London (2017): An ancient Indian manuscript, dating back to the third century, has revealed the oldest recorded use of ‘zero’ – pushing back one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics back by over 500 years, Oxford scientists say. Bakhshali manuscript was found in 1881, buried in a field in what was then […]

Researchers at Oxford University have set a new speed record for the ‘logic gates’ that form the building blocks of quantum computing – a technology that has  the potential to dwarf the processing power of today’s classical computers. The Oxford team is using a trapped-ion technique to develop its computer, in which logic gates place […]

Q: Imagine a ladder leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the ground. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a different colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from the side on. What shape does that middle rung trace out as […]

Hundreds of the UK’s poorest bright teenagers are to be given scholarships to attend Oxford after the university was handed a £75 million donation by a former student – former journalist Michael Moritz and his novelist wife Harriet Heyman. It comes as tuition fees in England are tripled to a maximum of £9,000 per year, and […]