Oxford Sparks Big Questions

For this year's Valentine's Day episode, we are getting up close and personal with those most beloved of birds - penguins. Giving us an insight into the love lives of our feathered friends are penguinologists (yes, that's a real word) Dr Ignacio Juarez Martinez and Dr Fiona Suttle, who have both graduated from Oxford's Department of Biology, and spent multiple field seasons in Antarctica monitoring penguin breeding behaviour. We hear how penguin breeding patterns appear to be shifting with changing temperatures, and how you can get involved in their research - just head to Penguin Watch to take part.

How much more money could you earn - doing the exact same role - if you're in possession of some solid AI skills? That's one of the core questions that Dr Fabian Stephany, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, hopes to answer. Leading the 'SkillScale' project, Fabian looks into the impact of AI tools on the labour market, with the ultimate hope of advising workers on the best ways to secure jobs and increase their salaries. So, far from a discussion about 'AI stealing our jobs', we ask Fabian - how can we use AI to secure a bigger pay packet? 
Find out more:
Skills or Degree? The Rise of Skill-Based Hiring for AI and Green Jobs
AI Skills Improve Job Prospects: Causal Evidence from a Hiring Experiment

Are we alone in the Universe? It's surely one of the biggest questions out there. In our first episode of 2026 we chat to Dr Carly Howett, Associate Professor of Space Instrumentation in Oxford's Department of Physics. Specialising in the study of the 'icy worlds' found in our outer Solar System, Carly explains why she thinks one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, could be a prime candidate for life, and shares the latest updates on how we might find it.

We all know it. We've all sung it. Perhaps we've even answered a quiz question about it*. The Twelve Days of Christmas has become as quintessentially festive as a figgy pudding, or the bad joke in your Christmas cracker. But why exactly is your 'true love' gifting all these birds? And importantly, how are they faring nowadays? Prof Andy Gosler (from the Edward Grey Institute in the Department of Biology, and Institute of Human Sciences in the School of Anthropology) is the only professor of 'ethno-ornithology' in the world, specialising in the study of the relationships between birds and people. So, who better to be our guest on this festive edition of the Big Questions Podcast, where we take a deep dive into one of our favourite Christmas carols?
 (*There are 364 presents in total, by the way!)

Want to make something feel immediately complicated, inaccessible or downright mysterious? Stick the word 'quantum' in front of it. Or, at least, that's how many of us feel. But don't worry! Experimental physicist William Cutler from Oxford's Department of Physics is here to break things down, explaining exactly what a quantum computer is, and sharing the remarkable potential that quantum computing holds for advancing fields ranging from drug-discovery to internet security.