University of Oxford

No evidence of fine-scale local adaptation of winter moths to variable tree phenology

Spatial variation in plant phenology can impose strong selective pressures on herbivorous insects whose fitness relies on synchrony with host plants, promoting local adaptation to host timing. Winter moths (Operophtera brumata) have been shown to synchronize egg hatching with hos...

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation

RATIONALE: Electronic cigarettes (EC) are handheld electronic vaping devices that produce an aerosol by heating a liquid. People who smoke, healthcare providers, and regulators want to know if EC can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This upd...

How “Micro” Is Microperimetry? Characterizing the Effect of Fundus Tracking on the Psychometric Function

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify whether fundus tracking in microperimetry improves psychometric parameter estimation (as an in vivo demonstration of improved stimulus-delivery precision), and to derive a psychometrically grounded criterion intensity for suprath...

Optically induced Faraday–Goldstone waves

Faraday waves, typically observed in driven fluids, result from the confluence of nonlinearity and parametric amplification. Here we show that optical pulses can generate analogous phenomena that persist much longer than the pump time-scales in ordered quantum solids. We present...

Has the situation changed? Spatio-temporal analysis of green spaces change and socioeconomic status in Liverpool, UK

Although the benefits of green space to residents’ wellbeing are well documented, more evidence is needed to track socio-spatial inequalities. This paper applied exploratory spatial data analysis and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to analyse the relationship...

Resolving the Abstract–Concrete Paradox in the Angular Gyrus:A Multimethod Investigation

Abstract Despite its well-established role in memory-guided cognition, whether and how the angular gyrus (AG) contributes to semantic processing remains unresolved. Connectomic work links the AG to abstract mentation, yet neuroimaging studies paradoxically show greater AG engagem...

Grassland destruction causes shifts in plant traits that persist during recovery

Old-growth grasslands assemble over millennia and support high biodiversity and many ecosystem services, but continue to undergo widespread destruction for production of crops, timber, and minerals. How biodiversity recovers after grassland destruction and the functional conseque...

Portable Low-Impact Surface Hardness Testing of Mineral Materials: An Integrative Review of Applications, Interpretation, and Methodological Considerations

Abstract This integrative review critically examines portable dynamic low-impact surface hardness (LISH) testing, also known as Leeb hardness. Since its adaptation for mineral materials in 1993, LISH has been increasingly adopted across geoscience, engineering, and heritage conse...

What works, for whom, and under what circumstances for recipients of training in opportunistic behaviour change conversations: A mixed methods realist evaluation protocol

Abstract Background ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC) is a person-centred initiative that enables service providers across settings to support behaviour change through conversations about health and wellbeing. MECC has been widely implemented across the UK and internationally,...

Should I stay or should I go? Frog breeding responses to drought events and alien predators

Abstract Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, increasingly acting through extreme climatic events such as droughts. Beyond their direct impacts on habitat availability, droughts can also generate indirect effects by altering ecological interactions, su...

A Methodological Plea: Sampling in Experimental Philosophy

ABSTRACT This paper highlights a methodological problem that might render the value of Experimental Philosophy (X‐Phi) research unclear. It is argued that research in X‐Phi often relies on an unrepresentative sample with respect to the target population and the contingent propert...

A qualitative exploration of researchers’ efforts to record healthcare encounters

Recordings of healthcare encounters are a rich source of data, providing high-quality evidence to guide improvement in communication. Through a survey, we explored UK researchers’ experience of attempting to employ this method. Findings highlight challenges throughout the researc...

Exclusive capital: how Ghanaian return migrants value dual citizenship

Dual citizenship is known to come with socio-economic benefits, particularly for migrants from the Global South who naturalise in a country of the Global North. This paper explores the ways in which these socio-economic benefits are portable to the Global South when migrants retu...

Nitrogen Radical Photocatalysed Reduction of Nitrous Oxide

ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) represents one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential of approximately 300× that of CO 2 . Yet protocols for its reduction to benign products such as dinitrogen (N 2 ) remain comparatively rare. In this study, we report...

Nitrogen Radical Photocatalysed Reduction of Nitrous Oxide

ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) represents one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential of approximately 300× that of CO 2 . Yet protocols for its reduction to benign products such as dinitrogen (N 2 ) remain comparatively rare. In this study, we report...

Dual-oxygen pancreatic cancer organoids recapitulate basal–classical heterogeneity validated by spatial transcriptomics

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) comprises heterogeneous classical and basal-like subtypes. Although pancreatic cancer organoids (PCOs) are widely used, normoxic cultures preferentially maintain the classical subtype, limiting their ability to represent intrinsic intratumo...

Prediagnostic circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and prostate cancer-specific survival: a collaborative pooled analysis of 13 prospective studies

Abstract Background Previous research suggests higher risk of prostate cancer diagnosis in men with high vitamin D serology, but there are limited data related to prostate cancer survival. In this study, we examine the associations between prediagnostic circulating levels of 25-h...

Fuelling the top – Metabolic control of shoot apical meristem function and plant development

Plant development relies on a complex network of transcription factors and hormone signalling pathways that guide pattern formation and developmental transitions in the meristems. Yet, how this core network is regulated to enable developmental plasticity remains poorly understood...

The Effects of Different Approaches to Teaching Chinese Orthography on Character Acquisition and Reading Performance in Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language: A Systematic Review

There is growing evidence investigating the effects of different instructional methods on character acquisition and reading performance in contexts where students are learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). However, efforts to present a comprehensive and transparent synthes...

Single-photon double ionization of ozone: experiment and theory

Abstract The triatomic molecule ozone (O3) is of outmost physical and chemical importance in the atmospheres of our Earth and other planets. Beyond its environmental significance, a detailed understanding of the electronic structure and ionization dynamics of ozone is essential f...