Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a ...

In this episode:00:42 External, artificial-lung system keeps patient alive for transplantNature: 48 hours without lungs: artificial organ kept man alive until transplant06:22 How lung cancer in mice hijacks neurons to outwit the immune systemNature: How tumours trick the brain in ...  Show more

00:46 Understanding how rete ridges form in the skinNature: Thompson et al.09:32 Research HighlightsNature: Genetically engineered ‘stinkweed’ comes up roses for making seed oilNature: Largest galaxy survey yet confirms that the Universe is not clumpy enough11:52 The open-source ...  Show more

with Jorge Conde (@jorgecondebio), David Reich, and Hanne Tidnam (@omnivorousread)

Trying to reconstruct the deep past of ancient humans out of present-day people has until now been like trying to reconstruct a bomb explosion in a room from bits of shrapnel, says David ...

Fifty thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was not the only species of humans in the world. There were also Neanderthals in what is now Europe, the Near East, and parts of Eurasia; Hobbits (H. floresiensis) on the island of Flores in Indonesia; Denisovans in Siberia and eastern Euras ...  Show more

Researchers map where the riskiest areas are for viruses to jump from bats into humans. Also, synthetic bacteria with unnatural DNA, and the origin of the humble watermelon. David Hayman of Massey University in NZ and colleagues have published in the journal Nature Food a study h ...  Show more

The discovery of a body missing a foot in a thirty one thousand year old grave suggests our ancient ancestors may have been capable of performing complex surgery. The foot seems to have been cleanly amputated, and the patient survived for several years afterwards. Dr Tim Maloney ...  Show more