During February and March the artist Rachel Pimm has been in residence at Loughborough University's Department of Materials. Working with biochemistry, living chemistry and biomimicry, Rachel Pimm’s project asks what makes something ‘alive’. Rachel Pimm has been conducting lab-based experiments designed to try and simulate conditions which might have led to the 'origin of life' or Ool, as well as beginning to pull together an 'Ool library'.

For this event, Rachel will discuss her work with the novelist and historian of science Daisy Hildyard. Hildyard is the author of two books: the novel Hunters in the Snow; and The Second Body, a book of essays exploring the relationship between our bodies and the ecosystems that they produce and are produced by. The latter was one of White Review's books of the year for 2018.