News archive: 2017
Yearly listings of School news.

Chancellor’s Award in Teaching
29 November 2017
Professor Charles Cockell has been awarded the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching

Ocean soundscapes and the implications for wildlife
22 November 2017
Tackling questions from the public at the interactive exhibition: UnEarthed

Space dust may transport life between worlds
20 November 2017
Research suggests that life on our planet might have originated from biological particles brought to Earth in streams of space dust

Celebrating Career Project Success
15 November 2017
Students, staff, industry and supporters met to celebrate project achievements and award the presentation for the best summer student poster

Discoveries, inventions and the power of curiosity
13 November 2017
Fun activities highlighting the role that physics plays in our lives at the Festival of Physics

Outstanding students receive medals and awards
01 November 2017
Congratulations to students who received Medals, Certificates, Prizes and Scholarships at the School of Physics & Astronomy undergraduate awards ceremony

PhD training centres to boost UK’s data science expertise
30 October 2017
Postgraduate students are to benefit from a £10 million UK initiative to support data science research

Physics and Astronomy at the Postgraduate Open Day, 15 November 2017
24 October 2017
Discover more about our degrees, including our new MSc in Particle & Nuclear Physics

Edinburgh PhD student helps chart neutron star collision
16 October 2017
The first binary neutron star collision to be observed by LIGO and the first gravitational wave event to be observed by conventional telescopes

Spinning the threads of life
11 October 2017
New discovery relating to chromosome looping via molecular slip links

Microbes dictate regime shifts causing anoxia in lakes and seas
09 October 2017
Eutrophication and warming of lakes and seas may push ecosystems beyond a critical tipping point, causing rapid transitions from oxic to anoxic conditions that are not easily reversed.

Edinburgh students star in film about Charles Piazzi Smyth
02 October 2017
Film re-creating astronomy experiments screened at Edinburgh Filmhouse 7 October

Doors Open Day 2017
28 September 2017
The School of Physics and Astronomy opened its doors to visitors and showcased the research undertaken at the Institute for Condensed Matter and Complex Systems.

Inspirational activities at the Orkney International Science Festival
28 September 2017
Visitors learn about particles, music and art!

Edinburgh Physicists join DUNE experiment to study properties of elusive neutrinos
25 September 2017
Flagship international experiment to study the properties of fundamental sub-atomic particles

A topological twist in DNA melting
18 September 2017
Topology plays a key role in biophysics, from genome organisation to cellular motion. Our work suggests a new role in DNA melting.

Students build hyperloop prototype for engineering competition
04 September 2017
Congratulations to HypED for their work on the prototype for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

Destination Orkney for physics events and talks
04 September 2017
Construct a cloud chamber and learn how sounds are formed in different wind instruments – some of the events you can take part in at the Orkney International Science Festival

Scientists help predict Neptune’s chemical make-up
14 August 2017
A new study sheds light on the chemical make-up of the planet

Galaxies study sheds light on dark matter
07 August 2017
A study of distant galaxies has enabled astronomers to make the most accurate measurement to date of the large-scale structure of the universe.

Academics take on the world of comedy and perform in the Fringe.
03 August 2017
Showcasing Research at comedy events

Students embark on research year overseas
03 August 2017
Students embark on a year abroad in a partner institution to undertake a research project.

Perchlorate enhancing the rate of bacterial death on Mars
02 August 2017
Scientists have discovered that UV light can ‘activate’ perchlorate under Martian environmental conditions, causing it to enhance the rate of bacterial death.

Bacteria never swim alone
01 August 2017
Experiments on suspensions of swimming bacteria have revealed that they exhibit chaotic collective motion reminiscent of the turbulence seen around an airplane wing or in a waterfall.

Astronomers release largest ever infrared sky survey
01 August 2017
Astronomers have released the largest ever map of the sky at infrared wavelengths, with over 1.5 million mega-pixels and containing nearly two billion stars and galaxies.

‘Physicist of the Year’ prizes awarded to local school pupils
31 July 2017
Rewarding pupils and giving them an insight into studying physics

Edinburgh student wins Institute of Physics prize for UK's best Computational Physics PhD.
11 July 2017
Edinburgh student wins Institute of Physics prize for UK's best Computational Physics PhD.

Piling on pressure solves mystery about metal
29 June 2017
Scientists have solved a decades-old puzzle about a widely used metal, thanks to extreme pressure experiments and powerful supercomputing.

National recognition of research in theoretical condensed matter physics
22 June 2017
Student Flaviu Cipcigan receives runner-up “Sam Edwards” PhD thesis prize for a leading contribution in advancing theoretical condensed matter physics.

Students' achievements recognised at Awards Ceremony
24 April 2017
Congratulations to our students who received Medals, Prizes and Scholarships at the School of Physics & Astronomy awards ceremony held on 3 April 2017.

Showcasing Opportunities for Women in Physics
20 April 2017
Current student Grace Richards reflects on her attendance at the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) UK in March 2017.

PhD student Maria Francesca Marzioni wins IOP Conference poster prize
12 April 2017
PhD student Maria Francesca Marzioni wins IOP Conference poster prize

STFC-CDT in Data Intensive Science.
10 April 2017
School awarded STFC-CDT studentships in Data Intensive Science.

Mathematical modelling identify factors that contribute to cancer risk.
10 April 2017
Mathematical modelling identify factors that contribute to cancer risk .

Peter Higgs receives Royal Commission Medal
31 March 2017
Professor Emeritus Peter Ware Higgs, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2013, has received the Royal Commission for the 1851 Exhibition Medal for his outstanding contribution to physics.

Team of physicists from School win third prize at IBM Universities Business challenge (UBC).
27 March 2017
Team of physicists from School win third prize at IBM Universities Business challenge (UBC).

EPSRC funding for electronic structure calculations.
17 March 2017
UKCP grant for electronic structure calculations

Gravitational Waves to Reveal Darkest Secret of our Universe.
01 February 2017
Gravitational Waves to Reveal Darkest Secret of our Universe.

Origin of meteoritic stardust unveiled by a revised proton-capture rate of oxygen-17
24 January 2017
Origin of meteoritic stardust unveiled by a revised proton-capture rate of oxygen-17

Royal Astronomical Society award
16 January 2017
The Institute for Astronomy's Prof. Catherine Heymans has been awarded the 2017 George Darwin Lectureship by the Royal Astronomical Society.

Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure.
14 January 2017
Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure.