science wire

Exploitation of Elizabethan child actors revealed
Research by an Oxford University academic has lifted the lid on the systematic exploitation and abuse of child actors in the time of Shakespeare.

New CEO for Manchester University Press

X-rays resurrect 200-year-old lost opera
15 Jun 2013 Audiences can hear a 200-year-old opera by composer Luigi Cherubini in full for the first time in centuries after scientists used X-rays to reveal hidden notes. At first glance the beautifully bound 1797 Luigi Cherubini opera "Médée" looks like an impeccably preserved relic of opera's golden age.

Royal Pavilion’s dazzling colour is the subject of researcher’s display
Royal Pavilion's dazzling colour is the subject of researcher's display An additional feast for the eyes awaits visitors to the Royal Pavilion Brighton at a special display inspired by University of Sussex research that opens to the public today (15 June 2013).

Medals of Honour for TV champions

Beatboxing Syrian performs ‘In Place of War’
28 May 2013 A University of Manchester project which researches creativity in sites of armed conflict, unrest and disaster, is to host five performers from troubled parts of the world.

Bronze statue of the Venerable Bede unveiled
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Byron’s swordstick gives new meaning to ’Mad, bad and dangerous to know’
Lord Byron's swordstick will be publicly displayed for the first time in an exhibition at King's College London this summer.

Imperial’s historic medical library reopens thanks to funding

Cardinal Newman archive to become digital library
22 May 2013 A three-year project to digitise the tens of thousands of documents produced by one of the most important and prolific Christian thinkers of the past 200 years has been launched.

Sarah Thomas to lead Harvard Library
Dr Sarah Thomas, Bodley's Librarian, has been appointed Vice President for the Harvard Library, taking up the post this summer.

All the world’s a stage... the drama entertainment of the future?
A new kind of feature-length drama which combines live theatre with film and elements of game-play will be moving audiences, literally, when it hits the streets of Bristol next week.

What is English?
English speakers who are 18 or under use the word 'like' in conversation over five times as often as speakers who are over 70; 'because' is the most misspelled English word globally; the word 'love' is said and written over six times more frequently than the word 'hate'.

100 years of Sons and Lovers
PA 163/13 In May 1913, a 27-year-old DH Lawrence received an advance copy of his third novel and wrote to his literary advisor and editor Edward Garnett expressing his pride in it: “ Sons and Lovers has just come – I am fearfully proud of it.

President & Rector expresses his thanks after roaring success of Festival

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.

WW2 soldiers radicalised by their diaries, finds study
09 May 2013 A historian studying World War Two soldiers responsible for violent atrocities in the Far East, says they were partly radicalised by their own dairies.

Jade crowned Eureka Library challenge winner

Manuscript discovery sheds new light on Montaigne’s library
Researchers from the University of Warwick and the Université François-Rabelais Tours have identified the first manuscript known to have belonged to the eminent French essayist, Michel de Montaigne. Of Montaigne's celebrated library, thought to have contained around 1,000 books, only 101 are known to have survived.

Manchester Review out now
30 Apr 2013 The tenth edition of The University of Manchester's online arts journal the Manchester Review is now live.

Exhibition tells story of Crawley author’s creepy tales
Exhibition tells story of Crawley author's creepy tales The life and works of Richard Marsh – a celebrated bestselling author at the turn of the 19 th century but largely forgotten today

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.

John Rylands Library on top tourism list
25 Apr 2013 The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library has made it onto a list of Great British landmarks, published by Visit England.

Monitoring the media during Malaysia’s crucial general election
Malaysia is now one of south-east Asia's most vibrant economies and as a result the forthcoming general election is predicted to be the closest since independence from Britain 56 years ago.

Jeanette Winterson welcomes Kamila Shamsie

‘In The City’ celebrates Yorkshire dialect, women of steel and uncommon people
A series of public talks and events celebrating the local region's identity and heritage begins next month (3 May - 17 August 2013), entitled In The City.

Click to save the nation’s digital memory
Billions of web pages from millions of websites, as well as public Facebook posts and tweets, will be preserved for time immemorial from tomorrow by Cambridge University Library and five other major libraries.

University features at Brighton festivals

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.

Sussex builds links with China and Hong Kong

Formal opening of UCL Academy

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.

Most extraordinary materials on earth housed in new Institute of Making
This week the Institute of Making opens at UCL giving a permanent home to the Materials Library, a collection of the most unusual materials in the world, and the MakeSpace, the ultimate making workshop.  There is a special preview day on Friday 15 March for all UCL staff and students.

Research calls for stricter controls on tobacco on TV
UK children are being exposed to millions of tobacco images and messages every week on prime time television, according to new research at The University of Nottingham.

King’s launches digital edition of La entretenida
Launch of new digital edition and translation of La entretenida by Miguel de Cervantes King's College London is delighted to announce the launch of the digital edition of La entretenida , which takes a bold and innovative approach to the editing of Spanish Golden Age plays.

Totalitarianism, violence and the silent majority
The 'horrifying genius' of Soviet totalitarianism and its ability to control and quell protest will be examined tonight by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum.

New Master of Pembroke College appointed

UCL contributes to new guidance on developing digital collections
UCL has played a leading role in new guidance developed by JISC for planning and developing digital resources.

Contribute to a new cultural picture of medieval Britain
Launched today, Manuscripts Online brings to life early printed primary sources of medieval Britain, giving online access to written materials from the year 1000 to 1500 and allowing users to contribute to the collective body of knowledge on the subject for the first time.

Neighbourhood segregation of ethnic groups declining
Ethnic group segregation in neighbourhoods has decreased throughout England and Wales for all minority groups over the last decade, a new study from the University of Liverpool has shown.

Letter and envelope together again after 165 years
The items, dated 8 November 1848 and penned by another influential Victorian figure, Thomas Carlyle, are now reunited at The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library. Intended for Cranford author Elizabeth Gaskell, Carlyle's letter praises her first novel Mary Barton, published on 18 October that year.

Oxfam donates archive to the Bodleian Libraries
The international development charity Oxfam has announced it has donated the organization's entire archive, spanning the last seventy years, to the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries.

A season of content made glorious by cultural partnerships

Gothic Literature bites back
Vampires, pixies and zombies have captured the imaginations of budding authors and film makers at an enthralling Gothic Literature workshop hosted by the University of Sheffield.

Competition: Sounds of UCL
Do you ever stop and just listen to your environment at UCL? We are looking for people to record the sounds of UCL in labs, corridors, study spaces, accommodation and rehearsal rooms, inside and outside.

New tool to support safer GP prescribing
A new computer tool to help reduce the risk of commonly made drug prescribing errors has been launched by a primary care research team and the PRIMIS business unit at The University of Nottingham.

Pembroke College Summer Programme: Writers and Spies and the New City
In summer as in term time, Pembroke will provide the elegant and serene context for exceptional and exhilarating conversations." The summers of 2013 and 2014 will see three exciting additions to Pembroke College's already impressive portfolio of summer programmes.

Plymouth University academic writes about China's emergence as a global superpower
As billions of people across the globe prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year, Plymouth University's Associate Professor in International Relations Jamie Gaskarth asks what the nation’s emergence

Historic rivals join forces to save 1,000 years of Jewish history
In the late 19th century, Oxford's Bodleian Library and Cambridge University Library were rivals in trying to acquire materials from the Cairo Genizah.

Plymouth University brings popular One Stop Ideas Shop to Cornwall
A popular regional advice clinic that provides specialist information and guidance to potential entrepreneurs and inventors is being launched in Cornwall.

William Blake discovery goes on show
The Book of Job will be the star attraction of a show featuring 30 or so Blake etchings and engravings and works by artists and designers who were influenced by him.

Boom in all things Oz is wizard
Organiser Hannah Priest, from The University of Manchester, says the 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' has spawned hundreds of spin offs ever since it was first written by L Frank Baum in 1900.

University takes pride in its Jane Austen first edition

Creative writing inspired by UCL’s museums and collections

The lost library of Eleonora Duse
The first time I set eyes on Eleonora Duse's books in the library of Murray Edwards I realised I had struck gold" —Dr Anna Sica, University of Palermo With her beauty and talent,

How the Chinese government uses online gaming for propaganda
The extent of the Chinese government's partnership with online gaming companies to promote its nationalist agenda has been revealed by an Oxford University historian.

Blake etchings discovered at John Rylands library
The students, working with University of Manchester art historian and acclaimed Blake expert Colin Trodd, have over the past two years been working with The John Rylands Library to locate works by Blake kept across the University's collections.

Nine out of ten happy with Library
Nine out of ten users are happy with the Library and more than ever before are making frequent visits, show survey results published today (Wednesday 16 January).

Bella Italia: an Englishman’s adventures abroad
He was also forthright and disputatious, famously arguing that the Odyssey was not the work of Homer but of an unknown female author from Sicily." Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was a man who d

Virginia Woolf’s engagement diaries come to the University of Sussex
Personal details of Virginia Woolf's final years are now available to the public for the first time after the University of Sussex acquired six of her engagement diaries at a Sotheby's auction.

University archive inspires play about ’America’s most notorious liar’
A play based on the confessions of a notorious Cold War supergrass – whose personal papers are now housed in an archive at the University of Sussex – is heading for a run in London in 2013.