A Good Science Read

Oxford University
A Good Science Read

Interested in science and the people behind the science? Looking for an informative, entertaining, thought-provoking and accessible read? Join Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft and her guests as they discuss their favourite popular science books, share their love of science and the books they consider most enjoyable and that offer something to everyone. Episodes will be published fortnightly. Professor Ashcroft is Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College Oxford. Her own books include Life at the Extremes: the science of survival and The Spark of Life: electricity in the human body.

Episodes

  1. MAY 13

    A Good Science Read: How everything works

    Dr Roger Highfield joins Professor Frances Ashcroft to discuss Pain: A Ladybird Expert book by Irene Tracey and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Pain is a very short book but it encompasses everything you want to know about pain in a clear and informative way. What it is, how we measure it, why we need it, and how we can – and often alas, cannot – treat it. A Short History of Nearly Everything is a highly accessible and entertaining account that of the world we live on that ranges from the creation of the solar system, to the structure of the atom, plate tectonics, the rise of life, the development of modern humans and how your cells work. The book won the Royal Society Aventis Science Book Prize in 2004 and the Descartes Prize in 2005, and was the biggest selling non-fiction book of the decade. Roger is the Science Director of the Science Museum Group, a group of five museums that includes the Science Museum in London. He is also a Visiting Professor of Public engagement at the Universities of Oxford and University College London, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Honorary president of the Association of British Science Writers. Previously, Roger was the science editor of The Daily Telegraph for more than 20 years, and Editor of New Scientist for 4 years. He has written or co-authored nine books, most recently The Dance of Life, Symmetry Cells and How we become Human. Websites https://www.rogerhighfield.com/my-sites https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/home https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bryson https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/organisation/university-officers/vice-chancellor

    35 min
  2. APR 29

    A Good Science Read: How humans changed the landscape and ourselves

    Professor Peter Burge joins Professor Frances Ashcroft to discuss Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles by Jay Owens and The Species that Changed Itself or How prosperity reshaped humanity by Edwin Gale. Dust is all around us and we breathe it in with every breath we take, but it is not something most of think much about. Yet it impacts all our lives in multiple ways, causing environmental disaster and damaging our health. In Dust, Jay Owens combines history, politics, travel writing and science to tell the story of dust, from particulates that cause air pollution, to toxic dust from dried up seas, radioactive nuclear fallout and the role of dust in shaping the climate. The Species that Changed Itself combines biology, anthropology, history, epidemiology, and science with fascinating stories and literary references to tell the story of our phenotype. Our phenotype – the way we look and behave – things like height, weight, skin colour and so on, is determined by the interaction between our genes and our environment. But unlike all other species we have created our own environment and in doing so, Gale argues, we have reshaped ourselves - both our physical bodies and our behaviour. Peter Burge is an Honorary Consultant at the Oxford University Hospitals, a Departmental Lecturer in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Oxford and a past President of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand.

    39 min

About

Interested in science and the people behind the science? Looking for an informative, entertaining, thought-provoking and accessible read? Join Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft and her guests as they discuss their favourite popular science books, share their love of science and the books they consider most enjoyable and that offer something to everyone. Episodes will be published fortnightly. Professor Ashcroft is Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College Oxford. Her own books include Life at the Extremes: the science of survival and The Spark of Life: electricity in the human body.

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