The Oxford Scientist

The Oxford Scientist is the University of Oxford’s independent, student-produced science magazine.

Using Artificial Intelligence to create the Shazam of Ocean Sounds

In recent years, the use of underwater microphones called hydrophones has allowed scientists to listen in on the underwater world in a non-invasive way. Passive acoustic monitoring has already been used in various biological studies, such as documenting the distribution and migration of whales and characterising the responses of fish to environmental changes.

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Progress, revived: can evolution change things for the better?

By Giovanni Mussini This article was originally published in The Oxford Scientist Michaelmas Term 2021 edition, Change. In one of the last and most accomplished of his works, Giacomo Leopardi, the 19th century giant of Italian poetry, turns to the natural world to ridicule le magnifiche sorti e progressive–the magnificent and progressive fates–of humanity: as…

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Biotech in design: Does the relationship between science & creativity need to change?

By Emilia Schmid Creative design is the foundation of science. To be a successful scientist, visionary ideas, innovative experimental designs and imaginative alternative hypotheses are all essentials: Creativity is required in order to make scientific breakthroughs. Hindering creativity through cultural norms will have a strong impact on technological and scientific progress, thereby hindering the progress…

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Restoration: A Medieval Understanding of ‘Science’

 Title image by Lizzie Daly By Sea Yun Pius Joung As one enters the quadrangle of our beloved Bodleian, one can’t help but notice the grandeur of it all—the ancient windows; the scent of old books; the archways leading into mysterious rooms such as the schola moralis philosophiae, the schola astronomiae et rhetoricae, or the schola…

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The Regulation of Neuro-Hacking: Why self-experimentation needs the support and recognition of institutions

Authored by Matthew J Lennon MD, Grant Rigney MSc, Zoltán Molnár MD, DPhil Self-experimentation has shaped the history of neurological research1, from Isaac Newton mapping out the visual distribution of the retina by inserting a needle into his eye socket, to Henry Head distinguishing between types of somatic sensation by transecting branches of his own…

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