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,…
By Amity Roberts Photograph: Nasa Archive/Alamy Nancy Roman, a boundary-breaking astronomer known as the ‘Mother of the Hubble’, died aged 93 on December 25th, 2018. Roman was NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy and supervised the planning and development of the Hubble Space Telescope that would change the way we see the universe. Roman was born…
A fungus that can infect the brain may be the key to understanding Alzheimer’s disease. The blood brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective barrier that allows very few unwanted substances pass through it. However, there are some bacteria and fungi that have found a way to cross the BBB and cause infections; Candida albicans…
By Abigail Pavey The power to create, destroy or modify life has always been a source of great debate between scientists and among society as a whole. But what happens when scientists decide to go undercover and do what they please? In November 2018, Chinese researcher He Jiankui announced to the world that he had…
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…
![Image from: Jonathan Bailey / NHGRI [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/oxsci.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Circulating-tumor-dna_image.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 "A 10-minute, universal blood test for cancer")
Researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia have developed a blood test that can detect whether a patient has any type of cancer within as little as 10 minutes. Although still in the initial stages of testing, this cheap and simple method could help clinicians to diagnose cancer before symptoms appear, when the widest range…
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.
By Emma Baker, Year 13, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Durham Vivien T. Thomas never had much more than a high school diploma, yet remains one of the most significant pioneers of cardiac surgery to date – having helped save the lives of countless children with congenital heart defects through surgical techniques he invented. His…
By Jemima Longcake, Year 12, Kirkbie Kendal School, Cumbria They may not wear the pristine white lab coat, or work in the esteemed laboratories of CERN or Fermilab. They do not lecture thousands in auditoriums, but they they lecture hundreds in our school lab rooms and classrooms. They are, for many of us, our first…
By Zain Ali, Year 11, King Edward VI Aston School, West Midlands It is flowing through you as you read this. Composed of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma, blood is arguably the most important tissue in the human body. Throughout history, an uncountable amount of people have died because they bled…
