science wire

There is a need to accelerate the development of alternative energy fuel resources in order to ensure energy security and reduce emissions, says the paper published in the journal Energy Policy this week.

The device itself is light sensitive, with a 1,500 pixel array, and is stimulated by the natural image focused by the eye - eliminating the need for an external camera (typically mounted on spectacles).

As today's Daily Mail reports the breakthrough comes from work by researchers at Oxford University, the John Radcliffe Hospital, and the Georgia Institute of Technology using STFC 's ISIS neutron source.

This prosthetic device, which has gone through many incarnations since, is an alternative to complete knee replacement, helping patients recover mobility faster after the operation and giving them an implant that, in over 90 per cent of cases, lasts for over 20 years.

With the prospect of a hung Parliament increasing, Oxford Professor Iain McLean has co-authored a timely report which examines the pros and cons of changing the British electoral system for electing MPs and asks what system should be used for an elected second chamber.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities have announced their crews for the 2010 Xchanging Boat Race, this year held on Saturday 3 April.

Fortunately no one has been reported hurt, but the unexpected flooding of the Ewaso Ng'iro River has completely destroyed the Save the Elephants [ STE ] research facility and Elephant Watch Safari Camp located in Samburu National Reserve , Kenya.

The Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities has announced that six successful projects will each receive up to £50,000 seed money to develop interdisciplinary research into the shaping of the future of cities globally.

The Parallel Tracking and Mapping [ PTAM ] software is a camera-tracking system which maps the environment around you as seen through a camera and turns real world surfaces into platforms for virtual objects or characters without the need for pre-stored maps or tags.

Many of these events are organised by or involve Oxford University staff and students.

Art | University 26 Feb 10 The Ashmolean Museum underwent a £61 million redevelopment, designed by award-winning Rick Mather Architects.

It's great to see that Oxford's Dorothy Hodgkin is honoured in a new set of Royal Mail stamps celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society.

Oxford's Vice-Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton, launched a new awards scheme on 24 February to recognise students who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in and commitment to volunteering.

Science | Business Pete Wilton mosquitoes flightless could halt dengue fever in its tracks. The finding is reported in a paper in this week's on work led by Luke Alphey of Oxford University's Department of Zoology and Oxford spin-out firm Oxitec .

Newly discovered archaeological sites in southern and northern India have revealed how people lived before and after the colossal Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago.

Animals | Genetics | Science 22 Feb 10 Researchers, based in Ireland and Britain, have found the complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequence of ancient wild cattle using a sample from a 6,700 year-old bone.

Giant plankton-eating fishes roamed the prehistoric seas for over 100 million years before they were wiped out in the same event that killed off the dinosaurs, new fossil evidence has shown. An international team describe how new fossils from Asia, Europe and the US reveal a previously unknown dynasty of giant plankton-eating bony fishes that filled the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, between 66-172 million years ago.

A simple and cheap way of making vaccines stable - even at tropical temperatures - has been demonstrated by scientists at Oxford University and Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies. The British technology has the potential to revolutionise vaccination efforts, particularly in the developing world where infectious diseases kill millions of people every year, by removing the need for fridges, freezers and associated health infrastructure.

The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council and published , appears to show improved connectivity in parts of the brain involved in making movements necessary to catch the balls. 'We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood,' says Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg of the Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, who led the work.

The University of Oxford has released some sample Oxford questions - direct from the tutors who conduct the's - to provoke thought and help explain the reasoning behind even the most odd-sounding questions.

University of Oxford paediatricians are looking for 250 children to take part in a study of the two swine flu vaccines due to be used in the UK this winter.

Malaria parasites in western Cambodia have become resistant to artemisinin-based therapies, the first-line treatment for malaria, according to a study by Oxford University researchers based in Thailand and published in the  New England Journal of Medicine . Signs of artemisinin resistance have been reported in the region already, but this new research is the first detailed study of the problem.

More than half of all deaths of people of working age in Russia are caused by alcohol, according to research by Oxford University and the Russian Cancer Research Centre in Moscow.

A new study has shown that, while taking aspirin is beneficial in preventing heart attacks and strokes among people with established cardiovascular disease (secondary prevention), its benefits don't clearly outweigh the risks in healthy people (primary prevention). Researchers at the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford analysed data from a number of primary and secondary prevention trials that had compared long-term aspirin use against controls.

The world's leading candidate for a tuberculosis vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford, is to enter Phase IIb proof-of-concept clinical trials, making it the first TB candidate vaccine for more than 80 years to get to this advanced stage of clinical trials in infants. More than two billion people are infected with tuberculosis (TB) - approximately one out of every three people on the planet - and 1.8 million die annually from the disease.

People with severe and recurrent depression could benefit from a new form of therapy that combines ancient forms of meditation with modern cognitive behaviour therapy, early-stage research by Oxford University psychologists suggests. The results of a small-scale randomised trial of the approach, called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), in currently depressed patients are published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy .

Playing 'Tetris' after traumatic events could reduce the flashbacks experienced in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), preliminary research by Oxford University psychologists suggests. If this early-stage work continues to show promise, it could inform new clinical interventions for use immediately after trauma to prevent or lessen the flashbacks that are the hallmark symptom of PTSD.