Hermione Cockburn is the new face in this year's team. You might already know her from What The Ancients Did For Us, or the series she's presented on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Scotland and Teacher's TV. Hermione's specialities include geology, geography, and Earth and environmental sciences - skills which will come in handy when facing the challenges of Colorado.

Jonathan Hare is the physicist on the team. When he's not attempting to build washing machines from scratch, he can be found running the Creative Science Centre at the University of Sussex. He won a NESTA endowment in 2000, and in 2002 accepted the Institute of Physics' Public Awareness of Physics award.

Mike Bullivant, like Jonathan, must be some sort of glutton for punishment - they've both appeared in every series of Rough Science. Mike studied Chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Wales (Cardiff), and went on to do research for a PhD in Organic Photochemistry at the Universities of Cardiff and Nottingham. A popular course manager at the Open University, Mike now concentrates on presentation work and projects to popularise science.

Ellen McCallie is on home ground for this season of Rough Science, as the team's far-from-token American. Ellen is a tropical ecologist and an educator who integrates research and education in varied locations - from forests of Brazil to venues in Central London. In addition to occasional television presenting, Ellen is working on a PhD in science education at King's College London. Her thesis work focuses on dialogue events about contemporary science and society. She continues to develop and facilitate science workshops for all age groups.