistance genes in soil bacteria, creating a baby with three parents - and matured stem cells make new tissue - not tumours - when transplanted into monkeys. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists discover a set of neurons that control parental behaviour in mice, removing groundwater in California to irrigate crops is causing mountains to rise - and long line fishing could be more sustainable than bottom trawling. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: An online game helps scientists understand the retina, scientists produce a computer simulation of the Universe and how cow manure could be spreading genes for antibiotic resistance. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Scientists regenerate injured monkey hearts using embryonic stem cells, how mice becoming stressed by the smell of men could be affecting the results of research and analysis reveals the extent of wrongful convictions on death-row in the US. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Why the human Y chromosome is a fraction of its former size, a female a Brazilian cave-dwelling insect that has a penis, Beatrix Potter's other life as a mycologist and how researchers are directing the evolution of corals to prepare them to fight climate change. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: A study suggests we turn our attention to the countryside - as well as pristine landscapes - when it comes to conservation, drilling holes in earthquake-prone areas could stop shakes - and how the atmosphere on ancient Mars was surprisingly thin. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: scientists are flooding the Colorado River delta as part of an experiment, the gruesome way a parasite attacks cells in the gut, DNA robots carry out computing tasks inside a cockroach, certain bacteria turn plants into 'zombies' - and researchers attempt to save the rare Hainan gibbon. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: How the announcement fifty years ago of a new human species, Homo habilis, sparked a debate that still rages today, cancer immunotherapy is drumming up excitement, news of a flexible device that can release drugs into the wearer’s skin - and scientists have mapped developing brains. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: the new dwarf planet in our solar system, gastric sleeve surgery, a tree that has the largest genome sequence to date - and which of NASA's current missions it will extend? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Astronomers detect signs of gravitational waves from the Big Bang, adding carbon nanotubes to leaves can boost their photosynthetic power, and a new brain implant could help scientists understand Parkinson’s disease. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: ecologists rethink how top predators influence ecosystems, a rare mineral confirms a huge mass of water could be hidden in the Earth's mantle, a possible new prostate cancer treatment - and did a 13th century cosmologist pen an early version of the Big Bang theory? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: Male fruit flies sing a courtship song to charm females, the oldest known piece of cheese is discovered, a new detector converts faint radio signals into easy-to-measure lasers and what are the future alternatives to the lithium-ion battery? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: scientists find UV radiation causes melanoma to metastasise, crystallography’s journey to the deep Earth, Canadian bears use bridges to breed and Einstein's lost theory is uncovered. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: researchers use environmental DNA to track an invasion of Asian Carp into Lake Michigan, Nicaragua's mega canal, whale-spotting from space, scientists troubled by proposed Swiss immigration changes - and honeybee diseases are found to occur in bumblebees. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: nuclear fusion takes a step closer to being a viable fuel source, how the diversity of colour in birds / mammals evolved, problems for budding space colonists - and ethical questions over Native American remains. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: South Korean cloning expert Woo Suk Hwang returns to the limelight, plant pests and diseases drive forest diversity - and imperfect diamonds could prove useful in quantum computing. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: how birds flying in a V formation take advantage of air flow, starfish use eyes on the ends of their arms to find their way home, and is the FDA's crackdown on personal DNA testing warranted? http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

This week: how flexible flow batteries could be more useful than conventional ones, US university campuses are building threat assessment teams, a high-fibre diet curbs lung inflammation in mice - and fossilised skin reveals the colours of extinct marine reptiles that lived up to 200 million years ago. http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html