The self-supporting structures that snap into place, and how a ban on fossil-fuel funding could entrench poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
In this episode:
00:45 Self-supporting, foldable structures
Drawing inspiration from the art of origami, a team of researchers have demonstrated a way to design self-supporting structures that lock into place after being inflated. The team hope that this technique could be used to create arches and emergency shelters that can be quickly unfolded from flat with minimal input.
Research Article: Melancon et al.
News and Views: Large-scale origami locks into place under pressure
Video: Origami-inspired structures could be deployed in disaster zones
07:32 Research Highlights
Nocturnal fluctuations cause scientists to underestimate rivers’ carbon emissions, and the ‘island rule’ of animal size-change is seen around the world.
Research Highlight: Rivers give off stealth carbon at night
Research Highlight: Animals around the world follow the ‘island rule’ to a curious fate
09:55 Banning fossil-fuel funding will not alleviate poverty
A ban by wealthy nations on the funding of overseas fossil-fuel projects would do little to reduce the world’s climate emissions and much to entrench poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, argues economist Vijaya Ramachandran.
World View: Blanket bans on fossil-fuel funds will entrench poverty
17:17 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the first powered flight on another world, and estimating how many Tyrannosaurus rex ever lived.
News: Lift off! First flight on Mars launches new way to explore worlds
Video: Flying a helicopter on Mars: NASA’s Ingenuity
News: How many T. rex ever existed? Calculation of dinosaur’s abundance offers an answer
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Nature Pastcast, October 1993: Carl Sagan uses Galileo to search for signs of life
31 October 2019: An AI masters the video game StarCraft II, and measuring arthropod abundance
Podcast Extra: Detecting gravitational waves
24 October 2019: Quantum supremacy and ancient mammals
17 October 2019: Mapping childhood mortality, and evolving ‘de novo’ genes
10 October 2019: Estimating earthquake risk, and difficulties for deep-learning
Podcast Extra: Q&A with Nobel Prize winner John B Goodenough
Podcast Extra: Q&A with Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz
03 October 2019: Leapfrogging speciation, and migrating mosquitoes
Nature PastCast, September 1963: Plate tectonics – the unifying theory of Earth sciences
26 September 2019: Mysteries of the ancient mantle, and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Podcast Extra: Absurd scientific advice
Backchat: Covering Climate Now
19 September 2019: XKCD, and Extinction Rebellion
12 September 2019: Modelling early embryos, and male-dominated conferences
05 September 2019: Persistent antibiotic resistance, and modelling hot cities
Nature PastCast, August 1975: Antibodies’ ascendency to blockbuster drug status
29 August 2019: Carbon-based computing, and depleting ancient-human genomes
22 August 2019: Combating online hate speech, and identifying early fossils
15 August 2019: Atomic espionage in the Second World War, and exploring the early Universe
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