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Scientists at Oxford University have discovered the oldest known population of plant root stem cells in a 320 million-year-old fossil. The cells, which gave rise to the roots of an ancient plant, were found in a fossilised root tip held in the Oxford University Herbaria. As well as revealing the oldest plant root stem cells identified to date, the research also marks the first time an actively growing fossilised root has been discovered - in effect, an ancient plant frozen in time.

The question, 'Where do domestic dogs come from?', has vexed scholars for a very long time. Some argue that humans first domesticated wolves in Europe, while others claim this happened in Central Asia or China. A new paper suggests that all these claims may be right.

A depiction of the visible light spectrum with black lines showing the three colours of light used in the study - (from left) Violet (405 nanometres), Blue (470 nanometres) and Green (530 nanometres). A research team from Oxford University have shown how different colours of light could affect our ability to sleep.

Researchers have helped solve one of the enduring mysteries of the ancient world: why the inhabitants of Madagascar speak Malagasy, a language otherwise unique to Southeast Asia and the Pacific - a region located at least 6,000 km away. An international research team has identified that ancient crop remains excavated from sites in Madagascar consist of Asian species like rice and mung beans: the first archaeological evidence that settlers from South Asia are likely to have colonised the island over a thousand years ago.

One month before the EU referendum vote, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University has released interim findings on the stance being taken by newspapers. The findings, which cover two sample days of coverage a week during the first two months of the referendum campaign immediately after David Cameron's post-summit Cabinet meeting on 20 February, find that of the 928 articles focused on the referendum, 45% were in favour of leaving compared with only 27% in favour of staying in the EU.

Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is Gram-positive coccus shaped pathogenic bacteria which causes many types of pneumococcal infections in addition to pneumonia, 3d rendering. A team led by Oxford University has identified genes that make certain children more susceptible to invasive bacterial infections by performing a large genome-wide association study in African children.

Using aspirin urgently could substantially reduce the risk of major strokes in patients who have minor 'warning' events, a group of European researchers has found. Writing in the Lancet, the team say that immediate self-treatment when patients experience stroke-like symptoms would considerably reduce the risk of major stroke over the next few days.

A new method to find anti-depressant treatments that work for individual patients is about to be tested at GP surgeries across Europe. Researchers at the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford University's Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the Oxfordshire based company P1vital Products Ltd, are conducting the PReDicT (Predicting Response to Depression Treatment) study.

'Journalists in the UK' is a wide-ranging report of more than 60 pages, which captures journalists' views on matters relating to their profession. There are now around 64,000 professional journalists working in the UK. A new report reveals what they think of working in the media and how they operate post-Leveson.

Oxford University research has suggested that the 'weekend effect', the suggestion that patients admitted to hospital at the weekend are more likely to die, may in fact be the result of the way medical records are coded for data returns. The study of more than 90,000 stroke patients, by Dr Linxin Li and Professor Peter M Rothwell from the Oxford Vascular Study, has not yet been published, but has been the subject of media reporting.

People who may be exposed to trauma can train themselves to think in a way that could protect them from PTSD symptoms, according to a study from King's College London and Oxford University. Clinical psychologists Rachel White and Jennifer Wild wanted to test whether a way of thinking about situations called concrete processing could reduce the number of intrusive memories experienced after a traumatic event.

Virtual reality can help treat severe paranoia by allowing people to face situations that they fear, an Oxford University study with patients from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has found. The virtual reality simulations allowed the patients to learn that the situations (such as a crowded lift) they feared were actually safe.

Giving daily doses of statins for a few days before and after heart surgery does not prevent heart muscle damage or the development of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to an international clinical trial led by the University of Oxford and funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The trial, which is the largest of its kind, showed that short-term statin treatment did not benefit heart surgery patients and increased the risk of developing kidney damage.

Current estimates of the number of cheetahs in the wild are 'guesswork', say the authors of a new study which finds that the population in the cheetah stronghold of Maasai Mara, Kenya, is lower than previously thought. In the early 1900s it was believed that around 100,000 cheetahs roamed the Earth.

Many teachers complain about their marking workload, but new research finds there is little evidence to show whether many of the approaches currently adopted are a good use of teachers' time. The report, A Marked Improvement',  by the University of Oxford and the charity, Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), says there needs to be more research into which marking strategies really work, but it also identifies some approaches that do make a difference.

People with more friends have higher pain tolerance, Oxford University researchers have found. Katerina Johnson, a doctoral student in the University's Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology, was studying whether differences in our neurobiology may help explain why some of us have larger social networks than others.

New research has measured the 'wealth effect' of upgrading the infrastructure in poorer sections of cities. Revamps, such as surfacing roads and joining them to the city grid, dramatically push up prices of the adjoining land and properties, says the study to be published in the journal,  The Review of Economics and Statistics .

The southeastern US, including much of Texas through to Florida, has ideal conditions for the spread of Zika virus, according to a new study involving Oxford scientists. A large portion of global tropical and subtropical regions have highly suitable environmental conditions and are at the greatest risk.

Results of the Wellcome Trust funded trial of the experimental anti-Ebola drug TKM-130803 have been published today in PLOS Medicine. Using a novel approach designed to get rapid indications of a drug's effectiveness, the trial showed that at the dose given the drug did not improve survival compared to historic controls.

A study has found that parents who reported playing video games with their children are about three times more likely to have a handle on the effects gaming have on young people as compared with adults who are not parents and those who have never played. The research by the University of Oxford and Cardiff University looks at how the actual experience of playing video games may affect people's attitudes on their benefits and potential harm.