Research
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Virtual Futures: Where is Virtual Reality taking us?
20 March 2017
Virtual Reality – or VR - has long been the idea of science fiction but now it is happening and the impact on society is potentially huge. The University of Bristol and the Digital Cultures Research Centre at University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) are sponsoring a special track at this year’s VR World Congress [Tuesday 11 to Thursday 13 April] to encourage debate into what this may mean for everyone.
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University launches new specialist research institutes
20 March 2017
The University of Bristol has today (Monday, 20 March) launched seven new research institutes reflecting the University’s strength and depth in key specialisms.
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Treating pain
16 November 2005
New ways to alleviate debilitating pain are being investigated in the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology.
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Ancient fossil reveals first evidence of live birth in animals thought to lay eggs
14 February 2017
The first ever evidence of live birth in an animal group previously thought to lay eggs exclusively has been discovered by an international team of scientists, including a palaeontologist from the University of Bristol.
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Findings from one of the largest consultations on UK bereavement support published
6 October 2022
New findings from one of the largest ever consultations on bereavement support in the UK have been published today by the UK Commission on Bereavement (UKCB).  The research, which involved University of Bristol academics, shows around 750,000 excess bereavements occurred during the pandemic in the UK.
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Anonymous cell phone data can quantify behavioral changes for flu-like illnesses, study finds
28 January 2021
Being prepared for a pandemic, like COVID-19, depends on the ability to predict the course of the pandemic and the human behaviour that drives spread in the event of an outbreak. Cell phone metadata that is routinely collected by telecommunications providers can reveal changes of behavior in people who are diagnosed with a flu-like illness, while also protecting their anonymity, a new study has found. The research, led by Emory University and devised by the University of Bristol, is based on data drawn from a 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza in Iceland and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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Evolution of the penis worm
5 December 2006
Images of the developmental stages of embryos more than half a billion years old were reported by Dr Phil Donoghue
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New discovery could be a major advance for understanding neurological diseases
13 February 2017
The discovery of a new mechanism that controls the way nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other to regulate our learning and long-term memory could have major benefits to understanding how the brain works and what goes wrong in neurodegenerative disorders such as epilepsy and dementia. The breakthrough, published in Nature Neuroscience, was made by scientists at the University of Bristol and the University of Central Lancashire. The findings will have far-reaching implications in many aspects of neuroscience and understanding how the brain works.
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Bristol scientists predict chemistry of romance
13 February 2017
Psychologists from the University of Bristol are launching a revolutionary new dating app this Valentine’s Day.
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All in the head? Brains adapt to support new species
9 February 2021
Scientists studying forest dwelling butterflies in Central and South America have discovered that changes in the way animals perceive and process information from their environment can support the emergence of new species. The study led by the University of Bristol, and published today [9 February] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has implications for how new species might evolve and the underappreciated role of changes in the brain.
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