Lancaster University professor, British poet, writer and broadcaster Paul Farley has penned a moving new poem to 'translate cutting edge science into verse'.

Professor Farley, from the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster, worked with Professor Anne McArdle and the MicroAge team at the University of Liverpool to capture, in poetry, the intricacies of research on muscle loss and ageing.

Award-winning poet and Liverpool-born Professor Farley, also a broadcaster, took to the BBC airwaves last week to guest present Radio 4’s The Language Exchange.

His show featured the work of the MicroAge project, delivered by the University of Liverpool, the UK Space Agency and Kayser Space Ltd.

The team send mini-muscles, specially constructed from stem cells, into space to the International Space Station and, using the micro gravity of the earth’s orbit, harness an accelerated look at how human muscles deteriorate over time.

It is a problem that astronauts have to deal with and the research team hope to offer a way to reduce ill health and falls caused by muscle loss as people age.

During the programme Professor Farley takes a tour of the project, dwelling on the language of the experiment, and then creates a special poem, entitled ‘Blast’, for the team, which he reads out on air.

Professor Farley saw his father lose mobility and muscle function after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in the 1980s.

He says: “This research is a real game-changer which can help us understand why muscles age. It’s not about extending life, rather enabling older people to do what they want to do. By creating a bath the size of a wasp, the team effectively created a little gym for the muscles to work out in – in space! It’s such a cool project.”

For more information and to hear the poem visit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001f4hc

The Language Exchange is a new BBC R4 programme which pairs a poet with a scientist to see what happens when their worlds come together. After spending time with the scientist to learn about their research and the language they use, the poet pens a brand-new poem inspired by their discussions which they then read out to the scientist.