Why breast cancer treatments might work best just after your period

Download the Nature Podcast 4 December 2024

In this episode:

00:48 Chemotherapy efficacy varies with the menstrual cycle

Breast cancer cells are more susceptible to chemotherapy at certain points in the menstrual cycle, new data in Nature suggest. Researchers studied the equivalent hormonal cycle in mice and found that during the oestrous phase, where progesterone levels are low, tumours are more susceptible to chemotherapy. The same effect was shown in humans in a small retrospective study. The team cautions that a larger clinical trial would need to be conducted, but hopes that this work could open up an easy-to-implement way to boost the effect of chemotherapy.

Research Article: Bornes et al.

News and Views: What is the best time of the month to treat breast cancer?

09:22 Research Highlights

How coffee changes your gut microbiota, and the first amber deposits found in Antarctica hint at an ancient rainforest.

Research Highlight: Do you drink coffee? Ask your gut

Research Highlight: Antarctica’s first known amber whispers of a vanished rainforest

11:47 Is human-level artificial intelligence close?

The latest AI system released by OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, is better able to break down problems into smaller chunks, making it closer to a human way of solving problems than other systems. This has reignited discussions about the likelihood of AIs achieving human-level intelligence. Although previously the realm of science fiction, researchers are now taking the idea of ‘artificial general intelligence’, or AGI, more seriously. Although this technology has the potential to help tackle humanity’s biggest challenges, there are concerns about the safety of such technology if it were to become autonomous.

News Feature: How close is AI to human-level intelligence?

21:43 Briefing Chat

How making a bank of centenarians’ stem cells could help unlock the secrets of healthy ageing, and what some 1.5-million-year-old footprints reveal about how ancient hominin species might have interacted.

Nature: What’s the secret to living to 100? Centenarian stem cells could offer clues

Nature: These two ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years ago

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