For Imperial College London I am a research media officer for the Faculty of Natural Sciences. The role combines press officer duties, where I take enquiries from the media and create and distribute press releases, and science news editor, creating news and multimedia features and curating the science news page. I also manage Imperial’s podcast, which comes out every three weeks.
I originally filled the role temporarily as a secondment from the Natural History Museum March-June 2015, going back to it permanently from September 2015.
Links to all stories are categorised below, or see a full list by most recent stories here.
* Stars denote my favourites!
News and features
Life sciences
- Big data study reveals the impacts of changing landscapes on biodiversity
- Logging means ants, worms and other invertebrates lose rainforest dominance
- Partially logged rainforests could be emitting more carbon than assumed
- Imperial bee expert gives his take on latest research on harms from insecticides
- Photosynthesis study gets a musical makeover
- Biologists chart revolutions in pop music by treating songs like organisms
- Biologists to engineer bacteria for vaccine delivery
- New app puts the world’s biodiversity in the palm of your hand
- Fly around your family tree with a new interactive website
- Nature lovers can get involved with citizen science across the UK thanks to OPAL
- Homeless lizards get a new lease of life on Silwood Park Campus
- Probing cells’ recycling centres reveals new drug targets
- All-female animals adapt without sex by stealing foreign DNA
- Modified mosquitoes could help fight against malaria *
- New £4.5m project aims to use bacteria to supply nitrogen to plants
- Don’t blame grey squirrels: their British invasion had much more to do with us *
- ‘Holy grail’ bacteria for crop farming debunked by scientists *
- Logging helps black rats invade rainforests
- The immune system’s cell-splitters revealed in unprecedented detail
- Bee brains as you have never seen them before
- Top predator trout may be able to adapt to warmer waters
- Photosynthesis more ancient than thought, and most living things could do it
- Nanoscale images reveal bacteria motor parts in unprecedented detail *
- Fish diversity receives a boost when species evolve live births
- Malaria scientists aim to look ‘under the bonnet’ of the parasite with new grant
- Fastest-ever molecular imaging reveals reaction crucial for vision
- Steps that lead to genes being switched on revealed in atomic simulation
- For cells, some shapes are easier to swallow than others
- Sparrows with unfaithful ‘wives’ care less for their young *
- Plants’ ability to slow climate change depends on their fungi
- Stopping deforestation will not end tropical species losses
- Wildlife in hedgerows suffers when next to roads or pavements
- Logged rainforests can be an ‘ark’ for mammals, extensive study shows
- A new way to create synthetic proteins could lead to more flexible designs
- Activity of Huntington’s disease gene curbed for six months in mice
- Parkinson’s disease protein plays vital ‘marshalling’ role in healthy brains
- Great white sharks and tuna share genetics that makes them super predators
- A new light protection mechanism discovered in plants
- Impact of pesticide on bumblebees revealed by taking experiments into the field
- Leukaemia cell movement gives clues to tackling treatment-resistant disease *
- Overlooked molecules could revolutionise our understanding of the immune system *
- Sampling species’ DNA trails is leading to better environmental monitoring
- Big data on ecology and evolution explored in new Centre for Doctoral Training
- First movie of energy transfer in photosynthesis solves decades-old debate
- Malaria infection depends on number of parasites, not number of mosquito bites
- Global alien bird species movements mapped for the first time
- Technique that revolutionised biology wins its inventors big science prize
- Imperial to lead new £3m London consortium for structural biology
- Atomic map of malaria drug gives it new life
- Malaria parasites soften our cells’ defences in order to invade
- Scientists collaborate on aquatic ecology experiments across Europe
- Drones that detect early plant disease could save crops
- A lead candidate for immunotherapy may increase tumour growth in certain cancers
- Female fruit flies become more aggressive towards each other after sex
- Malaria elimination project wins $17.5m funding boost
- First-ever look at DNA opening reveals initial stage of reading the genetic code
Physics
- Large Hadron Collider prepares to probe more mysteries of the universe
- More than 200 ancient galaxy clusters discovered
- First results from comet-landing mission revealed
- New ultrafast laser technique set to probe fundamentals of chemical reactions
- First T2K measurement of antineutrino identity-shifting behaviour announced
- Solar wind monitoring mission passes the first hurdle
- New tool could predict large solar storms more than 24 hours in advance *
- Shock waves at Saturn could reveal secrets of exploding stars
- Neutrinos scoop the Nobel Prize in Physics 2015
- 3D microscopy technique allows scientists to trace dangerous heart waves
- Q and A with winning neutrino scientists as experiments pocket $3 million prize
- Lasers could rapidly make materials hotter than the Sun
- General relativity anniversary: the past, present and future of spacetime (feature) *
- General relativity anniversary: a celebration with Imperial physicists (Storify)
- General relativity anniversary: What happens if you fall into a black hole? (animation)
- Saturn’s magnetic bubble explosions help release gas
- Space mission to test gravitational wave detector lifts off
- Difficult birth for the universe provides clues to particle physics mystery
- 106-year-old theory of light demonstrated with metamaterial model
- Gravitational wave detection heralds a ‘new era of cosmological observation’
- Ultrafast method for measuring ultrafast lasers reveals complex waveforms
- Jupiter’s X-ray aurora is sparked by the solar wind
- Physicists receive Royal Society award to widen access to 3D imaging technique
- Unplanned Venus experiment reveals surprises in the atmosphere
- Rare materials that shrink when heated could lead to more stable electronics
- Spacecraft fly through explosive magnetic phenomenon to understand space weather
- Proton beam therapy and physics to be explored in research collaboration
- Number of habitable planets could be limited by stifling atmospheres
- Large Hadron Collider gets upgraded ‘brain’ to handle billions of collisions
- Prototype gravitational wave detector exceeds expectations
- Light and matter mixed in a tiny golden trap *
- The Big Bang might have been just a Big Bounce *
- Nature’s weirdest particles in the spotlight at Neutrino 2016 conference
- Scientists discover light could exist in a previously unknown form *
- Evidence mounts that neutrinos are the key to the universe’s existence
- Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider ready to find magnetic monopoles
- Scientists confirm the universe has no direction *
- New data on weird state of matter could help the development of fusion power
- Fathers of Higgs boson detectors awarded particle physics prize
- Physicists make it possible to 3D print your own baby universe *
- Single-molecule graphene switches bring minute electronic devices a step closer
- Theory that challenges Einstein’s physics could soon be put to the test *
- Fledgling stars try to prevent their neighbours from birthing planets
- Researchers uncover secret of nanomaterial that makes harvesting sunlight easier
- Imperial instrument ready to study the Sun *
- Technology that could detect cancer more accurately wins Innovation Award
- Miniature landscape of solar cells bags physicist top photo prize
- Cassini spacecraft begins its final dance with Saturn
- Clouds’ response to pollution clarified with new climate analysis
- Physicists allow people to explore cosmology with taste *
- Physicists squeeze extra data from superfast x-ray probes using machine learning
Climate change and environment
- Scientists need to be smart about environmental targets
- Warm ocean water is making Antarctic glacier vulnerable to significant melting
- Extra carbon dioxide good for plants but bad for our water supply
- Calculator shows planned emissions cuts can’t prevent dangerous global warming
- Solar subsidy cuts will deny UK industry reduced wholesale electricity prices
- To clean up ocean plastics focus on coasts, not the Great Pacific garbage patch *
- Climate models hindered by inaccurate UV satellite measurements
- Pigeon patrol gives air pollution study a flying start
- Scientists predict extensive ice loss from huge Antarctic glacier *
- New tool can calculate renewable energy output anywhere in the world
- New grant will allow citizen science network to bring people closer to nature
- Global methane emissions are rising faster than any time in the past 20 years
- Greenland’s ice sheet closely tracks global climate changes
- Floating plastic pollution from Europe and the US is accumulating in the Arctic
- Best ways to remove greenhouse gases to be investigated with new £2m grant
Chemistry and maths
- Protein-mapping technique could pave the way for new drugs
- Scholarship programme builds bridges between farmers and leading researchers
- Scientists discover why next-gen solar cells break down in days
- Professors in Mathematics and Chemistry honoured with Royal Society Fellowships
- Researcher wins grant to untangle the wires of bacterial metabolism
- Strategies for tackling drug-resistant bugs put to the test by maths models
- Imperial chemist receives WISE award for eco-plastics start-up
- Detection of molecules important for healthcare could soon be 1000 times faster
- Artificial photosynthesis a step closer with new process
- Newly created ‘sandwich rings’ could lead to better computers *
- Genes find their partners without matchmakers
- Mapping signal paths in proteins could reveal new direction for drug development
- New sensor material could enable more sensitive readings of biological signals
- Spinning semen provides a measurement of fertility *
- Why pints spill but straws don’t: researchers uncover the science of spilling *
- Award-winning mathematician returns to Imperial for a celebration of statistics
- Alternative solar cells ramp up efficiency and stability
- Researchers collaborate with company to speed up the design of metamaterials
- Explosions, Nobel Prizes and poems: a history of the Department of Chemistry *
- Data set to improve engineering through new £10m programme
- Q&A with Ghanaian science luminary promoting maths in the developing world *
- Predictive policing research gets a boost from £3m grant
- Imperial students collaborate on drug discovery for neglected diseases *
- Next-gen solar cells could be improved by atomic-scale redesign
Other science
- Fossil parasite discovery reveals missing evolutionary step
- Ancient ‘Kite Runner’ kept its young on a tether
- Scientists closer to understanding how the ear perceives speech
- Car drivers are four kilograms heavier than cyclists, new study reveals
- A handful of nuts a day cuts the risk of a wide range of diseases *
- The brains of alcohol dependents and binge drinkers may recover differently
- Six ways Imperial researchers are working to eliminate malaria *
College and campus
- Former astronaut Helen Sharman finds a new space at Imperial *
- Top physicist John Pendry takes a slice of $1 million Dan David prize
- Britain’s first astronaut celebrates 25 years since her pioneering mission
- Researchers look to the future of imaging science at the World Economic Forum
- Imperial professor set to steer the UK Space Agency *
- Stephen Hawking talks black holes and the quantum world at sell-out lecture *
- Imperial scientists help to define the fourth industrial revolution
- Imperial recognised for openness on animal research
- Top astronomical prize for space mission leader
- Fund for European research partnerships awards first nine grants
- Inventions and innovations showcased at the Imperial Festival
- Professor Sir Gordon Conway honoured with top geographical prize
- Imperial researchers awarded Royal Society of Chemistry prizes
- Three Imperial researchers elected Fellows of the Royal Society
- Imperial’s everyday heroes celebrated with photo exhibition
Podcast
- Ocean water melting Antarctic ice sheet
- Expedition to sample the Chicxulub crater
- Expansion of the OPAL citizen science programme
- The chemist who went to space *
- Using 3D printing to improve joint surgery
- The Heart and Lung Convenience Store
- Ebola vaccine diaries episode 1 *
- Ebola vaccine diaries episode 2 *
- Ebola vaccine diaries episode 3 *
- Five years since Fukushima
- Searching for the Northern Lights
- Mission to the ice giants *
- Diamond solar cells
- Wall of knowledge
- Silwood Park field trip
- Steering UK space
- Mammals on the edge
- Rosetta’s last mission and extended version: Rosetta comet-chasing mission comes to a dramatic end *
- How planets are born *
- The future of biotechnology
- Urban cosmic dust *
- Diet drinks and weight
- Comedy with the Lol-LaB
