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A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford has challenged previously held views that brain preservation in the archaeological record is extremely rare. The team carried out the largest study to date of the global archaeological literature about preserved human brains to compile an archive that exceeds 20-fold the number of brains previously compiled.

Children with acute malnutrition across Africa and Asia have a higher risk of treatment failure and malaria reinfection, even after being given the best currently available and recommended malaria treatment. Researchers from the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) at Oxford University analysed data from over 11,000 young children for this study, published in Lancet Global Health .

Artificial Intelligence has helped scientists reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer, which could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated in the future. A Cancer Research study, published in  Cell Genomics , has revealed that prostate cancer, which affects one in eight men in their lifetime, includes two different subtypes termed evotypes.

Humans in northern Europe have been snacking on hazelnuts - a key accessible source of energy -for at least 12,000 years. Now, a study led by the University of Oxford has shown that it is possible to analyse the carbon isotope values of hazelnuts found at archaeological sites to reveal what the places humans lived in millennia ago looked like.

A new review has concluded that hospitals that are privatised typically deliver worse quality care after converting from public ownership. The study, led by University of Oxford researchers, has been published in The Lancet Public Health . This review challenges the justifications for healthcare privatisation and concludes that the scientific support for healthcare privatisation is weak.

Rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have opened the way for the creation of a huge range of new healthcare tools, but to ensure that these tools do not exacerbate pre-existing health inequities, researchers urge the use of more representative data in their development. Researchers from Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) , University College London and the Centre for Ethnic Health Research , supported by Health Data Research UK , have for the first time studied the full detail of ethnicity data in the NHS.

A new study by researchers at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science reveals that used vehicles sent from Great Britain to lower-income countries fail British roadworthiness standards, are more polluting and less fuel efficient than those sent to be scrapped. Published in Nature Climate Change , the study found that exported used vehicles generate at least 13-53% more emissions per mile than those that are scrapped or on the road in Great Britain.

Researchers from Oxford University's Department of Physics have developed a method to integrate hurricane-like magnetic whirls with silicon, which could enable a new generation of green and super-fast computing platforms. Image credit: Anna Bliokh, Getty Images. Researchers from Oxford University's Department of Physics have made a breakthrough in creating and designing magnetic whirls in membranes that can be seamlessly integrated with silicon.

A team at Oxford's Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) has developed a new approach to significantly improve the accuracy of RNA sequencing. They pinpoint the primary source of inaccurate quantification in both short and long-read RNA sequencing, and have introduced the concept of 'majority vote' error correction leading to a substantial improvement in RNA molecular counting.

How to adapt to the impacts of climate change - and who should pay - was a key topic of debate at COP28. New research from the University of Oxford analyses 8,000 government policies across 88 countries to reveal how Covid-19 recovery spending contributed to climate adaptation and resilience. The research finds that only 10% of Covid-19 recovery spending was likely to enhance direct climate adaptation - though this rose to around 27% when potential indirect impacts were accounted for.

Around 1.6% of women and girls have symptomatic Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), according to a new review of global studies published in the Journal of Affective Disorders . Researchers led by Dr Thomas Reilly at the University of Oxford's Department of Psychiatry looked at studies from across the world to work out how many women and girls met the strict diagnostic criteria for the condition.

Surgical robotics are amongst the most complex devices entering healthcare, but how should we evaluate them? Published in Nature Medicine , the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term monitoring (IDEAL) Robotics Colloquium outlines the latest guidance to aid researchers evaluating surgical robots.

How do you assess the real-world impact of the social sciences and humanities? A team of researchers at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) delved into around 4,000 Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF) Impact Case Studies to reveal the impact of social sciences and humanities research.

Researchers from the Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit at the University of Oxford and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences have identified a novel mechanism by which the brain produces powerful lasting memories that drive ill-advised actions. Focussing on cocaine experience, the researchers demonstrate how the collective activity of many nerve cells distributed across the brain underlies the persistence of such memories, providing new insights into why drug-seeking behaviours could lead to addiction.

A recent study has revealed the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing long COVID. While vaccines have proved effective to prevent severe COVID-19, their impact to prevent long-term symptoms have not yet been fully understood. But a research team at the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) has found that vaccination against COVID-19 consistently reduced the risk of long COVID symptoms.

Study shows that the way the brain learns is different from the way that artificial intelligence systems learn Researchers from the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and Oxford University's Department of Computer Science have set out a new principle to explain how the brain adjusts connections between neurons during learning.

A ground-breaking study, published in Nature Human Behaviour , reveals a significant association between 74 early-life diseases and the likelihood of remaining childless throughout one's life, with 33 of these diseases prevalent in both women and men. Led by Aoxing Liu and senior authors Melinda Mills , Andrea Ganna and an international team, the study examined the link between 414 early-life diseases and lifetime childlessness in over 2.5 million individuals born in Finland and Sweden.

Researchers at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine's Laboratory of Gene Regulation , led by Professor Doug Higgs and Dr Mira Kassouf , have published a study in the journal Cell , in which they reveal another piece of the puzzle of how the code in our DNA is read. In this study, the authors introduce the concept of "facilitators", a newly identified type of non-coding DNA that can help to drive gene expression.

While the lithium-ion batteries in disposable electronic cigarettes are discarded after a single use, they can continue to perform at high capacity for hundreds of cycles, according to new research from the University of Oxford and UCL, supported by The Faraday Institution. The study, published today in Joule , highlights a growing environmental threat from these increasingly popular vape pens, which are not designed to be recharged.

An international team of scientists led by geneticists and disease biologists from the University of Oxford and LMU Munich have used ancient DNA to trace the evolution of Marek's Disease Virus (MDV). This global pathogen causes fatal infections in unvaccinated chickens and costs the poultry industry over $1 billion per year.