‘Citizen scientists’ help researchers gather new insights into polar bear behaviour
26 February 2021
Citizen science Research Zoology
Oxford University is working with Canadian researchers on a first-of-its-kind project that will engage citizen volunteers to help advance knowledge about polar bear behaviour in a changing environment by analysing a decade’s worth of images captured by trail cameras.
Winners announced for Oxford’s Beyond Boundaries art competition to encourage inclusion in STEM sciences
24 February 2021
Equality and Diversity Materials science Plant sciences Statistics Zoology
Oxford University has today announced the winners of its science-inspired schools’ art competition Beyond Boundaries which was launched to encourage inclusion in science research
From The Conversation: Mars InSight: why we’ll be listening to the landing of the Perseverance rover
15 February 2021
Earth sciences Physics Research The Conversation
Ben Fernando (Departments of Earth Sciences and Physics) writes about using the Insight mission to detect seismic signals during the landing of Perseverance - the first time that anyone has tried using a spacecraft on the surface of another planet to detect another spacecraft arriving.
UK launches new £10M Research Centre to spur a greener Global Financial System
15 February 2021
Climate change Engineering Funding
The centre, led by Oxford, will transform the finance sector’s ability to invest differently to promote climate and environmental action. Researchers from the Oxford eResearch Centre in the Department of Engineering Science are contributing, alongside researchers from other University departments.
From The Conversation: Spider legs build webs without the brain’s help – providing a model for future robot limbs
10 February 2021
Fritz Vollrath from the Department of Zoology writes in an article published on The Conversation.
New machine learning system developed to identify deteriorating patients in hospital
10 February 2021
Biomedical engineering Medical science Research
Researchers in Oxford have developed a machine learning algorithm that could significantly improve clinicians’ ability to identify hospitalised patients whose condition is deteriorating to the extent that they need intensive care.
On a mission: Innovative solutions to pressing environmental problems
10 February 2021
Innovation and Enterprise Zoology
The World’s First Conservation Venture Studio has today been launched, with a mission to bring forward novel and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental problems.
Science Blog: From rust to riches? Computing goes green...or is that brown?
3 February 2021
Computer science Physics Research
Professor Paolo Radaelli from Oxford’s Department of Physics, working with Diamond Light Source, has been leading research into silicon alternatives and his group’s surprising findings are published in Nature on 4th February.
Getting the message right on nature-based solutions to climate change
1 February 2021
Climate change Research Zoology
Nature‐based solutions can play a key role in helping to tackle the climate and nature crises, while delivering other benefits for people, according to a new paper today from the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NbSI) at the University of Oxford - but it is vital to get the message right about how to deliver successful NbS and avoid potential pitfalls.
Four Steps for Earth: a holistic approach to saving the planet
25 January 2021
A global team of researchers have outlined a new framework for implementing global commitments to restoring nature, The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy - or, more snappily, Four Steps for the Earth.
Science Blog: Listening for a space craft to land on Mars
21 January 2021
University physicists believe that, for the first time, they might be able to ‘hear’ a spacecraft land on Mars, when Perseverance arrives at Earth’s ‘near’ neighbour in about a month’s time around 18 February.
£100 million donation from Ineos to create new institute to fight antimicrobial resistance
19 January 2021
Chemistry Funding Medical science Zoology
Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year.
Quantum Technologies for Fundamental Physics: exciting science awaits
13 January 2021
Oxford’s Department of Physics is playing a key role in three of the seven quantum projects supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
UK population movement falls 59%, compared to -89% in March - COVID-19 Monitor
12 January 2021
COVID-19 Engineering Maths Research
The latest data from Oxford’s COVID-19 Impact Monitor shows the January lockdown has, so far, had one third less national impact on movement than the March shutdown. The figures demonstrate that some regions are still moving at more than 50% of pre-pandemic levels, despite the tough restrictions and calls for people to remain at home.
COVID-19 transmission chains in the UK accurately traced using genomic epidemiology
12 January 2021
A team of scientists, led by researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, has analysed the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK and produced the most fine-scaled and comprehensive genomic analysis of transmission of any epidemic to date.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell receives highest accolade from Royal Astronomical Society
11 January 2021
Jocelyn Bell Burnell from the Department of Physics has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s highest honour, the Gold Medal 2021. The medal recognises her extraordinary achievements and has been awarded not only for her personal research but also for her contributions to the field of astronomy generally.
Light-carrying chips advance machine learning
11 January 2021
A team of international scientists has demonstrated an initial prototype of a photonic processor using tiny rays of light confined inside silicon chips that can process information much more rapidly than electronic chips and also in parallel - something traditional chips are incapable of doing.
Professor Martin Booth receives ERC Proof of Concept grant
7 January 2021
The project will develop the commercial potential of the novel imaging technology developed by Prof Booth, adaptive optical microscopy.
Cecil the lion’s legacy: five years on
21 December 2020
Lion numbers have disappeared from 92% of their historical range. The death of Cecil the lion in 2015 and the resulting global outcry brought this sobering fact into sharp focus.