MT 2025 – Connections
“This term began with the loss of a true icon of science communication, Jane Goodall. I admired not only her pioneering approach to primatology, but also her ability to reach so far beyond her discipline, to bring out the humanity and curiosity in all of us. It seems fitting, therefore, to have landed on the theme of Connections’ for this issue. My time at this publication has connected me to so many inspiring scientists and writers, and the topics that are important to them; this issue is no exception, and what a privilege it has been. It is important now more than ever to ask questions about what connects us, as connection and collaboration remain pillars of scientific integrity and progress. I am encouraged to see that the student community here remains committed to just that, and I hope that The Oxford Scientist will continue to provide a platform for everyone to engage in the conversation. I invite you to connect with the diverse themes of this issue, and indeed, to use it to connect with each other.” — Erin Adlard (Co-Editor in Chief, MT 2025)
“In an age of unlimited access to information, we are increasingly exposed to the ways science interacts with our everyday lives. At the same time, we now live in a world where the people seeking to undermine science have never had more influence. Therefore, it is ever more important that we seek to understand how science has always been connected tothe politics and societal issues of the time. I firmly believe that science journalism must be committed to tackling these connections head-on, in addition to communicating evidence-based research faithfully and effectively.” — Rayvell Wijaya (Co-Editor in Chief, MT 2025)
HT 2026 – Anomalies
“We are living through an era that increasingly flattens nuance and tension in favour of convenient certainties. In doing so, we risk forgetting that anomalies are precisely what drive progress by compelling us to delve into our assumptions and re-examine what we hold to be irrevocably true. They expose the flaws embedded in our disciplines, our institutions, and our public narratives about science. The role of science journalism is, then, not simply to report these findings, but to interrogate the frameworks through which those findings are understood. By examining where our expectations fail and why, we make space for more rigorous and honest inquiry. In this edition, we explore topics from climate to sports science, cosmic rays to cancer. These anomalies remind us that no discipline is immune to revision, and only by transparently confronting what does not fit can we uncover the truths which ultimately endure.” — Ellie Yau (HT2026 Editor-in-Chief)
TT 2026 – Power
“You will find tension running through this issue. We examine how research has been politicised across history and conscripted into war and conflict; the gaps in menopause care, where who is studied and who is left waiting is a question of power as much as biology; and the patriarchal assumptions buried in our ecological theories that queer ecology is now prying loose. Power lives in nature too: in the molecular arms race between viruses and the immune system, in the conservation potential of animal culture we too often overlook through our own bias, and in the bioelectricity humming through living tissue. It runs through the abstract as well: in global dependencies for clean energy, in the strange leverage of quantum computers, in the power laws that describe life more honestly than any bell curve, and even in the number zero, an absence that became one of our most powerful ideas. The role of a science magazine, I think, is not only to marvel at power in all these forms, but to ask ourselves: who wields it, who is shaped by it, and what does it cost us to leave it unchallenged?” — Iulia Kis (TT2026 Editor-in-Chief)
