In this episode:

00:29 Dolly the sheep’s 30-year legacy

Metro: Dolly the sheep at 30: The clone that changed science (and celebrity petdom)

Nature: From cloning to gene-editing: the enduring legacy of Dolly the sheep

05:20 The ocean floor caught in the act of splitting at the seams

Nature: Ocean floor witnessed splitting apart for the first time — releasing lava

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In this episode:

00:45 A neutron detector could sniff out a secret space nuke

Research article: Danagoulian

11:52 Research Highlights

Nature: Volcanic magma sculpts eerie domes on the sea floor

Nature: Clues to the sloth’s sloth found in its genome

14:18 How indigenous knowledge in the Amazon could disappear

Research article: Cámara-Leret et al.

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In this episode, we speak with science journalist Rowan Hooper, whose book Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations takes a deep-dive into the world of co-operation between organisms.

In the book, he argues that collaboration in nature has often been overlooked in favour of competition, and that organisms working together have played a vital role in making the world the way it is.

Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations Rowan Hooper Fern Press (2026)

Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images

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Peptides — short chains of amino acids — have become huge online. The popularity of these molecules has skyrocketed and they are now the latest cure-all trend on social media.

But what does the science say about their effectiveness? Animal research suggests that that some of these experimental peptides hold promise, but evidence they work in people is lacking.

This is an audio version of our Feature: Is the peptide craze backed by science? The promise behind the hype

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Nature staff discuss how apes share a rhythm of laughter, and how AI use may degrade skills in medicine and computer science.

00:32 Early evidence suggests that AI use causes skills to atrophy

Nature: Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good

06:42 Humans and chimps share a laugh

Nature: Oo oo, ha ha: why humans and great apes giggle alike when tickled

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

00:46 How sensitive information can be gleaned from medical AIs

Research article: Knolle et al.

Correction: The story about medical AI-data privacy incorrectly stated that the number of individuals at high risk of a membership inference attack increases as training-dataset size grows. It should have stated that the increase in risk occurs when the AI model increases in capacity and size.

11:31 Research Highlights

Nature: A long-lived butterfly’s secret to graceful ageing

Nature: It slices! It dices! Sashimi-Bot handles seafood with ease

13:57 Across the Universe, galaxies clump together more than physicists thought they should

Research article: Labini & Galoppo

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Nature staff discuss preliminary data on the effects of GLP-1 drugs on male fertility plus a two-year trial of a brain-computer interface.

00:18 Brain-computer interface makes a life-changing impact

Nature: At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back

05:39 The possible benefits of obesity drugs on testosterone

Nature: The latest benefit of obesity drugs: boosting testosterone and sperm quality

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In this episode:

00:45 Ancient evidence of deadly plague outbreaks

Research article: Macleod et al.

12:33 Research Highlights

Nature: Bones of Iron Age skeleton were whittled into tools

Nature: Giant crustacean of the deep sea steals a trick from bacteria

14:52 A prototype atom interferometer

Research article: Baynham et al.

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In this episode:

00:37 Evidence that Stonehenge's Altar Stone travelled by glacier

BBC Science Focus: We may have just cracked one of Stonehenge's greatest mysteries

05:44 Fossilized faeces reveal DNA from ancient ecosystem

Nature: Ancient ground squirrels feasted on carcasses like ‘zombies of the Pleistocene’

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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In this episode:

00:46 A giant, ancient whale necropolis

Research article: Peng et al.

News & Views: A vast whale necropolis has been found

08:52 Research Highlights

Nature: Babies’ birth weight improves with help of payments to parents

Nature: Earliest signs of vision recorded in ancient sea-floor tracks

11:11 Turning plant material into chemical building-blocks

Research article: Mains et al.

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In this episode:

00:23 Fossil evidence that spinosaurs had an aquatic lifestyle

Science: Some spinosaurs cried salty tears to thrive in brackish waters

04:57 The explosive immune cells that kill in minutes

Nature: Bang! Exploding immune cells splatter potent toxins everywhere

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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