University of York

A wide-ranging study into pharmaceutical pollution of the world's rivers has found that more than a quarter of those studied carry potentially toxic levels of drugs, with such pollution touching every continent on Earth.

A new study has looked at the volume of plastics we regularly consume through food and water and how this might impact on human cells, finding that the concentrations we are exposed to can potentially have toxic effects.

Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops, so any increases in its yield could go a long way towards reducing world hunger. That's where a new variety comes in, as its yield is reportedly up to 11 percent higher than that of regular wheat.

A new survey has found owning a pet is associated with better mental health during COVID-19 lockdowns. The survey also linked pet ownership to lower levels of loneliness, and both positive associations were detected regardless of species.

Body odor is an unpleasant fact of life we’ve all experienced in some way. Bacteria in the armpit have long been known to be the stinky culprits, and now scientists have discovered a “BO enzyme” in these bugs that’s responsible for the worst of it.

Physicists have harnessed the weird world of quantum physics to develop a “quantum radar” prototype. The system uses the quantum entanglement phenomenon to detect objects, and it could eventually outperform conventional radar in some circumstances.

Dark matter is believed to outnumber regular matter by a ratio of five-to-one, but so far it’s never been directly detected. Now, nuclear physicists have proposed a new candidate particle that might make up the stuff – and we’ve already found it.

Could the German Luftwaffe have won the Battle of Britain in 1940? A team of mathematicians at the University of York used a statistical technique to determine if Germany could have defeated Britain if different decisions had been made.

Surprising new research shows that chimpanzees and bonobos share common gestures and meanings. That's fascinating in itself, but it raises intriguing questions as to how sign language is inherited, and whether humans share any gestures and meanings with other apes.​

If you kick a ball on the ground, it will roll away from you – that’s pretty basic science. But mathematicians have found that a quantum ball would roll toward your foot instead. When a force is applied to them, quantum particles can move in the opposite direction, in an effect known as “backflow.”

​​The undisclosed emissions spewing from Volkswagen vehicles may be more of a rule than an exception, with a comprehensive new study published this week finding that real-world emissions from diesel vehicles has been underestimated by as much as 50 percent.

Cleaning up toxic explosives at military training grounds can be very expensive using conventional methods, so scientists at the University of Washington and the University of York have developed an alternative – they've created transgenic grass that "eats" those explosives.​