science wire

The world's largest clinical trial investigating treatments for COVID-19 has now launched in South Africa, with the first patient recruited today.

Researchers at the University of Oxford uncover the importance of iron for the development of complex life on Earth - which also may hint at the likelihood of complex life on other planets. Iron is an essential nutrient that almost all life requires to grow and thrive. Iron's importance goes all the way back to the formation of the planet Earth, where the amount of iron in the Earth's rocky mantle was 'set' by the conditions under which the planet formed and went on to have major ramifications for how life developed.

Islands are biodiversity hotspots yet, paradoxically, are also extinction hotspots. The impacts of invasive alien species, habitat loss and climate change are compounded in small island nations, which are highly dependent on biodiversity for their economic and social wellbeing.

The full week of bite-sized webinars covering research across the space domain will take place from Monday 22 November - Friday 26 November 2021.

For the second year in a row, The British Medical Journal have selected a publication co-authored by Oxford researchers for their prestigious UK Research Paper of the Year Award.

The COVID Moonshot, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists from around the world dedicated to the discovery of globally affordable and easily-manufactured antiviral drugs against COVID-1

The Chief Midwifery Officer for England will urge expectant mums to have their COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible.

Three projects at Oxford have received funding from NIHR to assess breathlessness in Long COVID patients, investigate the impact of Long COVID on families, and examine the role of vaccines in Long COVID.

Oxford scientists show how green mining could pave the way to net zero and provide the metals we need for a sustainable future Scientists at the University of Oxford demonstrate how it is possible to

The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial has demonstrated that the investigational antibody combination developed by Regeneron reduces the risk of death when given to patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 who have not mounted a natural antibody response of their own. The treatment uses a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (casirivimab and imdevimab, known as REGEN-COV in the US) that bind specifically to two different sites on the coronavirus spike protein, neutralising the ability of the virus to infect cells.

A new large-scale study shows that a quarter of the UK adult population screens positive for a potential injection phobia.

A new study led by the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the will research whether a daily tablet could help protect the millions of people worldwide with type 2 diabetes from developing cardiovascular disease.

A cross-disciplinary team from the Universities of Oxford, Ulster and UCL today announced major funding from EPSRC, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to tackle the growing challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The RECOVERY trial was established as a randomised clinical trial to test a range of potential treatments for patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

The partnership will enable global genomic sequencing and examination through a specialist platform developed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to help mitigate the impact of potentially dangerous COVID-19 variants.

New collaborative research, led by the University of Oxford and published today in  Ecological Solutions and Evidence , shows that a simple tropical forest assessment tool can robustly estimate fores

Antibiotic resistance poses a serious threat to human health. Resistant infections now cause more than 750,000 deaths per year and are predicted to increase to 10 million deaths per year by 2050.

Today, the University of Oxford, Prenetics Limited, a global leader in diagnostics and genetic testing, and Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) have signed collaboration agreements to

Inhaled budesonide, a common corticosteroid, is the first widely available, inexpensive drug found to shorten recovery times in COVID-19 patients aged over 50 who are treated at home and in other community settings, reports the UK's PRINCIPLE trial in 1,779 participants.

Bereaved relatives described the ongoing pain of being absent at the end of a loved-one's life. Many had not seen their relative for weeks or months due to the pandemic. Opportunities must be prioritised for essential connections between families at end-of-life care. The first paper to give voice to those bereaved during the pandemic is published today in Palliative Medicine .

Researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), , today confirmed that it has captured the first ever images of Walter's duiker ( Philantomba walteri ) alive in the wild. This small African antelope has hitherto been secretive to the point of invisibility. The WildCRU study, published today in  African Journal of Ecology , was led in Togo by local mammologist, Délagnon Assou, with the base team led by Dr Neil D'Cruze, and shows a stunning picture of an animal which has never been photographed alive in the wild before.

A survey led by the University of Oxford has found that most people in high-income countries support donating some of their country's COVID-19 vaccine supplies to low-income nations who would otherwise struggle to gain access.

Two engineering DPhil students from the University of Oxford have created a website for GP surgeries across the UK to optimise the delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations to the UK's 1 million housebound patients.

The new ViewRay MRIdian machine is the first of its kind in the UK and will help to improve challenging cancer treatment through faster, tailored radiotherapy.

The Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY (RECOVERY) trial was officially launched on 23 March 2020.