In the first of our new podcast series, a Nature reporter looks for reasons for hope in the face of overwhelming climate anxiety.

The past year has been... a lot. Record-breaking temperatures, devastating floods and catastrophic wildfires have brought the realities of climate change into sharp focus for people around the world. At the same time, many governments and organisations have scaled back on their climate action.

If you’re anything like me you might be feeling it’s all a bit ‘doom and gloom’. So in this series I decided to face my climate anxiety head on and set out in search of reasons for optimism.

In this first episode of Cooked? I talk to experts around the world about what the data really show and why there are still reasons to hope.

00:00 How climate change feels overwhelming

04:27 What the data say about renewables

11:23 Will AI stall climate progress?

21:49 How are the world’s nations doing on climate change?

35:13 Preview of next time

Nature: COP31 kicks off as planet faces imminent overshoot of 1.5 °C climate target

Nature: How much energy will AI really consume? The good, the bad and the unknown

Nature: Biotech innovations are an opportunity to limit climate change

This episode was written and produced by Nick Petrić Howe. Dan Fox was the editor. Music was by Daniel Knowler, Akio Jefferson, Lionel Cohen and The Conductor, and was provided by Triple Scoop Music via Getty Images. Thanks to Hannah Ritchie, Ketan Joshi and Niklas Höhne for featuring in this episode.

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In this episode:

Research Article: Pillet et al.

Nature: Cholera bacterium’s good deed: inspiring a glue with rare properties

Nature: First-of-its-kind planetary wreckage holds clues to our Solar System’s fate

Research Article: Pan et al.

Nature: ​​​​​​​Move over BMI: new obesity definition is better for predicting your health

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In this episode:

Tiktok: This snake does cartwheels

Research article: Kojima et al.

Science: Did scientists just find 115-million-year-old dinosaur blood?

Nature: Patrick Stewart dies: how Captain Picard inspired today’s science leaders

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Ancient genomes from thousands of individuals show how migrations helped shape Celtic and Germanic languages — plus, how the brain may regulate emotions differently than we thought.

Research Article: McColl et al.

Research Article: McColl et al.

Nature: Barn owls’ ancestors made a transatlantic flight

Nature: Even stupendous black holes can’t explain dark matter

Research Article: Sicorello et al.

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Correction: This article originally stated Simon Rodway’s name incorrectly. The podcast has now been updated to correct this.

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Nature staff discuss the emerging field of pet longevity — plus, a researcher decides not to care about their student reviews. Are they wrong?

Nature: Can science make your dog live longer? Longevity craze comes to pets

Nature: What students think about my teaching doesn’t matter. Am I wrong?

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

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Expedition revealed that water wasn’t enough for human settlement — plus, proposals to block sunlight get serious.

Research Article: Dellmour et al.

Nature: Sleep declines in rural communities after electricity arrives

Nature: AI doctors’ orders come with a sky-high bill

Nature: Could a giant sunshade in space 'solve global warming'? Scientists are taking the idea seriously

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

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In this episode:

Nature: A single antimatter particle in a cage opens door to ‘revolutionary’ physics

Aerospace America: JAXA’s MMX mission will include the first wheeled rover to drive in ultra-low gravity

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

Research Article: Willemsen et al.

Nature: Orangutan mothers arrange play dates for their babies

Nature: Lead-tainted teeth reveal medieval mines’ unequal toll

Research Article: Xing et al.

Nature: This is what the mysterious Denisovans looked like

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

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