Tagged / science

BU research published in Science – footprint study changes our understanding of human migration

How and when humans first colonised North America is a question that has long puzzled researchers. A groundbreaking new study by BU academics has shed new light on patterns of migration and reveals that humans may have reached the Americas 7,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The study, written by Professor Matthew Bennett and Dr Sally Reynolds and published in Science today, reveals that human footprints discovered in New Mexico date from 23,000 and 21,000 years old. The discovery has the potential to radically change our understanding of when the continent was settled and suggests that there is much still to be discovered about migrations and earlier populations in this part of the world.

 

The footprints were left in soft mud on the shores of what was once a shallow lake which now forms part of Alkali Flat – a large playa (a dried desert lake) at White Sands, New Mexico with the tracks seeming to be left mainly by teenagers and younger children. Seeds found in layers of sediment above and below the footprints were radiocarbon dated by the US Geological Survey, providing the research team with very precise dates for the footprints themselves.

Professor Bennett said: “The footprints left at White Sands give a picture of what was taking place, teenagers interacting with younger children and adults. We can think of our ancestors as quite functional, hunting and surviving, but what we see here is also activity of play, and of different ages coming together.  A true insight into these early people.”

The pioneering research has been featured heavily in the media this morning with front page links on BBC News, The Times, The Guardian and many other media channels.

Science is viewed as one of the most prestigious academic journals with competition to be published so intense that less than 7% of submissions are accepted. Professor Bennett and Dr Reynold’s groundbreaking article highlights their decades of hard work and expertise in paleontology, human evolution and environmental & geographical sciences.

Parliamentary & Scientific Committee – online events

The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee have announced their forthcoming 2021 seminars. BU staff are eligible to attend without charge.

Please contact policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to book a place on any of these events.

  • Monday 1st February – What does the UK-EU deal mean for science? in partnership with the Royal Society, 11:00-12:10, online. 
  • Monday 15th February – Sector Deals for SME’s at 5.30pm, online.
  • Monday 8th March – STEM for Britain 11.00am – 1.00pm, online
  • Monday 15th March – Covid 19 update in partnership with the Royal Society, 5.30pm, online 
  • Tuesday 16th March – Annual General Meeting 12.30pm, online  
  • Monday 12th April – The UK National Quantum Programme in partnership with Innovate UK at 5.30pm, online 
  • Monday 7th June – Natural Capital Initiative  at 5.30pm, online
  • Monday 5th July – Climate Change in partnership with the Met Office at 5.30pm, online  

   

  

 

Parliamentary & Scientific Committee online events – autumn 2020

The Parliamentary & Scientific Committee (an All Party Parliamentary Group) are running the following (free to BU staff) seven online events:

 

Monday 14 Sept at 17:30: Discussion with speakers on Non-Malignant Cancers, Precision Medicine and Genome Mapping.

Speakers:

  • Sarah McDonald, Director of Research and Patient Advocacy Myeloma UK
  • Dr Karthik Ramasamy – Consultant Haematologist, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  •  Dr Inês Cebola, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London
  • Dr Ian M Frayling – Honorary Consulting Genetic Pathologist to St Mark’s Hospital, London & St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin; Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Inherited Tumour Syndromes Research Group, Cardiff University and President Elect, Association of Clinical Pathologists

 

 

Mon 28 Sept – 17:30-19:00: Discussion meeting Science Education – supporting the UK as a science superpower (being held in partnership with STEM Learning Ltd) – speaker presentations followed by questions from the online audience (responsive and pre-submitted).  Speakers:

  • Donald Morrison, Senior Vice President and General Manager for People & Places Solutions, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Jacobs
  • Baroness Brown of Cambridge (Professor Dame Julia King) DBE FREng FRS Chair of STEM Learning
  • Allie Denholm, Headteacher, Heworth Grange School.

 

Mon 12 Oct – 17:30-19:00: Discussion meeting on Racial Inequality in the UK Science Community

 

Tues 13 – Thurs 15 Oct – The Royal Botanical Gardens Kew invite members of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (BU is a member) to their: State of the World’s Plants and Fungi Virtual Symposium

 

Mon 26 Oct – 17:30-19:00: Discussion meeting on Sources, health benefits and global challenges of protein. Sponsored by the Nutrition Society

 

Mon 9 Nov – 17:30-19:00: Discussion meeting on How will COVID-19 impact on the Government’s ‘Ageing Society’ Grand Challenge mission? Sponsored by The Physiological Society

 

Mon 23 Nov – 11.00am – 12.30pm: Discussion meeting on Aspects of Covid-19.

Sponsored by UKRI

 

Mon 7 Dec – timing to be confirmed – Discussion meeting on Autonomous Transport

 

The webinars require a password to access them. Please contact Sarah if you would like to book a place to attend. 

Medical Research Council ‘Career Inspirations’ podcasts

Knowledge Exchange

The Medical Research Council have a series of ‘career inspirations’ podcasts, released on the first Wednesday of every month, where they ask a scientist to share their career highlights, what makes them tick, and their advice for forging a career in medical research.

This month’s comes from a technology specialist, however in the last 3 months they have also released podcasts from a clinical psychologist, a nutrition scientist and a stem cell scientist.

You can find the series here, which contains a link to iTunes where you can subscribe to the podcasts on your iPhone or iPad.

The next six months within education, science, tech, digital and the environment

Dods (political monitoring consultants) have produced a series of short policy lookahead guides contemplating what is coming up politically in the following spheres over the next few months:
Science Tech and Digital
The Education Sector
Environment and Rural Affairs
The viewing permissions on these guides have been set to BU staff and students, please don’t download and share more widely.

Call for nominations: Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture

Funding opportunities

network-logo-royal-societyThe Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture is given for excellence in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science.

The Wilkins, Bernal and Medawar lectures were originally delivered as three separate lectures, each given triennially. Since 2007, they have been combined under the one title of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture, and have been given annually.

The subject matter for the lecture is some aspect of the social function of science, as per the Bernal Lecture Fund endowed by John Desmond Bernal FRS, the philosophy of science as per the Medawar Lecture endowed by Peter Medawar FRS, and the history of science in recognition of John Wilkins FRS, the first Secretary of the Society.

The call for nominations is now open!

For information on how to nominate including guidance notes please visit the nominations page. The closing date for nominations is 18.00 GMT on 30 January 2017.

To Nominate now click here

An annual event to celebrate women in STEM

events

The WISE Awards is an annual event, a special opportunity to recognise inspiring organisations and individuals actively addressing the core concerns of WISE: promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics to girls and women.

For the past few years we have been delighted that the WISE Awards were presented by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal.

The daytime conference includes presentations, panel discussions and workshops is the perfect event to compliment the WISE Awards ceremony held the same evening.

Click here for more information.

DfT Transport Technology Research Innovation Grants now open

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

transport

The Department for Transport (DfT) opened on  Monday (25 July)  the latest round of its Transport Technology Research Innovation Grant (T-TRIG) to support technology innovation in the transport sector.

The grant offers 100% funding for projects in three separate calls:

  • An open call for new transport ideas
  • A targeted call for solutions to challenges in aviation security
  • A targeted call for Intelligent Transport Systems

T-TRIG provides seed funding to early-stage science, engineering or technology innovations that have potential for advancing the UK transport system.

The funding scheme is open to anyone, typically micro, small and medium-sized businesses or academia, to support research projects that could lead to the development of successful new transport products, processes or services.

KTN is supporting these calls, including a series of webinars, led by DfT officials that will provide details of the opportunities, answer questions and help guide potential applicants on how best to present their ideas.

Successful applicants will be awarded fully-funded grants of up to £25,000 for the open call. For the targeted calls, there’s a budget of £150,000 to fund three to six projects in Intelligent Transport Systems targeted call and £300,000 for the Aviation projects.

On the other hand, are you buying or selling an aviation company? You can then even find aviation businesses that are for sale, there are several pages online that list them like https://trufortebusinessgroup.com/aviation-businesses-for-sale/ so have a look.

Schedule of the Competitions

This next round of T-TRIG will be launched on Monday 25 July 2016.

The entry deadline for all three calls will be Monday 22 August, with projects running between 19 September 2016 and 9 January 2017.

Webinars this week for direct access to Department for Transport

To find out the full details of these grants and for the opportunity to ask questions to DfT officials, please register for one or more of the following webinars:

The schedule for these competitions requires a relatively short time to prepare applications, so early registration and preparation of questions is recommended.

For further details see the Department for Transport’s Competition page Transport-Technology Research Innovation Grant (T-TRIG)

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.