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Big G (the universal gravitational constant) is one of the most widely known values in physics, and one of the first you learn at school. It determines the strength of attraction between two masses and applies anywhere in the entire universe. Scientists have been trying to measure the exact value of Big G for over 225 years (since Isaac Newton first suggested the concept of gravity) but still its value remains one of the least well known out of nature's fundamental forces. In

Daylight savings: the extra hour of sleep we get as the clocks fall back every autumn, and the hour we lose as they leap forwards every spring. I grew up in the UAE, a country whose proximity to the equator means it does not operate a daylight savings system, so the concept was something I only came across when I moved to the UK for uni 5 years ago. And, if I'm being honest I never thought much about it until I came across an article on EuerkAlert! detailing the potential i

Anyone that knows me, or has read any of this blog, knows that the origins of life on Earth, and the subsequent impacts for the potential for the origins of life on other planets, is somewhat of my Roman Empire. So naturally, when I came across an article on this study from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge I was intrigued to know more. The paper, "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complimentary strand (Gianni et al., 2026)", w

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here before but during my time at uni I've worked as a tutor to earn some money during my studies. I've been tutoring students in A-Level and general Pre-Uni level geology helping to prepare them for Earth and Natural Science Oxbridge applications. Earlier this week I was planning out one of those sessions about the geologic timescale and it reminded me that actually before uni I was slightly baffled by what the geologic timescale is, wha

Given this is not related to geology or the Earth sciences and not my usual type of content I'm asking you to bear with me for a...

Have you ever wondered if Star Trek is right—that there is life somewhere out there in the universe? And not just life, but intelligent...

After it catching my eye while perusing the shelves of the departmental library, I have recently finished reading Destiny or Chance...

A photo of the Silurians from Doctor Who (Credits to the BBC Website) The Silurian Hypothesis is a thought experiment that was proposed...

Eternal flames, flames that burn for an indefinite amount of time, have been the source of wonder, myth, and legends around the world for...

On the evening of the 7th October the skies of the British North lit up with the spectacular sight of the aurora borealis. A geomagnetic...

When looking over my lectures notes from our climate dynamics course whilst revising last year, I came across a small section that starts...

It's a normal evening in Thursday in September 1859, you're sitting in your living room and suddenly the sky outside lights up an eerie...

When looking through my lecture notes from last term I came across many things: some very complicated equations, some parts when I had...

A couple weeks ago helped organise a panel event on behalf of the Oxford Scientist magazine along with the Oxford Climate Society...

Studying Earth Science is not exclusively studying rocks and, as anyone who has been around here before knows, the rocks are not actually...

With the announcement, this October, of Oxford being the new international headquarters for the Breakthrough Listen Project, I thought I...

Doing some renovations on our family home, my mum was set with the task of choosing a stone for the counter tops in our kitchen. Having...

The Lobanov-Rotovsky lecture is annually hosted by the Oxford Department of Earth Sciences in the Oxford University Museum of Natural...

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a really rather wonderful place. Situated on Parks road about a 3 minute walk...

One of the biggest challenges facing today’s society is the transition to a low carbon economy. Technologies such as electric cars, solar...