science wire

Birmingham’s Barber Institute and London’s National Gallery swap masterpieces to celebrate anniversary
An outstanding group of Old Master and 19th-century paintings – including masterpieces by Poussin, Turner, Monet and Manet – go on show at the National Gallery, London this summer as part

University of Birmingham launches the UK’s first institute researching Superdiversity
Despite politicians' best efforts to reduce immigration, Britain has already entered an era of superdiversity that is here to stay.

University of Birmingham joins Lloyds Scholars programme
The University of Birmingham has joined the award winning University Programme, Lloyds Scholars, by Lloyds Banking Group.

Enzyme could be the key to aiding wound healing in diabetic and elderly people
Blocking a crucial enzyme which produces the stress hormone cortisol could lead to improved wound healing. This would be beneficial for patients with diabetes-associated ulcers', elderly patients who have undergone surgery, or those treated for burns, which would help to prevent infection and in some cases amputation, according to new research from the University of Birmingham.

Study confirms long term benefits of tamoxifen
Taking tamoxifen for 10 rather than five years halves the risk of women dying from the most common kind of breast cancer, according to new research being presented at this year's ASCO conference*. The Cancer Research UK study shows that oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen for longer than the recommended five years are better protected against recurrence and are less likely to die from the disease.

University of Birmingham unveils new members of leadership team
The University of Birmingham has appointed a new Provost and Vice-Principal as well as two new Pro-Vice-Chancellors to help drive forward the University's strategic plan.

Read around the world with Birmingham at Hay
From the world's oldest Bible, via the meaning of Hamlet's ‘To be or not to be' soliloquy, to the burgeoning popularity of mass reading events; the past, present and future of literature come together in the University of Birmingham's exciting line-up of lectures at this year's Hay Festival.

New e-voting system to flag up coercion
SAN FRANCISCO – University of Birmingham (UK) computer scientists have devised an e-voting system that can identify and monitor any votes that could have taken place under coercion, they announced at the IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy on 21 May 2013. The internet-based system, called Caveat Coercitor, is designed to flag up any votes made by voters that are coerced.

Salt consumption in India: the need for data to initiate population-based prevention efforts
International researchers are studying the salt intake of Indian adults to provide vital new data to aid the development of a national salt reduction strategy. Scientists from the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), the University of Birmingham, Imperial College London and the University of Sydney are carrying out an assessment of dietary salt intake among 1,400 adults over 24 years in urban Delhi and rural Haryana.

Birmingham joins ’The Conversation’ as founding partner
The University of Birmingham has committed support to a new independent news and commentary website produced by academics and journalists, which launches in the UK today.

Italy’s new left-right government: not the ’normalisation’ of the country’s politics as yet
On 30 April, more than two months after the general election, a new government was finally able to start work in Italy following a pact between Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Popolo della Libertà a

Birmingham joins the world’s largest nuclear physics research facility
Researchers from Birmingham will have access to the most impressive and advanced nuclear physics research facility in the world as the UK has today officially become part of a €1.6 billion* international project that will become to nuclear physics what CERN is to particle physics. The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has today (3 May 2013) signed an agreement that makes the UK an associate member of FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) currently under construction next to the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, in Darmstadt, Germany.

School children build bridges with University of Birmingham engineers
The School of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham is pioneering a new initiative to take bridge construction out to local schools and sixth forms to engage young people in the discipline.

UK-China collaboration to establish new computational resources for metabolomics
A partnership between the University of Birmingham, BGI, the world's largest genomics organisation, and its open-access journal, GigaScience , has received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to develop a software platform for the analysis of large-scale environmental metabolomics data.

University brings billion pound boost to Birmingham’s economy
The University of Birmingham contributes more than £1 billion to the West Midlands economy annually and supports almost 12,000 jobs, according to research by Oxford Economics.

’Urgent need to improve international access to autism resources and training’, say Birmingham experts
As World Autism Day approaches (2 April) the Autism Centre for Education and Research (ACER) at the University of Birmingham plans to extend its work to provide international training resources, strategies and programmes for practitioners and carers in different countries around the world.

Over-egging the chocolate this Easter: why you should always keep an eye on what you are eating
Psychologists at the University of Birmingham suggest that ‘attentive eating' affects how much people choose to eat.

Senior particle physicist from Birmingham takes on lead role at the ATLAS experiment
Dave Charlton, Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham's School of Physics and Astronomy, took up the position of Spokesperson , the overall scientific lead, for the ATLAS project at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, on 1 March 2013.

Prospective joint clinical trials centre tops agenda for latest Sun Yat-Sen visit
The creation of a new joint clinical trials unit based in Guangzhou's largest hospital is under discussion as its President visits the University of Birmingham this week.

University of Birmingham receives £5.9 million to assess the underworld
The University of Birmingham will receive one of four large grants as part of a multimillion pound investment in leading engineering research projects to be announced by Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts today (12 March 2013).

University’s historic clock tower turns red for Cure Leukaemia
The University of Birmingham's historic clock tower (Old Joe) will be illuminated in red light this Thursday for Cure Leukaemia.

Birmingham and Yale to establish global justice programme in India
The University of Birmingham is joining forces with Yale to support the development of a pioneering global justice programme at the University of Delhi.

Drop in new drugs output ’a myth’
The widely held belief that the UK supply of innovative new medicines has conspicuously dwindled in recent decades, is not borne out by the evidence, reveals research by the University of Birmingham published in the online journal BMJ Open .

UK-India project set to enhance talent in atomic physics research
A new partnership between Indian and UK scientists to develop talent and innovation in a progressive branch of atomic physics is now underway.

Online tool to improve perineal repair
Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Staffordshire have jointly led the development of an online training package to assist midwives and obstetricians to carry out medical procedures to help women who have sustained a perineal injury during childbirth. The Maternity PEARLS ( Maternity Perineal Assessment and Repair eLearning System) self-directed learning kit has been adopted by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to help to reduce the pain and side effects associated with perineal injury.

University of Birmingham opens new Centre for Research in Race and Education
Twenty years after the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, his mother, Doreen Lawrence will help launch a new Centre for Research in Race and Education at the University of Birmingham.

A class act: empathic robot tutors in classrooms to facilitate teaching and learning
A European project to develop robotic tutors that will support teachers and motivate students in secondary schools is being led by University of Birmingham engineers and computer scientists, in collaboration with Heriot-Watt University and other European partners.

Renewable energy targets unachievable in an independent Scotland experts warn
The Scottish government's ambitious targets for renewable energy would become “politically unachievable” in an independent Scotland, experts have warned.

Cormorants cannot capture the benefits of global warming
Even though cormorants seem ideally placed to benefit from global warming, by expanding their breeding range into the far north, the darkness of the polar night is likely to keep them firmly in their place, according to research published this week by scientists at the University of Birmingham in the Journal of Zoology.

Birmingham and Nottingham projects to strengthen UK-Brazil research links
The Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham have strengthened their collaborations with Brazilian institutions after securing funding for a number of country-specific research projects.

Britain’s first Professor of Morality appointed by the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is proud to announce the appointment of Randall Curren as Professor of Moral and Virtue Education to the Jubilee Centre for Character and Values, in the School of Education.

UK and USA collaborate in airborne climate science projects
Birmingham scientists are taking part in the first scientific collaboration of its kind, where British and American scientists are trading skills and expertise and are using an unmanned robotic aircraft to gather high altitude atmospheric data. Today ( Friday 25 January) NASA is holding an event at its Dryden Flight Research Center in Southern California to showcase a number of Earth science missions to study climate change and air pollution.

Birmingham computer scientists take part in national cyber security challenge
The University of Birmingham's School of Computer Science, along with 3 other leading university computer science departments in the UK, is taking part in a unique code-breaking competition as part of this year's Cyber Security Challenge UK.

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.

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

Scientists devise unique stroke assessment tool
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have devised a unique screening instrument that provides a ‘one-stop' brain function profile of patients who have suffered stroke or other neurological damage.

International research study to shed light on sources of air-polluting dust in India
A quantitative analysis of dust sources in Delhi by scientists from India, the UK and the USA will provide important new insight into how individual sources of air-borne matter contribute to the overall concentrations measured in the atmosphere.

Mirena coil is best treatment for heavy periods, major trial shows
The hormone-releasing Mirena coil intrauterine device (IUD) is a better treatment for heavy menstrual periods than other conventional medical approaches, according to results of a major clinical trial led by scientists from the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham. The findings of the ECLIPSE study, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, are widely expected to change standard clinical practice.

The Barber Institute at 80
was a very special day for the University. On that day 80 years ago, Lady Barber and the original trustees signed the Deed of Settlement, which effectively founded the Barber Institute of Fine Arts that was bequeathed to the University 'for the study and encouragement of art and music'.

Fertility expert awarded MBE
A Birmingham Women's Hospital and University of Birmingham scientist, who has dedicated his professional life to helping people affected by fertility problems, has received royal recognition for his work.