Latest news with #UniversityOfWarwick
BBC News
6 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
West Midlands electric car battery recovery project given £8.1m
A project to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt from used batteries has been awarded £8.1m to continue its Innovation, a collaboration between Jaguar Land Rover, LiBatt Recycling and the University of Warwick, said it wanted to use the money to demonstrate its work is receiving half the money from the government, as part of a £2.5bn commitment to support the transition to electric three-year project is due to take place in the West Midlands, ending in 2028. Mint said the UK was expected to produce 235 kilotons of electric vehicle battery waste by 2040, but lacked industrial-scale recyclers to reuse the Will Barker, CEO of Mint Innovation, said its aim was to "advance zero emission automative manufacturing at a faster pace".The partnership said the technology would be used to ensure a "sustainable lifecycle for lithium-ion batteries, from end-of-life battery supply and processing through to integrating recycled materials into new batteries". Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
WIRED
09-07-2025
- Science
- WIRED
A Giant Planet and a Small Star Are Shaking Up Conventional Cosmological Theory
Jul 9, 2025 7:00 AM A gas giant comparable in size to Saturn has been found orbiting a small red dwarf star. The discovery is making experts reconsider conventional notions of how planets form. An illustration of the giant gas planet TOI-6894b orbiting the small, dim red dwarf star TOI-6894. Illustration: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick Many of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are small, dim red dwarfs—stars much smaller than the sun in both size and mass. TOI-6894, located far away from Earth, is one of them. Astronomers previously thought a star like this could not have large planets circulating it, because its mass is only about 20 percent of the sun, meaning its planetary system—generated from materials surrounding the star—would not have contained enough mass to form a giant body like Saturn or Jupiter. But when observing TOI-6894, an international research team detected a clear transit signal—a temporary decrease in a star's brightness caused by a planet passing across it. This newly discovered planet, named TOI-6894b, blocks 17 percent of the star's light, indicating the planet is fairly large. The signal was picked up by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an observation instrument launched by NASA to hunt for planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system. This makes TOI-6894 'the lowest mass star known to date to host such a planet,' said Edward Bryant, Astrophysics Prize Fellow at the University of Warwick, in a press statement. The finding appears to upend conventional theory on how planets are formed. 'This discovery will be a cornerstone for understanding the extremes of giant planet formation,' Bryant said. Astronomers at University College London and the University of Warwick, as part of a global collaboration with partners in Chile, the US, and Europe, trawled through the data of about 91,000 red dwarf stars observed by TESS before discovering the planet TOI-6894b. After that, the nature of TOI-6894b was clarified by additional observations made with other telescopes. According to these, TOI-6894b's radius is slightly larger than Saturn's, but its mass is only about half that of the ringed giant. Its density is extremely light at only 0.33 g/cm³, indicating that it is an expanding gas planet. TOI-6894 is nearly 40 percent smaller than the previous record for the smallest star with a planet of this size. This fact poses a serious contradiction to conventional theories of planet formation. The widely accepted planetary formation model, the 'core-accumulation theory,' proposes that a ring of dust and rocks—known as protoplanetary disk—forms around a star, and that materials in this disk then gather together to form the cores of planets. After starting out this way, larger gas planets then accrete gases around their cores to become gigantic. But if the mass of the star is small, the mass of its protoplanetary disk tends to be small as well. In such a scenario, the nucleus necessary for the formation of a giant gas planet will not grow. Based on this theory, it is estimated that more than 120 times more solid matter than that of the Earth would be required to form TOI-6894b. However, the observed disk surrounding the star TOI-6894 contains only 58 times the mass of the Earth at most. This raises the possibility of an alternative planet-formation mechanism existing. One suggestion by Bryant and the team is that planets could form by gradual gas accumulation, without the initial formation of a massive core. 'Alternatively, it could have formed because of a gravitationally unstable disc,' Bryant says. 'In some cases, the disc surrounding the star will become unstable due to the gravitational force it exerts on itself. These discs can then fragment, with the gas and dust collapsing to form a planet.' However, the press statement goes on to explain that neither of these theories can could completely explain the formation of TOI-6894b, based on the data gathered. For now the planet's origin remains a mystery. Analyzing the atmosphere of the newly discovered exoplanet might yield answers; it is possible that chemical traces of its formation process remain. Observations of TOI-6894b by the James Webb Space Telescope over the next 12 months are expected to reveal details about its interior structure and atmospheric composition, which will have a major say on whether current theories about planet formation are supported or new ones are needed. The discovery may force us to rethink our unified model of planet formation, says Andrés Jordán of the Millennium Astrophysics Institute at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile. Years of steady observations are pushing the limits of theory, and it may even be time to fundamentally rethink our estimates of the total number of giant planets in the galaxy. This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Warwick ranked top university in West Midlands
The University of Warwick has been named the best in the West Midlands in an annual league table of UK university, founded in 1965, also climbed one place in the nationwide rankings of the 2026 edition of the Complete University Guide., to next two highest-ranked West Midlands universities were the University of Birmingham, at 14th, and Aston, at 44th."This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of our staff, students and wider community," said Prof Stuart Croft, Warwick's vice-chancellor and president. The guide ranks 130 UK universities on areas including student satisfaction, research quality and graduate received an overall score of 83%, placing it above establishments such as University College London, Bristol and top three spots in this year's guide went to Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science."At Warwick, we are committed to academic excellence, innovation, and creating a supportive environment where talent can thrive," added Prof Croft. "It's fantastic to see that commitment recognised at a regional and national level, especially in our 60th anniversary year."Coventry, Keele, Worcester, Staffordshire and Harper Adams in Newport, Shropshire, also made the top 100 in the guide while the University of Wolverhampton came 108th. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
University of Warwick appeals for theatre graduates to join reunion
A university is asking for theatre and performance studies graduates to get in touch to help celebrate the department's 50th birthday. Gavin and Stacey writer and star Ruth Jones is among those to have studied at the University of Warwick since its opening in is asking for former students to take part in a reunion event on 28 June in order to reconnect and share their stories. "Our alumni are an essential part of our story as well as our best advocates and inspiration for future generations of students," said Assistant Professor David Coates, who is organising the event. As part of the anniversary, the department is also working to expand the university archive."Our theatre studies archive is currently too formal, and we would like more colour and character," added Professor Coates. "We're appealing for photos, programmes, module notes, flyers and any other memorabilia material that can help capture the spirit of student life in the department over our five decades," he added. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
New Warwickshire health partnership between universities and NHS
A new partnership between academic and health bodies has been announced with the aim of tackling health Arden Health Partnership (AHP) has been formed by the University of Warwick, Coventry University and five Warwickshire NHS institutions."We are lucky in this country to have the NHS, where care delivery is free at the point of access," said Prof Sudhesh Kumar OBE, vice-president (health) at the University of Warwick."But it's surprising that we still have so much disparity in health outcomes." Figures suggest life expectancy in Coventry is lower than the national Kumar says pockets of deprivation and areas with high ethnic minority populations are contributory factors."I think sometimes spending enough time to look after your health takes a back seat," he explained. "Increasing health literacy is important, so more people are aware of what the issues are."Even if you are aware, imagine [someone running] a corner shop - they can't take time off to do the things they should be doing." Prof Kumar said early intervention - educating people about how to take care of themselves - was vital."Many of the problems we have here are very similar to health problems in other parts of the country," he said, citing smoking as an example of unhealthy behaviour people still engage in. 'Develop innovative solutions' "We know that one organisation cannot solve challenges like tackling health inequalities and improving health and wellbeing outcomes in our area on their own," said Prof John Latham CBE, vice-chancellor of Coventry University and CEO of the AHP."This collaboration is a commitment to working together to address regional health challenges."Prof Kumar said groups were being set up to include people with expertise in dealing with health issues."They will articulate [the issue], then get in people who can produce solutions," he said."They may be from universities... or they could be from businesses or industries that have developed innovative new solutions."And we are putting together processes to help increase the rate of adoption of these processes by the NHS." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
