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As microbes have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and antimicrobials scientists have become interested in new solutions to the growing superbug crisis, including the use of defensive microbes and faecal transplants. In new research, Oxford University scientists have developed a fast lab-based approach, creating positive co-dependent relationships between hosts and bacteria - termed 'mutualisms'. These lab-developed bacterial relationships demonstrate how microbes can work with their hosts to prevent infection.

Scientists from the Madagascar National TB Program, Institute Pasteur Madagascar, University of Oxford, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and Stony Brook University are collaborating to train Malagasy scientists to rapidly detect tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistance using DNA sequencing.

Using detailed computer simulations, Oxford University research has revealed why falcons dive at their prey using the same steering laws as man-made missiles. Published today in PLOS Computational Biology, researchers from Oxford's Department of Zoology use computer simulations of peregrine falcon attacks to show that the extreme speeds reached during dives from high altitudes enhance the raptors' ability to execute manoeuvres needed to successfully attack agile prey that would otherwise escape.

Scientists and designers have teamed up with young people living with HIV, to create a garden at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show to highlight the successes and challenges still faced by young people living with HIV. The theme of the garden is HIV: stigma and cure.

A study published in PNAS offer new insights into how European civilisations and their economies developed over time - finding links between levels of lead pollution trapped in Greenland ice and significant historical events, such as plagues, wars and imperial expansion. Image credit: Shutterstock Oxford University scientists have played a key role in a collaboration studying ice sheets in Greenland, which has shed light on pollution produced by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Iconic and intelligent creatures, elephants continue to fascinate curious onlookers and scientists alike. Now, a new Oxford University collaboration with Save The Elephants, has shown that elephant behaviour can be determined in a new way: through the vibrations they create. The findings of the study, published in the journal Current Biology, offer a new way to detect elephants and discern their behaviour without having them in sight.

A 2013 CNES/Airbus satellite image of a new site that could be identified because looting pits over the site are visible on high-resolution satellite imagery. Map data ©2018 Google. New Oxford University research has called for an 'open-skies policy' around the availability of high resolution satellite imagery of Israel and Palestine.

Researchers at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) have found that many more patients could be given a partial knee replacement instead of a total knee replacement, resulting in improvements in their quality of life and lower costs for the healthcare system.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have proposed an evolutionary framework to understand why microbes living in the gut affect the brain and behaviour, published. Katerina Johnson (Department of Experimental Psychology) and Kevin Foster (Department of Zoology) assessed data from studies on the gut-brain axis to suggest how 'that gut feeling' evolved.

Scientists at Oxford University have developed a light-based measuring technique that could transform our ability to characterise biomolecules. Using a microscope that detects light scattering rather than fluorescence, the researchers have demonstrated that single molecules can be observed, and their mass measured, in solution.

The rapid elimination of potentially untreatable P. falciparum malaria in South-East Asia is possible, according to a ground-breaking new study published in The Lancet . The study authors say that setting up community-based malaria clinics for early diagnosis, treatment and monitoring, combined with mass antimalarial drug administration (MDA) to everyone living in 'hotspot' areas - even if they do not show signs of malaria - substantially reduced, often to zero, malaria incidence in remote Myanmar villages.

In experiments asking fruit flies to distinguish between ever closer concentrations of an odour, the researchers led by Professor Gero Miesenböck had previously identified a tiny minority of about 200 nerve cells in the brain as critical for decision-making. In new work, the team found that these nerve cells collect evidence for the alternative choices as minute voltage changes across their surface.

Researchers at Oxford University have shown that it is possible to identify genetic catalysts that accelerate the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria - and that this knowledge could be used to design treatments to stifle the development of resistance. The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council and is published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution .

Research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine suggests that empathic, positive messages from doctors may be of small benefit to patients suffering from pain, and improve their satisfaction about the care received. The study, which combined data from 28 clinical trials involving over 6,000 patients, adds weight to the argument that patient outcomes can be improved when doctors enhance how they express empathy and create positive expectations of benefit.

New research led by Oxford University has revealed that sweet potato likely arrived naturally in Polynesia in pre-human times - challenging the long standing view that one of the world's most widely used crops was transported from America to Polynesia by people. New research led by Oxford University has revealed that sweet potato likely arrived naturally in Polynesia in pre-human times - challenging the long standing view that one of the world's most widely used crops was transported from America to Polynesia by people.

Using detailed computer simulations, Oxford University research has revealed why falcons dive at their prey using the same steering laws as man-made missiles. Published today in PLOS Computational Biology, researchers from Oxford's Department of Zoology use computer simulations of peregrine falcon attacks to show that the extreme speeds reached during dives from high altitudes enhance the raptors' ability to execute manoeuvres needed to successfully attack agile prey that would otherwise escape.

Unintended weight is the second highest risk factor for some forms of cancer, concludes the first robust research analysis to examine the association. A team led by the Universities of Oxford and Exeter conducted the first systematic review and meta-analysis to examine all available evidence on the association between weight loss and cancer in primary care.

An Oxford University collaboration has shed light on the origins of some of South East Asia's most iconic and unique wildlife; the 'deer-pig' (Sulawesi Babirusa), 'warty pig' and the 'miniature buffalo.' In doing so, the research has revealed that Sulawesi, the island paradise where they were discovered, is younger than previously thought.

Scientists at the University of Oxford have identified a gene that in women is linked to the creation and location of new fat cells and in turn contributes to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Published , the paper examined the effect of a gene called KLF14. The researchers found that genetic variations that control KLF14 have little impact on overall weight but they have a marked impact on where in the body any excess fat is stored.

The relic is the oldest human (Homo sapiens) fossil to have been found outside of Africa and the immediately adjacent Levant, and suggests that people travelled further than initially thought during the first reported human migration into Eurasia.