#112: Gene therapy success; biodiversity talks; the genetics of blood sucking; the farthest star ever seen

A world-first gene therapy has been used to successfully treat a rare genetic skin disease. Referred to as “the worst disease you’ve never heard of”, the condition makes everyday living an ordeal. The team finds out how this new treatment works.

Astronomers have detected a star more than 27 billion light years away - the most distant individual star we’ve ever seen. The team explains how this finding could shed light on what was going on in the early universe, ‘shortly’ after the Big Bang.

In a bid to tackle the biodiversity crisis, 195 countries have been working on a draft deal called the Global Biodiversity Framework. But despite the alarming real-world consequences of the crisis that we’ve been seeing in recent weeks, the team explains how the discussions have been a flop.

Vampire bats are the only mammal to feed exclusively on blood - which is weird because it’s not very nutritious or filling. So how do they do it? The team explores new findings about the genetic changes that have occurred in the bats to allow them to survive and thrive on the stuff.

And finally, the team takes you on a trip to Monterey Bay off central California, sharing sounds of the bay’s aquatic life in an escapist audio-quiz. 

On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Leah Crane and Alice Klein. To read about these stories and much more, subscribe at newscientist.com/podcasts.

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Thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for the sound clips. These clips are licensed under the following Attribution licences:

Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)

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