Search results (41)
« Back to NewsNew method shows promise for locating deposits of critical metals
10 March 2023
Earth sciences Research Sustainability & the environment
A new technique developed by researchers in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford could help locate new deposits of critical metals needed to enable the green-energy transition.
Earth Sciences study could help pinpoint hidden helium gas fields – and avert a global supply crisis
3 March 2023
Research led by Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences offers a new model to account for the existence of previously unexplained helium-rich reservoirs, with findings that could help overturn the current supply crisis of the gas by locating untapped reservoirs of accessible helium.
Large-scale fossil study reveals origins of modern-day biodiversity gradient 15 million years ago
16 February 2023
Researchers have used nearly half a million fossils to solve a 200-year-old scientific mystery: why the number of different species is greatest near the equator and decreases steadily towards polar regions.
New study shows that most plastic debris on Seychelles beaches comes from far-off sources
19 January 2023
Biology Earth sciences Research Sustainability & the environment
A new high-resolution model to quantify the sources of plastic debris accumulating on beaches across the Seychelles and other island states in the western Indian Ocean reveals that most of this waste originates from distant sources and not from the islands themselves.
From The Conversation: Fossil study brings us one step closer to revealing how ‘flying dinosaurs’ took flight
17 January 2023
Earth sciences The Conversation
New study places Schleromochlus closer to the origin of pterosaurs than other lagerpetids, providing a reference point for research into pterosaur development.
Dr Elsa Panciroli: portrait of a palaeontologist
11 January 2023
An interview with Elsa Panciroli from the Department of Earth Sciences, a palaeontologist who uses X-ray tomography and digital visualisation to understand the anatomy and growth of the first mammals and their closest relatives.
Oxford climate research excellence recognised by renewed Met Office partnership
15 December 2022
Climate Earth sciences Funding Maths Physics Research Statistics
The University of Oxford has been selected to help deliver the Met Office Academic Partnership (MOAP) for a further three years, as part of a multi-institutional agreement supporting cutting-edge research in the science of weather and climate prediction.
Four MPLS academics ‘showing great promise’ awarded major European Research Council Starting Grants
23 November 2022
Earth sciences Engineering Funding Physics
This year’s funding totals €636 million, with grants awarded through a highly-competitive process. Overall, just 14% of applications were successful this year.
New analysis of Winchcombe meteorite reveals a window into the early solar system
17 November 2022
Earth sciences Physics Research
Researchers from the Departments of Physics and Earth Sciences have contributed to a highly detailed analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite, which shed light on early solar system conditions and support the theory that meteorites catalysed the emergence of life on Earth.
500 million year-old fossils reveal answer to evolutionary riddle
2 November 2022
An exceptionally well-preserved collection of fossils discovered in eastern Yunnan Province, China, has enabled researchers to solve a centuries-old riddle in the evolution of life on earth, revealing what the first animals to make skeletons looked like.
New Scottish fossil sheds light on the origins of lizards
27 October 2022
Oxford palaeobiologists, working with researchers at the University of Warsaw and University College London, have shed new light on the evolution of lizards using a fossil discovery from Scotland, in research published in the journal Nature.
Study reveals new insights into how fast-moving glaciers may contribute to sea-level rise
14 October 2022
Climate Earth sciences Research
A new study from researchers at the University of Oxford and Columbia University, USA, has found existing models of sea-level rise, based on our understanding of how Earth’s ice sheets respond to a warming atmosphere, could be incorrect. The team's findings could have significant implications for future predictions of global sea-level rise.
Oxford Earth Sciences graduate selected to run the world’s most remote post office in Antarctica
11 October 2022
Clare Ballantyne, who graduated from Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences last summer, is one of four women selected from over 6000 people, to form the team responsible for managing the historic site Port Lockroy, on Goudier Island.
New study reveals the earliest evidence of fruit-eating by birds
16 August 2022
The earliest-known fruit-eating bird was an early bird called Jeholornis that lived 120 million years ago, and it may have helped contribute to the spread of the plants that dominate the world today.
Studying past climate fluctuations shows how human-generated atmospheric CO2 is impacting natural climate rhythms
20 July 2022
Professor Rosalind Rickaby, Chair of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences, takes a look at the way climate has naturally fluctuated over geological time, and compares that with the situation we face today, where climate change is disrupting this natural order and posing significant challenges such as extreme heatwaves.
Earth scientists reveal ancient salamander hidden inside mystery rock for 50 years
15 July 2022
Earth sciences Research The Conversation Zoology
A collaboration between Earth Sciences palaeobiologists from the University of Oxford and University College London has shed new light on one of the earliest-known salamanders, from a rock first discovered in the 1970s.
Jurassic World Dominion: a palaeontologist on what the film gets wrong about dinosaurs
14 June 2022
Earth sciences The Conversation
Ben Igielman, DPhil student in palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences, writes about the new Jurassic World film in an article first published on the Conversation.
Seven MPLS researchers elected to the Royal Society
10 May 2022
Award Biology Chemistry Earth sciences Maths Physics Zoology
In all, eight scientists from the University of Oxford have joined the Royal Society as Fellows. All but one are from departments in MPLS Division.
New study finds giant predatory dinosaurs could hunt underwater
25 March 2022
New research by a multi-institution team including the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge has found strong evidence that dinosaurs from the spinosaurid family swam underwater to search for prey.
Three University of Oxford Earth Scientists honoured with the title of Geochemistry Fellow
15 February 2022
Professor Chris Ballentine, Professor Tamsin Mather and Professor Gideon Henderson join 13 other geochemists receiving the fellowship this year from the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry. The award was established in 1996 to honour outstanding scientists who have, over some years, made a major contribution to the field.