Podcast Episodes

Gain-of-Function: Loss-of-Funding

This week, the White House posted an executive order which details the administration’s intent to stop ‘dangerous gain-of-function research’. We talk to Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist and biosecurity…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Scientists of the world unite

Scientists from around the world have gathered together at the annual European Geosciences Union general assembly, to discuss current projects, working hypotheses and potential findings. There are n…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Wet market SARS CoV-2 origins revisited

Last week, the website covid.gov looked very different, containing information on coping with covid and US research. This week it leads you to a White House webpage outlining the lab-leak hypothesis …

Published on 5 months ago

Any more for Moore’s Law?

After 60 years of doubling computer complexity every two years, can Moore’s law still predict the future power of the devices we use?

In 1965, electronics pioneer Gordon Moore was asked to predict the…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Researching pain, painlessly

Pain, particularly chronic pain, is hard to research. New therapeutics are hard to screen for. Patients are not all the same. Sergui Pascu and colleagues at Stanford university have been growing brai…

Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago

Earthquakes and the first breath of life on Earth

How Myanmar’s tragic earthquake left a 500km scar on the surface of the earth in just 90 seconds. Also, more hints of a link between shingles vaccines and reduced dementia, and how earth’s first oxyg…

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Breakthrough antivirals and fresh US grant cancellations

This week, after five years of research, two newly discovered antiviral molecules have been shown to combat coronaviruses. Johan Neyts of the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Leuven outlines ho…

Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago

Columbia cuts and "transgender mice"

There is continued upheaval in US scientific institutions under the new Trump administration. This week $400 million dollars-worth of grants have been frozen at Columbia University in response to “il…

Published on 6 months ago

New warnings, familiar faces, and radio pulses

Five years after the WHO pandemic announcement, an H5N1 call to arms from global health leaders. Also, the oldest western European face is found, the oldest impact crater possibly identified, and str…

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago

An uncertain forecast for meteorology

As the new administration in the US continues to make cuts to government agencies and scientific funding, NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been particularly trimmed. Thi…

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago