An explanation for giant ice structures on Pluto, and dismantling the mestizo myth in Latin American genetics.
In this episode:
00:46 The frozen root of Pluto’s polygonal patterns
In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons probe sent back some intriguing images of Pluto. Huge polygonal patterns could be seen on the surface of a nitrogen-ice ice filled basin known as Sputnik Planitia. This week, a team put forward a new theory to explain these perplexing patterns.
Research article: Morison et al.
06:15 Research Highlights
How Pamplona’s bull-running defies the dynamics of crowd motion, and self-healing microbial bio-bricks.
Research Highlight: Running of the bulls tramples the laws of crowd dynamics
Research Highlight: It’s alive! Bio-bricks can signal to others of their kind
09:06 How the mixed-race ‘mestizo’ myth has fostered discrimination
The term 'mestizo' emerged during the colonial period in Latin America to describe a blend of ethnicities – especially between Indigenous peoples and the Spanish colonizers. But this label is a social construct not a well-defined scientific category. Now researchers are challenging the mestizo myth, which they say is harmful and has a troubling influence on science.
Feature: How the mixed-race mestizo myth warped science in Latin America
17:22 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how interrupted sleep could be a route to creativity, and the development of vaccines to target respiratory syncytial virus.
New Scientist: Interrupting sleep after a few minutes can boost creativity
Nature News: The race to make vaccines for a dangerous respiratory virus
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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
A new way to cool computer chips — from within
Revealed: A clearer view of how general anaesthetics actually work
The challenge of reproducing results from ten-year-old code
3D-printing some of the world's lightest materials
The chemical that turns locusts from Jekyll into Hyde
Audio long-read: Pluto’s dark side is overflowing with secrets
Why skin grows bigger as you stretch it
When did people arrive in the Americas? New evidence stokes debate
Graphene’s magic angle reveals a new twist
Coronapod: Massive coronavirus outbreak strikes iconic Californian prison after it rejected expert aid
The six-year-old space agency with hopes for Mars
Coronapod: Lessons from pandemic ‘war-game’ simulations
What the atomic structure of enamel tells us about tooth decay
Coronapod: The state of the pandemic, six months in
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