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Oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to have -fluctuated wildly- one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated-the development of early animals, say researchers. Scientists believe atmospheric oxygen-developed in three stages, starting with what is known as the Great Oxidation Event-around two billion years ago, when oxygen first appeared in the-atmosphere.

Quantum computing systems could be made more stable and efficient thanks to a discovery about the way some atomic particles behave. The University of Leeds' Theoretical Physics Research Group has come up with a new way of making quantum particles defy the rules of statistical physics by utilising a special quantum computing device.

People often wonder why one nutritional study tells them that eating too many eggs, for instance, will lead to heart disease and another tells them the opposite. The answer to this and other conflicting food studies may lie in the use of statistics, according to a report published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

New research will examine how women's early experiences of employment shape long-term career paths and reinforce inequalities in the labour market. The project, led by University of Leeds academics and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will explore early indications of work inequalities based on gender, and how disadvantages in employment develop over time.

Research over the past two decades has culminated in a -new and promising- approach to developing drugs to treat cardio-metabolic diseases. Diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease are examples of cardio-metabolic diseases, which are on the rise around the world. For more than 20 years, scientists in Leeds and Germany have been trying to understand the role that calcium ions - chemical messengers between cells - could play in triggering ill-health.

Scientists have discovered how a chemical in the cells of marine organisms enables them to survive the high pressures found in the deep oceans. The deeper that sea creatures live, the more inhospitable and extreme the environment they must cope with. In one of the deepest points in the Pacific - the Mariana Trench, 11 kilometers below the sea surface - the pressure is 1.1 kbar or eight tons per square inch.

Getting enough sleep plays an important role in the mental health of new and established parents, according to a new study led by the University of Leeds. Researchers analysed sleep patterns, physical activity, mental health, and life satisfaction in couples between the ages of 25 and 40. Their findings reveal that meeting sleep guidelines is associated with better mental health and life satisfaction, particularly amongst newborn parents.

Climate models are unreliable when it comes to predicting the damage that tropical cyclones will do to sensitive coral reefs, according to a new study published in the journal Earth's Future. With the expectation that tropical cyclones will increase in intensity with climate change, there has been interest among conservationists to use the models to identify the vulnerability of reef communities to storm damage, and to target conservation and protection efforts at those coral reefs that are less likely to be impacted by climate change.

Global warming is likely to cause a decline in the number of species of microbes that live in tropical soils - and that could threaten the biodiversity of rainforests and increase carbon emissions. In a new study, scientists - led by Dr Andrew Nottingham from the School of Geography at Leeds - say evidence indicates that tropical soils are "highly sensitive" to an increase in temperature.

Researchers have developed a new method for assessing the impact of ozone-depleting chemicals released into the atmosphere. The ozone layer-sits in the stratosphere - between 15 km and 30 km above the Earth -and provides a shield from some of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. Without this ozone protection, higher levels of ultraviolet radiation would-reach the Earth's surface and result in an increased-incidence-of skin cancer and eye disease as well as adversely effecting plants and crops.

People who make a living fishing off the coral reefs around the Maldives say their daily income is down by almost a quarter due to sharks stealing their catch. The waters around the Maldives, a collection of islands in the Indian Ocean, were designated a shark sanctuary in 2010 to help conserve shark species which had been in decline, primarily due to overfishing.

The deadliest form of brain cancer returns because tumours adapt to treatment by recruiting help from nearby healthy tissue, say researchers who are trying to find a cure for the disease. A new study, by a global team including Leeds experts, has found that in response to treatment, high-grade gliomas appear to remodel the surrounding brain environment, potentially creating interactions with nearby neurons and immune cells in ways that protect the tumour cells and hide them from the body's defences.

A study involving virtual rather than real patients was as effective in evaluating a medical device used  to treat  brain  aneurysms, according to new research. The findings are proof of concept for  what are called  in-silico trials, where instead of recruiting people to a real-life clinical trial, researchers build digital simulations of patient groups, loosely akin to the way virtual populations are built in The Sims computer game.

Amazon rain forests could be at far higher risk of extreme drought than previously thought, according to new research. An international study led by the University warns that huge areas in the eastern part of the Amazon face severe drying by the end of the century if action is not taken to curb carbon emissions.

Scientists have developed a new computational technique that allows them to see in finer detail the way protein molecules behave. Currently, they have relied on laboratory techniques such as X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, but those laboratory procedures can disrupt the normal functioning of the molecule.

An international team of researchers has shed new light on the way viruses evolved highly effective ways of spreading disease. The scientists, involving a team from the universities of Leeds and York, believe understanding that key moment in the natural history of viruses may eventually help with the design of novel delivery mechanisms for gene therapies, where viruses are used to repair faulty genes.

A drug used to treat people living with Type 2 diabetes could also help improve their heart function, according to new research. An estimated 3.7 million people in the UK are diagnosed with the condition which can damage the walls of the arteries and lead to a heart attack or heart failure. Researchers at the University of Leeds' School of Medicine have discovered that Empagliflozin, which is typically prescribed to help reduce blood sugar levels in patients with Type 2, could also enhance the function of their hearts.

A group of citizen scientists is being recruited to help investigate the scale of microplastic air pollution inside people's homes. During the first phase of the study, researchers from the University of Leeds will work with 40 families from Bradford, in West Yorkshire, to measure the level of microplastics caught in sampling devices placed inside their houses.

Heat-induced male infertility will see some species succumb to the effects of climate change earlier than thought, new research warns. A study of 43 fruit fly (Drosophila) species by a team including ecologists at the University of Leeds showed that in almost half of the species, males became sterile at lower than lethal temperatures.

Scientists studying the impact of record heat and drought on intact African tropical rainforests were surprised by how resilient they were to extreme conditions during the last major El Niño event. The Leeds-led international study, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today, found that intact rainforests across tropical Africa continued to remove carbon from the atmosphere before and during the 2015-2016 El Niño, despite the extreme heat and drought.