12 March 2024
\n \n \n \nDespite being scattered across more than a million square kilometres, new research has revealed that remote coral reefs across the Seychelles are closely related. A network of ocean currents scatter significant numbers of larvae between these distant islands, acting as a \u2018coral superhighway.\u2019
\n \n\n \n \n7 March 2024
\n \n \n \nNew research led by the University of Oxford has found that rubisco \u2013 the enzyme that fuels all life on Earth \u2013 is not stuck in an evolutionary rut after all; it is improving all the time \u2013 just very, very slowly. These insights could potentially open up new routes to strengthen food security.
\n \n\n \n \n4 March 2024
\n \n \n \nEllen Baker from the Department of Biology writes about the important role played by solitary bees and the need to ensure the right flower foods are available to them.
\n \n\n \n \n21 February 2024
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has found that a high proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population lead to persistent infections lasting a month or more. The findings have been published today in the journal Nature.
\n \n\n \n \n15 February 2024
\n \n \n \nNatalie Duffus and Sophus zu Ermgassen from the Department of Biology discuss how England\u2019s new environmental policy, biodiversity net gain, will work in practice.
\n \n\n \n \n15 February 2024
\n \n \n \nDan Challender, Research Fellow in Conservation Science and Policy in the Department of Biology, writes about a landmark meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species, supporting the conservation and sustainable use of migratory species.
\n \n\n \n \n14 February 2024
\n \n \n \nKrish Sanghvi, Irem Sepil and Regina Vega-Trejo from the Department of Biology discuss how understanding ageing of sperm in other animals could give new insights into our own fertility.
\n \n\n \n \n2 February 2024
\n \n \n \nA decade-long study led by the University of Oxford has revealed new insights into the mechanisms that enable animals to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The results have been published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
\n \n\n \n \n16 January 2024
\n \n \n \nResearchers at the Department of Biology have developed a new test to assess how dangerous robotic lawnmowers are to hedgehogs. They hope this will lead to a certification scheme that will allow consumers to choose \u2018hedgehog-friendly\u2019 mowers to help protect these lovable mammals.
\n \n\n \n \n18 December 2023
\n \n \n \nAn international team of scientists led by geneticists and disease biologists from the University of Oxford and LMU Munich have used ancient DNA to trace the evolution of Marek's Disease Virus (MDV). This global pathogen causes fatal infections in unvaccinated chickens and costs the poultry industry over $1 billion per year.
\n \n\n \n \n15 December 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has demonstrated that diverse communities of resident bacteria can protect the human gut from disease-causing microorganisms. The researchers found that protective communities block the growth of harmful pathogens by consuming nutrients that the pathogen needs.
\n \n\n \n \n12 December 2023
\n \n \n \nThe antelope, which roamed the Eurasian Steppe alongside woolly mammoths, has been restored from near extinction by conservation efforts, including those of Professor E J Milner-Gulland in the Department of Biology.
\n \n\n \n \n7 December 2023
\n \n \n \nResearchers at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) at Oxford University and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China have developed a new approach to study the transmission of plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria sampled from hospital wastewater.
\n \n\n \n \n5 December 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has shed light on why certain species of bacteria carry astonishing arsenals of weapons. The new findings could help us to engineer microbes that can destroy deadly pathogens, reducing our reliance on antibiotics.
\n \n\n \n \n30 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) celebrated the finalists of the 2023 NERC Impact Awards on Wednesday 29th November. Two researchers from the Department of Biology received awards, including Dr Sophus Zu Ermgassen who was the winner of the Early Career category.
\n \n\n \n \n22 November 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessor Milner-Gulland, who leads three programmes at the Oxford Martin School, has been a conservationist for more than 30 years. But, she maintains, end-of-the-world scare stories will make people fear it is too late, there is nothing they can do, and they will bury their heads in the sand.
\n \n\n \n \n21 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe new study from researchers in the Department of Biology demonstrates that bumblebees are not able to avoid contaminated nectar, putting them at high risk of pesticide exposure and posing a threat to crop pollination.
\n \n\n \n \n10 November 2023
\n \n \n \nMore than sixty years after it was last recorded, an expedition team has rediscovered an iconic, egg-laying mammal in one of the most unexplored regions of the world. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, named after famed broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, was captured for the first time in photos and video footage using remote trail cameras set up in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia's Papua Province.
\n \n\n \n \n1 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe study by researchers in the Department of Biology also concluded that halting deforestation is the single most important mitigation measure Brazil can take towards net zero emissions by 2050 while preventing biodiversity loss.
\n \n\n \n \n1 November 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessor Andy Hector (Department of Biology) describes a unique living resource, Wytham Woods, and how this contributes to the distinctive and immersive learning experience for students at Oxford.
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