News
- Professor Sir Eric Thomas, former Bristol Vice-Chancellor, passes away 14 November 2023 Professor Sir Eric Thomas FMedSci, former Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, sadly passed away on Friday 10 November 2023 aged 70 following a short battle with cancer. He was Bristol's 12th Vice-Chancellor, and led the University for 14 years between 2001 and 2015 during a period of significant change in higher education.
- New research reveals extreme fluctuations between drought and flooding are devastating millions of lives 14 November 2023 New research reveals millions of people around the world living in poverty have been experiencing a ‘climate hazard flip’ since the turn of the century.
- Bristol academic hits the red carpet for Hollywood premiere of dinosaur documentary 7 November 2023 A University of Bristol palaeontologist has attended a star-studded event in Tinseltown where new independent documentary ‘WHY DINOSAURS?’ was screened for the first time.
- Dig this: ‘Neglected’ dinosaur had super senses 7 November 2023 A CT scan of an often-overlooked, plant-eating dinosaur’s skull has revealed that it had a unique combination of traits associated with living animals that spend at least part of their time underground, including a super sense of smell and outstanding balance. The work is the first to link a specific sensory fingerprint with this behaviour in extinct dinosaurs.
- Album showcases the daily rhythms of pond life 23 October 2023 Musician and field recordist Tom Fisher, who goes by the stage name Action Pyramid, finds magic in the everyday on new album Mardle.
- Researchers capture first-ever afterglow of huge planetary collision in outer space 11 October 2023 A chance social media post by an eagle-eyed amateur astronomer sparked the discovery of an explosive collision between two giant planets, which crashed into each other in a distant space system 1,800 light years away from planet Earth.
- Race to find world’s oldest mammal fossils led to mud-slinging 10 October 2023 The hunt for the world’s most ancient mammals descended into academic warfare in the seventies, researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered.
- Top nuclear waste scientist joins University of Bristol 26 September 2023 Professor Neil Hyatt, an internationally-renowned leader in the field of radioactive waste management, is set to begin a three-year role at the University of Bristol.
- New research reveals extreme heat likely to wipe out humans and mammals in the distant future 25 September 2023 A new study shows unprecedented heat is likely to lead to the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out, eliminating nearly all mammals in some 250 million years time.
- Pioneering research sheds surprising new light on evolution of plant kingdom 4 September 2023 A new study has uncovered intriguing insights into the evolution of plant biology, effectively rewriting the history of how they evolved over the past billion years.
- Plesiosaurs doubled their neck-length by gaining new vertebrae 4 September 2023 Their lengthy necks, used for chasing fast-moving fishes, developed quickly over a five million period around 250 million years ago.
- The modern sea spider had started to diversify by the Jurassic, study finds 17 August 2023 An extremely rare collection of 160-million-year-old sea spider fossils from Southern France are closely related to living species, unlike older fossils of their kind.
- Whale like filter-feeding discovered in prehistoric marine reptile 8 August 2023 A remarkable new fossil from China reveals for the first time that a group of reptiles were already using whale-like filter feeding 250 million years ago.
- Large pterosaurs were better parents than their smaller, earlier counterparts, study finds 19 July 2023 Small pterosaurs were born with comparatively strong, large wings, which meant they could leave the nest swiftly, while larger, cumbersome baby pterosaurs required parental protection from predators, scientists have discovered.
- Beak shape can predict nest material use in the world’s birds, study finds 10 July 2023 The material a bird selects for its nest depends on the dimensions of its beak, according to researchers.
- Humans’ ancestors survived asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs 27 June 2023 A Cretaceous origin for placental mammals, the group that includes humans, dogs and bats, has been revealed by in-depth analysis of the fossil record, showing they co-existed with dinosaurs for a short time before the dinosaurs went extinct.
- Study of deep-sea corals reveals ocean currents have not fuelled rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide 26 June 2023 Pioneering analysis of deep-sea corals has overturned the idea that ocean currents contributed to increasing global levels of carbon dioxide in the air over the past 11,000 years.
- Modern horses have lost their additional toes, scientists confirm 21 June 2023 The distant ancestors of modern horses had hooved toes instead of a single hoof, which vanished over time, according to researchers.
- Which came first: the reptile or the egg? 12 June 2023 The earliest reptiles, birds and mammals may have borne live young, researchers from Nanjing University and University of Bristol have revealed.
- Ancient herbivore’s diet weakened teeth leading to eventual starvation, study suggests 9 June 2023 A team of researchers from the University of Bristol have shed light on the life of the ancient reptile Rhynchosaur, which walked the earth between 250-225 million years ago, before being replaced by the dinosaurs.