Nature Podcast Nature

After a slew of wildly successful vaccine trials, this week marked a more underwhelming result. The third mRNA vaccine to complete phase three trials, developed by CureVac, is just 47% effective at staving off disease according to preliminary data. This is a stark contrast with previous mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer BioNtec which returned around twice that efficacy in their trials. In this episode of Coronapod, we ask why the CureVac vaccine has faltered, and what this might mean for the future of the pandemic and mRNA vaccine development.


News: CureVac COVID vaccine let-down spotlights mRNA design challenges
News Feature: How COVID unlocked the power of RNA vaccines


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The pros and pitfalls of collaboration, with insights from researchers and beyond.
 
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The global burden of COVID-19 has predominantly been measured using metrics like case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths. But the long term health impacts are more difficult to capture. In this episode of Coronapod we discuss one way that public health experts are trying to get to grips with the problem using metrics such as disability adjusted life years (DALYs) and quality adjusted life years (QALYs).


As new data suggests that COVID could leave millions with lasting disability or ill-health, we ask how changing the lens through which we asses the impacts of COVID could change public health policies, the perception of risk and even the behaviour of individuals.


News Feature: The four most urgent questions about long COVID


Comment: Count the cost of disability caused by COVID-19


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An AI that designs computer chips in hours, and zooming in on DNA’s complex 3D structures.


In this episode:


00:46 An AI computer microchip designer
Working out where to place the billions of components that a modern computer chip needs can take human designers months and, despite decades of research, has defied automation. This week, however, a team from Google report a new machine learning algorithm that does the job in a fraction of the time, and is already helping design their next generation of AI processors.


Research Article: Mirhoseini et al.
News and Views: AI system outperforms humans in designing floorplans for microchips
Editorial: Google is using AI to speed up microchip design — a welcome advance that must be handled with care


07:00 Research Highlights
The blood proteins that may help assess cardiovascular fitness, and how the rock-hard teeth of a mollusc could inspire stronger 3D-printed materials.


Research Highlight: How fit can you get? These blood proteins hold a clue
Research Highlight: The surprise hidden in the teeth of the ‘wandering meatloaf’


09:47 Zooming in on the 3D structure of DNA
In order to switch genes on, DNA often needs to twist up into complex 3D shapes, bringing distant parts of a genome together. Understanding precisely which sections come into contact has been difficult, but now a new technique is helping to reveal them at an individual base-pair level.


Research paper: Hua et al.


15:22 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the missing sections from the human genome sequence that have now been filled, and NASA announces two missions to Venus.


Stat: Researchers claim they have sequenced the entirety of the human genome — including the missing parts
National Geographic: NASA will head to Venus for first time in roughly 30 years


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Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been allegations that SARS-CoV-2 could have originated in a Chinese lab. A phase one WHO investigation concluded that a 'lab-leak' was "extremely unlikely" and yet, the theory has seen a resurgence in recent weeks with several scientists wading into the debate.


In this episode of Coronapod, we delve into what scientists have been saying and ask how and why the 'lab-leak' hypothesis has gained so much traction. We ask if the way we communicate complex and nuanced science could be fuelling division, and what the fallout could be for international collaboration on ending the pandemic.


News: Divisive COVID ‘lab leak’ debate prompts dire warnings from researchers


Science: Investigate the origins of COVID-19


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The cross-discipline effort to work our how ancient humans learned to count.
 
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