Architecture - Business/Economics - 2.07.2012
The prebound effect
Many homes with poor energy efficiency are actually consuming far less energy than predicted, new research has found. The study has implications for national energy-saving policies and the economic viability of thermal retrofit programmes.

Agronomy/Food Science - Architecture - 23.03.2012
From foraging to farming: the 10,000-year revolution

Excavation of 19,000-year-old hunter-gatherer remains, including a vast camp site, is fuelling a reinterpretation of the greatest fundamental shift in human civilisation - the origins of agriculture.

Architecture - 18.02.2012
Archaeologists discover Jordan’s earliest buildings

Some of the earliest evidence of prehistoric architecture has been discovered in the Jordanian desert, providing archaeologists with a new perspective on how humans lived 20,000 years ago. - - Inside the huts, we found intentionally burnt piles of gazelle horn cores, clumps of red ochre pigment and a cache of hundreds of pierced marine shells." - —Dr Lisa Maher - Archaeologists working in eastern Jordan have announced the discovery of 20,000-year-old hut structures, the earliest yet found in the Kingdom.

Earth Sciences - Architecture - 23.09.2011
CT scanning shows how ants build without an architect

Novel use of CT scanning technology has allowed researchers at the University of Bristol to create a four-dimensional picture of how ants build their nests. - Ant nests are some of the most remarkable structures in nature. Their relative size is rivalled only by our own skyscrapers but there is no architect or blueprint. Instead they are built collectively, through self-organization and the local interactions of ants with one another and their environment. So, how do ants decide what and where to build?

Life Sciences - Architecture - 22.04.2010
Chips, worms and grey matter: more similar than you think

The team of neuroscientists and computer experts from the UK, US and Germany compared the way these systems are organised and found that the same networking principles underlie all three. - Using data for the large part already in the public domain, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging data from human brains, a map of the nematode's nervous system and a standard computer chip, they examined how the elements in each system are networked together.

Life Sciences - Architecture - 28.01.2010
The emerging story of plant roots

An international group of European and US scientists led by the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology at The University of Nottingham have uncovered a fascinating new insight into the unseen side of plant biology - the root.

Science Wire

History/Archeology - Architecture - 3.10.2012
Forgotten Methodist Halls ‘thrived in every city’

03 Oct 2012 - A University of Manchester historian has discovered how the Methodist Church built some of Britain's most important and successful community buildings in the early twentieth century - now mostly forgotten.

Environmental Sciences - Architecture - 9.07.2012
The transition to a low carbon economy must be led by academic research

Leading UK and international academics believe a progressive research programme is vital to ensure that policies, such as the UK's newly launched Green Deal, are backed by evidence and data, and that systems are in place to monitor, evaluate and adapt such policies.

Architecture - 16.02.2012
Finding the maths on your street
A series of walking tours launched next week show how you can discover the maths hidden in our urban surroundings. - Anyone can join the free tours of London and Oxford (book your place here ) which explore how cities – their buildings, roads, railways, sewers, and power systems – are all built on mathematical foundations.

Architecture - 14.02.2012
‘Invisibility’ cloak could protect buildings from earthquakes

University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a Harry Potter style 'cloaking' device which could protect buildings from earthquakes. - William Parnell's team in the University's School of Mathematics have been working on the theory of invisibility cloaks which, until recently, have been merely the subject of science fiction.

Arts and Design - Architecture - 8.02.2012
Theatres of war: public spending on buildings for the arts

National recommendations for using public money to build arts venues are only succeeding in enforcing a system that is already flawed, a new study concludes.

Architecture - 14.07.2011
Big Ideas for the Future at the House of Commons
A Reader in the School of Architecture has taken part in the Research Councils UK (RCUK) ‘Big Ideas for the Future' launch in the House of Commons. - Carl Hopkins, Head of the Acoustics Research Unit , had his Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project on interactive performance for musicians with a hearing impairment included in the report, which is jointly published by Universities UK and RCUK.

Architecture - 14.12.2010
Major BBC documentary on ancient underwater city
PA 358/10 - The excavation of an ancient underwater city — dating back to 3500 BC — is to be the subject of a major new BBC Two television documentary. - This ground breaking project will feature the research of underwater archaeologist Dr Jon Henderson from The University of Nottingham.