Nature Podcast

00:48 How the 18th-Century 'Great Fear’ spread across rural FranceIn the late 1700s, rural France was beset with rapidly spreading rumours of aristocratic plots to suppress revolutionary ideas. But how, and why, these rumours were able to spread so quickly has puzzled historians. Now, using modern epidemiological modelling, a team suggests that a combination of high wheat prices, income and literacy level drove this period of French history known as the Great Fear.Research Article: Zapperi et al.News: An abiding mystery of the French Revolution is solved — by epidemiology12:40 Research HighlightsAn unorthodox explanation for dark energy — plus, and how a tiny marsupial predator overcame near extinction.Research Highlight: Does dark energy spawn from black holes? Could be a bright ideaResearch Highlight: Tiny Australian predator defies drought to recover from near-extinction15:13 The quantum interpretation quizPhysicists differ widely in their interpretations of quantum mechanics, and so do