The summer before university is a perfect time to explore hot topics in science and beyond. We asked our scientists for their reading, watching and listening suggestions.
Books
- Range, How Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World by David Epstein
Recommended by Professor Rachel Mills – Professor of Ocean Chemistry
Rachel writes: “I’m currently enjoying this book for the ideas about crossing disciplines to diversify the developmental pipeline. You can also listen to him here“
- Otherlands: A World in the Making by Thomas Halliday
Recommended by Professor Abigail Tucker – Professor of Development and Evolution
Abigail writes: “I enjoyed reading Otherlands. It fits well with mass extinctions events that we explore in later years of the course.”
Podcasts
- In Our Time – BBC Radio 4
Recommended by Professor Rachel Bearon – Professor of Mathematical Biology
Rachel writes: “On the recommendation of my 16-year-old son.”
- The Infinite Monkey Cage – BBC Radio 4
Recommended by Professor Rachel Bearon
Rachel writes: “A fun podcast series hosted by Brian Cox and Robin Ince. A recent episode at the Large Hadron Collider focused on the Higgs Boson with guests including King’s physicist Dr Tevong You. Peter Higgs was a King’s alumnus.”
- The Disappearing Spoon
Recommended by Professor Chris Frost – Professor of Organic Chemistry
Chris writes: “I often drop into this podcast for a historical perspective on science.”
Watching
- 3blue1brown by Grant Sanderson
Recommended by Professor Mark French – Professor of Engineering
Why Professor French recommends it: “This YouTube channel covers a variety of topics in maths and adjacent fields, using animation to explore tricky topics, and for difficult problems to be made simple. See this one on Optics. My personal favourite is the one on Fourier Series for beautiful animations.”
Websites
- NASA Science
Recommended by Dr Baljinder Mankoo – Programme Director for Natural Sciences
Baljinder writes: “This website seeks to discover the secrets of the universe, search for life elsewhere, and protect and improve life on Earth and in space. Importantly, NASA has many missions which study the Earth to observe the oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere, and measure how change in one drives change in others.”
The suggestions on this list are completely optional and just for fun!