6 June 2025
\n \n \n \nDepartment of Biology researchers have contributed to an international study which found that dehorning rhinos resulted in a drastic reduction in poaching of these endangered animals. The findings have been published this week in the journal Science.
\n \n\n \n \n3 June 2025
\n \n \n \nResearchers in the Department of Biology and Wild Bioscience Ltd are to receive backing of a \u00a36.7 million grant from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to pioneer a new synthetic biology approach which promises to improve yields in potato and wheat.
\n \n\n \n \n20 May 2025
\n \n \n \nSeven academics from the University of Oxford, including five from the Mathematics, Physical and Life Sciences Division (MPLS) have been elected as Royal Society Fellows.
\n \n\n \n \n29 April 2025
\n \n \n \nTen new Fellows have joined the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship programme at the University of Oxford. Now entering its third year, the programme is helping to accelerate the next scientific revolution by applying artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to research across the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematical sciences.
\n \n\n \n \n24 April 2025
\n \n \n \nThe study, led by the Department of Biology and published in Science Advances, is the world\u2019s first randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of an incentive-based marine conservation programme conclusively.
\n \n\n \n \n16 April 2025
\n \n \n \nAn impressive feat for Colossal Biosciences would be re-engineering large animals to provide lost ecological functions writes Professor Tim Coulson in The Conversation.
\n \n\n \n \n9 April 2025
\n \n \n \nProfessor David Macdonald, who founded the Department of Biology\u2019s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), has been awarded the Linnean Medal for long-standing and significant contributions to natural sciences.
\n \n\n \n \n28 March 2025
\n \n \n \nA new study has revealed that African elephants have an extraordinary ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as possible.
\n \n\n \n \n10 March 2025
\n \n \n \nNew research from the Department of Biology has provided fresh insights into how bird songs evolve over time, revealing a significant role for population dynamics in shaping song diversity and change. The findings \u2013 based on an analysis of over 100,000 bird songs \u2013 have been published today in Current Biology.
\n \n\n \n \n17 February 2025
\n \n \n \nA new research study led by researchers in the Department of Biology demonstrates that sustainable agricultural practices that both protect pollinator populations and mitigate climate risks could help secure \u2013 and even improve \u2013 global cocoa yields.
\n \n\n \n \n29 January 2025
\n \n \n \nAmy Hinsley, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Biology, and Silviu Petrovan, Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, investigate the risks involved in the increasing trade in trees, cut flowers, pot plants, bulbs and foliage.
\n \n\n \n \n28 January 2025
\n \n \n \nInstead of using their communication networks to transmit warning signals, the Department of Biology led findings suggest it is more likely that plants \u2018eavesdrop\u2019 on their neighbours.
\n \n\n \n \n16 January 2025
\n \n \n \nFor more than 500 years, no lynx had roamed the British countryside. That changed with the recent release of four of these large cats in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland.
\n \n\n \n \n13 January 2025
\n \n \n \nA research team led by the University of Oxford has carried out the most comprehensive assessment to date of how logging and conversion to oil palm plantations affect tropical forest ecosystems.
\n \n\n \n \n16 December 2024
\n \n \n \nScientists have announced the discovery of a species of lipstick vine completely new to science, from the depths of the Philippine rainforest.
\n \n\n \n \n9 December 2024
\n \n \n \nThe University of Oxford will play a leading role in a new project to develop indicators to measure progress towards globally agreed conservation targets, backed by $1.9 million funding from The Global Environment Facility (GEF).
\n \n\n \n \n6 December 2024
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford suggests that the fundamental abilities underlying human language and technological culture may have evolved before humans and apes diverged millions of years ago.
\n \n\n \n \n26 November 2024
\n \n \n \nA team led by the University of Oxford has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt? The findings were achieved through a combination of experiments, high-speed videography, image analysis, and advanced mathematical modelling.
\n \n\n \n \n25 November 2024
\n \n \n \nResearchers are reporting a previously undocumented behaviour of Ethiopian wolves \u2013 feeding on the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker flowers \u2013 the first large carnivore species ever to be documented feeding on nectar.
\n \n\n \n \n18 November 2024
\n \n \n \nClimate change and biodiversity policies have largely evolved in isolation, even though the two crises are deeply intertwined. The three summits in quick succession make this is an important opportunity to align these agendas. Healthy ecosystems are crucial for climate resilience, while a stable climate is essential to protecting biodiversity.
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