In this episode:
00:49 What caused the Universe to become fully transparent?Around 13 billion years ago, the Universe was filled with a dense ‘fog’ of neutral hydrogen that blocked certain wavelengths of light. This fog was lifted when the hydrogen was hit by radiation in a process known as reionisation, but the source of this radiation has been debated. Now, researchers have used the JWST to peer deep into the Universe’s past and found that charged particles pouring out from dwarf galaxies appear to be the the main driver for reionization. This finding could help researchers understand how some of the structures we now see in the Universe were formed.
Research article: Atek et al.
Ancient inscriptions could be the earliest example of the language that became Basque, and how researchers etched a groove… onto soap film.
Research Highlight: Ancient bronze hand’s inscription points to origins of Basque language
Research Highlight: Laser pulses engrave an unlikely surface: soap films
To combat high cholesterol, many people take statins, but because these drugs have to be taken every day researchers have been searching for alternatives. Controlling cholesterol by editing the epigenome has shown promise in lab-grown cells, but its efficacy in animals was unclear. Now, researchers have shown the approach can work in mice, and have used it to silence a gene linked to high cholesterol for a year. The mice show markedly lowered cholesterol, a result the team hope could pave the way for epigenetic therapeutics for humans.
Research Article: Cappelluti et al.
Why don’t humans and other apes have a tail? It was assumed that a change must have happened in our genomes around 25 million years ago that resulted in the loss of this flexible appendage. Now researchers believe they have pinned down a good candidate for what caused this: an insertion into a particular gene known as TBXT. The team showed the key role this gene plays by engineering mice genomes to contain a similar change, leading to animals that were tail-less. This finding could help paint a picture of the important genetic mutations that led to the evolution of humans and other apes.
Nature News: How humans lost their tails — and why the discovery took 2.5 years to publish
Research Article: Xia et al.
News and Views: A mobile DNA sequence could explain tail loss in humans and apes
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Starting up in science: Episode 1
Audio long-read: Can artificially altered clouds save the Great Barrier Reef?
Coronapod: solving the COVID vaccine manufacturing problem
The floating sensors inspired by seeds
How to help feed the world with 'Blue Foods'
The billion years missing from Earth’s history
Dead trees play an under-appreciated role in climate change
Audio long-read: why sports concussions are worse for women
Coronapod: How Delta is changing the game
What’s the isiZulu for dinosaur? How science neglected African languages
Coronapod: COVID boosters amidst global vaccine inequity
The brain cells that help animals navigate in 3D
Coronapod: Ivermectin, what the science says
Flood risk rises as people surge into vulnerable regions
Has the world’s oldest known animal been discovered?
Audio long-read: How ancient people fell in love with bread, beer and other carbs
Coronapod: the latest on COVID and sporting events
How the US is rebooting gun violence research
Coronapod: Does England's COVID strategy risk breeding deadly variants?
How deadly heat waves expose historic racism
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