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George Busby
George followed his lifelong passion for the natural world to read Zoology at Edinburgh University. In Edinburgh, he got hooked on evolutionary science and conservation fieldwork in Africa and has remained in academic scientific research ever since. Following Edinburgh, he studied for further research degrees, including a Masters in...
Simon Hiscock
Prof Simon Hiscock is Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, and a Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant Sciences.
His research focuses on using genetics and genomics to explore the fundamental processes underlying plant reproduction and evolution. He is currently working on the Senecio (ragworts,...
Greger Larson
I received my bachelor's degree in 1996 from Claremont McKenna College, a small liberal arts college in California. I then read just about everything Stephen J Gould ever wrote over the following three years while wandering the deserts of Turkmenistan and working for an environmental consultancy in Azerbaijan. Deciding that evolution was cooler...
Barley Rose Collier Harris
I always thought I was a physicist - with the first name 'Barley Rose' I thought studying plants would be too much of a cliché. I took a gap year before uni and was in need of a job, I wanted to do something ‘sciency’ before I started my undergrad and with no physics institutes nearby in Norfolk I applied for a job at the John Innes centre and...
A week in the WIMM: how students see scientists
The WIMM actively supports the development of aspiring young scientists, and every summer the Institute opens its doors to a variety of students at different stages in their academic careers.
When did dogs become our best friends?
In this year's Valentine's episode, we're exploring that most special of relationships. That's right - the one between us and our dogs! We often hear pooches described as "(wo)man's best friend", but for how long has this been the case? Join Prof Greger Larson, an expert in palaeogenomics and bio-archaeology, as we journey back thousands of...
Changing plant chloroplasts to improve crop performance
Chloroplasts are tiny protein-filled units within plant cells. As well as being responsible for photosynthesis, they are critical to a plant's ability to respond to its environment (for example, to the intensity of light or the threat of disease). They do this by importing the proteins they need - and getting rid of those they don't need....
Talk on how DNA provides a record of the impact of natural selection on animal evolution
In this video, Professor Chris Ponting from Oxford University talks about genomes. Although we have now completely sequenced the human genome, there is still much that we don't understand. For example, there is still a vast portion of the human genome that we call "Junk DNA" - the function of many parts of the human genome remains obscure.
Hayley Tumas
Growing up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and in the woods of the Appalachian Mountains in Maryland (USA), I have always loved and been fascinated by nature. By the time I enrolled in university at the University of Maryland, I knew that I wanted a career that would allow me to work towards protecting our natural world. I originally...
