logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
32m 42s

What's the best way to become a professo...

SPRINGER NATURE LIMITED
About this episode

00:56 How the paths to professorship vary

A huge analysis of hiring practices has revealed that criteria to get a promotion to full professorship is hugely variable around the world. The authors suggest that this variability results in researchers from countries that value one type of metric being locked out of professor positions in others. They hope that the database of hiring practices created in this study could help institutions adjust their hiring policies to create a more diverse science workforce.


Research Article: Lim et al.

News: Want to become a professor? Here’s how hiring criteria differ by country



09:36 Research Highlights

Lasers reveal hidden tattoos on ancient mummified-skin, and a new pill that cuts flu symptoms and viral levels in the body.


Research Highlight: Hidden tattoos on mummy skin emerge under a laser’s light

Research Highlight: Got flu? Promising drug shortens symptoms



12:13 Cancer cells’ broken mitochondria could poison immune cells

Researchers have shown that cancer cells can slip their dysfunctional mitochondria into T cells, limiting the immune system’s cancer-fighting capabilities. Cancer cells are known to steal healthy mitochondria from immune cells to help tumours survive and thrive. Now, researchers have shown mitochondria can move in the opposite direction too, with the donor T cells showing signs of various stress responses that make them less effective when inside a tumour. The team showed that blocking this transfer limited this effect, and hopes that this mechanism could offer a new avenue for boosting the immune system’s response to cancer.


Research Article: Ikeda et al.

News & Views: Mitochondrial swap from cancer to immune cells thwarts anti-tumour defences



21:12 Science and the Gaza conflict

Noah Baker and Ehsan Masood turn to the war in Gaza, and discuss what comes next for science as a ceasefire comes into force.


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.

Up next
Aug 6
Underwater glue shows its sticking power in rubber duck test
00:45 Researchers develop a new glue and test it on a rubber duckAided by machine learning, researchers have developed a super-sticky compound that works as an underwater adhesive. Inspired by animals like barnacles, the team developed a new kind of a material called a hydrogel. ... Show More
28m 14s
Jul 30
Earth's deepest ecosystem discovered six miles below the sea
00:45 The deepest ecosystem ever discoveredResearchers have dived down to more than 9,000 metres below the surface of the Pacific and discovered surprisingly complex communities of life living in deep ocean trenches. The new research shows an array of animal life that appears to ... Show More
33m 3s
Jul 23
Giant laser heats solid gold to 14 times its melting point
00:46 How hot can solid gold get?A new study suggests that gold can be superheated far beyond its melting point without it becoming a liquid. Using an intense burst from a laser, a team heated a gold foil to 14 times its melting point, far beyond a theoretical limit put forward i ... Show More
35m 38s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
Mysterious Siberian Craters, 100-Year Chemistry Rule Debunked, and Machine Learning Shows Predictable Evolution
What do you love about the show? Let us know! In this episode of Discover Daily, hosts Alex and Sienna dive into the mysterious craters appearing in Siberia's permafrost. Recent scientific investigations reveal these massive holes, measuring up to 230 feet across and 160 fee ... Show More
8m 45s
Dec 2024
Bovine H5N1 gets a sniff of humans
Scientists have found that just one mutation in the current H5N1 virus in cattle can switch its preference from avian to human receptors. Jim Paulson and colleagues at the Scripps Institute did not use the whole virus to investigate this, but proteins from one of the Texas farm w ... Show More
33m 54s
Feb 2024
A New Volcanic Era?
As lava consumes homes on the Reykjavik Peninsula in Iceland, evacuated communities have been witnessing eruptions shifting and intensifying. We take a look at the latest science that’s helping teams on the ground accurately predict where the danger is coming from, helping people ... Show More
27m 53s
Jul 19
DEEP SEA SECRETS: What Hides Beneath the Waves 🌊🐙
It’s time for another trip around the solar system on the BIGGER and BETTER Science Weekly! In this episode of the Fun Kids Science Weekly, we answer YOUR questions, have scientists battle it out to determine which science is the best, and this week we're learning all about the o ... Show More
27m 54s
Jul 2024
Mistral's AI Breakthrough, Element 120 Quest, Yellowstone's Hydrothermal Threat, and DNA's Ancient Defenders
Discover Daily by Perplexity explores groundbreaking developments in AI, nuclear physics, Yellowstone's geothermal activity, and cancer research. Mistral AI's new language model, Mistral Large 2, boasts 123 billion parameters and outperforms industry leaders in code gen ... Show More
7m 49s
Apr 2024
Bird flu in Antarctica
The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, H5N1, has arrived on the continent. Australian bird specialist Megan Dewar, from the Federation University of Australia, has led a mission aboard the research ship the Australis. Science in Action remembers physicist Peter Higgs 60 years ... Show More
31m 8s
Jul 2024
How do we solve antibiotic resistance?
The looming danger of antibiotic resistance may have fallen out of the public consciousness but is still very much in the mind of those in public healthcare and research. As promising new research is published, the University of Birmingham’s Laura Piddock and GP Margaret McCartne ... Show More
28m 2s