This week, researchers make diamonds tough, and evidence of incest in a 5,000 year old tomb.
In this episode:
00:51 Tough versus hard
Diamonds are famed for their hardness, but they are not so resistant to fracture. Now, researchers have toughened up diamonds, which could open up new industrial applications. Research Article: Yue et al.
06:07 Research Highlights
A spacecraft helps physicists work out the lifespan of a neutron, and the icy hideaway of an endangered whale. Research Highlight: The vanishing-neutron mystery might be cracked by a robot in outer space; Research Highlight: A secluded icy fortress shelters rare whales
08:33 Ancient inbreeding
Analysis of the genomes of humans buried in an ancient Irish tomb has uncovered many surprises, including evidence of incest amongst the elite. Research Article: Cassidy et al.; News and Views: Incest uncovered at the elite prehistoric Newgrange monument in Ireland
21:13 #ShutdownSTEM
Nature reporter Nidhi Subbaraman joins us to talk about the #ShutdownSTEM movement, and anti-black racism in academia. Editorial: Note from the editors: Nature joins #ShutDownSTEM; News: Grieving and frustrated: Black scientists call out racism in the wake of police killings; News: Thousands of scientists worldwide to go on strike for Black lives; News: How #BlackInTheIvory put a spotlight on racism in academia
This week, the spaceborne lab that allows investigation of quantum states, and the debate surrounding how mountain height is maintained.
This week, Nature looks at a new method to grow hairy skin in a dish, and new research takes aim at the RNA world hypothesis.
President Trump’s preferred coronavirus treatment is the focus of a new study suggesting it could cause more harm than good, but not everybody agrees. We discuss the fallout as trials around the world are paused and countries diverge over policy advice.
“from roots to crowns” describes the vertical metamorphosis of a hybrid building, moving from below ground through fields and trunks up to the crowns. It is a living shell on the move, able to take on 3 main positions “under the earth”(-1), “on the fields” (0) and “in the tree crowns” (+1+2). The lifting house is a visionary way of adapting the concept of “living and working in nature” to the varying requirements of its inhabitants. 
This week, perfecting catalysts that split water using light, the mystery of missing matter in the Universe and how working memory ‘works’ in children.
With questionable coronavirus content flooding airwaves and online channels, what’s being done to limit its impact?
