What's the best way to become a professor? The answer depends on where you are
Nature Podcast
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4.4 • 859 Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
00:56 How the paths to professorship vary
A huge analysis of hiring practices has revealed that criteria to get a promotion to full professorship is hugely variable around the world. The authors suggest that this variability results in researchers from countries that value one type of metric being locked out of professor positions in others. They hope that the database of hiring practices created in this study could help institutions adjust their hiring policies to create a more diverse science workforce.
Research Article: Lim et al.
News: Want to become a professor? Here’s how hiring criteria differ by country
21:48 Research Highlights
Lasers reveal hidden tattoos on ancient mummified-skin, and a new pill that cuts flu symptoms and viral levels in the body.
Research Highlight: Hidden tattoos on mummy skin emerge under a laser’s light
Research Highlight: Got flu? Promising drug shortens symptoms
12:13 Cancer cells’ broken mitochondria could poison immune cells
Researchers have shown that cancer cells can slip their dysfunctional mitochondria into T cells, limiting the immune system’s cancer-fighting capabilities. Cancer cells are known to steal healthy mitochondria from immune cells to help tumours survive and thrive. Now, researchers have shown mitochondria can move in the opposite direction too, with the donor T cells showing signs of various stress responses that make them less effective when inside a tumour. The team showed that blocking this transfer limited this effect, and hopes that this mechanism could offer a new avenue for boosting the immune system’s response to cancer.
Research Article: Ikeda et al.
News & Views: Mitochondrial swap from cancer to immune cells thwarts anti-tumour defences
21:12 Science and the Gaza conflict
Noah Baker and Ehsan Masood turn to the war in Gaza, and discuss what comes next for science as a ceasefire comes into force.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A glass of water. |
| 0:02.0 | Some like it with ice. |
| 0:04.0 | Some like it sparkling. |
| 0:06.0 | But what we all like is water that's clean. |
| 0:09.0 | Every day Rachel walks for hours in Chingangi, Malawi, to collect dirty water that could make her sick. |
| 0:17.0 | For just £3 a month, Water Aid could help fund a water quality test to ensure water in Chingangy is safe to drink. |
| 0:25.0 | Where there's clean water, there's a way. Donate at wateraid.org. |
| 0:34.2 | A good. |
| 0:36.6 | In an experiment, I don't know yet. |
| 0:38.5 | Why is it so simple? |
| 0:41.6 | They had no idea. |
| 0:43.2 | But now the data's... |
| 0:44.3 | I find this not only refreshing, but at some level astounding. |
| 0:52.1 | Nature. |
| 0:58.0 | Welcome back to the Nature podcast. |
| 1:02.5 | This week, how the paths to professorship vary across the world. |
| 1:07.8 | How swapping out misfiring mitochondria helps cancer cells avoid destruction. |
| 1:13.9 | And as a ceasefire comes into effect, we take stock of the impact of the war in Gaza on science. I'm Nick Petra Chowell, and I'm Benjamin Thompson. Who should become a professor? |
| 1:31.8 | At face value, it may sound like a straightforward question. |
| 1:35.9 | We want the best of the best to reach the highest echelons of the ivory tower. |
| 1:41.6 | But how do you assess a researcher to determine that they are the best? |
| 1:47.7 | Scientists spend all their time measuring stuff and comparing stuff, so surely there's a standard |
... |
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