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Humans
Learn more about the human sense of taste
What's your favourite food - can you imagine what it tastes like right now? Find out how the 10,000 taste buds on your tongue work together to make food taste so good (or bad!)
Information on what the Pitt Rivers Museum can offer schools
If you're hoping to organize an exciting and educational school trip that will teach kids about history, geography, and anthropology, the Pitt Rivers museum is an ideal destination. Not only does it contain some of the most visually fascinating exhibits in Oxford, it also has tailored tours and activities depending on the age of the...
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.
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...
Joshua Bull
I’m a mathematician who applies maths to cancer and medicine – I didn’t even realise that existed when I was at school! I studied Maths and Philosophy at the University of Southampton and became interested in applied maths there, but I always thought that “applying maths” to real world problems meant “doing some sort of physics”.
Heidi de Wet
I received my first degree in botany and biochemistry at the University of the North-West in South Africa and moved to the University of Cape Town for my doctoral studies in Chemical Pathology. Currently, I am a University Lecturer and a tenured Associate Professor of Physiology. Ironically, I have never officially studied physiology, but...
How do unborn babies and mothers communicate via the placenta?
The placenta is a fascinating organ, which allows communication between mother and foetus through the release of bubble-like vesicles. Could the messages within these vesicles provide an early warning of diseases such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia? Scientists at the University of Oxford are finding out.
How do you fight malaria in the back of a van?
Just one mosquito bite is enough to infect someone with malaria. Tackling this serious – sometimes fatal – subtropical disease is a key priority for the World Health Organisation; but how can we move forward in the fight against it? Specifically, how could a small team of researchers, taking to the roads in a custom-built ‘Landrover Lab’, help...
Should we trust scientists?
We’re living in extraordinary times, where graphs and statistics are splashed across newspaper front pages, and misinformation is rife. How do we know which sources of information are reliable? How do scientific researchers go from having an idea to publishing their findings, and advising on policy? In this week’s episode of the ‘Big Questions...
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...
