Oxford University

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Weird Battery Still Runs 175 Years Later

The Oxford Electric Bell has rung about 10B times

(Newser) - Like scientific mysteries? Then check out the Oxford Electric Bell, a battery-powered device that's still ringing 175 years after it was made, the Smithsonian reports. Sitting in the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University, it makes a little metal ball move swiftly back and forth between two bells. How its...

Scientist &#39;Solves&#39; Yeti Mystery
 Scientist 'Solves' Yeti Mystery 
NEW RESEARCH
Oct 17, 2013 8:10 AM CDT

Scientist 'Solves' Yeti Mystery

Geneticist suspects it's a polar bear-brown bear hybrid

(Newser) - Whether you call it the Abominable Snowman or yeti, the mythical creature may have just jumped from the pages of fiction to the world of fact. Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes performed DNA testing on 27 suspected yeti samples that had been sent to him from around the world, and got...

MIT Tops World University Rankings

It beats Cambridge, Harvard to first place

(Newser) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has soared to the top of world university rankings for the first time, knocking Britain's University of Cambridge into second place and Harvard into third, the Guardian reports. University College London, Oxford University, Imperial College, Yale, University of Chicago, Princeton, and Caltech also made...

Oxford Scholars Search for Yeti

Will use genetic analysis in serious investigation

(Newser) - The search for the yeti is going high-tech. Thanks to genetic analysis, Oxford researchers hope to say for sure whether the creature of lore exists, Gizmodo reports. Working in conjunction with the Lausanne Museum of Zoology, researchers are asking people who claim to have evidence of the yeti to send...

Cambridge Named Best University ... Again

Harvard takes second, MIT third, and Yale fourth

(Newser) - For all the Harvard grads out there, don't kick yourself—but your school has come in second around the world... again. The Independent reports that QS World University Rankings has given the prize of best university to Cambridge for the second year in a row. Filling out the top...

'Lost Michelangelo' Found on Oxford Wall

Italian expert spots unknown masterpiece in Jesuit residence

(Newser) - A previously unknown painting by Michelangelo has been hanging on the wall of an Oxford University residence for Jesuit scholars since the 1930s, a respected Italian expert claims. Infrared technology has revealed that the painting at Campion Hall, previously believed to have been the work of Michelangelo's lesser-known contemporary...

Comma Drama Ends: Oxford Rule Stands

Grammar nerds rallied to defense of serial comma

(Newser) - Grammar fiends took a ride on an emotional roller coaster this week on news, erroneous as it turned out, that Oxford University was ditching its famous comma rule. (It requires a comma before the word "and" in a series: Not "a, b and c" but "a, b,...

Spring Births Linked to Higher Anorexia Risk

Those born in fall in least danger, study suggests

(Newser) - Those born between March and June face a higher risk of developing anorexia, a study suggests. Oxford scientists reviewed the birthdays of 1,300 people with the eating disorder and found “clear evidence” leading to their conclusion, the New York Post reports. September and October produced the fewest anorexia...

Iran Blasts Oxford Tribute to Dead Protester

Regime lodges protest against Neda Soltan scholarship

(Newser) - The Iranian regime has condemned Oxford University's offering of a scholarship in the name of a young woman killed in protests earlier this year as a politically motivated move staged by its enemies. The scholarship is named after Neda Soltan, a 26-year-old philosophy student who became the symbol of the...

Domesticated Swedes Make Best Husbands

Brits, Americans land in top 5 on 'egalitarian index'; Aussies last

(Newser) - Swedish men make the best husbands, while Australian men, preferring beer and sports over housework, rank lowest on an “egalitarian index” outlined in a study of 12 developed nations. Domestic roles carry less stigma in egalitarian societies, one researcher tells the Telegraph, “so the likelihood of forming a...

Oxford Poetry Prof Resigns
Oxford Poetry Prof Resigns
May 25, 2009 7:17 PM CDT

Oxford Poetry Prof Resigns

First female to nab top post reverses earlier decision amid smear campaign accusations

(Newser) - The first woman to hold one of the UK’s top poetry posts has reversed direction and announced her resignation amid accusations that she ran a smear campaign against a rival, the Telegraph reports. Ruth Padel stepped down as the Oxford Professor of Poetry today but maintained she acted in...

Top UK Poetry Prof Refuses to Step Down

Oxford academic in brouhaha over sex allegation against rival

(Newser) - The first woman to hold Britain's highest academic post in poetry refuses to resign despite an uproar over whether she ran a dirty election campaign, reviving decades-old sexual harassment claims against her main rival, Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, the Guardian reports. Oxford Professor of Poetry-elect Ruth Padel admits she pointed...

Got Milk? It May Fight Alzheimer's

Drink is great source of key vitamin B12

(Newser) - Two glasses of milk a day could help prevent brain-deteriorating diseases like Alzheimer’s, scientists at Oxford have found. Milk, they observed, is an excellent source of vitamin B12, which experts believe helps protect nerve cells; elderly people with low B12 levels experience twice the brain shrinkage of those with...

Rhodes Scholar Rolle Picks Oxford Over NFL

Puts pro career on hold until 2010

(Newser) - Former Florida State star safety Myron Rolle is skipping the NFL to head instead to England's prestigious Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, reports the New York Times. Rolle, who hails from New Jersey, is the most prominent college athlete since Bill Bradley in 1965 to win a Rhodes scholarship....

FSU Safety Nabs Rhodes Scholarship

Florida State safety is the first major footballer to nab the honor in a generation

(Newser) - Florida State defensive back Myron Rolle has been awarded a Rhodes scholarship, making him the first Division I football player in a generation to win the nation's most prestigious post-grad award, reports the New York Times. Rolle will do a one-year masters degree in medical anthropology at the University of...

Top 10 Most Irritating Phrases

Absolutely a nightmare, 24/7

(Newser) - At the end of the day, it's not rocket science, but the Guardian reports that researchers at Oxford University have been working absolutely 24/7 to compile a fairly unique list of phrases which, with all due respect, are some of the most irritating in popular use. You’ve just read...

Pinched Oxford Wants $2.5B
 Pinched Oxford Wants $2.5B 
May 29, 2008 7:08 AM CDT

Pinched Oxford Wants $2.5B

Needs cash to compete with Ivy League

(Newser) - Prestigious Oxford University is pleading poverty and has begun a campaign to raise funds to make it competitive with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for academic talent, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The university—actually a collection of individual colleges—aims to raise $2.5 billion, but even that is chump...

Moms Go Bananas to Conceive Boys

Gender influenced by diet, researchers find

(Newser) - Women who want to conceive boys should eat potassium-rich bananas as part of a high calorie, high protein diet, according to the latest British research into influencing gender at conception. Scientists found that 56% of mothers on a high calorie diet conceived boys, compared with 45% of those on a...

Scientists Discover New Diabetes Genes

Six variants each add risk for developing the disease

(Newser) - Scientists pooling data from European and US studies have identified six more genes associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, the Guardian reports. The study, published in Nature Genetics, found small but significant connections between the genes and the disease, with certain genetic variants linked to a 10-15%...

$3.7M Study Questions Origins of Faith

UK researchers will ask if people believe in God naturally

(Newser) - UK researchers will spend $3.7 million probing whether belief in God is a matter of nature or nurture, the Times of London reports. The University of Oxford crew will examine whether faith in a deity conferred an evolutionary advantage, or might be byproduct of other advantageous human characteristics, such...

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