University of Reading

Young adults who ate a handful of walnuts with breakfast saw a long-lasting improvement in their reaction times and a boost in memory hours later, according to a new study. The findings strengthen the claim that walnuts are a brain-enhancing food.

The dynamic way different-shaped snowflakes perform distinct 'dances' within clouds has been found to influence how much precipitation is likely to form. The discovery of this unique cloud choreography opens the door to precise weather forecasts.

New analysis of a tool that dates back 300,000 years has revealed that our ancestors were skilled craftspeople that made useful hunting weapons designed for comfort, efficiency and longevity. Some of these skills are still seen in woodwork today.

New research shows that swarms of insects like bees and locusts can actually produce atmospheric electric charges. By measuring the extent of this influence, the team found that large swarms could produce as much charge as a storm cloud.

A new article has proposed a novel hypothesis for the cause of Alzheimer’s, arguing the disease is caused by a damaged blood-brain barrier allowing fatty molecules to invade the brain and trigger a cascade of events resulting in cognitive decline.

Scientists have found evidence of a “space hurricane” for the first time. The storm, made up of swirling clouds of plasma, raged in Earth’s upper atmosphere for hours, dumping huge amounts of electrons like rain in a system that resembles a regular hurricane.

A study is suggesting alterations to a dairy cow’s diet can result in milk lower in saturated fat and a clinical trial in humans demonstrates these natural “healthier” dairy products may lead to positive heart health effects.

Disassembling electronics into their various components for recycling is a laborious process, and involves the use of eco-unfriendly solvents. Now, however, scientists have developed a magnetically-deactivated glue that could address these problems.

We live in increasingly polarized times with increasingly entrenched views. Climate scientist Ed Hawkins hopes to persuade people of the threat of global warming with a new and striking way to visualize climate data: a series of vertical stripes that convey rising temperatures year on year.

A team of scientists from the University of Reading has found that the bombing raids against the Axis powers by Allied forces during the Second World War were so intense that their effects were detected on the edge of space.

​If you don't like hitting turbulence when you're flying (and who does?), then you're not going to like the conclusions of a study recently conducted at the University of Reading. If its supercomputer simulations are anything to go by, climate change will cause a major increase in severe turbulence.

​In the early years of the 20th century, several teams of explorers were racing to reach a new frontier: the South Pole. Now 100 years later, their logbooks have helped piece together a new discovery concerning Antarctic sea ice coverage.