Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is spreading at an alarming rate, yet the antibiotic industry is only shrinking—could a pre-antibiotic era return as our future? Antimicrobials revolutionised medicine. Before antibiotics, the average life expectancy was 47 years. Infections such as pneumonia could easily be fatal, and to put it bluntly, a scratch could kill. There is no…
Since China first announced the emergence of a new virus, 2019-novel coronavirus or 2019-nCOV, the pathogen has spread and international cases have emerged. This virus is in the same family as both the common cold and the more deadly MERS and SARS viruses. Governments and health organisations are now mobilising to contain the spread of…
After a three year long Brexit limbo, with two leaders, five rejected deals and an increasingly polarised population, Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill was passed on 20th December with a majority of 124, leaving the UK on course to leave the EU by the end of January. The United Kingdom prides itself on the breakthrough contributions…
Since 2014, The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art have run a collaborative competition which aims to draw together the fields of the arts and the sciences. Mihaela Man and Olivia Williamson won the 2019 competition with a two-part piece which has been installed in the…
Rapid technological development has made self-driving cars a reality. This advancement raises questions about how these cars should make ethical decisions in place of human drivers. While technology can replace, and will undoubtedly supersede humans in actual driving ability, driving a car involves moral decisions. These choices would have to be programmed—for instance whether to…
Nathan Walemba The quantum computer was first theorised by Richard Feynman in 1982. Nathan Walemba, a 1st year undergraduate studying Materials Science, gave his Chalk Talk on what a quantum computer is and how far they have come since their original proposal. Feynman’s suggestion sparked a frantic race between companies such as Google, D-Wave and…
Astrophysicist Dr Rebecca Smethurst is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, working on the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. She is also a science communicator through her YouTube channel Dr Becky and has recently released her book “Space: 10 Things You Should Know”. Here she talks about her work and space…
Find out how scientists in the UK Atomic Energy Authority are striving towards a cleaner, more sustainable future by creating a Sun on Earth.
Every autumn, billions of birds disappear from our fields, trees, and shorelines to make awe-inspiring migratory journeys, reliably returning again the next spring. The bar-tailed godwit, a long-legged wading bird, flies from Alaska to New Zealand over nine straight days without stopping. Short-tailed shearwaters migrate all the way round the Pacific with pinpoint accuracy, returning…
Why should we care about the stratosphere? Such is the question Simon Clark presented us with at the latest of the Physics society’s weekly talks. Former undergraduate at St Peter’s College Oxford and prominent Youtuber, Clark has made a name for himself as a powerful and effective science communicator and it becomes clear why as…
