Oxford Sparks

📽️ #Meteorites: the magnetic key to the early #SolarSystem 

How can we begin to understand events that happened billions of years ago? Fortunately, there are clues, as planetary scientist @han-san-planets.bsky.social explains...🧲

👀 https://bit.ly/MagneticKey 

@oxuniearthsci.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

🎙️ If you've visited @hsmoxford.bsky.social, you may have seen Einstein's blackboard. But what was #Einstein doing in #Oxford in the 1930s? We chat to @jcniala.bsky.social to find out...

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/wha...

@ox.ac.uk

📢 We need your votes! We're so excited to announce that our #ClimateJustice film has been shortlisted for the Audience Award at the #LabMeCrazy Science Film Festival! Please pop along to https://www.unav.edu/web/labmecrazy/proyecciones-online & vote - we'd be so grateful of your support! 🙏 @ox.ac.uk

🎙️ Where do baby penguins come from?

We're joined by #penguinologists Dr Ignacio Juarez Martinez & Dr Fiona Suttle to learn all about the breeding habits of #penguins, for our #Valentines special 🐧💕

🎧 pod.fo/e/38d8ea

@biology.ox.ac.uk @mplsoxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

Watch the full video here: bit.ly/Fieldwork_Sa... 2/2

📽️ #Santorini might be better known for its beaches & archaeological sites, but did you know it's also a #volcano? 🌋
Join @sofiadellasala.bsky.social as she takes us behind-the-scenes on her first #fieldwork #expedition, exploring the world of #hydrothermal systems...

@oxuniearthsci.bsky.social 1/2

🎙️ New #podcast!

Dr Fabian Stephany (@oii.ox.ac.uk) strongly believes that #AI isn't here to steal our jobs, and that actually #AItools can be used to help us secure better jobs and raise our salaries. So...how?

🎧 pod.fo/e/38260e

@ox.ac.uk @mplsoxford.bsky.social

Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life, new study New findings from NASA’s Cassini mission show that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons and a top contender for extra-terrestrial life, is losing heat from both poles – indicating that it has the

Find out more: www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-11...

We chat to space instrumentation specialist Dr Carly Howett about the search for life in the outer Solar System, and why #Saturn's icy moon #Enceladus could be a great place to look...

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/cou...

@oxfordphysics.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

The Malaria Challenge: a participant’s experience through a malaria ‘challenge’ study Malaria impacts millions of people worldwide, with approximately 240 million cases and over 600,000 deaths each year. So what is being done to help combat this disease, which primarily affects young children? Here, we meet Rebecca, a volunteer participant in a malaria 'challenge' study run by the Draper Lab at the University of Oxford. A malaria 'challenge' study is where participants are intentionally infected with malaria in a controlled setting. Through such research, we can gain a clearer understanding of how the human body responds to malaria infection, test new vaccines and treatments and, ultimately, pave the way to a malaria-free world. Find out more at: https://draperlab.web.ox.ac.uk/home

Watch the full version: bit.ly/MalariaChall...

@ovg.ox.ac.uk @paediatrics.ox.ac.uk @medsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk 2/2‬‬

📽️ "I willingly contracted #malaria..."

Malaria ‘challenge’ studies teach us more about how the body responds to malaria infection and how we can improve malaria vaccines and treatments. But how does a malaria ‘challenge’ work and what is it like to take part in these studies? 1/2‬‬‬‬‬‬

🎙️ What happened to the #birds in #TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas? 🦢🎶

We take a look at one of our favourite #ChristmasCarols with Prof Andy Gosler.

🎧 Listen here! pod.fo/e/3638a8

@egioxford.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @oxford-anthro.bsky.social

🎙️ As we near the end of the International Year of Quantum, we ask experimental physicist William Cutler to break it down for us...what exactly is quantum computing?

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/wha...

@oxfordphysics.bsky.social @mplsoxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @ukri.org #QuantumComputing

🎙️ Could #vaccinations stop people from getting #cancer?

What if we could stop cancer before it even starts? We chat to Prof Sarah Blagden @oncology.ox.ac.uk & Anna Fry.

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/cou...

@sarahblagden.bsky.social @oxfordcancer.bsky.social @medsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk

🎙️ The #BigQuestions #Podcast is back for a brand new series! We're kicking off with a question that we know will resonate with many people...

🤚 Why do I bite my nails?

We chat to Prof Clare Mackay (@claremackay.bsky.social) to find out all about #BFRBs

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/why...

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 94?

Happy Birthday Roger.

🎙️ In the series finale of the Big Questions #Podcast, we chat to Lizzie Bloomfield @oxfordphysics.bsky.social about #DarkMatter, how we know it's out there, and why she's heading deep beneath an Italian mountain to try and find it...

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/how...

@ox.ac.uk

Suspicious Minds: The Secrets of Fossil Brains Dinosaur bones and the 'hard parts' of other prehistoric creatures can famously be preserved as fossils, providing us with a tantalising - and tangible - glimpse into the past. But what about the much more delicate soft tissues? Can these be preserved too? Incredibly, the answer is yes. Forensic anthropologist Alexandra Morton-Hayward is fascinated by the exceptional preservation of soft nervous tissues, and studies the way in which biomolecules degrade over deep time. Here she tells us about her research on fossil brains, explaining that - while still extremely rare - they might be a little more common than we first realise.

‪📽️ Watch in full: bit.ly/Suspicious-M...

‬‬@oxuniearthsci.bsky.social @mplsoxford.bsky.social‬ @ox.ac.uk

2/2

🔍 Suspicious Minds: The Secrets of Fossil Brains 🧠

#Fossils provide us with a tantalising glimpse into the past. But can something as seemingly fragile as the #brain fossilise?

Alexandra Morton-Hayward tells us about her research into ancient nervous tissue, and what it might teach us.

1/2

You can learn more about Antje's work in our next documentary, out soon! Stay tuned! 👀

#OxfordClimate

🎙️ New #podcast! We chat to Dr Richard Mayne from Oxford's Experimental Medicine Division about #genomics, Next-Generation Sequencing, #BloodScreening (...and #StarTrek!).

@ndm.ox.ac.uk @medsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk @nihr.bsky.social

🎧 pod.fo/e/2eed29

@mplsoxford.bsky.social @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social @sarahdryhurst.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk @uk-comet.bsky.social ‪@reubencollege.bsky.social Thanks also to Prof Robin Goodwin, Earthquakes Without Frontiers, NATO Science for Peace and Security Program & all project collaborators 2/2‬‬

"It might never happen..." Remembering forgotten earthquakes in Central Asia Where in the world do earthquakes pose the greatest risk? Japan, perhaps...or California? When devastating earthquakes hit the news headlines, they implant themselves in our memory, and we create a long-lasting association between the location and the event. But what about the earthquakes that lie outside of living memory? Are the locations of these events perceived to hold the same degree of risk? In this film, Professor Richard Walker and Dr Neill Marshall from Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences share their work on the forgotten earthquakes of Central Asia, and explain the societal implications of natural disasters that have faded into the past.

🎥 "It might never happen"...Remembering forgotten #earthquakes in Central Asia

What happens when natural disasters fade from living memory? How do societies perceive #risk? @richardthomasw.bsky.social & Dr Neill Marshall‬ share their fascinating #research @ox.ac.uk

bit.ly/444sMFA
1/2

🎙️ How does Ozempic actually work?

You might have heard about it in the media, but what actually *is* #Ozempic? Marketed as a drug for #diabetes, it is now commonly associated with #weightloss. We chat to #hormone doctor Annie de Bray about how it works.

🎧 pod.fo/e/2e38fe

🎙️ PODCAST | The tinny sound of music blaring from a nearby phone is enough to irritate anybody, but for #misophonia sufferers it's more than a mere annoyance. Find out more with ‪@drjanegregory.bsky.social‬‬ from @oxexppsy.bsky.social in our brand new #podcast episode 👇‬

🎧 pod.fo/e/2db930

🎙️ NEW PODCAST: What's the origin of water on Earth? 🌏💧

Did #hydrogen hitch a ride to #Earth on #asteroids? Or were the building blocks for #water always closer to home? We chat to Tom Barrett @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social about his amazing new discovery.

🎧 www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/wha...

A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is suspended from the side of a research ship on a sunny day in the Aegean Sea, just off the coast of Santorini.

🎙️ New #podcast! How can #robots investigate underwater #volcanoes? 🌋🤔

We chat to Sofia Della Sala @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social about her recent #fieldwork #expedition to #Santorini 🛳️

🎧: www.oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/how...

@sofiadellasala.bsky.social @ukri.org @ox.ac.uk

We're very proud to be working with @ovg.ox.ac.uk to create a brand new video documenting the #malaria challenge trial this summer.

If you are eligible, please do consider taking part in their invaluable research 👇

Diabetes research: a world of colourful puzzles _"The whole thing feels a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle where we have to find the pieces first..."_ Type 2 diabetes is one of the oldest known ailments. In fact, the Indian healer Sushruta described it in the 5th century BC as ‘madhumeha’, or honey-like urine, when he noticed that urine from sick people attracted ants. Fortunately, medicine has progressed a long way since this time, and Type 2 diabetes is now a condition that can be lived with. So, what actually causes the disease, and how can we treat it? Dr Daniela Nasteska from Oxford's Radcliffe Department of Medicine introduces us to the colourful world of diabetes research. With thanks to Diabetes UK for funding this research.

🎥 Dr Daniela Nasteska from @rdm.ox.ac.uk introduces us to the colourful world of #diabetes #research in our brand new video.

Watch it here: bit.ly/diabetes_puz... 🧩

@medsci.ox.ac.uk @wolfsonoxford.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @dn-mk.bsky.social @daveyboyhod.bsky.social
#OxfordScience #Type2diabetes

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to explore the exciting #science taking place @ox.ac.uk 👇

bit.ly/OxfordSparks...

#OxfordScience #OxfordUniversity #DocumentaryFilms