#260

Most of us imagine plants when we think about the production of oxygen. But turns out, in the deep sea, metal-rich rocks also seem to generate oxygen. This surprising discovery suggests they may have a much more important role in their ecosystem than we originally thought – and is fueling more calls to ban deep sea mining, which would target these same rocks.

Drinking a glass of wine once in a while can’t be that bad, right? Over the decades we heard that drinking a little alcohol might reduce your risk of heart disease, and even make you live longer, but a new review of the research has found serious flaws in these studies. So what’s going on with alcohol and our health?

Physicists have been crashing atoms together for decades, in the hopes of creating heavier and heavier elements. And now, a new method to make the rare, super-heavy element livermorium may also pave the way towards making the elusive element 120, unbinilium. If successfully created, it would be the heaviest element on the periodic table. So what is this new method?

Some disheartening news: our attempts to be more environmentally friendly might still make some things worse. Biodegradable plastics appear to damage soil and hinder plant growth more than conventional ones. What’s going wrong?

Plus: How AI mathematicians are finally catching up to humans; how AI could spy on you through HDMI cables; and what caused the biggest cosmic explosion ever seen.

Hosts Christie Taylor and Timothy Revell discuss with guests Madeleine Cuff, Michael Le Page, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Alexandra Thompson.

To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com.

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What would it take to set Uranus ablaze? Is it even possible to burn it in the typical sense? If anyone can figure it out, it's the Dead Planets Society.

Join Dead Planeteers Leah and Chelsea as they invite planetary scientist Paul Byrne back to the podcast, to join in more of their chaotic antics.

This mission is less about destruction (though it’s definitely also about destruction) and more about advancing science. Uranus is an ice giant, one of the most common types of planets in the universe, so burning it could teach us a lot about the cosmos. The planet may also be full of diamonds - and the potential for treasure derails the team’s destructive intentions.

Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare.

Your hosts are Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte.

If you have a cosmic object you’d like to figure out how to destroy, email the team at deadplanets@newscientist.com. It may just feature in a later episode.

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

#259

More people in the US are getting bird flu. Though numbers are small – just five new cases, all mild – every new case is a reason for concern. How and why is it being transmitted – and how is it being monitored?

What if you could make a sailboat that’s pushed not by wind, but lasers? Breakthrough Starshot is a mission attempting to send a spacecraft to our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, using such a lightsail. While lightsail designs have been too expensive and unworkable so far, a new prototype is looking promising.

Climate change is threatening a key part of the global climate system. The Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation (AMOC) system transports heat and salinity between the tropics and the poles. Scientists have ongoing concerns about its stability, but it’s now showing signs of potential collapse much sooner than expected. And if it does shut down, the knock-on effects would be drastic.

What makes a planet a planet? Defining this is what knocked Pluto off planetary status, but now one researcher has proposed a new set of criteria. Is the new method useful – and does it change which objects are considered planets?

Believe it or not – sea slugs hunt in packs. A species of sea slug has been seen ganging up on brown sea anemones to avoid its poisonous tentacles. How are they capable of teaming up like this?

Hosts Rowan Hooper and Christie Taylor discuss with guests Grace Wade, Alex Wilkins, Madeleine Cuff and Sophie Bushwick.

To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com.

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