15 August 2019: Atomic espionage in the Second World War, and exploring the early Universe
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2019
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, spilling nuclear secrets, and a mysterious period in the Universe’s history.
In this episode:
00:46 "The most dangerous spy in history"
We hear the story of Klaus Fuchs, who gave away the details of building an atomic bomb.
Books and Arts: The scientist-spy who spilt secrets of the bomb
08:00 Research Highlights
Environmental impacts of electric scooters, and the Goliath frog engineers.
Research Highlight: Trendy e-scooters might not be as green as they seem; Research Highlight: Enormous frogs heave rocks to build tadpole ‘nests’
10:33 Signals from the ancient Universe
Researchers hope that radio signals from ancient hydrogen will further their understanding of galaxy formation
News Feature: The quest to unlock the secrets of the baby Universe
18:17 News Chat
Changes to the US Endangered Species Act, and what a microbe might tell us about the evolution of complex life.
News: Trump administration weakens Endangered Species Act; News: Scientists glimpse oddball microbe that could help explain rise of complex life
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Transcript
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| 0:44.3 | I find this not only refreshing |
| 0:47.2 | But at some level astounding |
| 0:49.3 | Nature |
| 0:52.3 | Welcome back to the Nature podcast. |
| 0:58.4 | This week we'll be hearing about atomic espionage during World War II |
| 1:02.5 | and finding out more about the early universe. |
| 1:06.0 | I'm Nick Howe. |
| 1:06.8 | And I'm Benjamin Thompson. |
| 1:22.3 | Okay. And I'm Benjamin Thompson. I have taken occasion to speak to you tonight because we have reached one of the climacterics of the war. |
| 1:31.0 | It's June 1941 and Winston Churchill is addressing the people. |
| 1:36.8 | At four o'clock this morning, Hitler attacked and invaded Russia. |
| 1:42.1 | This would be the beginnings of an alliance between the UK and Russia, |
... |
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