Oxford Sparks Big Questions
179 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratings'Will my bacon sandwich kill me?', 'Is vaping better than smoking?', 'How do you become an astronaut?' - just some of the Big Questions we ask some of the brightest minds behind Oxford science. Join us in each podcast as we explore a different area of science.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
How are volcanoes formed on other planets?
April 10, 2024 11:30 - 13 minutes - 32.8 MBVolcanoes are pretty amazing! But how do they work on other planets? Take Mars – it has the largest volcano in the solar system! But volcanologist Tamsin Mather reveals that the red planet is now considered geologically dead, with no volcanic activity for around 500 million years. How do we know how this volcano formed then? Well, space missions have put probes and landers on Mars’ surface, providing evidence of a long lost hot spot beneath the surface. What about the rest of the...
Can we talk to bees?
March 27, 2024 12:30 - 15 minutes - 36 MBWe are out in the wild today talking to bees! In this behind the scenes episode, we visited Dr Rachel Parkinson’s bee recording studio to see insect neuroscience research in action. You might know that honeybees communicate with each other using the waggle dance, a minute choreography that shows other bees the way to the flower buffet. But little is known about how bumblebees communicate. To understand more about bee behaviour, Rachel has created a series of small arenas w...
Why are people obsessed with how cute cats are?
March 13, 2024 12:30 - 14 minutes - 35.1 MBCats are pretty adorable! Those big eyes, fluffy paws and cheeky personalities mean that most people find felines cute. But what is the science behind this reaction? Neuroscientist Professor Morten Kringelbach reveals how special technology can track what happens to signals in the brain in response to sounds and images of babies and small animals. In just a thousandth of a second, our brain decides that something is cute. This almost instantaneous cuteness reaction is thought to be a dee...
How freaked out should I be about bed bugs?
February 28, 2024 12:30 - 11 minutes - 27.2 MBYou might have seen them in a hotel. You might have read about them in the news. Maybe you’ve seen them star in social media videos filmed on the London underground. But should we really be worried about bed bugs? The little critters evolved from feeding on bats and birds to humans thousands of years ago and were part of society for hundreds of years. But with the invention of synthetic pesticides, bed bug populations declined significantly after the Second World War. However, as pesti...
When did we start kissing?
February 14, 2024 12:30 - 12 minutes - 29.2 MBHave you ever considered when kissing first started? Who, or what, first decided that this was a good way to show affection? Ancient historian, Troels Pank Arbøll, and hedgehog researcher, Sophie Lund Rasmussen, joined forces to attempt to find an answer. Cuneiform scripts, which are the world’s oldest written text, have the first mention of romantic kissing in a mythological narrative dating back to 2500 BCE. But animals can also help us to answer this question. Bonobos have b...
How do you stay warm in your house without central heating?
January 31, 2024 12:30 - 14 minutes - 33.9 MBHow do we battle the energy use and soaring costs required to keep our homes warm? We spoke to Dr Brenda Boardman from the Environmental Change Institute about the best ways to keep out the winter chill. Did you know that draughts not only let cold air in, but they also push the warm out of your home? And that sitting or sleeping next to external walls can make you colder? Discover simple and inexpensive methods you can try to stay toasty, starting with the idea of heating the human rath...
How will climate change affect wine?
January 17, 2024 12:30 - 15 minutes - 36.7 MBPeople have been interested in wine growing and quality vintages since the Roman times, but as the climate warms, what does this mean for the future of wine growers in the UK (and beyond)? Andrew Wood, from the Department of Biology, has been studying the records of wine critics, which reveal much more than whether the bottle is a good vintage or not. The vintage can tell scientists what the growing conditions were like for the grapes in a given year – was it hot or cold? Was there flo...
What are the odds of a white Christmas?
December 13, 2023 12:30 - 10 minutes - 24.3 MBAs we count down to the festive season and the days get colder, will we see a white Christmas this year? In the last episode of the Big Questions podcast for 2023, Dr Neven Fučkar from the Environmental Change Institute tells us more about the science behind weather forecasts and how climate change is impacting Earth’s weather patterns. Using advanced modelling, scientists can predict weather patterns to different degrees of certainty. So in a few days’ time, we should know whether we will s...
How do you reintroduce lions?
November 29, 2023 12:30 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBLions are iconic species, but they are threatened with extinction. In Zambia, researchers and conservationists are working together to find ways of conserving these majestic animals and preventing them from becoming by-catch of poaching. In this new episode of the Big Questions podcast, we speak to Dr Egil Dröge from the Department of Biology to share the steps involved in bringing lions back to a national park in Zambia. Careful selection of a few young female lions which are genetically si...
Does banning smoking work?
November 15, 2023 12:30 - 11 minutes - 27 MBAs the UK government proposes new plans to reduce the number of people who smoke, we talk to behaviour change researcher Nicola Lindson from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences to find out how the plan would work. Could we see a generation that is smoke free? Would banning flavours in e-cigarettes stop children from taking up smoking? Tune in to the latest episode of the Big Questions podcast to find out more.
Why are deep fakes happening?
November 01, 2023 12:15 - 13 minutes - 19.4 MBWelcome to the new series of the Big Questions podcast, where we ask Oxford scientists to shed light on everyday questions that you really want to know the answer to. Remember those photos or videos online that don’t look quite right? Perhaps you’ve heard a celebrity’s voice somewhere unexpected? In this episode, we chat to computational social scientist Dr Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute about deepfakes; media synthetically generated by technology to capture someone’s ...
What's the cool stuff that we've learnt from the James Webb Space Telescope?
July 05, 2023 11:30 - 17 minutes - 40.9 MBAbout a year ago, we asked astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst why the James Webb Space Telescope is such a big deal. Her answers were pretty exciting, to say the least. So, in the months that have passed since then, what has it found out? What mysteries of the universe has it begun to unravel, and has it lived up to expectations? We got back in touch with Becky for an update. This is the last episode in this series of the Big Questions Podcast! We hope you've enjoyed learning about everyth...
Would you want to meet an alien?
June 21, 2023 11:30 - 16 minutes - 38.4 MBWhat might an experimental petrologist (someone who makes rocks in the lab) and an immunologist (someone who studies the body's defence system) have in common? Well, it turns out, a shared interest in iron might be one thing. And what does all this have to do with aliens, and, specifically, whether you would want to meet one? Well, you'll have to listen to find out! With Prof Jon Wade from the Department of Earth Sciences.
Could 'Jurassic Park' actually happen?
May 31, 2023 11:30 - 14 minutes - 33.2 MB"Life finds a way"...This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Stephen Spielberg and Universal Studio's dinosaur masterpiece 'Jurassic Park'. A rousing soundtrack, gutsy kids, and graphics which have stood the test of time remarkably well - the film has undeniably become a classic. But - here's the big question - could it actually happen? Using today's technologies, could we actually extract ancient dinosaur DNA from blood-sucking mosquitoes preserved in amber? And then use...
How can we use sound waves to eliminate infections?
May 17, 2023 11:30 - 14 minutes - 33.6 MBMany of us will have had to deal with a bacterial infection at some point or another. The solution? Often, antibiotics. But as the issue of antibiotic resistance becomes more and more of a concern, might there be an alternative to tackling bacterial infections with drugs? We chat to biomedical engineer Dr Sara Keller about how sound waves could potentially be used to break down bacterial cells.
How do you convert CO2 into jet fuel?
May 03, 2023 11:30 - 14 minutes - 33.1 MBIncreasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere are a big cause for concern. So what if we could find a way to not only remove some CO2 from the air, but turn it into something useful too? That's exactly what Dr Tiancun Xiao and his team have been working on...and they've found a way to turn CO2 into jet fuel!
How do you use social media to deliver humanitarian aid?
April 19, 2023 11:30 - 14 minutes - 21.1 MBForced displacement of human populations owing to conflict or natural disasters is very difficult to measure. During these crises, the traditional methods of assessing changes in populations - which mostly rely on surveys - are simply not possible. We chat to Dr Douglas Leasure from Oxford's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science about how his team have been using social media data to assess the internal displacement of populations in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, i...
How has life expectancy changed after the pandemic?
April 05, 2023 11:30 - 15 minutes - 22.5 MBDemographers (researchers who study the statistics of human populations) look at factors such as birth rates, death rates, migration and life expectancy. But what exactly is meant by the term 'life expectancy'? How is it calculated, and how has it changed after the pandemic? We speak to Prof Jennifer Dowd from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science to find out. You can find out more about Prof Dowd's work in our micro-documentary Demography: Understanding Our World: https://www.oxfo...
Can you make a dengue fever forecast?
March 22, 2023 12:30 - 13 minutes - 18.8 MBMore than half the world's population is at risk from dengue fever, a viral infection that is spread via the bite of an infected mosquito. While some cases of the disease can be mild, others can be extremely dangerous and even fatal - particularly if someone has contracted the virus previously. When cases of dengue fever are high, those at risk can take some preventative measures, such as wearing clothing that covers as much skin as possible, using mosquito nets at night, and avoiding standi...
Can my gut health improve my mental health?
March 08, 2023 12:30 - 13 minutes - 19.8 MBOur gut microbiome (that's all the microorganisms - such as bacteria, viruses and fungi - living in our gut) is really important for healthy digestion. But did you know that it's also linked to our mental health? In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast we chat to neuroscientist Prof Philip Burnet from Oxford's Department of Psychiatry about how our gut is connected to our brain, and how taking prebiotic and probiotic supplements could even help in the treatment of mood and psychotic dis...
Why do research on research?
February 22, 2023 12:30 - 11 minutes - 16.8 MBWe've talked about a lot of different types of research on this podcast...from investigations into drought, to space exploration, to the future of food. But what about researching 'research' itself? That's right, on this week's episode of the Big Questions Podcast, we're going meta! We chat to Dr Patricia Logullo, a meta-researcher from the Nuffield Department for Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, about why it is so important to examine the practice of research itself,...
How could spider sex unlock secrets to engineering?
February 08, 2023 12:30 - 12 minutes - 30.4 MBNot everyone is the biggest fan of spiders...we know that. They might not be the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to romance, either! But, you've got to admit, when it comes to engineering, they're pretty incredible. Capable of making up to seven types of silk, and able to sense vibrations through thousands of 'ears' on their legs, there's a lot we can learn from spiders when it comes to new materials and sensor technologies. So, on this year's Valentine's episode of the Big Qu...
Is the metaverse doomed?
January 25, 2023 12:30 - 16 minutes - 23.4 MBAsk an internet aficionado what the 'next big thing' is, and they might respond with 'the metaverse'. This is the idea that we could soon be wandering in a virtual world - a kind of global, immersive video game. But are we really just one VR headset away from paradise? Or is the metaverse doomed before it's even really got off the ground? We chat to Dr Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute to find out if Big Tech's confidence in the metaverse might be misplaced.
Can you cure jet lag?
January 11, 2023 12:30 - 14 minutes - 34.6 MBIf our internal body clock is telling us it's 3am, but the external environment is telling us it's 12 noon, that's called jet lag. It's a mis-match between what's going on inside our bodies and what's happening outside. Those who have travelled abroad - particularly to somewhere in a significantly different time zone - will be familiar with the feeling, but it's not just stepping off a plane that can cause it. 'Social jet lag' is a particular problem for shift workers, for example. An out-of...
Should I feel guilty eating turkey at my Christmas dinner?
December 14, 2022 12:30 - 11 minutes - 27.8 MBWhile the tradition of eating turkey at Christmas can be traced back to Henry VIII, it's really only been a staple part of our Christmas dinner since the early 20th Century. However, in the UK, it's now hard to imagine a Christmas spread without a turkey at its centre! But - with meat consumption linked to negative impacts on both our health and the planet - should we feel guilty about enjoying this part of the festive feast? In the opinion of social psychologist Elif Naz Çoker, the answer i...
How can a simulation help treat kidney stones?
November 30, 2022 12:30 - 11 minutes - 27.1 MBAround 10% of us will experience kidney stones at some point in our life. They occur when waste products in the blood form small crystals, which gather together in the kidneys to form hard lumps. Small kidney stones (<4mm in diameter) usually pass through the body naturally, with no medical intervention required. However, larger kidney stones may require treatment. For example, a laser beam can be used within the kidney to break a large stone up into smaller pieces. During this laser treatme...
How were new craters on Mars discovered?
November 16, 2022 12:30 - 12 minutes - 29.8 MBWhen a space rock smashes into the surface of a planet, a hole - or crater - is formed. New craters might be relatively straightforward to identify on Earth, but what about on other planets, such as Mars? In this episode we hear from Dr Ben Fernando, a researcher from Oxford's Department of Physics and a scientist on NASA's InSight mission, about the techniques used to discover new craters on the red planet.
What makes the human brain so special?
November 02, 2022 12:30 - 10 minutes - 25.6 MBWe often hear that we're remarkably similar to our primate relatives, both in terms of our genetics and our behaviour. We're social beings. We use tools. But only humans have come to dominate the planet - why? Could the answer lie in the small differences between the human brain and that of other primates? In this episode of the Oxford Sparks Big Questions Podcast, we talk to neuroscientist Dr Rogier Mars about what makes the human brain so special. Please note that Dr Rogier Mars and his ...
Why is the UK still in a drought?
October 19, 2022 11:30 - 10 minutes - 25.4 MBHere in the UK, we have a reputation for grey, drizzly weather. But there's no denying that this summer was HOT and this summer was DRY. With soaring temperatures and little to no rain for weeks on end, it was no surprise that we found ourselves in a drought, with a ban on hosepipes declared and careful use of water encouraged. But, did you know that we're still in that drought? In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast we chat to Dr Anna Murgatroyd to find out what characterises a drough...
Why is the James Webb Space Telescope a big deal?
June 15, 2022 11:30 - 14 minutes - 35 MBAre we alone in the Universe? What exactly lies at the centre of our galaxy? Just like our podcast, the James Webb Space Telescope aims to answer some *very big questions*. Launched on Christmas Day 2021 and hurtling towards an orbit 1.5 million miles from the Earth, the JWST (as it's known to those in the business!) is a follow-up to the Hubble Space Telescope - and it's three times bigger. Decades in the making, the JWST will begin collecting and transmitting scientific data in July 2022, ...
What is green steel?
June 01, 2022 11:30 - 11 minutes - 27.5 MBSteel has become an essential commodity in modern society - used in everything from our cars and our buildings to the cutlery we use to eat our dinner. Unfortunately, the process used to traditionally produce steel (mining iron ore and combining it with carbon in a blast oxygen furnace) releases a huge amount of CO2. So, is there a cleaner way of producing steel? In this episode, we chat to Prof Barbara Rossi about 'green steel', and how it could improve the sustainability and resilience of ...
How do you create autonomous robots that can investigate under the sea?
May 18, 2022 12:30 - 14 minutes - 34.5 MBHow do you retrieve data from sensors embedded in underwater settings - such as those monitoring ecosystem change, for example? Well, when human divers aren't an option (which is often the case) it's over to the autonomous robots! In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast we speak to Prof Nick Hawes from the Oxford Robotics Institute about the challenges - and possibilities - that such robots bring to the field.
How do you grow the perfect tomato?
May 04, 2022 12:30 - 12 minutes - 30.1 MBIs there anything nicer than a fresh, juicy, home-grown tomato on a summer's day? Whether you like them sliced up in a sandwich or blended into a delicious sauce, in this episode of the Big Questions podcast we reveal the secrets behind growing the perfect tomato. Let us transport you to Trap Grounds Allotments in Oxford, where Emily is joined by plant scientist Christian Norton, who is ready to reveal his five easy steps to the ultimate crop!
How is misinformation about the war in Ukraine spreading?
April 20, 2022 12:30 - 15 minutes - 35.3 MBMisinformation about the war in Ukraine - and countless other topics, such as the pandemic and climate change - spreads like wildfire online. It aims to confuse people, make them question their own knowledge, and ultimately raise suspicion and doubt. But how exactly does this misinformation spread, why is it so prevalent on social media, and what are the various platforms doing to help prevent it? We chat to Dr Aliaksandr Herasimenka from the Oxford Internet Institute to find out.
How does a pandemic end?
April 06, 2022 12:30 - 14 minutes - 34.4 MBMasks, social distancing, lockdowns. We've become intimately familiar with numerous COVID-19 control measures over the past two years. Now, with most restrictions gone (at least here in England), does that mean that the pandemic is really over? In this episode, we chat to Erica Charters, Professor of the Global History of Medicine at the University of Oxford and Principal Investigator of the 'How Epidemics End' interdisciplinary project.
Why do we develop bad habits?
March 23, 2022 12:30 - 11 minutes - 27.4 MBFrom biting our nails to idly scrolling on our phones, we all have those habits we wish we didn't. In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast, we chat to neuroscientist Charlotte Collingwood about what makes a habit, why we develop them, and how we might go about kicking a bad habit.
Is the energy crisis going to get worse?
March 09, 2022 12:30 - 12 minutes - 28.6 MBOver the past year, we've seen our energy bills reach unimaginable heights. The war in Ukraine is having devastating effects for Ukrainians and creating ripples for international fuel costs. We're now in the midst of a 'perfect storm' when it comes to energy supply - but where are we in the story? Is the energy crisis going to get worse, and what are the potential solutions to bringing those prices down? We chat to Phil Grünewald who considers the current situation a wake-up call to improve ...
Is ordering a pizza bad for the climate?
February 23, 2022 12:30 - 14 minutes - 34.7 MBIn this episode of the Big Questions podcast, we're talking about one of our favourite guilty pleasures - ordering a pizza! From the machinery required to harvest the wheat for the dough, to the cardboard packaging your finished pizza is delivered in, we're considering all aspects of a pizza's journey and asking: is ordering a pizza bad for the climate? Environmental scientists Eleanor Hammond and Dr Mike Clark are here to provide some answers, and tell us about '4 steps 4 the Earth'. (Don't...
How do you monitor mosquitoes using their sound?
February 09, 2022 12:30 - 12 minutes - 29 MBWhat do you think of when someone says “the most dangerous animal in the world”? A lion perhaps? Or a poisonous frog? Well, one species of mosquito – Anopheles gambiae – is often referred to as such, owing to its enhanced ability to transmit malaria, a deadly disease which led to 627,000 deaths in 2020 alone. A. gambiae isn’t the only species of mosquito that is able to effectively transmit malaria, and each species exhibits different behaviours and requires a different management strategy. ...
How can we improve endometriosis treatment?
January 26, 2022 12:30 - 15 minutes - 36.2 MBDid you know there are different types of pain? In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast, we chat to Dr Lydia Coxon, a researcher in the Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health at Oxford. Lydia is looking at the mechanisms that cause pain in patients with endometriosis - a common gynaecological condition where tissue that normally grows inside the womb is found outside the womb. Through her research she hopes to better understand the type of pain that endometriosis causes,...
Why build a magnetically shielded room?
January 12, 2022 12:30 - 12 minutes - 30 MBOne way to delve deep into the ancient history of the Earth - or other planetary bodies for that matter - is to examine the magnetism recorded by rocks. Kind of like a fossilised magnetic fingerprint. But trying to do this in an environment where another magnetic field exists (i.e. everywhere on Earth!) is pretty challenging. Enter the 'magnetically shielded room'! Join us as we catch up with Prof James Bryson from Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences, and find out all about this very speci...
Why is Rudolph's nose red?
December 22, 2021 12:30 - 11 minutes - 26.3 MB"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose..." Many of us will be very familiar with Santa's famous antlered friend. But did you know that many reindeer actually do have red noses? But why? In this festive episode of the Big Questions Podcast, we ask Oxford polar biologist Ignacio (Nacho) Juarez Martinez to share some of the reasons we find red pigments in animals, and to explain why he thinks Rudolph's nose is so red!
How do you tackle hate speech one emoji at a time?
December 08, 2021 12:30 - 14 minutes - 34.9 MBOnline communication channels are popular, to say the least. For instance, there are 187 million active Twitter users per day alone. Sadly, these open channels of communication also open up the potential for harm, through online hate speech. The problem is so large that we require AI to help detect it. But what about when it comes to emoji? According to some reports, ten billion emoji are sent in messages around the world every day. When the same emoji can have vastly different meanings depe...
Umm...Should I be wearing a mask?
November 24, 2021 12:30 - 15 minutes - 36.1 MBIn the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic there was a lot of confusion, as we all tried to figure out what we should and shouldn't do to best protect ourselves and others. Fortunately, we now have more definitive answers to some of our most pressing questions - which are backed-up by data - including "umm...should I be wearing a mask?". As COVID cases are again on the rise across Europe, this is the question we're putting to demographer and behavioural scientist Prof Melinda Mills.
How can satellites prevent mining disasters?
November 12, 2021 15:29 - 11 minutes - 27.1 MBSatellites have been orbiting our planet for the past few decades. We might be familiar with how they can be used to track weather, or beam television and phone signals around the world. But did you know, that by capturing images of the Earth outside the visible spectrum, they're able to offer a unique perspective of the ground beneath our feet? They could even - as Earth observations specialist Maral Bayaraa tells us - provide a remote early warning system for an environmental catastrophe, ...
How do you stop megafires?
November 03, 2021 12:30 - 12 minutes - 28.5 MBFrom California to Greece to Australia, it seems like every time we switch on the news there's another wildfire report. Some fires are natural - in fact, they're a fundamental part of many ecosystems - but the severity and frequency of the wildfires we are now witnessing is beyond natural levels. Human-ignited "megafires" are causing devastation across the planet. Climate change and inadequate ecosystem management are key contributors to the problem, but what are the possible solutions? In t...
Could chocolate go extinct?
October 20, 2021 11:33 - 11 minutes - 28 MBChocolate. It’s rare to find anyone who isn’t partial to a square or two of this delicious treat. But is its very existence in danger? (*Cue worried faces.*) In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast we chat to chocoholic and researcher Acheampong Atta-Boateng, who studies the relationship between cocoa trees and their micro-pollinators. We hear about how monocropping, pesticides and climate change all pose a risk to the cocoa tree and ask – could chocolate go extinct?
Should all robots have an ethical black box?
June 23, 2021 11:30 - 11 minutes - 27.3 MBNowadays, the idea of encountering robots in our daily lives isn't pure science fiction. Many of us interact with AI every day, and the use of robots in, for example, healthcare settings, is already on the horizon. But what if something goes wrong? The RoboTIPS team at the University of Oxford is developing an innovative feature - an 'ethical black box' that acts like a data recorder for use when adverse incidents or accidents occur. How would it work? Well, in this very special episode of t...
Is a snack tax on the horizon?
June 09, 2021 11:30 - 11 minutes - 27.7 MBDo you remember when the price of fizzy drinks in the UK went up slightly a few years ago? Soda fans, perhaps you remember all too clearly...! Well, this was because the UK government introduced a sugar tax (or the Soft Drinks Industrial Levy, to be precise), requiring manufacturers to pay a tax on sugary drinks - a cost which was then passed on to the customer. Following the success of this tax (perhaps not for your pocket, but fizzy drinks now contain less sugar) we're asking public health...
What's an arboretum anyway?
May 26, 2021 11:30 - 13 minutes - 32.5 MBAn arboretum could be described as a "living library". A beautifully curated collection of woody plants from across the globe, each one carefully labelled and managed. In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast we chat to Ben Jones, Arboretum Curator at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum, about what makes an arboretum so special.