Birds Learn To Avoid Plants That Host Dangerous Insects
Young birds that eat insects with conspicuous warning colouration to advertise their toxicity to would-be predators quickly learn to avoid other prey that carry the…
University of Bristol
Research Reveals Drug Targets for Memory Enhancement – Treatments for Alzheimer’s, Schizophrenia and More
Discovery represents significant advance in developing treatments for cognitive impairment in a broad spectrum of neurological and psychiatric disorders including Alzheimer’s. Bristol-led research has identified…
Medieval Manuscript Fragments Discovered in Bristol Tell of Merlin the Magician From Arthurian Legend
Bristol manuscript fragments of the famous Merlin legend among the oldest of their kind. Medieval manuscript fragments discovered in Bristol that tell part of the…
Earth’s Inner Core Is Growing Lopsided – Here’s Why the Planet Isn’t Tipping
More than 5,000 kilometers beneath us, Earth’s solid metal inner core wasn’t discovered until 1936. Almost a century later, we’re still struggling to answer basic…
Moth Wingtips Structured To Reflect Sound: An “Acoustic Decoy” To Thwart Bat Attack
Wingtips of certain species of silkmoth are structured to reflect sound and throw off attackers, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of…
New Generation of Climate Models: Increased Snowfall Will Offset Sea Level Rise From Melting Antarctic Ice Sheet
A new study predicts that any sea level rise in the world’s most southern continent will be countered by an increase in snowfall, associated with…
New Research Shows Decline in CO2 Cooled Earth’s Climate Over 30 Million Years Ago
New research led by the University of Bristol demonstrates that a decline in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 played a major role in driving Earth’s…
Gene Targets of Stress Hormones Identified in the Brain Could Lead to Prevention and Treatment of Mental Health Disorders
Chronic stress is a well-known cause for mental health disorders. New research has moved a step forward in understanding how glucocorticoid hormones (‘stress hormones’) act…
Evidence That Giraffes Are a Highly Socially Complex Species – As Socially Sophisticated As Elephants
Scientists at the University of Bristol have discovered evidence that giraffes are a highly socially complex species. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to have little or…
Superconductivity in Cuprates: “From Maximal to Minimal Dissipation” – A New Model?
Researchers from the University of Bristol’s School of Physics used some of Europe’s strongest continuous magnetic fields to uncover evidence of exotic charge carriers in…
A Mother’s Age and Diet Influences Offspring Health – Shown in Research on Tropical Flies
The female tsetse fly, which gives birth to adult-sized live young, produce weaker offspring as they get older, and when they feed on poor quality…
Unusual Dinosaurs Rapidly Shrank Down to the Size of Chickens As They Adopted a Remarkable New Diet
Dinosaurs were generally huge, but a new study of the unusual alvarezsaurs show that they reduced in size about 100 million years ago when they…
Global Climate Dynamics Drove the Decline of Mastodonts and Elephants, Not Overhunting by Early Humans
Elephants and their forebears were pushed into wipeout by waves of extreme global environmental change, rather than overhunting by early humans, according to new research….
New Research Shows Dinosaurs Were in Decline for Million Years Before the Final Asteroid Death Blow
The death of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was caused by the impact of a huge asteroid on the Earth. However, paleontologists have continued…
Energy Saving Electronics Breakthrough – Paving Way for a Carbon-Neutral Society
Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered a method that will allow for faster communication systems and better energy-saving electronics. The breakthrough was made…
Coping With Extremes: How the One-Humped Arabian Camel Survives Without Drinking
Research led by scientists at the University of Bristol has shed new light on how the kidneys of the one-humped Arabian camel play an important…
Deep Evolutionary Origins of the Human Smile in Ancient Ancestors
The origins of a pretty smile have long been sought in the fearsome jaws of living sharks which have been considered living fossils reflecting the…
Human African Sleeping Sickness: Sex Cells in Parasites Are Doing Their Own Thing
Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered how microbes responsible for human African sleeping sickness produce sex cells. In these single-celled parasites, known as…