Trialing treatments for Long Covid, and a new organelle appears on the scene
]Researchers are testing HIV drugs and monoclonal antibodies against long-lasting COVID-19, and what it takes to turn a symbiotic friend into an organelle First up on the show this week, clinical trials of new and old treatments for Long Covid. Producer Meagan Cantwell is joined by Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and some of her sources to discuss the difficulties of studying and treating this debilitating disease. People in this segment:·      Michael Peluso·      Sara Cherry·      Shelley Hayden Next: Move over mitochondria, a new organelle called the nitroplast is here. Host Sarah Crespi tal...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - April 11, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts

The 'ghost roads' driving tropical deforestation
In this episode:00:46 Mapping ‘ghost roads’ in tropical forestsAcross the world, huge numbers of illegal roads have been cut into forests. However, due to their illicit nature, the exact numbers of these roads and their impacts on ecosystems is poorly understood. To address this, researchers have undertaken a huge mapping exercise across the tropical Asia-Pacific region. Their findings reveal over a million kilometers of roads that don’t appear on official maps, and that their construction is a key driver for deforestation.Research Article: Engert et al.10:44 Research HighlightsHow climate change fuelled a record-bre...
Source: Nature Podcast - April 10, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

TWiV 1103: Jason 'Spike' McLellan
Vincent travels to the University of Texas in Austin to speak with speak with Jason McLellan about his career and his research on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, including the effect of adding two proline residues, its effect on other viral spike glycoproteins, and general approaches to vaccine design. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit Guest: Jason McLellan Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode MicrobeTV Discord Server MicrobeTV store at Cafepress Become a member of ASV (asv.org) The New City by Dickson Despommier Prefusion-stabilizedÂ...
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - April 7, 2024 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts

Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
Around the world, rates of cancers that typically affect older adults are increasing in those under 50 years old. Models based on global data predict that the number of early-onset cancer cases like these will increase by around 30% between 2019 and 2030.The most likely contributors — such as rising rates of obesity and early-cancer screening — do not fully account for the increase. To try and understand the reasons behind this trend, many researchers are searching for answers buried in studies that tracked the lives and health of children born half a century ago.This is an audio version of our Feature Why are so many ...
Source: Nature Podcast - April 5, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

When did rats come to the Americas, and was Lucy really our direct ancestor?
Tracing the arrival of rats using bones, isotopes, and a few shipwrecks; and what scientists have learned in 50 years about our famous ancestor Lucy First on the show: Did rats come over with Christopher Columbus? It turns out, European colonists weren’t alone on their ships when they came to the Americas—they also brought black and brown rats to uninfested shores. Eric Guiry, a researcher in the Trent Environmental Archaeology Lab at Trent University, joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how tiny slices of bone from early colony sites and sunken shipwrecks can tell us when these pesky rodents arrived. Next, producer M...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - April 4, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts

Pregnancy's effect on 'biological' age, polite-birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg
In this episode:00:35 Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it backGrowing a baby leads to changes in the distribution of certain chemical markers on a pregnant person’s DNA, but new research suggests that after giving birth, these changes can revert to an earlier state.Nature News: Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back08:07 Bird gestures to say 'after you'A Japanese tit (Parus minor) will flutter its wings to invite their mate to enter the nest first. Use of these sorts of gestures, more complex than simply pointing at an object of interest, wer...
Source: Nature Podcast - April 3, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

Pregnancy's effect on 'biological' age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg
In this episode:00:35 Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it backGrowing a baby leads to changes in the distribution of certain chemical markers on a pregnant person’s DNA, but new research suggests that after giving birth, these changes can revert to an earlier state.Nature News: Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back08:07 Bird gestures to say 'after you'A Japanese tit (Parus minor) will flutter its wings to invite their mate to enter the nest first. Use of these sorts of gestures, more complex than simply pointing at an object of interest, wer...
Source: Nature Podcast - April 3, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

Diabetes Core Update – April 2024
Diabetes Core Update is a monthly podcast that presents and discusses the latest clinically relevant articles from the American Diabetes Association’s four science and medical journals – Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Clinical Diabetes, and Diabetes Spectrum. Each episode is approximately 25 minutes long and presents 5-6 recently published articles from ADA journals. Intended for practicing physicians and health care professionals, Diabetes Core Update   discusses how the latest research and information published in journals of the American Diabetes Association are relevant to clinical practice and can be applied in a trea...
Source: Diabetes Core Update - April 2, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: American Diabetes Association Source Type: podcasts

Two Guys Tallking about VR Therapy
 Dr. Gurr and Dr. Elliott talk with Dr. Elizabeth McMahon about Virtutal Reality Therapy- how it is used for exposure therapy and its trajectory for the future of therapy. Dr. McMahon specializes in evidence-based treatment for anxiety and has been using virtual reality (VR) with clients since 2010. She currently provides training and consultation on VR exposure therapy (VRET), benefits and risks of VR, integrative cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic, anxiety, and fears, interoceptive exposure, and related topics. Her book Virtual Reality Therapy for Anxiety: A Guide for Therapists (with D. Boeldt, PhD) explain...
Source: The Shrink Is In - April 1, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: DrGurr Source Type: podcasts

Teaching robots to smile, and the effects of a rare mandolin on a scientist ’s career
Robots that can smile in synchrony with people, and what ends up in the letters sectionFirst on this week’s show, a robot that can predict your smile. Hod Lipson, a roboticist and professor at Columbia University, joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how mirrors can help robots learn to make facial expressions and eventually improve robot nonverbal communication. Next, we have Margaret Handley, a professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine at the University of California San Francisco. She shares a letter she wrote to Science about how her past, her family, and a rare instrument relate to he...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - March 28, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts

How climate change is affecting global timekeeping
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 Arti...
Source: Nature Podcast - March 27, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

Mifepristone –Science, Abortion Care, and Politics
The US Supreme Court will soon decide a case challenging the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of mifepristone. Author Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE, University of Pennsylvania, joins JAMA Executive Editor Gregory Curfman, MD, to discuss the science and politics surrounding this significant case. Related Content: The FDA in the Crosshairs—Science, Politics, and Abortion Provision of Medications for Self-Managed Abortion Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision Understanding the Impacts of the Supreme Court Case FDA v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (Source: JAMA Author Interviews)
Source: JAMA Author Interviews - March 25, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: JAMA Network Source Type: podcasts

Hope in the fight against deadly prion diseases, and side effects of organic agriculture
New clinical trials for treatments of an always fatal brain disease, and what happens with pests when a conventional and organic farm are neighbors First up on this week’s show, a new treatment to stave off prion disease goes into clinical trials. Prions are misfolded proteins that clump together and chew holes in the brain. The misfolding can be switched on in a number of ways—including infection with a misfolded prion protein from an animal or person. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman talks with host Sarah Crespi about new potential treatments—from antisense nucleotides to small molecules that interfere with protein pr...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - March 21, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts

AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs
In this episode:00:48 How mysterious skyrmions could power next-generation computersSkyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that some researchers believe have useful properties that could unlock new kinds of computing. However getting skyrmions to perform useful computational tasks has been tricky. Now researchers have developed a method to create and manipulate skyrmions in a way that is compatible with existing computing technology, allowing them to read and write data at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional systems. The team think this shows that skyrmions could be a viable part of the next generation of...
Source: Nature Podcast - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts

The future of the clinical relationship, code sharing, and a Nye-t at the theatre
In this week's podcast:   How AI will affect the clinician-patient relationship? Our annual Nuffield Summit roundtable asks how the promise of tech tools stacks up against reality, and how the future of the therapeutic relationship can be protected (participants below).   Your code is as important as your methods, which is why The BMJ now requires you to share it - Ben Goldacre and Nick De Vito, from the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford, explain why it's so important, and how The BMJ's new data and code sharing policy could change research transparency.   Nye Bevin set up the NHS ...
Source: The BMJ Podcast - March 15, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: BMJ Group Source Type: podcasts