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Can we diagnose heart attacks faster?
With one person admitted to hospital every 5 minutes in the UK because of a heart attack, the ability to diagnose and treat them quickly is vital. In this episode of the ‘Big Questions’ podcast, find out how Dr Tingting Zhu is using a machine learning algorithm, trained on 15,000 ECGs, to diagnose heart attacks faster, potentially eliminating...
Why are athletes using ketones?
It’s considered one of the hardest athletic challenges. 21 day-long stages covering around 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) - it’s the Tour De France.
A Tour de France rider will burn enough calories during a six-hour mountain stage to fuel an average person's activity for two to four days. So how do these athletes compete day in, day out...
Tingting Zhu
Dr. Tingting Zhu is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and Member of Faculty within the Department of Engineering Science, Oxford. She is an Associate Research Fellow of St. Hilda's College and a Stipendiary Lecturer at Mansfield College.
Lockdown Walks - Is this a fossil I see before me?
You find fossils on the beach, right? If you're really lucky and spend ages looking? WRONG! Fossils - by which we mean the preserved remains of ancient life - can be found all around us! Including, as Matt Sutton tells us, in the centre of town...Make sure you look out for one next time you're out for a walk around town!
Why do diets fail?
It's a new year (and a new decade!) and many of us will be looking to turn over a new leaf when it comes to diet and lifestyle. But - as anyone who's tried one will know - diets are VERY difficult to stick to. In this episode of the Big Questions podcast, we ask Professor Heidi de Wet from the University of Oxford's Department of Physiology,...
Hip Hip Hooray
What’s the link between sports, bone development in the young, and arthritis? In this animation we explore research that is trying to figure out why very sporty people tend to develop a condition of the hip, and what can be done about it.
Can we stop ageing?
We’re pretty obsessed with the concept of ageing. Ancient civilizations supposedly sought an ‘elixir of life’, and today many of us get hung up on finding a way to ‘younger looking skin’… But what’s the science behind ageing? What determines the life expectancy of a species and – time for the 'big question' – can we stop ageing? We ask Alison...
Mark S Thompson
I studied Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, where my inspirational tutor at Magdalen College, Brian Bellhouse, encouraged me to seek engineering applications in medicine. I completed a PhD in hip replacement biomechanics at the University of London, co-supervised and given extensive theatre experience by a surgeon, and won an EC...
Mechanobiology: the stress of life
We often think of our bodies in terms of cells and genes, but we shouldn’t forget that they’re also complex mechanical structures. From an Achilles tendon – that can carry half the weight of a Mini – to our constantly pulsing blood vessels, they’re feats of meticulous engineering. Scientists at the University of Oxford are showing how research...
