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Sarah Edwards

Associate Lecturer and Plant Records Officer, University of Oxford
Sarah Edwards is an ethnobotanist and biodiversity informaticist, currently based at the University of Oxford, where she teaches ethnobiology and biological conservation. She is also Plant Records Officer for the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum and an Honorary Research Associate at UCL School of Pharmacy, where she was awarded her PhD in 2006. Her career has included working for Kew Gardens developing collections management, nomenclatural and medicinal plant databases. She also provided data consultancies for national and international conservation, environmental and government health agencies, regulators, and NGOs that use plant names.

As an ethnobotanist Sarah’s research interests include understanding how culture mediates people’s interactions and interrelationships with plants. Sarah has investigated medicinal plant use in northeast Brazil and worked in collaboration with First Nations communities in northern Australia, developing digital tools to facilitate intergenerational transmission of traditional plant knowledge. Other research projects have included investigating edaphic and phytochemical factors in the aetiology of equine grass sickness and the scientific evidence base of herbal medicines. Sarah has also collaborated with artists and farmers in South Wales to re-evaluate relationships with ‘weed’ species and worked with the London Borough of Richmond Arts Service as part of the Cultural Reforesting Programme.

Sarah is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a Board member of the British Herbal Medicine Association (BHMA). She is an author of several publications, including the books ‘Phytopharmacy: An Evidence-Based Guide to Herbal Medicinal Products’ (Wiley 2015) and ‘The Ethnobotanical’ (Kew Publishing/ Quercus Books 2023).

Economy

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased by an average 9% over the year to February 2024, and rising interest rates...

Some experts say the US economy is on the up, but here’s why voters don’t think so

Many Americans are gloomy about the economy, despite some data saying it is improving. The Economist even took this discussion to TikTok. When its US editor John Prideaux examined inflation, wage and employment numbers,...

Electric air taxis are on the way – quiet eVTOLs may be flying passengers as early as 2025

Imagine a future with nearly silent air taxis flying above traffic jams and navigating between skyscrapers and suburban droneports. Transportation arrives at the touch of your smartphone and with minimal environmental...

Electricity from farm waste: how biogas could help Malawians with no power

In sub-Saharan Africa, over 600 million people (more than 50% of the population) are without access to electricity. Malawi has one of the worlds lowest electricity access rates just 14.1% of the total population have...

High interest rates aren’t going away anytime soon – a business economist explains why

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its May 1, 2024, policy meeting, dashing the hopes of potential homebuyers and others who were hoping for a cut. Not only will rates remain at their current level a...

Politics

Donald Trump Allegedly Offers Oil Execs a Deal to Scrap EV Incentives for $1B Donation

Former President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a $1 billion deal to oil executives, offering to end electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in return for campaign funding, according to The Washington Post. This move underscores...

Taiwan is experiencing millions of cyberattacks every day

Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety of grey zone tactics to pressure...

What the Supreme Court is doing right in considering Trump’s immunity case

Following the nearly three-hour oral argument about presidential immunity in the Supreme Court on April 25, 2024, many commentators were aghast. The general theme, among legal and political experts alike, was a...

US student Gaza protests: five things that have been missed

Coverage of the recent student encampments at more than 50 universities across the United States has focused on confrontations between opposing groups of protesters or between protesters and police. The spectacle of...

Will Solomon Islands’ new leader stay close to China?

Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for former prime...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

Sam Altman Denies New Search Engine; OpenAI Rumored for Voice AI Launch

In a surprising twist, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman refuted ongoing news about a new search engine; instead, rumors hint at a groundbreaking AI update integrating voice and visual recognition, which is set to be unveiled this...

Ex-PayPal CEO Touts Bitcoin Lightning as Corporate Transaction Future

David Marcus, former PayPal CEO, endorses the Bitcoin Lightning Network as the future norm for corporate transactions worldwide, forecasting a transformative shift in global payment systems. David Marcus Champions...

DogeCoin and Shiba Inu Poised for Over 100% Market Rally

As the crypto market braces for recovery, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu show signs of a potent rebound. Technical indicators and market dynamics suggest a potential surge exceeding 100%, attracting keen investor...

FED Quietly Initiates Money Printing, Sparks Bitcoin Price Surge Speculation

One chart stands out as a beacon of optimism for Bitcoin and its peers in the complex landscape of cryptocurrencies. With the revival of the US money supply, investors face a critical moment. As the printing machines...

Ethereum ETFs: All Pending SEC Applications in a Bid for Regulatory Approval

Following the historic approval of 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January, industry analysts are asking when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve an Ethereum counterpart. For those who...