House plants can be a cheerful pop of colour in your home. But do you find after the initial burst of life, your plants start to fade, looking sad and unhealthy? M Garrido Davies, from the Department of Biology, shares top tips for helping ho

How are volcanoes formed on other planets?

15 days ago 13m 59s

Volcanoes 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

Can we talk to bees?

28 days ago 15m 23s

We 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

Why are people obsessed with how cute cats are?

Mar 13th, 2024 14m 58s

Cats 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

How freaked out should I be about bed bugs?

Feb 28th, 2024 11m 32s

You 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

When did we start kissing?

Feb 14th, 2024 12m 23s

Have 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 f

How do you stay warm in your house without central heating?

Jan 31st, 2024 14m 28s

How 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

How will climate change affect wine?

Jan 17th, 2024 15m 40s

People 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

What are the odds of a white Christmas?

Dec 13th, 2023 10m 16s

As 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

How do you reintroduce lions?

Nov 29th, 2023 14m 3s

Lions 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 thi

Does banning smoking work?

Nov 15th, 2023 11m 25s

As 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 s

Why are deep fakes happening?

Nov 1st, 2023 13m 58s

Welcome 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

What's the cool stuff that we've learnt from the James Webb Space Telescope?

Jul 5th, 2023 17m 30s

About 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 m

Would you want to meet an alien?

Jun 21st, 2023 16m 23s

What 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

Could 'Jurassic Park' actually happen?

May 31st, 2023 14m 9s

"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 rem

How can we use sound waves to eliminate infections?

May 17th, 2023 14m 18s

Many 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 bact

How do you convert CO2 into jet fuel?

May 3rd, 2023 14m 5s

Increasing 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 w

How do you use social media to deliver humanitarian aid?

Apr 19th, 2023 14m 46s

Forced 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 possi

How has life expectancy changed after the pandemic?

Apr 5th, 2023 15m 44s

Demographers (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

Can you make a dengue fever forecast?

Mar 22nd, 2023 13m 5s

More 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 - particula

Can my gut health improve my mental health?

Mar 8th, 2023 13m 46s

Our 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 Ques

Why do research on research?

Feb 22nd, 2023 11m 35s

We'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 B

How could spider sex unlock secrets to engineering?

Feb 8th, 2023 12m 55s

Not 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 ma

Is the metaverse doomed?

Jan 25th, 2023 16m 24s

Ask 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 he

Can you cure jet lag?

Jan 11th, 2023 14m 44s

If 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