Mistletoe has long been associated with fertility, and even today, its presence hanging from the ceiling can prompt a few blushes. But, did you know, mistletoe is more than something beneath which to kiss at Christmas? It is actually a parasite, and has some rather peculiar biology behind it. We chat to mistletoe expert Ollie Spacey about what makes it so special, where you can spot it and - importantly - how you can get involved with his research through MistleGO!...
Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense to have a lot of children. At the very least, we might expect a population to replace itself, with each couple having an average of two children. However, this evolutionary logic is not mirrored by current data: birth rates are falling in the UK, with many people choosing to either have one child, or no children at all. We speak to evolutionary anthropologist Dr Paula Sheppard about the drivers, and consequences, of this observed trend.
Chances are, you didn't notice the week-long wind drought that the UK experienced towards the end of 2023. However, this period of low wind speeds, combined with a cold snap, drove up our energy prices - something that may have caught your attention. So, what exactly do we know about wind droughts, and how can we apply this knowledge to plan for the low-carbon energy systems of the future? We chat to Matthew Wright from Oxford's Department of Physics to find out.
Welcome back to the new series of the Oxford Sparks Big Questions Podcast! We are here to answer weird and wonderful questions about our world, with the help of science. And we’re starting with a very big question! How do you sequence the genomes of 70,000 species? Dr Liam Crowley, from the Department of Biology, tells us about the ground-breaking Darwin Tree of Life project, which aims to sequence the genomes of over 70,000 species in Britain and Ireland. Discover the challenges and technologic...
Summer is here, and with heatwaves forecast, how do we keep our homes cool without relying on air conditioning? In the UK, soaring summer temperatures can be brief but powerful. So, what can we do? Nicole Miranda, from the Department of Engineering, shares practical, energy-efficient and eco-friendly strategies to help you stay comfortable during the hot months. And yes, ice creams are encouraged! This is the final episode of this season. We hope that you have enjoyed learning the science behind...
Scientists are returning to the moon, but when they get there, what time is it? Dr Carly Howett from the Department of Physics explains the basics: what time is, and how we found a globalised way of understanding time zones so we can meet for a 3pm coffee or international video call, and everyone is in the right place at the right time. But how does that translate to space and why could the consequences of incorrect timekeeping be disastrous for space craft docking missions? If you want to get t...
Discover how the ancient art of origami is revolutionising sustainable energy! Researcher Jingyi Yang, from the Department of Engineering Science, has loved origami since childhood. Now she’s channelling that passion to tackle engineering challenges. Using the intricate papercraft to develop clam-like models, Jinyi’s creative engineering may be the key to improving the efficiency of energy produced by the waves hitting the UK’s coastline. Find out more about this imaginative approach to scientif...
When you think of fossils, you probably imagine dinosaurs. But did you know that soft body parts, like the brain, can become fossils too? In this episode, forensic anthropologist Alexandra Morton-Hayward explores the science of brain fossilisation. Skeletons have been found in wells, Incan temples, salt mines and many other unusual locations, often with no other organs, hair or skin preserved. With only a brain nested in the skull, we are asking … how can this happen? Listen now to find out and ...
Have you ever had a song stuck in your head that you just can't shake? A few bars or lyrics that just keep looping all day long? Well, we have delved into the science behind 'earworms' with Dr Jacob Kingsbury Downs from the Faculty of Music. A melodic mix of musical imagery, auditory neuroscience, memory and impressive compositions can leave a little ditty echoing in our minds long after the last note has played. But what you really want to know is how to get rid of an earworm, right? Tune in to...
Are seals the fishermen's friends or foes? The UK is home 35% of the world’s grey seals and we know they like to get their flippers on many of the same fish as we do. So, how are seals impacting the fishing industry? In our latest podcast, Dr Claire Tanner from the Department of Biology explores the unseen conflict beneath the waves and the complex dynamics between these marine mammals and fisheries. Tune in to find out how understanding more about the behaviour of the UK’s seal populations can ...
House plants can be a cheerful pop of colour in your home. But do you find after the initial burst of life, your plants start to fade, looking sad and unhealthy? M Garrido Davies, from the Department of Biology, shares top tips for helping house plants to flourish, starting with learning more about the biology of how plants grow in their natural environment. Did you know that when you add too much water to your house plants, it starves their roots of oxygen, damaging the root system and actually...
Volcanoes are pretty amazing! But how do they work on other planets? Take Mars – it has the largest volcano in the solar system! But volcanologist Tamsin Mather reveals that the red planet is now considered geologically dead, with no volcanic activity for around 500 million years. How do we know how this volcano formed then? Well, space missions have put probes and landers on Mars’ surface, providing evidence of a long lost hot spot beneath the surface. What about the rest of the solar system? T...
We are out in the wild today talking to bees! In this behind the scenes episode, we visited Dr Rachel Parkinson’s bee recording studio to see insect neuroscience research in action. You might know that honeybees communicate with each other using the waggle dance, a minute choreography that shows other bees the way to the flower buffet. But little is known about how bumblebees communicate. To understand more about bee behaviour, Rachel has created a series of small arenas with cameras and microph...
Cats are pretty adorable! Those big eyes, fluffy paws and cheeky personalities mean that most people find felines cute. But what is the science behind this reaction? Neuroscientist Professor Morten Kringelbach reveals how special technology can track what happens to signals in the brain in response to sounds and images of babies and small animals. In just a thousandth of a second, our brain decides that something is cute. This almost instantaneous cuteness reaction is thought to be a deep-rooted...
You might have seen them in a hotel. You might have read about them in the news. Maybe you’ve seen them star in social media videos filmed on the London underground. But should we really be worried about bed bugs? The little critters evolved from feeding on bats and birds to humans thousands of years ago and were part of society for hundreds of years. But with the invention of synthetic pesticides, bed bug populations declined significantly after the Second World War. However, as pesticide resis...
Have you ever considered when kissing first started? Who, or what, first decided that this was a good way to show affection? Ancient historian, Troels Pank Arbøll, and hedgehog researcher, Sophie Lund Rasmussen, joined forces to attempt to find an answer. Cuneiform scripts, which are the world’s oldest written text, have the first mention of romantic kissing in a mythological narrative dating back to 2500 BCE. But animals can also help us to answer this question. Bonobos have been shown to kiss ...
How do we battle the energy use and soaring costs required to keep our homes warm? We spoke to Dr Brenda Boardman from the Environmental Change Institute about the best ways to keep out the winter chill. Did you know that draughts not only let cold air in, but they also push the warm out of your home? And that sitting or sleeping next to external walls can make you colder? Discover simple and inexpensive methods you can try to stay toasty, starting with the idea of heating the human rather than ...
People have been interested in wine growing and quality vintages since the Roman times, but as the climate warms, what does this mean for the future of wine growers in the UK (and beyond)? Andrew Wood, from the Department of Biology, has been studying the records of wine critics, which reveal much more than whether the bottle is a good vintage or not. The vintage can tell scientists what the growing conditions were like for the grapes in a given year – was it hot or cold? Was there flooding or d...
As we count down to the festive season and the days get colder, will we see a white Christmas this year? In the last episode of the Big Questions podcast for 2023, Dr Neven Fučkar from the Environmental Change Institute tells us more about the science behind weather forecasts and how climate change is impacting Earth’s weather patterns. Using advanced modelling, scientists can predict weather patterns to different degrees of certainty. So in a few days’ time, we should know whether we will see s...
Lions are iconic species, but they are threatened with extinction. In Zambia, researchers and conservationists are working together to find ways of conserving these majestic animals and preventing them from becoming by-catch of poaching. In this new episode of the Big Questions podcast, we speak to Dr Egil Dröge from the Department of Biology to share the steps involved in bringing lions back to a national park in Zambia. Careful selection of a few young female lions which are genetically simila...
As the UK government proposes new plans to reduce the number of people who smoke, we talk to behaviour change researcher Nicola Lindson from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences to find out how the plan would work. Could we see a generation that is smoke free? Would banning flavours in e-cigarettes stop children from taking up smoking? Tune in to the latest episode of the Big Questions podcast to find out more....
Welcome to the new series of the Big Questions podcast, where we ask Oxford scientists to shed light on everyday questions that you really want to know the answer to. Remember those photos or videos online that don’t look quite right? Perhaps you’ve heard a celebrity’s voice somewhere unexpected? In this episode, we chat to computational social scientist Dr Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute about deepfakes; media synthetically generated by technology to capture someone’s likeness. ...
About a year ago, we asked astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst why the James Webb Space Telescope is such a big deal . Her answers were pretty exciting, to say the least. So, in the months that have passed since then, what has it found out? What mysteries of the universe has it begun to unravel, and has it lived up to expectations? We got back in touch with Becky for an update. This is the last episode in this series of the Big Questions Podcast! We hope you've enjoyed learning about everything fr...
What might an experimental petrologist (someone who makes rocks in the lab) and an immunologist (someone who studies the body's defence system) have in common? Well, it turns out, a shared interest in iron might be one thing. And what does all this have to do with aliens, and, specifically, whether you would want to meet one? Well, you'll have to listen to find out! With Prof Jon Wade from the Department of Earth Sciences.
"Life finds a way"...This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Stephen Spielberg and Universal Studio's dinosaur masterpiece 'Jurassic Park'. A rousing soundtrack, gutsy kids, and graphics which have stood the test of time remarkably well - the film has undeniably become a classic. But - here's the big question - could it actually happen? Using today's technologies, could we actually extract ancient dinosaur DNA from blood-sucking mosquitoes preserved in amber? And then use tha...
Many of us will have had to deal with a bacterial infection at some point or another. The solution? Often, antibiotics. But as the issue of antibiotic resistance becomes more and more of a concern, might there be an alternative to tackling bacterial infections with drugs? We chat to biomedical engineer Dr Sara Keller about how sound waves could potentially be used to break down bacterial cells.
Increasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere are a big cause for concern. So what if we could find a way to not only remove some CO2 from the air, but turn it into something useful too? That's exactly what Dr Tiancun Xiao and his team have been working on...and they've found a way to turn CO2 into jet fuel!
Forced displacement of human populations owing to conflict or natural disasters is very difficult to measure. During these crises, the traditional methods of assessing changes in populations - which mostly rely on surveys - are simply not possible. We chat to Dr Douglas Leasure from Oxford's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science about how his team have been using social media data to assess the internal displacement of populations in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, in or...
Demographers (researchers who study the statistics of human populations) look at factors such as birth rates, death rates, migration and life expectancy. But what exactly is meant by the term 'life expectancy'? How is it calculated, and how has it changed after the pandemic? We speak to Prof Jennifer Dowd from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science to find out. You can find out more about Prof Dowd's work in our micro-documentary Demography: Understanding Our World : https://www.oxfordspa...
More than half the world's population is at risk from dengue fever, a viral infection that is spread via the bite of an infected mosquito. While some cases of the disease can be mild, others can be extremely dangerous and even fatal - particularly if someone has contracted the virus previously. When cases of dengue fever are high, those at risk can take some preventative measures, such as wearing clothing that covers as much skin as possible, using mosquito nets at night, and avoiding standing w...
