Nature Podcast

In the first of our new podcast series, a Nature reporter looks for reasons for hope in the face of overwhelming climate anxiety.

The past year has been... a lot. Record-breaking temperatures, devastating floods and catastrophic wildfires have brought the realities of climate change into sharp focus for people around the world. At the same time, many governments and organisations have scaled back on their climate action.
If you’re anything like me you might be feeling it’s all a bit ‘doom and gloom’. So in this series I decided to face my climate anxiety head on and set out in search of reasons for optimism.

In this first episode of Cooked? I talk to experts around the world about what the data really show and why there are still reasons to hope.

00:00 How climate change feels overwhelming
04:27 What the data say about renewables
11:23 Will AI stall climate progress?
21:49 How are the world’s nations doing on climate change?
35:13 Preview of next time

Further reading:
Nature: COP31 kicks off as planet faces imminent overshoot of 1.5 °C climate target
Nature: How much energy will AI really consume? The good, the bad and the unknown
Nature: Biotech innovations are an opportunity to limit climate change

This episode was written and produced by Nick Petrić Howe. Dan Fox was the editor. Music was by Daniel Knowler, Akio Jefferson, Lionel Cohen and The Conductor, and was provided by Triple Scoop Music via Getty Images. Thanks to Hannah Ritchie, Ketan Joshi and Niklas Höhne for featuring in this episode.
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In this episode:
00:45 How extreme climatic events threaten cacti
Research Article: Pillet et al.

11:08 Research Highlights
Nature: Cholera bacterium’s good deed: inspiring a glue with rare properties
Nature: First-of-its-kind planetary wreckage holds clues to our Solar System’s fate

13:41 Testing a new way to define obesity
Research Article: Pan et al.
Nature: ​​​​​​​Move over BMI: new obesity definition is better for predicting your health
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In this episode:

00:27 The snake that rolls at the first sign of danger
Tiktok: This snake does cartwheels
Research article: Kojima et al.

05:10 Evidence of ancient blood cells in a dinosaur fossil
Science: Did scientists just find 115-million-year-old dinosaur blood?

Nature: Patrick Stewart dies: how Captain Picard inspired today’s science leaders

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
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Ancient genomes from thousands of individuals show how migrations helped shape Celtic and Germanic languages — plus, how the brain may regulate emotions differently than we thought.

00:49 How Celtic and Germanic languages spread across Europe
Research Article: McColl et al.
Research Article: McColl et al.

13:00 Research Highlights
Nature: Barn owls’ ancestors made a transatlantic flight
Nature: Even stupendous black holes can’t explain dark matter

15:34 Why part of the brain may not be controlling emotions in the way researchers thought
Research Article: Sicorello et al.

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Correction: This article originally stated Simon Rodway’s name incorrectly. The podcast has now been updated to correct this.
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Nature staff discuss the emerging field of pet longevity — plus, a researcher decides not to care about their student reviews. Are they wrong?

00:24 Could research help boost your dog’s lifespan?
Nature: Can science make your dog live longer? Longevity craze comes to pets

05:16 Is it wrong to not care about student reviews?
Nature: What students think about my teaching doesn’t matter. Am I wrong?

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.