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Cardiac arrhythmias caused by a short, hard impact without visible lesions of heart muscle are called Commotio cordis , which can be responsible for sudden cardiac death after chest impact of baseballs and ice hockey pucks in professional sports. Commotio cordis is believed to be rare, but is one of the most frequent causes of sudden cardiac death among young, otherwise healthy athletes.

Understanding a cybercriminal's backstory - where they live, what they do and who they know, is key to cracking cybercrime, new research suggests. Online crime is of course online, but there is also a surprisingly strong offline and local dimension. Cybercriminals are often seen as faceless, international, computer masterminds, who are almost impossible to identify or understand as a result.

In research published in the journal  Virus Evolution , scientists from Oxford University's Department of Zoology have revealed that Next-Generation Sequencing and its associated online DNA databases could be used in the field of viral discovery. They have developed algorithms that detect DNA from viruses that happen to be in the blood or tissue sample of the species studied.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Europe and the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. A new study led by researchers in the Nuffield Department of Population Health Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU) investigated the associations of height and obesity with prostate cancer by different tumour characteristics and death from prostate cancer and found that taller men and men with more fat are at greater risk of high grade prostate cancer and death from prostate cancer.

Applying a brain stimulation method, which was previously suggested to enhance mathematical learning in healthy adults, may improve the performance of children with mathematical learning difficulties, according to an exploratory study by researchers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The early stage involved twelve children between the ages of eight and eleven with learning difficulties in mathematics.

Researchers from the University of Oxford are using a unique blend of virtual reality and innovative genetic techniques to understand the causes of diseases such as diabetes and anaemia. The team, working in collaboration with physicists from Universita' di Napoli and software developers and artists at Goldsmiths, University of London, are using the state-of-the-art technology to investigate the 3D structure of DNA.

Cancer tumours manipulate a natural cell process to promote their survival suggesting that controlling this mechanism could stop progress of the disease, according to new research led by the University of Oxford. Non-sense mediated decay (NMD) is a natural physiological process that provides cells with the ability to detect DNA errors called nonsense mutations.

Older adults who lead an active sex life are more likely to have increased cognitive function, according to a new Oxford University research collaboration. The study which was conducted in partnership with the University of Coventry, found that people over the age of fifty, who engaged in above average levels of sexual activity, scored higher in a series of tests than others.

An Oxford University collaboration has found previously undetected health risks contained in the boomerang-like return of an Icelandic volcanic plume. The new study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, traced the evolution of the plume chemistry from the 2014-2015 Icelandic Holuhraun lava field eruption and found an unreported secondary (older) plume that had significant impact on air quality.

Alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, is associated with increased risk of adverse brain outcomes and steeper decline in cognitive (mental) skills, according to a study published inâ? The BMJ . These results support the recent reduction in alcohol guidance in the UK and raise questions about the current limits recommended in the US, say the authors.

Borneo is an island that has lost a staggering 30 percent of its forest since the 1970s and is among the most biodiverse and threatened on the planet. The study findings, published in Landscape Ecology, will be useful to all forest conservationists, and could help tropical forests around the world, including Borneo.

New research shows that between the ages of three and 11, children conceived artificially can be linked with better scores for reading and verbal tests than children conceived naturally. Researchers analysed data of hundreds of UK children who had been born through IVF or ICSI (when the man has a low sperm count), testing the same groups of children every few years up to the age of 11.

Image 1) Zibra Natal - Ingra Morales (University of Sao Paulo) and Josh Quick (University of Birmingham - UK) use Oxford Nanopore MinION device. Image 2) Science on the road bus - Jaqueline Goes de Jesus (Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz - Salvador) and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford - UK) use the Oxford Nanopore MinION device in front of minibus equiped with built-in laboratory in Joao Pessoa, Brazil.

Researchers have discovered that protection from the most severe form of malaria is linked with natural variation in human red blood cell genes. A study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and their collaborators have identified a genetic rearrangement of red blood cell glycophorin receptors that confers a 40 per cent reduced risk from severe malaria.

Plasticine 'dummy caterpillars' were used in the study and deployed across the world at sites including Tai Po Kau, Hong Kong. Image credit: Chung Yun Tak A new Oxford University collaboration revealing the world's prime insect predation hotspots, achieved its landmark findings using an unusual aid: plasticine 'dummy caterpillars.' The new study published in Science has revealed a global pattern of predation on insect herbivores.

New Oxford University research has revealed that instead of grieving, wild birds appear to adjust to the loss of a flockmate by increasing both the number and intensity of their relationships with other birds. Human impacts around the globe are causing increasing numbers of wild animal populations to decline.

Researchers have found a way to identify rogue cancer cells which survive treatment after the rest of the tumour is destroyed, by using a new technique that enables them to identify and characterise individual cancer cells. Recent breakthroughs are revolutionising cancer treatment, enabling doctors to personalise chemotherapy for each patient.

New research has found that genetic differences in antibody genes alter individuals' susceptibility to rheumatic heart disease, a forgotten inflammatory heart condition - known as 'RHD' - that is rife in developing countries. Rheumatic heart disease is triggered by bacterial sore throat or skin infection during childhood.

The extinction trends that caused the demise of several Ice Age species, including many of the sabre-toothed family, may be a threat to wildlife today and particularly to the African lion, a new Oxford University research collaboration has revealed. Newly published in the journal Echography , the study shows that the wildlife that went extinct during the period, including the sabre-toothed cat, cave and American lions and the American cheetah, lost the greatest proportion of their prey.

Birds of a feather nest together, according to a new study which has found that male great tits ( Parus major ) choose neighbours with similar personalities to their own. Oxford University researchers investigated whether the personality of birds influences their social lives - in particular who they choose to nest near.