In this episode:
Humans are notable for their cooperation and display far more altruistic behaviour than other animals, but exactly why this behaviour evolved has been a puzzle. But in a new paper, the two leading theories have been put the test with a model and a real-life experiment. They find that actually neither theory on its own leads to cooperation but a combination is required for humans to help one another.
Research article: Efferson et al.
News and Views: Why reciprocity is common in humans but rare in other animals
The discovery of an ancient stone wall hidden underwater, and the fun that apes have teasing one another.
Research Highlight: Great ‘Stone Age’ wall discovered in Baltic Sea
Research Highlight: What a tease! Great apes pull hair and poke each other for fun
Optical discs, like CDs and DVDs, are an attractive option for long-term data storage, but these discs are limited by their small capacity. Now though, a team has overcome a limitation of conventional disc writing to produce optical discs capable of storing petabits of data, significantly more than the largest available hard disk. The researchers behind the work think their new discs could one day replace the energy-hungry hard disks used in giant data centres, making long-term storage more sustainable.
Research Article: Zhao et al.
20:10 Briefing ChatThe famous fossil that turned out to be a fraud, and why researchers are making hybrid ‘meat-rice’.
Ars Technica: It’s a fake: Mysterious 280 million-year-old fossil is mostly just black paint
Nature News: Introducing meat–rice: grain with added muscles beefs up protein
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Cancer's power harnessed — lymphoma mutations supercharge T cells
Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here's how
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
Toxic red mud could be turned into 'green' steel
This AI just figured out geometry — is this a step towards artificial reasoning?
The science stories you missed over the holiday period
Science in 2024: what to expect this year
Audio long read: A new kind of solar cell is coming — is it the future of green energy?
The Nature Podcast highlights of 2023
How AI works is often a mystery — that's a problem
The Nature Podcast Festive Spectacular 2023
Navigating planets, plays and prejudice — a conversation with Aomawa Shields
Inhaled vaccine prevents COVID in monkeys
Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish
The world’s smallest light-trapping silicon cavity
Sanitary products made from plants could help tackle period poverty
Why COP28 probably won't keep the 1.5 degree dream alive
Audio long read: Apple revival — how science is bringing historic varieties back to life
Polio could be eradicated within 3 years — what happens then?
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