Benjamin Thompson

United Kingdom

Host at Nature Podcast

Journalist at Nature

Journalist @nature, host of the @naturepodcast. I like music, old video games and people like you.

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Articles

Audio long read: Three ways to cool Earth by pulling carbon from the sky

1 week ago | nature.com | Jeff Tollefson |Benjamin Thompson

Download the 30 May 2025 long read podcastWith the world looking likely to blow past the temperature targets laid out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a growing number of voices are saying that carbon removal technologies will be necessary if humanity is to achieve its long-term climate goals. If these approaches succeed, they could help nations and corporations to meet their climate commitments — and help the world to halt global warming.
How to transport antimatter - stick it on the back of a van

3 weeks ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Shamini Bundell

Download the Nature Podcast 14 May 2025In this episode:00:46 An antimatter delivery van takes its first road tripResearchers have developed a portable antimatter containment device and tested it by putting it in a truck and driving it around CERN. Their system could represent a big step forward in efforts to take particles made at CERN’s ‘antimatter factory’ and transport them to other labs, something currently impossible due to antimatter being destroyed upon contact with matter.
NSF terminates huge number of grants and stops awarding new ones

3 weeks ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Dan Garisto

Download the 12 May 2025 Podcast ExtraIn this Podcast Extra, we examine recent developments US National Science Foundation, which has seen significant numbers of research grants terminated. In addition, there have been freezes on funding for new grants and any additional money to existing ones. We also discuss US President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, which calls for disproportionately large cuts to federal science funding.
The dismantling of US science: can it survive Trump 2.0?

1 month ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Shamini Bundell

Download the Nature Podcast 30 AprilIn this episode: 00:46 What will be left of US science after Trump 2.0? 100 days into his term, President Donald Trump and his administration have already caused the biggest shakeup in modern scientific history, slashing funding, bringing large swathes of US research to a standstill and halting many clinical trials. But many fear these actions are just the beginning.
Audio long read: Do smartphones and social media really harm teens’ mental health?

1 month ago | nature.com | Helen Pearson |Benjamin Thompson

Download the 25 April long read podcastResearch shows that, over the past two decades, rates of mental illness have been increasing in adolescents in many countries. While some scientists point to soaring use of smartphones and social media as a key driver for this trend, others say the evidence does not show a large effect of these technologies on teenagers’ psychological health.
A brand-new colour created by lasers, a pig-liver transplant trial gets the green light, and a nugget-sized chunk of lab-grown meat

1 month ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Shamini Bundell |Elizabeth Gibney

Download the Nature Podcast 25 April 2025In this episode: 00:27 Five people see ‘olo’, a brand-new colourUsing a laser system to activate specific eye cells, a team has allowed five study participants to perceive a vibrant blue-greenish hue well outside the natural range of colours seen by humans.
What a trove of potato genomes reveals about the humble spud

1 month ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Nick J. Howe

Download the Nature Podcast 16 April 2025In this episode:00:46 A potato pangenomeResearchers have created a ‘pangenome’ containing the genomes of multiple potato types, something they believe can help make it easier to breed and sequence new varieties. The potato’s complicated genetics has made it difficult to sequence the plant’s genome, but improvements in technology have allowed the team to combine sequences, allowing then to look for subtle differences in between varieties.
Long-awaited ape genomes give new insights into their evolution - and ours

1 month ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Shamini Bundell

Download the Nature Podcast 09 April 2025In this episode:00:46 Complete sequencing of ape genomesResearchers have sequenced the complete genomes of six ape species, helping uncover the evolutionary history of our closest relatives and offering insights into what makes humans human. The genomes of chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang have been sequenced end-to-end, filling in gaps that have long eluded researchers. Research Article: Yoo et al.
From Hippocrates to COVID-19: the scientific fight to prove diseases can be airborne

2 months ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson

Download Nature hits the books 07 April 2025Science writer and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer's latest book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life we Breathe dives into the invisible maelstrom of microbial life swirling in the air around us — examining how it helped shape our world, and the implications that breathing it in can have on human health.
Trump team removes senior NIH chiefs in shock move

2 months ago | nature.com | Benjamin Thompson |Max Kozlov

Download the Nature Podcast 04 April 2025 In this Podcast Extra, we hear the latest on how decisions by the Trump administration are affecting science in the US. Most recently, a purge of National Institutes of Health (NIH) leadership has seen the chiefs of multiple institutes and centres removed from their posts.