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How Science Works
Christmas Science Lectures
At Oxford's annual Christmas science lectures, world renowed scientists aim to entertain and inspire the next generation with their (often explosive) insights into science. Learn about a variety of exciting topics, including how epigenetics makes you you, whether machines can think, and how volcanoes work!
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Download a sorting minerals activity
Minerals come in all shapes and sizes - take a look at this worksheet from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and see what you think of these!
Lauren Bandy
I did my undergraduate degree in Nutrition at King’s College London, and worked as a nutrition analyst for a private market research company for four years while I did my Masters in Food Policy at City University London. While working and doing my Masters I came up with a method that links food sales data with 'back of pack' nutrition...
Tess Johnson
As a DPhil candidate in Philosophy, I am based at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. During my undergraduate studies in biology and anthropology at the Australian National University, I took an amazing class in bioethics, and discovered a love for asking the big “should” questions about scientific developments—from new reproductive...
Why does my phone battery suck?
Most people use their phones every single day for communicating with others, using the Internet, playing games via apps. But there’s nothing worse than looking down at your phone and realising the battery is running out of juice—or worse yet, that it’s already completely dead.
One of the most common problems with smart phones is a...
How do you measure pain?
We all feel pain differently. What to one person may be the worst pain in the world, might be a mild irritation to another person; but why? At the moment, we don’t have a thorough understanding of how pain is processed, meaning it is difficult to devise treatments for chronic (long-term) pain.
Alberto Giubilini
I am a philosopher at the University of Oxford, based at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. I studied in Italy, at the University of Milan, and I worked for a few years in Australia before coming back to this side of the world. I work mostly in bioethics, which is why most philosophers would not consider me one of them. But I do...
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!
Lockdown Walks - What's the secret behind Autumn colours?
Woolly jumpers, pumpkin-picking, steaming mugs of cocoa - there are lots of things to love about Autumn (or Fall for our North American friends)! And surely nothing can beat those beautiful Autumn colours? But what's the secret behind those amazing hues of red, orange and yellow? We all enjoy kicking through piles of crunchy leaves, but why do...
What can Chemists learn from nature?
Enzymes are the catalysts inside all living cells. They are responsible for speeding up chemical reactions, turning one chemical (the starter chemical) into another chemical (the product).
Nature is full of chemicals – flavours, fragrances, medicines. Living systems have been making these useful chemicals for billions of years, but usually only tiny quantities, because that’s all they need! In this animation we find out how chemists are learning from nature to create these chemicals in much larger quantities, to satisfy our...
