Science Stories

Another year has passed - so welcome to the Science Stories New Year podcast 2025.

My name is Jens Degett and as tradition dictates, in this New Year's program, I play soundbites and tell stories about a selected sample of the last year's podcasts from Science Stories.

One of our limitations is language. Our podcast in Danish has by definition a very small audience. In the course of the years, we have a total number of podcasts plays on our own portal of more than 400.000 plays since we started. Listeners were mostly from Denmark, the Nordic countries and Greenland. I mentioned last year that we have an increasing audience around Europe and not least in Ohio-USA, and the rest of the world where our podcasts are listened to when they are published in English. As an experiment we have decided to make English the primary language of Science Stories. I cannot guarantee that all podcasts will be in English, but most of them will. If we find support for it we will switch permanently to English. An alternative solution could be that we publish in two languages with an AI translation.

In 2024 I received a Maria Leptin Science Journalism Fellowship. I spent two month at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and one month at EMBL in Heidelberg.

There is a lot to talk about and I can really recommend to spend time with the researchers and get closer to the research institutions,

There is a lot to tell from 2024 so if you missed it you may go back and find the stories in our archive. Enjoy.

Foto kredit: Jens Degett © Science Stories ApS

Researchers all over the world have tried for more than 25 years to make a new type of computer that can solve much more complex problems than traditional computers are capable of.

Professor Charles Marcus from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen is one of the leading researchers who have made major contributions to the development of quantum computers. He is giving a profound understanding about what quantum computing is and why it may, or may not be difficult to grasp.

He is interviewed about the state of the art of quantum computing by Science Journalist Jens Degett from Science Stories.

The interview was made in connection with the first Quantum Computing Applications in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Workshop organized by the Danish Technical University (DTU) Department of Chemical Engineering, Knowledge Hub Zealand and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Diabetes is about hormonal regulation of metabolism in the body. Apart from insulin there are many hormones, organs and receptors involved, but even if it is complicated to understand, it does not mean we should not talk about it or ask questions.

In connection with the commemoration of the discovery of insulin +100 years ago, Science Journalist Jens Degett interviewed one of the most experienced diabetes researchers in the world, Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly from Cambridge University.

The interview was recorded after an “August Krogh on Tour” lecture at the August Krogh Institute in Copenhagen.

© Science Stories ApS, Photo by Jens Degett

The year 2020 marked the centenary of August Krogh's Nobel Prize in physiology. August Krogh received the award for showing how oxygen is transported from the lungs through the blood into the small capillaries in the muscles. Details of the mechanism and how it is regulated are still a central topic of research a hundred years after and understanding respiration is still a matter of life or death.

In this interview science journalist Jens Degett had the opportunity to talk to, one of the world's leading physiologists professor Christopher Ellis from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) about how August Krogh's 1920 Nobel Prize greatly influences physiological research even today.

In addition to Nobel Prize class research, August Krogh founded one of the first biomedical companies in Denmark. The company would later become Novo Nordisk, which is now among the world's largest manufacturers of biomedicine and insulin.

Mitochondria are called the powerhouse of the cells. They convert nutrients into energy, and they may hold the key to reverse aging and cure a large number of diseases. This is why exercise is important. But, can science one day come up with a pill that can reverse the aging of mitochondria? How close are we to solve this fundamental discovery?

Professor Zhen Yan from University of Virginia was interviewed by Science Journalist Jens Degett from Science Stories.

What can vi learn from sponges or other primitive animals who have no brain. at all? What are the advantage of spending a lot of energy on maintaining a brain and what can the study of animals with none or very primitive brains teach us about evolution of complex animals with large brains.

Professor Dr. Detlev Arendt is explaining to science journalist Jens Degett the advantage of having a small brain for some animals, and circadian rhythms studied in a small worm has evolved into a very special circadian control mechanism found in advanced animals.

This podcast is supported by a Maria Leptin / EMBO Science Journalism Fellowship.

Photo credit: Jens Degett, © Science Stories ApS.

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, are taking the understanding of cell biology to a new level. Research group leader Alba Diz-Muñoz explains how shape or form, stiffness or rigidity, architecture and tension can make a big difference in your body’s reaction to physiology and disease.

It is not only hormone signals, DNA and biochemistry which determine the fate of a cell, an organ, or the whole body. Mechanical parameters have to be taken into consideration to understand why cells react to the environment as they do.

Science Journalist Jens Degett is interviewing Alba Diz-Muñoz from the EMBL laboratory in Heidelberg.

This podcast is supported by a Maria Leptin / EMBO Science Journalism Fellowship.

Photo Credit: EMBL : Photolab

Science Stories is visiting the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and asks some of the leading researchers about their work.

This week science journalist Jens Degett interviews Dr Anna Kreshuk about how she and her research group is working with algorithms and image analysis to understand fundamentally how life works from the most primitive to the most advanced organisms and how living systems function together from individual organisms to ecosystems.

This podcast is supported by a Maria Leptin / EMBO Science Journalism Fellowship.

The LHC is the biggest and most powerful particle accelerator in the World. Senior researcher Troels Petersen from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen is explaning what is going on in Geneva and why the accelerator is producing more results than ever.

Science journalist Jens Degett is interviewing Troels Petersen.

This podcast is supported by a Maria Leptin / EMBO Science Journalism Fellowship.

Experts from all over the world met four days during the Summer 2024 invited by the Niels Bohr Institute to discuss the available knowledge on the theme:

Are we a Unique Species on a Unique Planet?

- or are we just the ordinary Galactic standard?

A selection of recognised scientist gave their best bid on:

- Life on Exoplanets?

- Disks and pre-biology

- Terrestrial contra alien biology

- Future of life and humanity

In this podcast science journalist Jens Degett from Science Stories is interviewing Professor Uffe Gråe Jørgensen from Centre for Exolife Sciences at the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen.

The Conference was organised by Centre For Exolife Sciences at the Niels Bohr Institute, and the main organiser was Professor Uffe Gråe Jørgensen with support from Carlsberg Foundation, CHAMELEON, Niels Bohr Institute Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation and University of Copenhagen

Release date: 01.11.2024