Hallucigenia : The worm with the missing head

The remains of an ancient worm species called Hallucigenia were so bizarre looking that scientists originally reconstructed it upside down and back to front. Now Martin Smith reveals the most complete picture so far of this peculiar marine worm.

Audiofile: What is it like to be a bat?

Bat ecologists have made it their life’s work to find out, philosophers argue we may never understand, and one blind woman knows better than anyone. In the first episode of Audiofile, Nature’s new sound science series, find out how much we can really know about what it’s like to be a bat, and what it tell us about the limits of human perception.

Building the sphere of Archimedes

In his West London workshop, Michael Wright builds ancient mechanisms. In this Nature Video, we see his latest contraption, the Sphere of Archimedes. Based on little more than ancient Greek texts, Wright has built this speculative machine to models the movements of the planets.

Audiofile: Health under the flight path

The sound of an aeroplane can mean many things: mild annoyance; the excitement of travel; a rough night’s sleep. But increasingly, researchers around the world think it may also have some more sinister effects. In this episode of Audiofile, find out just what plane noise could mean for the health of those who have to hear it.

Go green, go driverless!

Would you get in a driverless car? Engineers think they could be safer and more efficient, but in this Nature Video we find out how they could be greener too. Great excuse to play with Lego!

Nature Podcast: Celebratory 400th episode

Weather forecasting, rethinking the water cycle, and a special segment to celebrate the Podcast’s 400th episode.

Addiction: Learning to forget

Addiction treatments suffer from high relapse rates, but now cutting edge work in neuroscience hopes to combat relapse through memory modification. In this film, we see how scientists are already selectively reprogramming memory to treat phobias. The next step — a cure for craving — could be just around the corner.

Epigenome: The symphony in your cells

Almost every cell in your body has the same DNA sequence. So how come a heart cell is different from a brain cell? Cells use their DNA code in different ways, depending on their jobs. Just like orchestras can perform one piece of music in many different ways. A cell’s combined set of changes in gene expression is called its epigenome. This week Nature publishes a slew of new data on the epigenomic landscape in lots of different cells. Learn how epigenomics works in this video.

Nature Podcast: 8 October 2015

An impenetrable mathematical proof, toggling REM sleep on and off, and the latest results from the Rosetta mission.

Backchat: 24 June 2015

Backchat: Jurassic World, 'dinomenclature' and DNA from an American forefather.