Podcasts about professor simon redfern

As a mineral scientist, Professor Simon Redfern from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences travels widely, and likes his visits to be about more than just the rocks. A recent trip to Kazakhstan was enlivened by reading Jamila by Chinghiz Aitmatov, a novella set in post-war Soviet Kyrgyzstan, on the borders of Kazakhstan. Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives. ‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks.

As a mineral scientist, Professor Simon Redfern from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences travels widely, and likes his visits to be about more than just the rocks. A recent trip to Kazakhstan was enlivened by reading Jamila by Chinghiz Aitmatov, a novella set in post-war Soviet Kyrgyzstan, on the borders of Kazakhstan. Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives. ‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks.

Bardarbunga A group of earth scientists was in Iceland performing annual maintenance of its equipment, when the volcano Bardarbunga erupted. Professor Simon Redfern has now joined them and speaks to Adam Rutherford from the slopes of neighbouring volcano Askja. He explains how all this recent volcanic activity is the expression of Europe's tectonic drift away from America. And rather than this being a smooth, continuous process, the plates move at the surface in a jerky way - causing these earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Geology in Minecraft The British Geological Survey has built a full version of the geology of Britain into the online game Minecraft. Minecraft is a so-called 'sandbox' game, meaning there are no specific objectives, but players are free to explore existing worlds or collaborate to build their own with a range of virtual building blocks. The game is a huge phenomenon, with over a 100 million registered users, mostly under the age of 30. By adding an extra layer of geological features, the BGS hopes to encourage interest and add a further dimension to the game. Synthesising opioids Opiates such as morphine are commonly used in pain-relief medicines, but their chemical complexity means that commercial production is limited and the pharmaceutical industry has to rely on extracting them from poppies. However, researchers at Stanford University are working on a synthetic-biology system using yeast to produce opiates like morphine, and the pharmacologically more attractive opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone. They haven't got all the steps in the pathway in place yet. But they're not far off. Ammonia In recent years there's been renewed interest in ammonia, as a fuel. It could work as a replacement for petrol and diesel in cars with very little engine change. In fact it was used as such during the Second World War in Belgium. Producer: Fiona Roberts.

Could plankton hold the key to understanding ancient climate conditions? New research suggests ocean temperatures from 200 million years ago could be encoded in sea shell chemistry. Simon Bishop spoke to Professor Simon Redfern from the University of Cambridge, about the work. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Could plankton hold the key to understanding ancient climate conditions? New research suggests ocean temperatures from 200 million years ago could be encoded in sea shell chemistry. Simon Bishop spoke to Professor Simon Redfern from the University of Cambridge, about the work. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists