science wire

Researchers from the University of Oxford are using the largest, most intense lasers on the planet, to for the first time, show the general public how to recreate the effects of supernovae,  in a laboratory.

Their findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour , could help us to better understand why some people are less motivated to help others - a trait characteristic of apathetic or psychopathic individuals. First author, Dr. Patricia Lockwood of Oxford University's Department of Experimental Psychology, explains: 'lots of our social interactions require us to put in effort.

Passengers have more chance of winning the National Lottery jackpot than being allocated middle seats at random on a Ryanair flight, according to new Oxford University analysis.

Proteins found in tick saliva could be used to treat a potentially fatal form of heart disease, according to new Oxford University research. Myocarditis can cause sudden cardiac death in young adults, and occurs when the heart muscle becomes inflamed, often as a result of an infection caused by common viruses.

A new book shows how the great European thinkers of the Enlightenment approached the question of Europe's political and economic future.

Dotted across the landscape of Britain and Ireland, hillforts have been part of our story for millennia and for the first time a new online atlas launched today captures all of their locations and key details in one place. A research team based at the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and University College Cork has been helped by citizen scientists from across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland.

Huge pulses of volcanic activity are likely to have played a key role in triggering the end Triassic mass extinction, which set the scene for the rise and age of the dinosaurs, new Oxford University research has found. Researchers from the Oxford University Department of Earth Science worked in collaboration with the Universities of Exeter and Southampton to trace the global impact of major volcanic gas emissions and their link to the end of the Triassic period.

Oxford University has lent a violin from its collection to Aboud Kaplo, a 14-year-old Syrian musician.

They are part of an installation called The Gaps Between, which has been organised by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) Like many cities, Oxford has a long and varied history.

In people aged 75 or over, long-term daily aspirin use is linked to a higher than expected risk of disabling or fatal bleeding, according to a new study in The Lancet. While short-term aspirin use after a stroke or heart attack has clear benefits, the authors say that patients over 75 who take aspirin on a daily basis should be prescribed a proton-pump inhibitor (heartburn drugs) to reduce the risk of bleeding.

Professor Charles Godfray , FRS, Hope Professor of Zoology, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food , and Fellow of Jesus College, is knighted for services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.

Oxford academics are leading a nationwide fundraising campaign to help preserve our memories of the First World War.

The BBCâ??s File on 4 programme (6 June 2017) has examined the role of animal experiments in the development of a new human vaccine for tuberculosis, in particular the MVA85A vaccine being trialled by Professor Helen McShane at the University of Oxford. In recent weeks, the programme-makers have put a number of questions to Professor McShane which included suggestions that data from animal experiments with the vaccine had been withheld, and that it may have been unethical to proceed from animal experiments to trials in humans.

Archaeological digs in the Middle East have revealed the remains of ancient harvests that record how some of the worldâ??s earliest cities grew and developed. A study published in Nature Plants sheds new light on the agricultural and political economy that underpinned the growth of some of the worldâ??s oldest cities in Mesopotamia, in present-day northern Syria.

New Oxford University research on global poverty reveals the extent of the challenges facing the UN's new Sustainable Development Goals for the eradication of child poverty.

Researchers have discovered that one-fifth of twins in sub-Saharan Africa die before the age of five in what is thought to be the first comprehensive study to track the development of twin mortality in that part of the world. Researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Sociology and Radboud University in the Netherlands estimate that in sub-Saharan Africa, the death rate for twins is three times higher than for singletons under five and that the gap in survival rates between the two groups is growing.

Analysis by researchers at Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute shows that content about the Labour Party is dominating traffic on Twitter during the UK general election campaign. Hashtags such as #VoteLabour and #JezzWeCan are outperforming the likes of #VoteTory and #StrongAndStable, according to the new study.

Almost 10 years' to the day since it started, The Zooniverse, the world's largest and most popular people-powered research platform will launch its 100th project; Galaxy Nurseries.

Scientists are a step closer to understanding the inner-workings of the universe following the laying of the first stone, and construction starting on the world's largest optical and infrared telescope.

The identity of Leonardo's mother has until now been shrouded in mystery. But a forthcoming book by Professor Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Trinity College and Oxford University, has identified her as 15 year old orphan Caterina di Meo Lippi, who gave birth to Leonardo on 15 April 1452.

Professor Sir Andrew Wiles of Oxford University has been awarded the 2016 Abel Prize for mathematics for his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.

Professor Sir Andrew Wiles of Oxford University has been awarded the 2016 Abel Prize for mathematics for his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.

HRH The Prince of Wales visited Kellogg College at the University of Oxford earlier this week to see work being done to address the challenges of global urbanisation.

Female fruit flies start headbutting each other after mating, becoming significantly more aggressive and intolerant Oxford University research has revealed. Female fruit flies' levels of aggression soar after sex, when a variety of proteins, which flow freely in semen, stimulate dramatic behavioural and physiological changes in females.

 Six of the University's distinguished scientists have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society for their outstanding contributions to science.

Dame Carol Robinson, Professor of Chemistry at the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, has been elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Dr Peter Frankopan's book, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World , shows the importance of the east and the role it had in shaping modern Europe.

A spacecraft that scientists from the University of Oxford played a key role in building, has come closer to the planet of Saturn than ever before.

New Zealand's Takahe bird is just one of the endangered species success stories being shared as part of the global Conservation Optimism movement.The viral campaign reminds people of the positive strides being made in the field.

Oxford Martin School Director Achim Steiner is to take up a pivotal role with the United Nations, leading its drive to eradicate poverty worldwide.

Petra Schleiter, Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, draws on recent research to analyse how voters will react to Theresa May's decision to call a snap election on 8 June.

Oxford Martin School Director Achim Steiner is to take up a pivotal role with the United Nations, leading its drive to eradicate poverty worldwide.