In this episode of Lab Matters, we step inside the Old Operating Theatre Museum with historian Dr Sophie Wearing to explore how science really moves through society.
Surrounded by 19th-century surgical instruments, we discuss everything from blood-stained surgeons and the slow acceptance of germ theory to the evolution of medical authority and expertise. Sophie reflects on how science professionalised, how knowledge spreads (often far more slowly than we imagine), and why some “truths” are only true within certain limits.
We also look forward - from vaccine breakthroughs during Covid to inequalities in pharmaceutical development, and even the possibility of an approaching AI “winter”.
This is a fascinating conversation about progress, power, and the human forces that shape scientific discovery.
