In this episode:
To understand when, and how, the Milky Way formed, researchers need to know when its stars were born. This week, a team of astronomers have precisely aged nearly a quarter of a million stars, revealing more about the sequence of events that took place as our galaxy formed.
Research article: Xiang and Rix
News and Views: A stellar clock reveals the assembly history of the Milky Way
Archaeologists reveal an ancient lake was actually a ritual pool, and how the Moon’s phase affects some birds' altitude.
Research Highlight: Ancient ‘harbour’ revealed to be part of fertility god’s lavish shrine
Research Highlight: These birds fly high when the full Moon hangs in the sky
Yellowstone National Park’s iconic geothermal geysers and volcanic landmarks are well studied, but very little was known about the ‘plumbing system’ that feeds these features. Now a team of researchers have mapped the underground hydrothermal system, showing the specific faults and pathways that supply the park.
Research article: Finn et al.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, 0why an Australian university has been suspended from winning a research foundation’s fellowships, and the ongoing debate about the cause of ‘COVID toes’.
Nature: Funder bars university from grant programme over white-male award line-up
Nature: Are ‘COVID toes’ actually caused by the coronavirus?
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Audio long read: So you got a null result. Will anyone publish it?
Covert racism in AI chatbots, precise Stone Age engineering, and the science of paper cuts
Can ageing be stopped? A biologist explains
AI can't learn new things forever — an algorithm can fix that
The mystery of Stonehenge's central stone unearthed
ChatGPT has a language problem — but science can fix it
Where weird plants thrive: aridity spurs diversity of traits
How light-based computers could cut AI’s energy needs
Audio long read: Hope, despair and CRISPR — the race to save one woman’s life
Rapid sepsis test identifies bacteria that spark life-threatening infection
The plastic that biodegrades in your home compost
Breastfeeding should break down mothers' bones — here's why it doesn't
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
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