Rob Percival, Head of Food Policy at the Soil Association

Morgan Jones – Director of the Outdoor Swimming Society

Kerri Coffey – Agriculture with Animal Science student, Harper Adams University

Elaine Steane – Oxford Rambling Group

Kurt Jackson, Artist

Carole Mitchell – Eating Better Alliance

As part of the Bacterial World exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, scientists discussed the potential implications of their work in different fields of bacteriology.

www.oum.ox.ac.uk/bacterialworld

Can we build self-repairing buildings? - Susanne Gebhard

Might we create synthetic biological motors modelled on bacteria? - Richard Berry

Can the right bacteria improve our mental health? - Philip Burnet

Can we evolve bacteria to protect us from disease? - Kayla King

Might bacteria help tackle plastic pollution? - Emily Flashman

A recording of the dawn chorus at Harcourt Arboretum made in April 2020 by Nikki Hulse, at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Harcourt Arboretum, located in Nuneham Courtenay, is part of the Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums.

www.obga.ox.ac.uk/visit-arboretum
www.glam.ox.ac.uk

Dawn Chorus At Harcourt Arboretum

Join doctoral researcher Elaine Charwat on a journey into the attic storerooms behind the scenes of Oxford University Museum of Natural History to discover 19th century wax models of parasites and hear about parasites models in science past and present.

Meet Mark Carnall, Zoology Collections Manager at the OUMNH, who talks about the differences between models and the thousands of specimens he looks after, and Dr Péter Molnár, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto, who offers important insights into current research using mathematical models.

Different types of models and replicas are everywhere in the museum, and they tell us much about the organisms they represent or reconstruct, but even more about processes in research and science. Made to communicate and produce data, these larger-than-life objects are as fascinating as their subjects!

Elaine Charwat is a Arts and Humanities Research Council doctoral researcher and this podcast was produced as part of her research programme.

Credits:
Carnival of the Animals recorded by Seattle Youth Symphony - CC BY-SA 3.0: https://musopen.org/music/1454-the-carnival-of-the-animals/#recordings

Some sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Parasite Podcasts

Of parasites, dinosaurs, and other model animals

Founded in 1860 as the centre for scientific study at the University of Oxford, the Museum of Natural History now holds the University’s internationally significant collections of geological and zoological specimens. Housed in a stunning example of neo-Gothic architecture, the Museum’s growing collections underpin a broad programme of natural environment research, teaching and public engagement.

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