I, Science

Guest contribution: Catherine McColgan Filmed & Edited by Isabella Fraser Hosted by Nada Soufi Tags: art and science bacterial culture catherine mccolgan isabella fraser nada soufi science communication

Art and Science Masters student, Catherine McColgan, talks to us about the boundary between two often thought of as conflicting subjects. Experimenting with microbiology, Catherine uses her blood, sweat and tears – both literally and metaphorically – as well as her facial microbiome to showcase the artistic beauty of what we are made of.

Research led by scientists from Drexel University and University of Michigan reported in a yet-to-be published paper that urbanisation contributes to different body sizes and cranial shapes in urban and rural house mice. As cities grow larger, it becomes important to understand the effect of urbanisation on animals from a public health and environmental perspective.

Children bring a particular quality of attention to the natural world, an openness to the idea that a tree might be inhabited, that the boundary between the living and the spiritual is thinner than adults are trained to believe. The Royal Shakespeare Company’s My Neighbour Totoro, now settled at the Gillian Lynne Theatre following two record-breaking runs at the Barbican, is precisely about that quality.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to distinguish between placental and uterine contractions, giving new insights about the placental health of pregnant women. Importantly, characterising healthy placental contractions may allow earlier identification of placental dysfunction and stillbirth risk.

Trump wants to open an Ebola quarantine centre in Kenya… despite the fact there are 0 cases of infection in Kenya. On May 15th, an Ebola outbreak was confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the DRC’s Ministry of Health. Laboratory tests identified the outbreak as the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which currently has no vaccine. As of June 2nd, there are 363 confirmed cases of Ebola and 62 confirmed deaths in the DRC, and 15 confirmed cases and 1 confirmed death in Uganda.

Ever had difficulty swatting a pesky housefly? New evidence suggests that houseflies combine temporal motion and visual signals, which gives them close to ‘predictive’ vision. By understanding how tiny fly brains can process information at high speeds, scientists hope that these findings may be adapted to AI systems and robotics to improve efficiency. Traditional models of neural processing assume that information flows through fixed pathways.

The number of scientific publications written by artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing – and not necessarily leading to better quality, according to researchers. ChatGPT was released for public use in November 2022, and the growing prevalence of AI has transformed scientific research. As a part of the AI Task Force for Organisation Science, a research team led by Claudine Gartenberg at the University of Pennsylvania aims to discover how AI is changing scientific publication.

A recent study led by King’s College London shows that heart rate and respiration respond to music, suggesting music therapy could be used to treat heart conditions. Music appeals to our psychology – we listen to it to overcome stress, boost energy during workouts and find a bit of escapism. Recently, there has been growing speculation that music can even control our body’s autonomic functions like heart rate.

Discussing everything bats, from features like echolocating noses and large food-collecting feet, to behaviours like mating swarms, delayed pregnancies and blood eating (cattle not humans!) You will also get some advice on what to do if you see a bat in your room and ways to explore them in London if you’re interested. Guest: Juliet Maxted, Science Communicator. Radio episode hosted by Nada Soufi, produced by Teni Gomez and edited by Isabella Fraser.