Vianet Djenguet is an award-winning wildlife film-maker and camera operator whose work has featured in a number of major nature documentaries.

In this podcast, Vianet joins us to talk about his career, how wildlife film-making have changed, and his experiences working with local researchers to capture footage of endangered animals on the new television series The Wild Ones.

The Wild Ones Apple TV+ (2025)

Music supplied by SPD/Triple Scoop Music/Getty Images

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Ancient DNA evidence shows that the advent of agriculture led to more infectious disease among humans, with pathogens from animals only showing up 6,500 years ago. The DNA, extracted from human teeth, shows the history of diseases present in Eurasia over tens of thousands of years. The approach used could be a powerful way to understand how illness has shaped humanity, but it is unable to detect some bacteria that enter the bloodstream at low concentrations or some viruses, so future work could seek to fill that gap.

Research Article: Sikora et al.

News: Animal diseases leapt to humans when we started keeping livestock

DNA studies confirm that sardines were a major ingredient of the Roman Empire’s favourite fish sauce, and how analysis of animal manure identified global hotspots for antibiotic-resistance genes.

Research Highlight: Ancient DNA helps trace stinky Roman fish sauce to its source

Research Highlight: Poo of farm animals teems with drug-resistance genes

A 19-year experiment sampling bowhead whale faeces reveals a link between warming Arctic waters and increasing levels of toxic algae, researchers say. While climate change is expected to drive increases in the prevalence of harmful algal blooms, long-term data is lacking. To address this, a team worked with indigenous communities to collect and sample whale poo, showing that increases in algal toxins in the Arctic food chain are linked to rising ocean temperatures. The researchers suggest levels of these toxins need to be closely monitored to protect Arctic communities that depend on marine resources for food.

Research Article: Lefebvre et al.

An object from beyond our solar system has been spotted zipping past Jupiter, and evidence that Neanderthals created ‘fat factories’ to extract vital nutrients from animal bones.

Nature: Neanderthals boiled bones in ‘fat factories’ to enrich their lean diet

Nature: Rare find: interstellar visitor seen blazing through our Solar System

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Questions and doubts about vaccines are on the rise worldwide and public-health specialists worry that these trends could worsen. But while the shift in public attitudes towards immunizations can leave scientists, physicians and many others feeling disheartened, a surge of research on vaccine hesitancy is starting to offer ways to address the issue.

This is an audio version of our Feature How to speak to a vaccine sceptic: research reveals what works

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