KYTOS Biology

According to recent research, facial expressions do not reveal our emotions, but instead, our intentions and social goals. It is possible to hide behind them, however? Can we learn to read body language to detect deception? In this podcast, I’ll discuss the work of prominent figures in the field, namely Eckman, Nevarro, Freud and Nietzsche to help explore this idea.

In this podcast, I describe the various techniques employed, including mass spectrometry to confirm aspirin toxicity. Toxicology is the study of poisons and the detection of foreign substances in the body that can have a toxic effect such as illicit and legal drugs, industrial chemicals and poisonous gases. Forensic toxicology is the use of toxicology and disciplines such as analytical chemistry, pharmacology and clinical chemistry to aid medical or legal investigation of death, poisoning, and drug use.

Every person’s handwriting is unique and personalised. It is difficult to disguise or forge, but analysis can provide a useful tool in forensics in excluding persons when determining a match between known material. In this podcast, I outline the characteristics that experts look for in a handwritten sample, with reference to evidence seized in a number of high profile cases, including the 'Lipstick Killer' William George Heirens and Jack The Ripper. 

Tool marks refer to cuts, gouges or abrasions caused by tools or other such instruments. They can leave striations on softer surfaces that match marks on the surface of the tool, and in this podcast, I will discuss the forensic significance that such marks may have. 

The brain receives huge amounts of information from outside our body via our sense organs, and it has to integrate all of this information, and direct parts of our body to respond, and take action. It does so via nervous impulses, and the generation of action potentials. What exactly are these impulses - and what does a Mexican wave have to do with things?!

The Medical journal 'The Lancet' called Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) "the most important medical advance of the 20th Century". This simple, low-tech, low-cost treatment is able to prevent death stemming from diarrhoeal diseases. Incredibly, they account for 1 in 9 child deaths worldwide, making diarrhoea the second leading cause of death among children under the age of 5.

'Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake - its everything except what it is' - the real question we need to ask ourselves, is whether love can happen at first sight. According to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, love can indeed be instantaneous. Felica Isaacs explores this concept, to see if it has any biological basis. 

'Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock' - This is the second instalment in the series looking at 'The Science of Shakespeare', and rather fittingly, was recorded during the week of his birthday. English teacher Felicia Isaacs considers whether the jealousy displayed by Othello was predetermined - could, as the title suggest, it have already been hardwired into his genes?

'Macbeth does murder sleep' - is this the reason why Shakespeare's character has delusions and paranoid thoughts? In this podcast, I'm joined by English teacher Felicia Isaacs, who gives her perspective on whether Macbeth's paranoia can be attributed to his insomnia. This is the first instalment in a series of podcasts on 'The Science of Shakespeare'.