news 2013

A century old mystery as to why, for some animals, it's the father rather than the mother that takes care of their young has been cracked by researchers at the University of Sheffield. Experts from the University, in collaboration with the University of Bath and Veszprém (Hungary) found that role reversal was caused by an imbalance in the numbers of males relative to females.

Sexual abuse has an often devastating and long-term impact on the lives of many children and young people - for these children the future can be very dark indeed. A new study by Durham and Bristol universities will evaluate the effectiveness of a therapeutic service designed to help children and young people who have been affected by sexual abuse.

A study by researchers at King's College London highlights a link between lifelong exercise and improved brain function in later life. The study found that regular intensive lifelong exercise as a child and adult improved cognitive functioning at the age of 50 and that even exercise of a lower frequency could offer benefits for cognitive well-being.

Study reveals chemical composites of exoplanet atmospheres 128 light years away. Scientists say techniques will "one day provide evidence of life beyond Earth". The really exciting thing is that, one day, the techniques we've developed will give us our first secure evidence of the existence of life on a planet outside our solar system Ian Parry Astronomers have conducted the first remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system, using new telescope imaging techniques to reveal the chemical composition of exoplanets orbiting a star 128 light years from Earth.

Research paves way for the development of a vaccine for the contagious cancer which is driving Tasmanian devils to the brink of extinction. Developing a vaccine based on our research could tip the balance in the favour of the devil and give them a fighting chance Hannah Siddle New research paves the way for the development of a vaccine for the Tasmanian devil, currently on the brink of extinction because of a contagious cancer.

Research shows that intimate personal attributes can be predicted with high levels of accuracy from 'traces' left by seemingly innocuous digital behaviour, in this case Facebook Likes. Study raises important questions about personalised marketing and online privacy.

Archeologists have found that the original Stonehenge was a graveyard for a community of elite families built 500 years earlier than the site we know today. The new discovery has finally solved many of the mysteries surrounding Stonehenge, overturning the accepted view on construction and use of our greatest prehistoric monument.

Astrophysicists at the University of Glasgow are looking to the Northern and Southern Lights to expand our understanding of solar flares. In a new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers from the University's School of Physics and Astronomy suggest magnetic waves, which contribute to the formation of auroras on Earth, could help energy from solar flares travel tens of thousands of kilometres in under a second.

The vitamin niacin can cause significant side effects and offers no benefits for patients at high risk of heart disease who are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Oxford University scientists presented results of the largest randomised clinical trial of niacin at the American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco on Saturday.

Chewing gum can help you stay focused for longer on tasks that require continuous monitoring. This is the finding of new research co-authored by Chris Miles of the Cardiff School of Psychology, published today in the British Journal of Psychology. Previous research has shown that chewing gum can improve concentration in visual memory tasks.

How would you look for something that can be in two 'places' at once? The answer, according to Oxford University research into a quantum phenomenon called superposition, seems to be to ask where it isn't rather than where it is. 'Superposition allows an atom to be simultaneously 'here' and 'there'.

A study by the University of Liverpool has found that celebrity endorsement of a food product encourages children to eat more of the endorsed product. It also found that children were prompted to eat more of the endorsed product when they saw the celebrity on TV in a different context. Celebrity endorsement is an effective method of creating value, recognition and credibility for a brand, and celebrities are frequently used in television advertising to induce children to try foods.

Species of seabirds could successfully return to their natural foraging habits following changes to European fisheries policies, scientists have suggested. The European Parliament recently voted to scrap the controversial discards policy, which has seen fishermen throwing thousands of edible fish and fish waste back into the sea because they have exceeded their quotas.

July 4th, 2012 - a landmark, red-letter day in a physicist's calendar. It was the day that CERN webcast a special seminar of the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider. It was the day when the world went particle physics mad, celebrating the discovery of the long sought and long elusive Higgs boson.

Scientists will use the results from the project to help gauge and track progress on Government targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. The project will measure gases emitted from various UK sources, such as industry, landfill and agriculture. Tracking their movements will also help researchers improve their current understanding of how the gases affect climate change.

A study by the University of Liverpool into the impact of early parental death has found that it is essential that bereavement support should consist of more than the counselling that is frequently available and offered to bereaved children. The three year study found that that those working with bereaved families need to ensure that support which increases stability, continuity and cohesion is introduced at every level of the family system.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills have today published an independent research report from the University of Bristol on the impact of a cap on the total cost of credit. The publication coincides with the publication of the Office of Fair Trading's final report on payday sector compliance.

Basic physics and statistic tools could offer a simpler and more meaningful way to model key elements of the Earth's climate, according to researchers at the University of Leeds and Brown University. The research, published in Physical Review Letters, shows that a technique called direct statistical simulation accurately models fluid jets, fast-moving flows that form naturally in oceans and in the atmosphere.

A description of the animal, found by the team in a now obscure 1865 edition of a Victorian journal called "The Field”, was the first attempt to define a dog breed standard based on physical form. John Henry Walsh, who wrote under the pseudonym of 'Stonehenge', took the system of giving scores for different parts of the body from pigeon fanciers, paving the way for the pedigree dog breeds we know today.

However, it was still unclear which species the bone came from. So the researchers enlisted the help of Mike Buckley from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. He used the pioneering new technique called "collagen fingerprinting” to identify the animal from the bone fragments. He did this by extracting minute amounts of collagen, the dominant protein found in bone, from the fossils.