Probing the superconducting properties of graphene and a bacteria that can use manganese to grow. If you sandwich two sheets of graphene together and twist one in just the right way, it can gain some superconducting properties. Now, physicists have added another material to this sandwich which stabilises that superconductivity, a result that may complicate physicists’ understanding of magic angles.
08:22 Coronapod
With evidence mounting that SARS-CoV2 can spread in tiny aerosolized droplets, researchers have called on the WHO to change their guidance for disease prevention. News: Mounting evidence suggests coronavirus is airborne — but health advice has not caught up; Research article: Morwaska et al.; WHO: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: implications for infection prevention precautions
19:27 Research Highlights
Repairing human lungs by hooking them up to pigs, and a new form of carbon. Research Highlight: How to use a live pig to revitalize a human lung; Research Highlight: This material is almost as hard as diamond — but as light as graphite
21:46 Manganese munchers
For decades it’s been thought that microbes that use manganese as an energy source must exist. Now, for the first time, researchers have found evidence that they do. Research Article: Yu and Leadbetter
29:12 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we discuss DNA evidence of contact between ancient Native Americans and Polynesians, reintroduction of bison to the UK, and the first extinction of a modern marine fish. Nature News: Ancient voyage carried Native Americans’ DNA to remote Pacific islands; The Guardian: Wild bison to return to UK for first time in 6,000 years; Scientific American:
Buildings are getting tested for coronavirus, too. Research teams in Oregon are conducting real-time coronavirus tests on ventilation systems in buildings that could be essential for returning to the office or school.
The Economist Morning Briefing, July 14th, 2020: Coronavirus cases surpass 13m and China and America trade insults.
The World Health Organization recently acknowledged that some evidence about in-room transmission is worrisome. In addition, after analyzing a transmission event at a restaurant in China, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that an asymptomatic patient transmitted the virus to families at two nearby tables.
Contributing correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt talks with host Sarah Crespi about the success of a fast moving megatrial for coronavirus treatments. The United Kingdom’s Recovery (Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy) trial has enrolled more than 12,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients since early March and has released important recommendations that were quickly taken up by doctors and scientists around the world. 
Intellicurious 