How microscopes have changed our lives - with Anwen Bullen

Discover how the development of microscopes has shaped our understanding of the senses, as Anwen Bullen explores the working of the ear. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeF244yNGuFefuFKqxIAXw/join Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 8 March 2025. The inner ear has long fascinated biologists. It contains our organs of hearing and balance, which use complex 3D structures to turn movement and sound waves into electrical signals that can be processed and understood by our brains. Specialised detector cells called hair cells are the first step in this sensory process, and malfunctioning hair cells cause many hearing and balance disorders. The story of how we unravelled the inner workings of hair cells is entwined with the story of how microscopy developed as a science. From early anatomists who hand drew the cells they saw, to solving the structure of channel proteins by cryo-electron microscopy, microscopes have been at the forefront of hair cell research for over a hundred years. Join Anwen Bullen as she explores the history of microscopy through the history of hair cell neuroscience, and show how some of the smallest structures in cells can have the biggest effects on our sensory world. --- Anwen Bullen is a senior research fellow and the microscopy unit manager at the UCL Ear Institute. Her research focuses on how subcellular structures and organelles affect the functioning of hair cells in the auditory and vestibular systems, and how pathologies such as excessive noise and ageing can cause changes in these structures. As a microscopist, she also collaborates on projects on a wide variety of topics, from RNA formation on early earth to synthetic nanoparticles for drug delivery. She completed her PhD with the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control using cryo-electron microscopy to research vaccines for bacterial meningitis, before transferring those microscopy skills to neuroscience to study hair cells. She really likes microscopes. --- The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ri_science Listen to the Ri podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ri-science-podcast Donate to the RI and help us bring you more lectures: https://www.rigb.org/support-us/donate-ri Our editorial policy: https://www.rigb.org/editing-ri-talks-and-moderating-comments Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.