In this episode:
To prevent the loss of wildlife, forest restoration is key, but monitoring how well biodiversity actually recovers is incredibly difficult. Now though, a team have collected recordings of animal sounds to determine the extent of the recovery. However, while using these sounds to identify species is an effective way to monitor, it’s also labour intensive. To overcome this, they trained an AI to listen to the sounds, and found that although it was less able to identify species, its findings still correlated well with wildlife recovery, suggesting that it could be a cost-effective and automated way to monitor biodiversity.
Research article: Müller et al.
Researchers develop algae-based living materials that glow when squeezed, and a 50-million-year-old bat skull that suggests echolocation was an ancient skill.
Research Highlight: Give these ‘living composite’ objects a squeeze and watch them glow
Research Highlight: Fossilized skull shows that early bats had modern sonar
A brain imaging study reveals how high-fat foods exert their powerful pull, and how being asleep doesn’t necessarily cut you off from the outside world.
Nature News: Deep asleep? You can still follow simple commands, study finds
Nature News: Milkshake neuroscience: how the brain nudges us toward fatty foods
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These frog 'saunas’ could help endangered species fight off a deadly fungus
Audio long read: How NASA astronauts are training to walk on the Moon in 2026
Why ‘open source’ AIs could be anything but, the derailment risks of long freight trains, and breeding better wheat
How do fish know where a sound comes from? Scientists have an answer
Hybrid working works: huge study reveals no drop in productivity
Twitter suspended 70,000 accounts after the Capitol riots and it curbed misinformation
How AI could improve robotics, the cockroach’s origins, and promethium spills its secrets
How mathematician Freeman Hrabowski opened doors for Black scientists
Audio long read: How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models
Fentanyl addiction: the brain pathways behind the opioid crisis
Lizard-inspired building design could save lives
Alphafold 3.0: the AI protein predictor gets an upgrade
Talking about sex and gender doesn't need to be toxic
Dad's microbiome can affect offsprings' health — in mice
Audio long read: Why loneliness is bad for your health
How gliding marsupials got their 'wings'
Living on Mars would probably suck — here's why
Keys, wallet, phone: the neuroscience behind working memory
The 'ghost roads' driving tropical deforestation
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
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