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Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease

Science Magazine Podcast · October 16, 2025

Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease artwork

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Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease

Science Magazine Podcast

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt takes a trip to Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where ancient RNA viruses may lie buried in the permafrost. He talks with host Sarah Crespi about why we only have 100 years of evolutionary history for viruses such as coronavirus and influenza, and what we can learn by looking deeper back in time. Next on the show, Nathalie Stroeymeyt, senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, joins freelancer producer Elah Feder to talk about how humans aren’t the only species that takes public health measures to stop outbreaks. To keep their colonies healthy when threatened with infectious disease, ants socially distance and even make architectural changes to their nests’ organization. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt takes a trip to Svalbard , an Arctic archipelago where ancient RNA viruses may lie buried in the permafrost . He talks with host Sarah Crespi about why we only have 100 years of evolutionary history for viruses such as coronavirus and influenza, and what we can learn by looking deeper back in time. Next on the show, Nathalie Stroeymeyt , senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, joins freelancer producer Elah Feder to talk about how humans aren’t the only species that takes public health measures to stop outbreaks. To keep their colonies healthy when threatened with infectious disease, ants socially distance and even make architectural changes to their nests’ organization . This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy . About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Published
October 16, 2025
Status
active
GUID hash
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Archive key
hunting-ancient-viruses-in-the-arctic-and-how-ants-build-their-nests-to-fight-disease--entry_058c7981dbdd66724d9593afd80c
Archive id
entry_058c7981dbdd66724d9593afd80c