
New Scientist Weekly
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Keep up with the latest scientific developments and breakthroughs in this award winning weekly podcast from the team at New Scientist, the world's most popular weekly science and technology magazine. Each discussion centers around three of the most fascinating stories to hit the headlines each week. From technology, to space, health and the environment, we share all the information you need to..
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 289 Slices of mouse brains have been revived after being in deep freeze, hinting at the future possibility of reanimating humans who have been cryogenically preserved. While this is just a first step, researchers say the technique could one day be adapted to bring frozen human brains out of stasis. This may be good news for the more than 200 bodies currently in deep freeze in the US. But what kind of world will they wake up to if we do find a way? An asteroid named 2024 YR4 is threatening to smash into Earth in just over 7 years’ time. Alarm bells are ringing and several international ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 288 President Trump has launched what’s being described as an all-out assault on science and medicine. Given America’s impact on global science, this affects the entire world. Web pages referencing climate change and global warming are being deleted, words like “transgender” are being banned from medical publications and USAID has been labelled evil. As access to fundamental scientific information is put at risk, we find out how anxiety is rising among US scientists - and what it means for the rest of us. Two studies of whale songs have uncovered striking similarities to the patterns o ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 287 Chinese AI company DeepSeek unexpectedly stormed onto the scene just a few days ago - a move that has shaken the big US AI companies. The new large language model is similar to ChatGPT, but was developed for a fraction of the cost. How have they achieved this? We dig into the key technological innovations behind DeepSeek. We also discuss the potential climate gains of a more efficient AI model, whether this is the beginning of an AI-fuelled arms race between China and the US and perhaps most importantly - is it safe for you to use? All of this and a chat about the future of AGI - a ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 286 President Trump has signed executive orders pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement, and out of the World Health Organization. Although he claims that withdrawing from Paris will save the US $1trillion a year, the reality is much less clear. As the world’s second largest emitter and amid bans on renewable energy permits, just how catastrophic is this for global climate action? Leaving the WHO raises concerns too over the future of global health action. You probably know of the placebo effect, but have you heard of the ‘nocebo’ effect? Known as the evil twin of the placebo ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 285 New archaeological evidence from Iron Age Britain has shaken up long-held beliefs about the role of women in ancient civilisations. By studying the genes of the Durotriges tribe, who lived in Dorset 2000 years ago, researchers have discovered women were the centrepiece of Celtic society - supporting evidence that they had high status across Europe. Rachel Pope, Reader in European Prehistory at the University of Liverpool, explores the “jaw-dropping” findings. We also hear from author and archaeologist Rebecca Wragg-Sykes, who explains why we shouldn’t be surprised that women in pre ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 284 Creating disease-resistant humans may before too long be a reality thanks to advancements in CRISPR gene editing. It’s now possible to make dozens - if not hundreds - of edits to different genes at once. As the field progresses rapidly, a controversial paper published in Nature explores just how powerful this technology could be in protecting against diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes. But how safe is gene-editing? The paper has been criticised amid safety and ethical concerns, as well as the danger this could give rise to eugenics and designer babies. A person in Louisiana has ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 283 On this special episode of the podcast, we set you up for the year ahead. 2025 has been declared the year of humanoid robots. Futuristic robots that look like us are already being rolled out by companies like BMW and Tesla - and production is set to ramp up. One company is even planning to create an army of 10,000 warehouse robots called Digit. We’re going to see big changes in the food industry too, as the US is set to approve CRISPR gene editing for pigs. The idea is to create elite livestock that are less prone to illness and can feed more people. Bananas are having their genes ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 282 Looking back at some of the best stories New Scientist has published in 2024, this episode is a treasure trove of knowledge that will serve you well over the holiday season. Rowan Hooper hosts a panel of New Scientist journalists, as they take it in turn to highlight their favourite moments from the year. Head of features Josh Howgego kicks off by looking at the race to find an amazing and strange form of hydrogen, known as ‘gold hydrogen’ - a game-changer for sustainability which may be more abundant than we first realised. He also discusses the mystery of kimberlites, supersonic ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 281 In this special episode recorded live at the Science Museum in London, we celebrate some of the best, most awe-inspiring science stories of 2024. Round one kicks off with the panelist’s stories of the year, including the discovery that thousand-year-old preserved brains are much easier to find than we realised, that metallic nodules found on the sea floor could be acting as “geobatteries”, creating oxygen in the deep sea, plus a surprising finding involving Dyson Spheres that may hint at the existence of advanced alien life. In round two the panelists discuss their cultural h ..read more
New Scientist Weekly
4d ago
Episode 280 Google claims it has pulled ahead in the race for quantum supremacy. Its new Willow chip has completed a task in 5 minutes that a classical computer would take 10 septillion years to complete. But the biggest breakthrough is how it excels in error correction. Find out what this means and why some scientists believe this new quantum computer proves the existence of the multiverse. Data from one of the world’s largest collections of brain scans is shedding new light on how to keep our brains young. Analysing scans from the UK Biobank project, scientists have identified 13 proteins th ..read more