The Microbial Majority

Inside your stomach, on your skin, in your mouth, and up your nose are bacteria. They are abundant and they play a significant role in making you, you. Join Tim and Syma as they talk to Aura Raulo and Eveliina Hanski, two early career researcher who are fascinated by the microbiome and how it impacts everything from the food we choose to eat to our social relationships. 

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Creators and Guests

Host

Syma Khalid

Professor of Computational Microbiology at University of Oxford

Host

Tim Coulson

Author of The Universal History of Us published by Penguin 2024 Professor of Zoology, University of Oxford EcologyEvolution, Existence, Science

Guest

Aura Raulo

I study the spread of symbiotic microbiota in the social contact networks of wild mice. My background is in island ecology, and this has led me to study wild animals as if they are moving islands, carrying a mini-ecosystem of bacteria inside of them. Whenever two animals come in close contact, there is a chance for these microbes to spread between them. Thus we can treat the social networks of animals as the road map (or bridge map) for microbiome transmission, which shapes the unique and influential gut microbial communities living inside these animals. To achieve this, I'm involved with developing new RFID-based tracking and trapping technology to collect high-resolution gut microbial and behavioural data. In addition, I'm developing Bayesian regression methods for analysing pairwise data, such as linking microbiota similarity between two individuals to the strength of their social association.

Guest

Eveliina Hanski

Eveliina Hanski is a scientist working on the microbes living in the mammalian gut. This remarkable ecosystem, commonly known as the gut microbiome, is now recognized to play an important role in the physiology of the animal housing it

What is Science Of The Times?

Do you want to learn a little more about topical science findings? Do many of the science stories you hear leave you with unanswered questions? Syma and Tim will discuss in non-technical language and in a fun and engaging style, recently published science findings. Guests will be authors of these papers and will include some of the world’s most exciting scientists who are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge. Covering, among other things, artificial intelligence, the search for alien life, the latest treatments for diseases, quantum computers, the science of football and topics requested by listeners, the half hour episodes will leave listeners feeling a little more knowledgeable about cutting-edge science and how scientists make discoveries.