Putting mysterious cellular structures to use, and when brown fat started to warm us up

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Despite not having a known function, cellular “vaults” are on the verge of being harnessed for all kinds of applications, and looking at the evolution of brown fat into a heat-generating organ First on this week’s show, Managing News Editor John Travis joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss mysterious cellular complexes called “vaults.” First discovered in the 1980s, scientists have yet to uncover the function of these large, common, hollow structures. But now some researchers are looking to use vaults to deliver cancer drugs and viruses for gene therapy. Next, what can we learn about the evolution of brown fat from opossums? Unlike white fat, which stores energy in many mammals, brown fat cells use ATP to generate heat, helping babies maintain their body temperature and hibernators kick-start their summers. Susanne Keipert, a researcher in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Stockholm University’s Wenner-Gren Institute, talks about when in evolutionary history brown fat took on this job of burning energy. Finally, this week we are launching our music refresh! If you are interested in what happened to our music—where it came from and how it’s different (and the same)—stay tuned for a chat with artist Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; John Travis Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zpoy92t Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:37.0	Morgan State University, a Baltimore, Maryland-Karnegee R2 doctoral research institution,
0:42.5	offers more than 100 academic programs and awards degrees at the baccalaureate,
0:47.2	master's, and doctoral levels, is furthering their mission of growing the future, leading the world.
0:53.0	Morgan continues to address the needs and challenges
0:55.4	of the modern urban environment. With a four-year quadrupling of research, more than a dozen
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1:07.0	Carnegie R1 designation in the next five years. To learn more about Morgan and their
1:12.5	ascension to R1, visit Morgan.edu slash research. This is the science podcast for June 7th,
1:25.0	2024. I'm Sarah Crespi. And yeah, this is new music.
1:29.3	We've had a refresh.
1:31.3	Be sure to stick around for a bonus segment
1:33.3	at the end of the episode
1:35.3	for a look behind the scenes at our audio update.
1:39.3	But first on this week's show,
1:41.3	Managing News Editor John Travis
1:43.3	joins me to discuss mysterious cellular
	...

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