PODCASTS

Great Minds in Science

Hi, I’m Lydia and I am a year 13 (I have just completed my A levels so have finished school) I started a podcast in lockdown last year and have learnt so much from it. In my podcast I investigated a range of topics from how we can use bacteria to stain cloths to the structure of our DNA. What started out as a small project became a journey to explore the minds of some of the world's top professors and Cambridge lecturers. I hope you find the knowledge I have uncovered as interesting as I did.

Lydia Wilson 13V’

All the episodes can be found on Spotify or you click here to see them all.

The Revision Hub

The Revision Hub is made by students from the RLS and is designed to help you revise both GCSE and A Level topics. Whether you're an auditory learner, busy and finding it hard to find time to revise or just fancy revising in a different way, this could be for you. (New episodes released each Thursday). You can also find The Revision Hub on Instagram (@the.revision.hub).

There are podcast for GCSE (mainly physics) and A-level Chemistry

To see all the episodes that are on spotify (more subjects available), click here.

Mark Beecher (Y12)

The NHS Front Line - Week 5 on the Covid Wards - Summary

Nikita Kalsi (Y12)

This podcast goes through the experiences of doctors and surgeons on the Covid frontline, through recordings which capture the challenges endured by all NHS staff, patients and the general public. This episode, Week 5 on the Covid wards, recorded by professor Dr John Wright, an expert in epidemics who has worked all over the world looking after patients with diseases such as Cholera, HIV and Ebola in Africa, hopes to help prepare hospitals for Covid outbreaks.

This episode leads with specialties fighting together to try and defeat the immense power of the growing COVID-19 pandemic. It's clear that early information on the virus is limited, with early Covid testing kits being slow, and hence delaying doctors from distinguishing which patients are actually infected, from those who simply show symptoms of coughing, fever and tiredness, which aren't from Covid but other underlying health issues. What's more, it's unclear to the public about who to trust in this epidemic, as media shared on Twitter, Facebook and countless other social media platforms are spreading fake news about hospitals, as well as calling NHS staff "murderers" who are "killing patients" and "burning their bodies" without telling their families. This is having a hard hitting impact on the public, and is causing many infected people to stay at home out of fear. Many are thinking twice about receiving medical care, hence increasing transmission to others. Furthermore, some infected patients are self discharging against medical advice. The NHS staff understand their worries and concerns, as they know that the public may feel like more could be done for their family members, without knowing that the NHS staff will fight for each and every life entering their hospital doors. As a result, the death rates from Covid-19 are increasing as many are struggling and dying at home due to malicious rumours based on fears that members of the public will never see their family members again. To overcome this, doctors are recording videos with their patients in order to dispel such rumours. The patients share how they are feeling from the first days of contracting the virus, through to the last couple of days staying at the hospital and being weaned off oxygen machines.

On the other hand, technology has connected families who have been separated by the pandemic, and it also solidifies the differences between the true and fake news and information regarding Covid by spreading more accurate advice, regarding risk factors, cramped living conditions and densely overpopulated areas. The risk of adverse outcomes is higher in people with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and smokers. Doctors are continuing to learn more about the characteristics of people at risk of Covid-19, such as Black and South Asian minority groups. However, the group that has been hit the hardest is the elderly. The close proximity in care homes caused by staff and the heightened transmission due to meeting between patients and their family members provides a suitable breeding ground for transmission, along with age and underlying chronic diseases predisposing them to even worse outcomes.

In conclusion, the Covid outbreak has made people realise how carers of all kinds—clinicians, support staff and cleaners—have continued working even in the height of this dangerous disease. Benny, a cleaner, who can be found in the Covid wards cleaning all the surfaces, sinks and soap dispensers, is constantly sacrificing his health and putting himself at risk for others. Medical training can't prepare staff for outbreaks and thorough adaptations are being made, such as clinical wards being transformed into isolation wards so as to minimise the spread of Covid between infected patients and the rest of the hospital. Fear is continuing to rise as the NHS staff are doing the best they can, despite being swamped with countless patients needing critical care. For the NHS, each individual death is a tragedy which they have to keep moving on and forwards from.

Click here to find the podcast.