How the Power of Mathematics can Help Assess Lung Function
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new computational way of analysing X-ray images of lungs, which could herald a breakthrough in the diagnosis and assessment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and other lung diseases. A multi-disciplinary team of mathematicians, clinicians, and image specialists from three University of Southampton faculties has devised…
Neanderthals Were Artistic Like Modern Humans
Scientists have found the first major evidence that Neanderthals, rather than modern humans, created the world’s oldest known cave paintings – suggesting they may have had an artistic sense similar to our own. A new study led by the University of Southampton and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology shows that paintings in three…
Scientists Penetrate Mystery of Raging Black Hole Beams
They are nature’s very own Death Star beams – ultra-powerful jets of energy that shoot out from the vicinity of black holes like deadly rays from the Star Wars super-weapon. Now a team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has moved a step closer to understanding these mysterious cosmic phenomena – known as…
Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Drove Ancient Global Warming Event
New research, led by the University of Southampton and involving a team of international scientists, suggests that an extreme global warming event 56 million years ago was driven by massive CO2 emissions from volcanoes, during the formation of the North Atlantic Ocean. The study, published in Nature, used a combination of new geochemical measurements and novel…
Deep Water Corals Glow in the Dark to Survive
Corals in shallow waters glow because of fluorescent proteins that act as sunblock, protecting the endangered species from the sun’s intense rays. Now scientists from the University of Southampton have found that corals in deep water are fluorescent for the exact opposite reason – to absorb the little light there is for the benefit of…
Miniscule 3D Spheres Fight Tuberculosis
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new 3D system to study human infection in the laboratory. The team, which includes infection researchers, engineers, and bioinformaticians in Southampton and University College London, have used an electrostatic encapsulation technique to make tiny 3D spheres within which human cells are infected with tuberculosis (TB) bacteria…
Study Reveals Substantial Evidence of Holographic Universe
A UK, Canadian and Italian study has provided what researchers believe is the first observational evidence that our universe could be a vast and complex hologram. Theoretical physicists and astrophysicists, investigating irregularities in the cosmic microwave background (the ‘afterglow’ of the Big Bang), have found there is substantial evidence supporting a holographic explanation of the…
Graphene Sensor Finds Diseases in Blood Plasma
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new sensor, which can rapidly and accurately detect tiny amounts of oligonucleotides related to diseases (ACS Sensors, “Graphene Oxide-Upconversion Nanoparticle Based Optical Sensors for Targeted Detection of mRNA Biomarkers Present in Alzheimer’s Disease and Prostate Cancer”). While the current work targeted Alzheimer disease and prostate cancer…
New Insight into Why Leukemia Drug is Successful
Nanoparticles Distinguish Healthy Cells from Metastatic Cells
Scientists from the University of Southampton designed an advanced type of nanoparticle, which is able to carry drugs directly into cells and release them only in the presence of an appropriate mRNA signature; in other words, the nanoparticle carriers release their payload only in specific — metastatic cancer — cells and remain inactive in healthy…
First Demonstration of Brain-Inspired Device to Power Artificial Systems
Revolutionary Device Mimics Human Brain
New research, led by the University of Southampton, has demonstrated that a nanoscale device, called a memristor, could be used to power artificial systems that can mimic the human brain. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) exhibit learning abilities and can perform tasks which are difficult for conventional computing systems, such as pattern recognition, on-line learning and…
‘Missing Link’ Found in Development of Bioelectronic Medicines
New research, led by the University of Southampton, has demonstrated that a nanoscale device, called a memristor, could be the ‘missing link’ in the development of implants that use electrical signals from the brain to help treat medical conditions. Monitoring neuronal cell activity is fundamental to neuroscience and the development of neuroprosthetics – biomedically engineered…
Tapping the Unused Potential of Photosynthesis
Scientists from the University of Southampton have reengineered the fundamental process of photosynthesis to power useful chemical reactions that could be used to produce biofuels, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Photosynthesis is the pivotal biological reaction on the planet, providing the food we eat, the oxygen we breathe and removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Photosynthesis in…
Black Holes and Measuring Gravitational Waves
The supermassive black holes found at the centre of every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, may, on average, be smaller than we thought, according to work led by University of Southampton astronomer Dr Francesco Shankar. If he and his colleagues are right, then the gravitational waves produced when they merge will be harder to…