Traditional Chinese academies, comparable to Greek philosophic schools, were neo-Confucian institutes, often located in reclusive mountains. The Chinese term for academy, shuyuan, literally means ‘the courtyard of books’, and activities in academies were mainly based on textual knowledge – discussion, lectures, book collection, publication, annotation, and reprinting.

The long decline of Dundee’s jute industry and the reasons for it will be examined in a major new research project at the University of Dundee.

The bug repellent DEET works by making mosquitoes and their brethren unable to smell the sweet aroma of human sweat that alerts them that a meal of blood is nearby, scientists said on Thursday. This knowledge may help guide the creation of new repellents based on the same principle but without possible health worries, they said.

U.S. scientists said researchers may soon be able to use brain-scanning instruments to read someone's mind.

Determining how and why everyday people are being watched by public and private organisations – and the social consequences of this expanding surveillance – will be the focus of a new, $2.5-million collaborative research project involving Dr Kirstie Ball of the OU Business School.

In research published today in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, The Open University Professor of Earth Sciences Bob Spicer casts doubt on our ability to accurately predict future climate changes because we simply don't know enough about the past. The paper was co-authored by Paul Valdes, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Bristol and colleagues in Leeds, Sweden, Russia and Austria.

Adult stem cell therapy has successfully treated leukemia and other cancers for years, in the form of bone marrow transplants.

These days there's a consumer group to fight our cause in almost every walk of life. Now a remarkable group of people are using their own experience to help shape pioneering research into the medical treatment and rehabilitation of stroke patients.

Swedish women have thicker bones than previously thought, this despite the fact that Swedes have one of the worst rates of hip fractures in older life.

Bacteria mutate for a living, evading antibiotic drugs while killing tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. But as concern about drug-resistant bacteria grows, one novel approach under way at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks to thwart the bug without a drug by taking a cue from nature.

The Feb. 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine described a new study devoted to pros and cons of prostate cancer screening.

Australian scientific researchers are calling for laws to protect their freedom to participate in public debate as well as encouragement and rewards from their institutions to do so, say experts.