In this episode:
01:28 Inflammation’s role in memoryHow memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA damage is repaired may play a role. As inflammation in the brain is often associated with disease, the team were surprised by this finding, which they hope will help uncover ways to better preserve our memories, especially in the face of neurodegenerative disorders.
Research Article: Jovasevic et al.
News and Views: Innate immunity in neurons makes memories persist
The effect of wind turbines on property values, and how waste wood can be used to 3D print new wooden objects.
Research Highlight: A view of wind turbines drives down home values — but only briefly
Research Highlight: Squeeze, freeze, bake: how to make 3D-printed wood that mimics the real thing
Due to variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation, the length of a day is rarely exactly 24 hours. By calculating the strength of the different factors affecting this, a researcher has shown that while Earth’s rotation is overall speeding up, this effect is being tempered by the melting of the polar ice caps. As global time kept by atomic clocks occasionally has to be altered to match Earth’s rotation, human-induced climate change may delay plans to add a negative leap-second to ensure the two align.
Research article: Agnew
News and Views: Melting ice solves leap-second problem — for now
An AI for antibody development, and the plans for the upcoming Simons observatory.
Nature News: ‘A landmark moment’: scientists use AI to design antibodies from scratch
Nature News: ‘Best view ever’: observatory will map Big Bang’s afterglow in new detail
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Don’t think too deeply about the origin of life – it may have started in puddles
Norway's prime minister reveals plans to protect the world's oceans
Cellular ageing: turning back the clock restores vision in mice
Neutrinos give insights into the workings of the Sun’s core
Coronapod: What could falling COVID death rates mean for the pandemic?
The troubling rise of facial recognition technology
Audio long-read: The enigmatic organisms of the Ediacaran Period
Revealed: the impact of noise and light pollution on birds
A powerful radio burst from a magnetic star
Talking politics, talking science
Politics of the life scientific
A brief history of politics and science
Lab–grown brains and the debate over consciousness
The science behind an 'uncrushable' beetle’s exoskeleton
Superconductivity gets heated
Audio long-read: What animals really think
Trump vs. Biden: what's at stake for science?
Greenland's ice will melt faster than any time in the past 12,000 years
After decades of trying, scientists coax plastic particles into a diamond-like structure
Genes chart Vikings' spread across Europe
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