Atreyi Chakrabarty (St. Cross College, DPhil in Interdisciplinary Bioscience) in conversation with Professor Dorothy Bishop (Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford) More and more scientists are starting to doubt the nature of their own playing field. Their colleagues’ studies published in acclaimed journals, but the key findings mysteriously never seem to materialise when others try to…
By Dr Alice Thorneywork Be it ice in a drink, chocolate left in the sun, or the wax of a lit candle, melting – the phase transition in which a substance turns from a solid to a liquid – is a scientific phenomenon that we experience every day. While on a macroscopic level we know what melting looks…
Scientists from Oxford’s Healzlewood group discuss chemistry close to absolute zero. In the Heazlewood group we are interested in how chemical reactions progress at very low temperatures, close to absolute zero. The study of these reactions is of great importance for the exploration of naturally cold environments, such as the interstellar medium in space or the upper levels of Earth’s atmosphere. Previous research shows that…
Dr Martine Abboud is a multi-award winning scientist, working in the Schofield group in the Department of Chemistry and as a Junior Research Fellow at Kellogg College. Martine writes to ‘The Oxford Scientist’ about what she does and her passion for research. During my time in Oxford, I have discovered a genuine interest for scientific…
Image created by Berdea [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] (Wikipedia Creative Commons licence) To students, collaboration is far from a foreign concept. On a personal scale, whether it is group work at school or taking part in team sports, we instinctively recognise how strengths of different individuals can complement one another. Similarly, large scale multi-sectorial collaborations…
Ten years ago, the completion of the Human Genome Project was a milestone in the history of science. The race to be the first team to decode an entire human genome ultimately ended with the two largest groups collaborating and announcing the success of the project in 2001. This was not only a scientific achievement,…
100 years ago, the Representation of the People Act 1918 allowed some women over 30 to vote in the UK. To celebrate this, Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s current exhibition, Women In Science, explores the life and work of 14 female scientists. From Marie Curie to Barbara McClintock, these women are among the most…
The Michaelmas 2018 issue of The Oxford Scientist is here! Packed full of articles looking at the impact science has on the way we live our lives, check it out below or pick up a copy from your college common room now.
Feature Image Credit Ken Bohn / San Diego Zoo Global New Scientist by Laura Steel Humans are constantly creating novel compound tools from otherwise non-functional elements. From large scale technologies such as cars, to simply tying two non-functional bits of string together to make a useful longer piece. This skill comes so easily to us…
by Judahne Medley in2science UK is an award-winning charity which matches school students from disadvantaged backgrounds to research placements, giving them the opportunity to pursue their interests in STEM subjects. This summer, The Oxford Scientist, was pleased to provide free copies of the magazine to students who came to the University of Oxford. Two of these students –…
