news 2018

A new study on the timescale of plant evolution, led by the University of Bristol, has concluded that the first plants to colonise the Earth originated around 500 million years ago - 100 million years earlier than previously thought. For the first four billion years of Earth's history, our planet's continents would have been devoid of all life except microbes.

Hope remains to save the world's most trafficked animal as it enjoys the spotlight of a global day in its honour Did you know that the world's most trafficked animal is having its own international day today? On World Pangolin Day , the University of Sussex is determined to raise awareness of the mammal's plight as they face a desperate fight against extinction.

New laser scanning technology is being used by UCL scientists to provide fresh and unprecedented insights into the structure and mass of trees, a development that will help plot how much carbon they absorb and how they might respond to climate change. Two studies, published today (Friday) by the Royal Society, by researchers at UCL and the universities of Oxford, Sonoma State, Ghent and Wageningen, reveal the technology has captured the 3D structure of individual trees in ways they have never been seen before.

UK fracking industry would need strict controls to minimise spill risk (15 February 2018) Strict controls would be "a necessity" to minimise the risk of spills and leaks from any future UK shale gas industry, according to new research. The recommendation comes from scientists who have investigated the possible risk of spills from well sites and tankers used to transport chemicals and contaminated fluids to and from fracking sites.

Cambridge researchers are pioneering a form of machine learning that starts with only a little prior knowledge and continually learns from the world around it. This is just like a human would learn. We don't start knowing everything. We learn things incrementally, from only a few examples, and we know when we are not yet confident in our understanding Zoubin Ghahramani In the centre of the screen is a tiny unicycle.

Analysis of fragile seagrass meadows by Cardiff University and Swansea University scientists has shown that consistent pollution from sewage and livestock waste is affecting their survival. Seagrass meadows are flowering plants that have adapted to live a life in the sea and were recently featured in the BBC's Blue Planet II episode 'Green Seas'.

Citrus fruit was being cultivated in India in the Late Neolithic period and in southern Thailand in the Iron Age, according to new findings by archaeologists at UCL and Peking University, Beijing. Citrus fruit are widespread and well known nearly everywhere today, but very little is known about how they were domesticated and diversified.

Extreme droughts in the Brazilian Amazon are causing forest fires that release significant carbon emissions, reveals a new study. Despite significant achievements by the Brazilian authorities in curbing carbon emissions from deforestation, these gains could be undermined by repeated droughts in the 21st Century.

Truffles are one of the world's most expensive ingredients, and also one of the most mysterious. Now, with the help of a 170-year-old 'living laboratory', and a dog called Lucy, researchers hope to unearth new understanding of the secret life of these underground delicacies.

Lightning may strike less often in future across the globe as the planet warms, a scientific study suggests. The research forecasts a 15 per cent drop in the average number of lightning flashes worldwide by the turn of this century, if global temperatures are in the top range of forecasts. A drop in the incidence of lightning strikes could impact on the frequency of wildfires, especially in tropical regions.

Many politicians want to see action on climate change but some admit they avoid mentioning it to their constituents because they do not think their views will be supported, according to new research based on interviews with MPs. The study by Rebecca Willis at Lancaster University and think tank Green Alliance, says politicians face major challenges getting people engaged in what is often seen as a global issue rather than a local one.

A new network of advanced air quality monitoring instruments will detect harmful air pollutants and their sources in greater detail than ever before. Three urban air pollution research laboratories, or supersites, are expected to be operational in Birmingham, London, and Manchester by the end of 2018.

A scientist from the University of Bristol is part of an international team that has shown that the changing topography of ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere during the last Ice Age forced changes in the climate of Antarctica, a previously undocumented inter-polar climate change mechanism. The new research co-authored by Dr William Roberts from Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences and led by the University of Colorado Boulder has been published in the journal Nature .

Up to 16% of all species on Earth could qualify as potential alien species and if they invade new regions, impacts will be difficult to predict, according to new research involving UCL. The study shows that the number of newly emerging alien species - those never before encountered as aliens - continues to rise, posing a significant challenge to biosecurity interventions worldwide.

Researchers have taken the first step on a path that eventually could result in female mosquitoes that no longer bite and spread diseases. A group of scientists at the University of Birmingham, University of Oregon, Oregon Health and Science University, University of Notre Dame, and The Ohio State University methodically identified 902 genes related to blood feeding and 478 genes linked to non-blood feeding from the mosquito Wyeomyia smithii.

Thermal imaging can detect how animals are coping with their environment, avoiding the need for capture, according to new research. The technique, which could transform how biologists investigate responses of wild animals to environmental changes, was tested on a population of a small songbird - the blue tit - at the University of Glasgow's Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE) at Loch Lomond.

Psychologists are working with professional adventurers to find out how teams cope with a 500 mile Arctic trip in temperatures of minus 60C. The expedition has been endorsed by eminent explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who said: "I wish the Ski to the Edge team all the success and luck in support of their ski expedition.

The body of an elephant calf lies on the side of a remote highway in the north of Peninsular Malaysia - the East-West Highway is flanked by two wildlife refuges, Royal Belum State Park and the Temengor Forest Reserve. It is stories like this in the Malaysian media that are of increasing concern to wildlife experts.