We talk to Dr Antoine Cully about what goes into making a functional robot. Should they walk on four legs like dogs or two legs like humans? What if one of the legs fails? And how do you integrate the latest AI?

How do you make a robot walk?

We learn how research has revealed that same-sex sexual behaviour among male macaques in one colony is widespread and may be beneficial.

News: Same-sex sexual behaviour in monkeys

We tap into the Green Minds podcast to hear from Bloomberg’s Nadia Humphreys about how ‘taxonomies’ can lay out how business can be greener. Listen to the full interview on IB Podcasts.

Sustainable finance

How do we make sure we don’t contaminate other worlds with our space missions, or contaminate Earth with samples returned from elsewhere in the Solar System? We speak to Professor Mark Sephton about a new project to make better risk assessments and improve planetary protection.

Improving planetary protection

We learn about a new blood test that can determine what’s causing fevers in children in only an hour, by analysing the distinctive pattern of genes being ‘switched on or off’ by the body in response to specific illnesses.

News: Diagnosing childhood illnesses

We listen in to the Science Actually podcast as they chat data bias in AI – discussing questions including can we eliminate biases, how much should we blame big tech, and what can we do about the issue?

Data bias in AI

We talk to the people behind DyeRecycle – an Imperial startup that uses a new chemical process to recover dyes and colours from waste textiles, vastly reducing the water and energy use of the industry. The team recent secured an H&M Foundation Global Change Award.

Making fashion greener

When mice are sleepy, they make a safe nest, and now researchers have discovered the brain wiring that controls this instinct both in mice and likely in ourselves.

News: Getting ready for bed

We sit down with Imperial physics alum, and now NASA Head of Science, Dr Nicky Fox, to find out which missions she’s excited about and how we can encourage more girls to take up physics.

NASA’s Head of Science

We speak to Dr Victoria Male, who says that while pregnancy carries higher risk of complications from COVID-19, vaccination is extremely effective and safe for the baby, passing on immunity in the womb.

COVID and pregnancy

We look ahead to the upcoming COP28 climate conference, and discuss a few recent Imperial studies on the carbon budget, warming beyond net zero, and avoiding overreliance on carbon removal technologies.

News: COP coming

We catch up with the Bone Up podcast, which discusses everything about bones: how we make them, why we break them, and what we still don’t fully understand about them. In this clip, we hear about how improving diet and lifestyle can impact the quality of bones and help prevent fractures in the most vulnerable people.

Bone up on bones

We talk to Dr Marc Stettler and Dr Roger Teoh, two of the researchers involved in the world’s first transatlantic flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel, made primarily of waste fats and cooking oil. The Imperial team helped assess the potential impact of such flights, including the formation of contrails.

Sustainable aviation fuel flights

We hear about some of the best quantum breakthroughs and how science has met art at Imperial in 2023, as told by our science communication interns.

News: Best of 2023

We meet Reka Tron, co-founder of Multus, an Imperial startup supporting lab-grown meat. She tells us about their innovation and how they began by winning the Faculty of Natural Sciences Make-A-Difference competition.

Lab-grown meat

The Global Development Hub at Imperial brings together researchers working on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We hear from Hub Co-Chair and sanitation researcher Professor Michael Templeton and solar energy researcher Professor Jenny Nelson on how some of these targets are being tackled.

Global goals for 2030

We find out what it was like to have Sir David Attenborough on campus as he met a robot sea monster and the researcher who built it.

News: Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster

Clinical Research Fellow Dr Helen Skirrow talks about her research to improve the uptake of maternal and childhood experiences, inspired by her own pregnancies and the shocking resurgence of measles.

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