A controversial dam in the Amazon unites Indigenous people and scientists, and transplanting mitochondria to treat rare diseases

<p><em>Keeping an eye on the largest hydroelectric project in the Amazon basin, and helping patients with deletions in their mitochondrial DNA</em></p> <p>We are starting off the new year with producer Kevin McLean and freelance science journalist <a href="https://sofiamoutinhoportfolio.wordpress.com/about-me/">Sofia Moutinho</a>. They discuss a controversial dam in the Brazilian Amazon and how Indigenous peoples and researchers are trying to monitor its impact.</p> <p>Then, host Sarah Crespi speaks with <a href="https://www.shebaonline.org/doctors/elad-jacoby/">Elad Jacoby</a>, an expert in pediatric hematology and oncology at the Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, about the many wonders of mitochondria. In a recent <em>Science Translational Medicine</em> paper, his team took advantage of the fact that mitochondria are almost exclusively inherited from our mothers to transfer <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abo3724">mothers’ mitochondria into their children</a> as treatment for mitochondrial genome deletions.</p> <p>Take our audience survey at: <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8</a></p> <p>This week’s episode was produced with help from <a href="https://podigy.co/">Podigy</a>.</p> <p>[Image: Dado Galdieri/Hilaea Media; Music: Jeffrey Cook]</p> <p>[alt: two fishermen in a boat with podcast symbol overlay]</p> <p>Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Sofia Moutinho</p> <p>Episode page: <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg1712">https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg5434</a></p> <p>About the Science Podcast: <a href="https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast">https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast</a> </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>