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Unless exposed to positive research experience and role models during their medical education and training, women are unlikely to consider careers in academic medicine seriously. That's one conclusion of an Oxford University study published in  The Lancet . It asked why, when entry to medical schools is evenly split between men and women, those working in University medical departments are predominantly men.

A team of scientists led by Oxford University have made a discovery that could improve our chances of developing an effective vaccine against Tuberculosis. The researchers have identified new biomarkers for Tuberculosis (TB) which have shown for the first time why immunity from the widely used Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is so variable.

A new study finds that low-paid workers who received the national minimum wage in April 1999 reported a decline in symptoms of depression for at least 22 months afterwards. Through statistically modelling, researchers found a significant improvement in the overall level of mental health in those receiving the national minimum wage equivalent to the effect of taking antidepressants.

New opportunities to fight climate change in these properties are coming from an unlikely source: the commercial property lease. A new study finds that in 2009, only 15% of all leases signed in Sydney's central business district contained green clauses; by 2013, this had risen to over 60%. Traditionally, leases ignore environmental considerations, partly due to conflicting landlord and tenant goals.

Researchers have used high-definition video cameras on the roof of a large indoor stadium to track how strangers formed groups. They found that individuals were likely to join groups containing members with similar physical traits - including levels of attractiveness. The researchers also discovered that attractive women were the most likely to be placed in the physical centre of social groups.

Scientists from the universities of Oxford and Manchester have used a new molecular fingerprinting technique to identify one Neanderthal bone from around 2,000 tiny bone fragments. All the tiny pieces of bone were recovered from a key archaeological site, Denisova Cave in Russia, with the remaining fragments found to be from animal species like mammoths, woolly rhino, wolf and reindeer.

The first genome analysis of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, which has been potentially linked to the birth condition microcephaly, offers new information on how and when the virus might have entered the Americas. Scientists from the University of Oxford (UK) and the Evandro Chagas Institute (Brazil), along with collaborators from a number of other institutions, sequenced seven genomes of the Brazilian Zika virus (ZIKV), including one fatal adult case and one newborn with microcephaly.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and Cornell University have measured how ranking workers affects later levels of performance. A total of 18 experimental sessions took place in a laboratory study involving 300 students, who were divided into groups made up of 17 people for the various tasks.

A new Oxford-led research programme will explore the crucial role of creativity in the use of languages and investigate more creative forms of language learning, providing a forum for universities, schools and other partners to forge a new and more cohesive identity  for modern foreign languages (MFL).

A global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings. It could also avoid climate-related damages of $1.5 trillion (US), Oxford Martin School researchers have found.

Scientists at Oxford University have developed a new way of estimating our true underlying blood pressure that overcomes common problems in a clinical setting which can lead to misleading results. Their work is  published in the journal  Hypertension . Blood pressure measurement is frequently used by medics to understand our health, and dangerously high blood pressure (hypertension) can lead to serious conditions like heart attack or stroke.

Researchers from King's College London (KCL) and the University of Oxford have identified a molecular signal, known as 'neuregulin-1', which drives and enables the spinal cord's natural capacity for repair after injury. The findings, published today in  Brain , could one day lead to new treatments which enhance this spontaneous repair mechanism by manipulating the neuregulin-1 signal.

Applying an electric current to the brain can help recovery from stroke, Oxford University researchers have found. Their research is published Translational Medicine. A team from Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, led by Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg and Dr Charlotte Stagg, studied the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to support rehabilitation training.

A new study says cuts in Pension Credit spending in England have a 'significant' link with a rise in death rates among pensioners aged 85 or over. In England, total spending on Pension Credits (income support payments for low-income pensioners) reduced by 6.5% in 2012. The research investigates why deaths rates for older pensioners, which had been in decline, began to rise again after 2010 and whether this trend was linked to budget cuts.

Surprisingly complex interactions between neurotransmitter receptors and other key proteins help explain the brain's ability to process information with lightning speed, according to a new study. Scientists at Oxford, Liverpool and McGill universities combined experimental techniques to examine fast-acting protein macromolecules, known as AMPA receptors, which are a major player in brain signalling.

Birds that migrate the greatest distances have more new neurons in the regions of the brain responsible for navigation and spatial orientation, suggests a new paper published in Scientific Reports . For some time scholars have widely accepted the view that neurons, the cells that specialise in processing and transmitting information and contribute to brain plasticity, continue to be generated in the brains of animals even when they are adults.

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the University of Bergen have published a new study taking the first step towards addressing why some regions are more sensitive than others to the impact of changes in climate. The report identifies vital ecologically sensitive areas for ecosystem provision and poverty alleviation.

The Advanced LIGO team has just announced the direct detection of gravitational waves , a major milestone in the history of science that confirms one of Einstein's predictions and opens a new window into the near and far Universe. However, it came as a major surprise that the observed gravitational-wave signal was produced by a pair of two merging black holes with individual masses of about 30 times the mass of our Sun.

An Oxford University study says while many girls and women stay away from school and work because of the stigma attached to having periods, very little research has been done into whether programmes set up to tackle the problem are actually working. Although current results are 'promising', the study concludes that policymakers need to carry out large, comprehensive reviews of such programmes, and also conduct research into any potentially damaging unintended consequences, such as 'outing' menstruating girls in cultures where such behaviour is still considered taboo.

Oxford scientists have for the first time been able to identify the origins of some severe disease-causing mutations within the testicles of normal men. This discovery will help our understanding of how certain serious genetic disorders can occur in the offspring of healthy parents, who do not themselves have the genetic defect.