What’s the isiZulu for dinosaur? How science neglected African languages
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A team is creating bespoke words for scientific terms in African languages, and the sustainability of the electric car boom.
00:46 Creating new words for scientific terms
Many words that are common to science have never been written in some African languages, or speakers struggle to agree what the right term is. Now a new project aims to change that, by translating 180 research papers into six languages spoken by millions of people across the continent of Africa.
News: African languages to get more bespoke scientific terms
11:48 Research Highlights
A rainbow of biodegradable inks derived from brown seaweed, and the enormous centipede that preys on baby birds.
Research Highlight: From drab to dazzling: seaweed yields sparkling coloured inks
Research Highlight: The giant centipede that devours fluffy baby seabirds
13:58 How sustainable is the electric car boom?
As electric cars become more ubiquitous, manufacturers will have to up the production of batteries needed to power them. But that begs the question - can they be mass produced in a sustainable way?
News Feature: Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough?
24:06 Briefing chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how a tusk-based ‘chemical GPS’ revealed details of a mammoth’s enormous journeys , and why the Perseverance rover’s first efforts to collect a Mars rock sample didn’t go according to plan.
Nature: Mammoth’s epic travels preserved in tusk
Nature: Why NASA’s Mars rover failed to collect its first rock core
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. |
| 0:05.8 | ServiceNow puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration |
| 0:11.2 | for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent |
| 0:16.5 | tools for your service agents to make customers happier, all built into a single platform |
| 0:21.5 | you can use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com |
| 0:27.8 | slash UK slash AI for people. This message comes from BetterHelp. Can you think of a time when you |
| 0:34.1 | didn't feel like you could be yourself, like you were hiding behind a mask. |
| 0:38.3 | BetterHelp online therapy is convenient, flexible and can help you learn to be your authentic self, |
| 0:44.3 | so you can stop hiding, because masks should be for Halloween fun, not for your emotions. |
| 0:50.6 | Take off the mask with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. |
| 0:57.2 | That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. |
| 1:04.5 | Nature. |
| 1:07.1 | We don't know yet. |
| 1:08.8 | Why is it so far? |
| 1:10.6 | Like, it sounds so simple. |
| 1:11.9 | They had no idea. |
| 1:13.4 | But now the data's... |
| 1:14.6 | I find this not only refreshing, but at some level, astounding. |
| 1:22.3 | Nature. |
| 1:24.2 | Nature. |
| 1:26.2 | Welcome back to the Nature podcast. |
| 1:28.5 | This week, the African researchers creating bespoke scientific terms. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from podcast@nature.com, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of podcast@nature.com and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.