news 2014

A child is likely to do better in their GCSEs and ultimately earn higher wages if they have received a preschool education, a new study suggests. Oxford University researchers who were involved in the Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary (EPPSE) project found that children who had had an early education at nursery or preschool were more likely to get better GCSE results - the equivalent of getting seven Bs compared to seven Cs.

Researchers have identified key processes that control stem cell survival, providing insights that could improve their use in medicine. The study, recently published in Genes and Development , revealed that small molecules called microRNAs play a key role in controlling the death and survival of pluripotent stem cells.

15 Sep 2014 Sharks, swamps and a tropical rainforest teeming with life - it's not what comes to mind when you think of Yorkshire, England. But for the first time evidence of Doncaster's 310-million-year-old past, including a fossilised shark egg case, has been discovered in a derelict mining tip. Some of the fossilised plants and creatures may even be new to science, and as well as the egg case, several horseshoe crabs and some previously unrecorded seed pods are amongst the finds.

Bacteria are particularly ingenious when it comes to survival strategies. They often create a biofilm to protect themselves from a hostile environment, for example during treatment with antibiotics, and scientists have unravelled the secrets of how they do this with a new 3D model. A biofilm is a bacterial community that is surrounded by a protective slime capsule consisting of sugar chains and "curli".

University of Leeds research has revealed that heart attack patients have a 46% increased chance of death within a month of discharge if they miss any one of nine types of care. There is also a 74% increased chance of dying within one year if any one component of care is missed.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have devised a new simulation technique which reliably predicts the structure and behaviour of different materials, in order to accelerate the development of next-generation batteries for a wide range of applications.

15 Sep 2014 A tiny fragment of Martian meteorite 1.3 billion years old is helping to make the case for the possibility of life on Mars, say scientists. The finding of a 'cell-like' structure, which investigators now know once held water, came about as a result of collaboration between scientists in the UK and Greece.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. Analysis of centuries-old skeletons 'inconclusive' Further tests are to be carried out on skeletons recovered from a centuries-old mass grave in Durham City.

12 Sep 2014 Electrons that break the rules and move perpendicular to the applied electric field could be the key to delivering next generation, low-energy computers, a collaboration of scientists from The University of Manchester and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found. In a research paper published this week in Science , the collaboration led by MIT's theory professor Leonid Levitov and Manchester's Nobel laureate Sir Andre Geim report a material in which electrons move at a controllable angle to applied fields, similar to sailboats driven diagonally to the wind.

Press release issued: 11 September 2014 Scientists today unveiled what appears to be the first truly semiaquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. New fossils of the massive Cretaceous period predator reveal it adapted to life in the water some 95 million years ago, providing the most compelling evidence to date of a dinosaur able to live and hunt in an aquatic environment.

Crucial DNA testing of a Victorian shawl, undertaken by a University of Leeds expert, may have helped solve the enduring riddle of the identity of Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper. The killer, who preyed on prostitutes in London’s East End in 1888, is widely believed to have at least five victims, but his identity has confounded professionals and amateur sleuths alike.

In 2011 the world's farms produced a total of 681 million tonnes of wheat, but with an ever growing demand from a growing population, there is a real need for increasing yields yet further. At the University of Liverpool, one PhD student has developed software which will allow farmers to identify mutations in wheat, such as disease resistance and early flowering, that can be bred into crops and increase production.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy could give people with a recent Bipolar Disorder diagnosis a better chance of recovery, a new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests. New research compared a group of people with a recent bipolar diagnosis who had an average of 14 hours Cognitive Behavioural Therapy alongside 'treatment as usual' which includes medication and support from community mental health teams, psychiatry or a GP.

Dementia UK: The Second Edition , prepared by King's College London and the London School of Economics for the Alzheimer's Society, finds that the cost of dementia to the UK has hit £26 billion a year and that people with dementia, their carers and families shoulder two-thirds of the cost themselves.

A new study has found that children who revealed they had been bullied by their brothers or sisters several times a week or more during early adolescence were twice as likely to report being clinically depressed as young adults. They were also twice as likely to say they had self-harmed within the previous year compared with those who had not been bullied.

Britain hit by extremely unsettled winter weather Three all-time high and two all-time low NAO values recorded in the last decade showing huge contrast in conditions Month of December shows biggest variation in weather. British winters are becoming increasingly volatile due to extreme variations in pressure over the North Atlantic according to scientists from the University of Sheffield.

Treatment with xenon gas after a head injury reduces the extent of brain damage, according to a study in mice. Head injury is the leading cause of death and disability in people aged under 45 in developed countries, mostly resulting from falls and road accidents. The primary injury caused by the initial mechanical force is followed by a secondary injury which develops in the hours and days afterwards.

Latest research shows that coral trout can now join chimpanzees as the only non-human species that can choose the right situation and the right partner to get the best result when collaboratively working. Perhaps the biggest question is whether the processes underlying collaborative partner choice in humans, chimpanzees and trout are the result of common ancestry or an evolutionary convergence Alex Vail Coral trout are fast when chasing prey above the reefs of their habitat, but can't pursue their quarry if it buries itself into a hard-to-reach reef crevice.

Subtle genetic changes can be detected in the vapour given off by cells engineered to mimic the early stages of lung cancer, according to research published by the University of Liverpool. The findings could potentially be used to develop a breath test that doctors could use to identify high-risk patients that could benefit from regular CT scans, or to detect specific mutations within patients' tumours that could help guide treatment.

The University of Liverpool is to lead an international study to investigate the effectiveness of two drugs used to treat a rare but serious disease, in a project that will save the NHS a minimum of £500k. The three-year research project from the University will study the two most common treatments for the severe disease which, although extremely expensive and widely used, have no clear evidence base to suggest which is more effective in patients.