science wire

Linking climate change and human evolution
Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research. The research, published in the journal Nature [21 May], was conducted by a team of scientists from Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Barcelona.

Sussex oral historian becomes patron of local community publisher
Sussex oral historian becomes patron of local community publisher Dr Margaretta Jolly, University of Sussex academic and oral historian, has become a patron of Brighton c o mmunity publisher QueenSpark Books.

The un-Limited Edition
Emerging new digital editions at Cambridge are effecting a sea-change in the nature of the scholarly edition, radicalising access to vital source materials and opening up new possibilities for research.

BBC Radio 3 announces new broadcasting star
Fern Riddell, a PhD student in the Department of History, has been selected to take part in BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers scheme for 2013.

History meets innovation for new live gaming experience
Resurgam: The Lost Pearl of Plymouth will see gamers using mobile technology to navigate their way around the City’s maritime heritage.

Major motion pictures from our prehistoric past
Cambridge archaeologists are illuminating some of the oldest graphic art of the past, by applying some of the most advanced graphic technology of the present.

Viking jewellery sheds light on dark period of British history
The presence of Scandinavian-style female jewellery in Britain has overturned the idea that the Viking conquest of England was an all-male affair, suggesting that in fact large numbers of women travelled over from the Scandinavian homelands.

Heritage Lottery award for local history project
Heritage Lottery award for local history project The past will come to life for communities on the doorstep of a new state-of-the-art historical resource centre - after it won Lottery funding for a local history project.

Project to explore the social history of Nottingham’s green ’lungs’
PA 162/13 The social history of the green open spaces that ring Nottingham's city centre is to be explored as part of a new research project being led by The University of Nottingham.

Behind the curtain: a history of Russian intelligence
Ahead of his talk at the Hay Festival, Jonathan Haslam discusses his forthcoming history of Soviet intelligence organisations, revealing, among other things, just how unprepared for Operation Barbarossa Stalin was in 1941.

Clickable history
Geographic information systems - once limited to the domain of physical geographers - are emerging as a promising tool to study the past, as researchers are discovering for medieval history. What's exciting about GIS is it allows us to move into a different dimension that frees maps from being static snapshots Nicholas de Lange Almost nothing persists to reveal the existence of Jews in the Byzantine Empire - no buildings or synagogues, coins or seals, pots or pans, charms or amulets.

Has the nation reached its sell-by date?
Dr Malachi McIntosh, Lecturer in Postcolonial and Related Literatures, wonders what Britishness is, as Granta magazine publishes its influential, once-per-decade 'Best of Young British Novelists' list.

Dredging up a new history of transport and trade on the Trent
PA 150/12 Historians from The University of Nottingham are teaming up with local history societies, libraries and museums in Nottinghamshire to draw up a new history of the river Trent.

Sussex academic elected chair of British Association for American Studies
Sussex academic elected chair of British Association for American Studies A Sussex academic has been elected as the new chair of the British Association for American Studies.

The world of Francis Willughby: the man who compiled the first ornithology
In his short life Francis Willughby immersed himself in the study of natural history yet he has been overshadowed by more famous peers.

Historian bids to solve education whodunnit

The first book of fashion
Fashion conveys complex messages.

Crime and punishment: a 19th-century love affair
The violence of everyday life in 19th-century Europe - including murder most foul, handsome bandits, wicked women and huge crowds at executions - is being revealed in all its bloody detail by Cambridge University Library.

Solved: riddle of ancient Nile kingdom’s longevity
30 Apr 2013 Researchers have solved the riddle of how one of Africa's greatest civilisations survived a catastrophic drought which wiped out other famous dynasties.

Manchester’s Fab Four win University Challenge
30 Apr 2013 Manchester retained its University Challenge title last night, beating University College, London 190 – 140 in the televised final.

Black, white and red all over
The latest research into the emergence of printmaking technology in early modern Europe is challenging accepted thinking about the development of colour printing.

The secrets of Britain’s most successful marriage maker revealed
Historians are today launching an online resource that will provide a permanent and publicly accessible record of the letters of one of Elizabethan England's most remarkable figures.

Imaging the fetus - the history of obstetric ultrasound
To mark one of the most important medical developments to come out of the University of Glasgow in the twentieth century, a new book has been published.

History and culture play key role in public spitting habits
People should take historical and cultural influences into account before forming opinions about those who spit in public, an academic has suggested.

Sussex art historian to launch London tapestry exhibition
Sussex art historian to launch London tapestry exhibition A Sussex art historian is to give the opening speech at the launch on Wednesday (17 April) of a London exhibition of tapestries created by one of the University's partner institutions.

Newly-discovered 12th century recipes to be recreated at Durham University event
Newly-discovered food recipes from a 12 th century Durham Priory manuscript have been found to predate the earliest known ones by 150 years.

Sheffield Centre for Early Modern Studies launches

Sussex digital project shares 1980s views of Thatcher’s Britain
Sussex digital project shares 1980s views of Thatcher's Britain A University of Sussex digital project offers fascinating insights into the social history and cultural changes as experienced by those living during the 1980s in Thatcher's Britain.

The softer side to the ’Iron Lady’
The 'Iron Lady' may have been more vulnerable and isolated than many people understood according to the Professor of Parliamentary Government and Governance at the University of Sheffield.

Old Bailey Proceedings Online celebrates tenth anniversary with audience of millions
The Old Bailey Online celebrates its tenth birthday this month (15 April 2013) after attracting over 34 million page views since it went live in 2003.

Huge find throws new light on ancient Iraq
05 Apr 2013 University of Manchester archaeologists have started the excavation of an enormous building complex in Iraq, thought to be around 4,000 years old. The team, directed by Professor Stuart Campbell and Dr Jane Moon, both from Manchester, and independent archaeologist Robert Killick, first spotted the amazing structure – thought to be an administrative complex serving one of the world's earliest cities– on satellite.

Last letter of Captain Scott finally revealed in full - 101 years on
A letter written by the dying Captain Scott - one of only two remaining in private hands - can be revealed in full for the first time after being acquired by the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge.

High-tech scan for 320 million-year-old fossil
A 320 million-year-old fossilised skull - found in Newsham, Blyth in Northumberland in the 18th century by a local grocer - has undergone state-of-the-art CT scanning by a University of Bristol researcher at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

The real leopard comes home

Lessons from history: how Europe did (and didn’t) grow rich
The Industrial Revolution is seen as the spark that lit Europe's economic prosperity.  In her analysis of markets over many hundreds of years, economist Dr Victoria Bateman presents a compelling argum

Religion and society
The Director of a national research programme which aimed to significantly advance our understanding of religion and society will outline its impact in a keynote lecture at the University.

Viking poetry of love and war
They are most famous for being violent invaders of foreign shores but a new book by a University of Nottingham Viking expert shows they were also poetry lovers with a wicked sense of humour! &lsqu

Maritime trading thrived in Egypt, even before Alexandria
New research into Thonis-Heracleion, a sunken port-city that served as the gateway to Egypt in the first millennium BC, is being examined at an international conference at the University of Oxford. The port city, situated 6.5 kilometres off today's coastline, was one of the biggest commercial hubs in the Mediterranean before the founding of Alexandria.

Professor’s BBC series listens in on all our yesterdays
The rattle and hum of human history is the subject of Noise – an “ear-opening” major BBC Radio 4 series that begins on Monday (18 March 2013), written and presented by University of Sussex David Hendy.

Sussex historian traces the pleasure, pain and panic of being a modern girl
From the chaste husband-seekers of the Edwardian era to the binge-drinking, sexually liberated ladettes of the new millennium, the past 100 years have seen major changes in the lives of young women in Britain.

A portrait of a banking calamity
For many years Paul Kosmetatos worked in the City of London's financial sector, where he became fascinated by the unfolding of periodic crises.  Today he's doing a PhD at Cambridge University, looking

Foreign Bodies: where does the familiar end and the foreign begin?

Researchers win funding to celebrate cultural gems of region’s past
The story of a “secret army” of Kent residents trained to fend off a Nazi invasion of England is the subject of one of four fascinating University of Sussex projects being funded by a new cultural initiative.

People’s historian becomes Manchester Professor

7,000BC: The dawn of cinema brought to life at Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Some of the world's oldest engravings of the human form - prehistoric rock art from the Italian Alps - have been brought to life by the latest digital technology at Cambridge Unviersity's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Renowned minimalist composer discusses work on 9/11
During a rare visit to the UK, a world-renowned American composer told an enthralled audience at the University of Sussex yesterday (7 March) how he came to write a work about the events surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

University and National Trust partnership to promote Britain’s wild venison
PA 68/13 It's cheap, healthy and sustainable and its provenance can easily be traced back to its free-range, organic roots.

Supporting university cultural engagement
Cardiff is one of 45 universities to have been awarded funding to help arts and humanities PhD students develop skills in relation to the wider impact of their research.

Mongolian life stories database launched online
An online database launched today, 5 March, provides an oral history of Mongolia, as told by 600 Mongolian citizens who look back over their lives during the nation's turbulent recent history.

Research helps create first-ever national oral archive for Women’s Liberation at British Library
Sisterhood And After, a unique national oral history archive that tells the stories of the women involved in the Women's Liberation Movement, is to be launched on International Women's Day (8 March)

India’s beautiful botanical past reviewed by Sussex historian

Uncovering Britain’s hidden links to slavery
Historians from UCL have produced the first freely accessible database of Britons involved in slave-ownership.

Vote for the Petrie in Museums at Night competition

How flooding affected the life of Richard III
The Battle of Bosworth Field may never have occurred if Henry Tudor's first attempt to seize the throne from Richard III, two years earlier, hadn't been thwarted by the inclement weather of October 1483, a researcher investigating historical sea floods at the University of Bristol has discovered.

Catholic theologian reacts to the Pope's resignation
Paul D. Murray, Director of the Durham University's prestigious Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, gives his reaction to the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Girl’s diary of life in concentration camp published in English
A unique account of life in a concentration camp, written by a young girl between 1938 and 1944, has been translated into English by an academic from the University of Sheffield and is set to be published by Penguin this week (14 February 2013).

Source of Shakespeare's inaccurate Richard III portrayal explored
While Shakespeare's mastery of language and stagecraft is universally recognised, the historical accuracy of many of his plays is open to question and the recent discovery of Richard III's remains has reminded us of this.

Honorary Degree nominations for 2013

Dig into archaeology with actor and presenter Tony Robinson

Uncovering the unsung medical heroes of the Great War
The expression ‘standing on the shoulders of giants', made famous by Isaac Newton, is often used to acknowledge the fact that no discovery or leap forward happens in isolation and that progress owes to the efforts of all the minds gone before, whose work we build upon.

A new chapter opens in the study of the Assyrian empire
There is a huge amount to be learnt about the Assyrian civilisation from investigation of the thousands of Assyrian sites in north east Iraq, which was the hub of the empire." —Dr John

Graduate Matt is Oldham’s Cup hero

Potted histories
The vitrines are meant to be happened upon as you come and go....

Rooms With A View at Winterbourne House and Garden
Winterbourne House and Gardens has a new range of fascinating rooms for the public to explore following its full restoration to its Edwardian glory in May 2010.

Professor Rod Kedward
An academic at Sussex from its earliest days, Rod Kedward, who is made a Doctor of Letters on Thursday (24 January 2013 retired as Emeritus Professor of History in 2002 after 40 years of teaching and research.

Voting open for Current Archaeology Awards 2013

Algeria’s long and complex battle against the Islamists, and its relationship with Mali, by Dr Berny Sèbe
The hostage crisis on a BP oil base at Tiguentourine in Southern Algeria brings the issue of Islamist groups back to Algeria, where they developed in the early 1990s before the Algerian army routed t

Becoming an Expert: Shirley Curtis-Summers
Shirley Curtis-Summers did not expect to solve a 750- year old mystery when examining the skeletal remains of a body from an ancient monastic site. Studying a PhD at the University's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology , Shirley is examining human skeletons of monks, canons, lay-people, and benefactors from Norton Priory , Cheshire and Portmahomack, Scotland, to understand the diet, disease, and health of people living there between the 6th and 16th centuries AD.

Holocaust Memorial Day looks back to the beginnings of Hitler’s power
A dramatic story of survival and reflections on Hitler's 1933 appointment as Chancellor of Germany are on the programme for the University of Sussex's Holocaust Memorial Day on 30 January 2013 T

Chipping away at the history of plaster in sculpture and medicine
A new exhibition about plaster and the casting process, highlighting the sculpture models of the neo-classical artist John Flaxman (1755-1826), starts at the UCL Art Museum this month.

The remarkable notebook of a 19th-century naturalist
Jenyns used his vicarage at Swaffham Bulbeck on the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens as a base for studying the flora and fauna of the region, as well as its meteorology." The University Mu

Manchester anniversary marks seminal moment in Anglo US relations

Sheffield Americana band team up with historian
An unlikely collaboration between a Sheffield-based Americana band and an academic from the University of Sheffield has produced an album with a difference, inspired by 19th century American history.

New technology reveals origins of images in printed ballads
An Oxford University team has developed a software tool which can identify the origin of illustrations on 17th and 18th-century printed 'broadside ballads'. The researchers say that being able to match printed images made from the same wooden blocks, or their copies, will provide insights into the history of printing in England between 1600 and 1800.

Crisis in Syria has Mesopotamian precedent
Research carried out at the University of Sheffield has revealed intriguing parallels between modern day and Bronze-Age Syria as the Mesopotamian region underwent urban decline, government collapse, and drought. Ellery Frahm from the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology made the discoveries by studying stone tools of obsidian, razor-sharp volcanic glass, crafted in the region about 4,200 years ago.

Down your way: two centuries of Manchester’s maps go online
14 Dec 2012 The collection of maps and plans of the city from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, mostly from the Library's Special Collections, will be freely available, allowing users to zoom into street level.

Underwater archaeologist presents BBC Vikings programme
Known to many for his work on the ancient submerged city of Pavlopetri in Greece, underwater archaeologist Jon Henderson from The University of Nottingham took a personal journey back to his Scottish roots this summer to present a new documentary for the BBC on The Last Battle of the Vikings.

University of Sussex Professor awarded Austrian honour for book about Holocaust hero

Top History Unit Moves to King’s
King's College London announces today that it will welcome the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine to the Department of History from August 2013.

New Director appointed for the Fitzwilliam Museum

Researcher joins team to solve mystery of buried Spitfires
Determining the fate of a squadron of Spitfire fighter aircraft, believed buried in the jungles of Burma, will be the focus of an aviation archaeological expedition involving a researcher from Imperial College London.

Former vice-chancellor recalls start of the sciences at Sussex

New community heritage projects announced
Fifteen new community projects have been awarded Heritage Lottery funding with support from the University of Sheffield.

The centre will not hold: what happens when empires collide and collapse
Empires are expansive, swallowing whole populations that stand in their way.

Philippa fills the historical gaps
Best-selling historical novelist and University of Sussex alumna Philippa Gregory revealed to a Sussex audience this week how she “fills the gaps” in historical accounts.

Cheers! One of world’s earliest ‘micro-breweries’ found
The team who excavated the two by two metre domed mud-plaster structure, led by Lindy Crewe from The University of Manchester, have demonstrated it was used as a kiln to dry malt to make beer three-and-a half-thousand years ago.

Sussex historian awarded prestigious prize

Queen sets ’gold standard’ during 60 years on the throne
King's-Ipsos MORI hosted a debate on Friday which examined Queen Elizabeth's contribution to public life during her 60 years on the throne and the changing role of the Monarchy during this period.

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood looking to return from exile
—Raphael Lefevre Ashes of Hama: The Perilous History of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, by Raphael Lefevre, is to be published in February 2013 and is the first book to explore the history of this secretive Islamic movement.

New community project set to explore Indian heritage of the Peak District
The University of Sheffield is helping a ground breaking new project to explore the Indian heritage of the Peak District after a successful application for a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) All Our Stories grant.

Circling the heavens: visual culture and the bird of paradise
—Dr José Ramón Marcaida Veteran wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough is not often lost for words - but sometimes nature defies description.  Seeking to put into words the extraordinar