As the Apple v Samsung case became increasingly topical in the media, I went to meet a former Bristol student, Tom Hannah, who was part of the Simmons & Simmons legal team representing Samsung. He shared with me his experiences working on such a high-profile case and also about his journey from English graduate to [...]

May 7th, 2013 Read more

Communication is key throughout all of life, especially in multicellular organisms where there needs to be co-ordination between cells, tissues and organs. Animals are usually social creatures that live together a lot of the time and need to be able to interact with each other. Wolves for example, have a strict hierarchy and they communicate [...]

May 7th, 2013 Read more

Ever wondered why you get wrinkly fingers in the bath? Apparently it could be an evolutionary adaption to help us grip to slipper surfaces when in water. Research at Newcastle University shows it is easier to manipulate wet objects when our fingers have wrinkled up in that prune fashion we are all familiar with. This [...]

May 7th, 2013 Read more

A British Heart Foundation project carried out by a team of scientists at the University of Bristol has identified that the brain target heavily involved in the brain’s regulation of body weight is also crucially involved in the development of obesity-associated conditions. The mechanism behind the action of this key molecule, known as melanocortin-4-receptor (MC4R), [...]

May 7th, 2013 Read more

Anyone who has seen the film The Social Network will remember scenes where the coders were working under extreme circumstances or for long periods. Following in this tradition, 30 computer science students from the University of Bristol gathered together on the 2nd to 3rd of March into nine teams to compete in the Mubaloo Appathon [...]

May 7th, 2013 Read more

2nd May - Arts Complex. Shopping for the Planet – how consumer decisions can save the world! Panel Discussion with: Ian Redmond OBE, Conservation Biologist Steven Williams, MP for Bristol West Matthew Sexton, Director of Corporate Social Responsbility at Kingfisher Plc, Parent Company of B&Q Jenny Foster, Bristol and South West Fairtrade Coordinator Increasingly, people are [...]

April 18th, 2013 Read more

With about 25% of 16-19 year olds and a third of 20-24 year olds in the UK considering themselves smokers, the likelihood that you are a smoker, or are good friends with a smoker are pretty high. Everyone knows the risks smoking comes with, and scary as they are it clearly doesn’t put everyone off. [...]

March 18th, 2013 Read more

A number of films depict supercomputers with human-like intelligence; once trusted they became too powerful and wreaked havoc – HAL9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), Skynet (Terminator franchise), and V.I.K.I (i-Robot). Could this ever actually happen? ‘No, this is just science fiction’, you say. Maybe so, but advances in Artificial Intelligence are progressing at such a [...]

March 18th, 2013 Read more

The Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) are a group of Bristol researchers interested in examining the causes and consequences of alcohol and nicotine use, together with the biological and psychological factors underlying addiction and mood disorders. They are looking for volunteers to take part in the following studies. Emotion recognition training. Facial expressions provide [...]

March 18th, 2013 Read more

Oxytocin has been called the cuddle chemical and the love hormone. It is thought to be involved in maternal bonding, sexual pleasure, empathy and generosity: all the things which make life worth living. It’s easy to see why it’s being touted as the solution to all of mankind’s ills. But is it really that simple? [...]

March 18th, 2013 Read more