From The Conversation: How we discovered that sea turtles in Seychelles have recovered from the brink
17 March 2022
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
April Burt from the Department of Plant Sciences, together with colleagues from the Universities of Exeter and Pisa, writes about a success story on the isolated Aldabra Atoll.
Large mammals can help climate change mitigation and adaptation
4 March 2022
Biology Climate Plant sciences Research
A new study investigates whether protecting and restoring large animal wildlife can help to support climate change goals.
Unlocking the mechanical secrets of giant Amazonian waterlilies
10 February 2022
Biology Physics Plant sciences Research
Researchers studying giant Amazonian waterlilies grown at the University's Botanic Garden have unravelled the engineering enigma behind the largest floating leaves in nature.
Mystery of sweet potato origin uncovered, as missing link plant found by Oxford research
25 January 2022
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
New scientific research from Oxford University's Plant Sciences department transforms our understanding of the origins of the sweet potato - identifying a key piece in the puzzle of the evolutionary history of one of the world’s most important staple crops.
Island conservationists identify key barriers to meeting biodiversity targets
23 November 2021
Biology Climate Plant sciences Research
Islands are biodiversity hotspots yet, paradoxically, are also extinction hotspots.
Student start-up CyanoCapture is a winner in $5m XPRIZE for carbon removal projects
16 November 2021
Award Biology Climate MPLS Medical science Plant sciences Spin out
A carbon capture company established less than a year ago by two Oxford students has been announced as one of 23 winners of the XPRIZE student competition.
Construction gets underway at Oxford’s Life and Mind Building
3 November 2021
Biology MPLS Medical science Plant sciences Zoology
This is the largest building project ever undertaken on behalf of the University and will be its largest teaching and research facility.
From punk rock to plants: Robert Scotland argues we need hard science to 'save' the natural world
27 September 2021
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
Professor Scotland has spent more than three decades at Oxford on painstaking research, in the tradition of Darwin and other monographers, working out the taxonomy of plant species to discover what exists, where are they found and how are they related.
How Oxford University research is helping feed the world in the 21st century
16 September 2021
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
New research published recently in the journal eLife sheds fresh light on plant chloroplasts, and the proteins inside them. The regulation of chloroplast proteins is important for plant development and stress acclimation and is increasingly significant as plants are having to respond to changing environments.
New Oxford University research will help optimize environmentally friendly ways of fertilising plants
30 July 2021
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
New research from the Departments of Plant Sciences and Engineering Science, as well as collaborators at VU Amsterdam, uses both mathematical modelling and experimental validation to study the metabolic processes controlling how bacteria provide ammonia to legumes, which is vastly important for sustainable agriculture.
Botanists name astonishing new species of ‘fairy lantern’ from Malaysian rainforests
29 June 2021
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
Oxford University scientist, Dr Chris Thorogood, from Oxford Botanic Garden teamed up with Siti-Munirah at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, and local explorer, Dome Nikong, to describe a strange plant from the depths of the Malaysian rainforest.
Oxford plant scientists discover how to alter colour and ripening rates of tomatoes
19 May 2021
Biology Food security & biodiversity Plant sciences Research
The overall process of fruit ripening in tomato (including colour changes and softening) can be changed –speeded up or slowed down – by modifying the expression of a single protein located in subcellular organelles called the plastids. This offers a novel opportunity for crop improvement.
Pea plants make smart investment decisions that could help inform sustainable agriculture
4 May 2021
Biology Plant sciences Research
Researchers in the Department of Plant Sciences have shown that pea plants are able to make smart investment decisions when it comes to interactions with their symbiotic bacterial partners. Better understanding of how plants manage these interactions could help with the move towards sustainable agriculture.
Oxford Researchers’ Projects Recognised Through Prominent European Grants
26 April 2021
Biology Earth sciences Funding Plant sciences
Four Oxford academics have received major European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants to fund a range of boundary-pushing research projects in the areas of science and criminology.
Winners announced for Oxford’s Beyond Boundaries art competition to encourage inclusion in STEM sciences
24 February 2021
Biology 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
Eight Oxford researchers, including five from MPLS, awarded major European Research Council funding
9 December 2020
Biology Chemistry Engineering Funding Plant sciences Zoology
European Research Council grants worth more than €16.3 million have been awarded to University of Oxford researchers for a range of cutting-edge projects.
Oxford Net Zero launches to tackle global carbon emissions
17 November 2020
Biology Climate Earth sciences Physics Plant sciences Zoology
The Oxford Net Zero initiative, launched this week, draws on the university’s world-leading expertise in climate science and policy, addressing the critical issue of how to reach global ‘net zero’ – limiting greenhouse gases – in time to halt global warming.
Botanists unearth new ‘vampire plant’ in UK carpark
21 September 2020
Biology Plant sciences Research
Scientists Dr Chris Thorogood at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, and Dr Fred Rumsey at London’s Natural History Museum have just described a new form of a strange parasitic ‘vampire’ plant known as ‘common broomrape’.
Millions of dollars to clean up tuna nets and flip flops from island state
10 September 2020
Biology Plant sciences Research
Researchers at Oxford University have estimated that the cost to clean up Aldabra Atoll, one of Seychelles’ UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is approximately $4.68 million, requiring 18,000 person‐hours of labour. This is the largest accumulation of plastic waste reported for any single island in the world.