Uprooted: The Shipment of Poor Children to Canada
A new book tells the story of the 80,000 British children shipped to Canada between 1867 and 1917.
News in 2007
Bristol MP to visit University on pairing scheme
Stephen Williams, Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills and Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, will visit Dr Daniela Schmidt from the Department of Earth Sciences on Friday 25 January as part of the MP-Scientist Pairing Scheme.
White coats get muddy for the British Heart Foundation
Researchers from the Bristol Heart Institute donned their lab coats and trainers to launch a new fun run to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.
South African national cinema
A new book explores South African cinema and national identity.
Why it pays to be choosy
Given that cooperative individuals can often be exploited, it is not immediately clear why such behaviour has evolved. A novel solution to this problem demonstrates that when individuals in a population are choosy about their partners, cooperativeness is rewarded and tends to increase.
British proposal for Space Station modules
UK engineers and scientists - with the support of the British Interplanetary Society - are urging the UK government to fire the public’s imagination and catch the vision for future space exploration by joining the International Space Station (ISS) programme.
Pygmy dinosaur inhabited Bristol’s tropical islands
The celebrated Bristol Dinosaur, lived on subtropical islands around Bristol, instead of in a desert on the mainland as previously thought. This new research could explain the dinosaur’s small size (2 m) in relation to its giant (10 m) mainland equivalent. Like many species trapped on small islands, such as the ‘hobbit’ of Flores and pygmy elephants on Malta, the Bristol Dinosaur may have been subjected to island dwarfing.
SciAm 50: advances in ultra-measurement
Research looking at the field of quantum metrology in which quantum mechanics is used to obtain highly precise measurements has been named at No 15 in Scientific American’s Top 50 outstanding technological leaderships of 2006-2007.
Cave bears from the Carpathians as omnivorous as modern bears
Rather than being gentle giants, new research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears, a species which became extinct 20,000 years ago, ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time such as hyaenas, lions, wolves, and our own human ancestors. The research is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) USA.
World wakes up to Clean Gum
A recent article in The New York Times features Professor Terence Cosgrove and Clean Gum, the easy-to-remove chewing gum developed through the University’s spin-out company, Revolymer.
Advancing knowledge in computing and IT
Staff and students are invited to a meeting of the British Computer Society on project management on 15 January in The Hawthorns.
First Farndon Chair of Surgery appointed
Martin Birchall, Visiting Professor in Clinical Science at South Bristol, is to take up the newly established John Farndon Chair of Surgery.
Biology undergraduate wins environmental competition
Carsten Reinhard, a first-year undergraduate in the School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded First Prize in the Federal German Environmental Competition.
Intute wins Jason Farradane Award
Intute, an online information service co-developed by the University’s Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT), is the winner of the Jason Farradane Award 2007.
Sample a sport in the New Year
The University Athletic Union is again offering staff and students taster sessions in a range of sports in January.
Research reveals exclusions in social housing
Wide-ranging problems relating to social housing nominations and the knock-on effects on re-housing vulnerable households, including the homeless, are revealed in new research by the University of Bristol.
Marianne Hester to advise House of Commons on domestic violence
Professor Marianne Hester from the Centre for Family Policy and Child Welfare has been appointed a Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into 'domestic violence'.
How to stay healthy this Christmas
At Christmas it can be hard to stay healthy: the average Christmas dinner contains over 1,400 calories. Bristol University experts offer a few ideas for staying healthy and still having a good time.
Do everyday foods influence risk of prostate cancer?
The biggest ever study on the effect of folate and vitamin B12 on prostate cancer is set to go ahead at Bristol University after World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) announced it would fund the project.
Invitation to learning and teaching exhibition
All members of staff are invited to the 2008 exhibition and prize-giving ceremony for excellence and innovation in learning and teaching at the University of Bristol.
Bristol makes Time magazine's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of the Year
Research revealing the first fossil evidence that modern humans left Africa between 65,000 and 25,000 years has been named at No 8 in Time Magazine’s Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2007. The work was carried out by an international team of scientists, including Dr Alistair Pike of Bristol University.
LTSS January workshops for staff
A summary of January workshops for staff, run by LTSS, to encourage the use of technology in learning, teaching and research at Bristol.
Major BHF Fellowship for Dr Johnson
Dr Jason Johnson from the Bristol Heart Institute has been awarded a major Fellowship from the British Heart Foundation.
Dr Cheeke wins Keats-Shelley Association prize
Dr Stephen Cheeke, Senior Lecturer in English, has been awarded the Keats-Shelley Association of America’s 2007 essay prize.
Endomorphins offer novel treatment for chronic auto-inflammatory diseases
Shining a light on the potential anti-inflammatory properties of natural endomorphins.
Chemists win national volunteering award
Five PhD students in the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry have won a national volunteering award. The group, who are members of the Graduate Chemistry Association (GCA), won a Higher Education Student Volunteering Award for their outstanding commitment towards volunteering activities.
Improving treatment of atopic eczema
A new guideline devised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is set to improve the management and treatment of atopic eczema in children. The guideline, developed by a group which included Bristol University’s Dr Sarah Purdy, contains the most comprehensive review and analysis of available evidence on ways to improve the quality of life of both children and their parents when managing this very common condition.
Student identifies enormous new dinosaur
The remains of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever found have recently been recognized as representing a new species by a student working at the University of Bristol.
Morphine: comfort for the dying or control for the living?
Cancer patients are suffering unnecessarily because they wrongly believe that morphine and other opioids are only used as “comfort for the dying” and as a “last resort” rather than seeing them as legitimate pain killers that can improve their quality of life.
Keep children moving for long-term heart health
New research from the Children of the 90s study shows that children who are more active have lower blood pressure.
Looking for an alternative to Christmas shopping this lunchtime?
Over 120 staff and students at the University, together with local school children and members of the public, will be celebrating International Human Rights Day today by taking part in a 29-hour readathon of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel García Márquez.
Science shines at Bristol
All four of the departments at the University of Bristol that were included in a rigorous assessment of postgraduate programmes in 500 science departments at 250 universities in 20 European countries have been awarded medals and given ‘top group’ ranking. One of the departments, Chemistry, has gone further and achieved rare ‘excellence group’ status.
Pupils team up for a festive sports day
Pupils from Teyfant Community School, Hartcliffe, will join Bristol University students and staff today [6 December] for a festive themed sports day at the University’s Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health.
Easy come easy go
New research by the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol provides firm evidence of a major shift in attitudes towards borrowing in recent years.
New Staff Club official opening
The University’s new Staff Social Club is to be officially opened on Tuesday 11 December.
University gets new deputy chief
David Clarke, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law, has been appointed to the new role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol.
Precision without entanglement
The viewpoint by a University of Bristol academic on a recent experiment, which shows that exotic quantum processes are not necessary to reach the ultimate limits of measurements, is reported in the international journal Science.
Third Gold Award for University big band
The Hornstars – the University’s big band – won a Gold Award for the third year in a row at the National Concert Band Festival regional competition in Chepstow.
Have new arrangements improved access to GPs?
Advanced Access, a new approach to booking appointments with GPs, provides slightly faster access to an appointment, according to research carried out by the University of Bristol. However, patients in practices that have adopted the system found it harder to book appointments in advance.
Guardian award for Academic Rheumatology Unit
The Academic Rheumatology Unit at the Bristol Royal Infirmary has won the Guardian Public Service Award for Long-Term Conditions.