A helping of seasonal science in which Oxford's Federico Formenti tells me about research into the origins of ice skating:

As part of our 'Any questions?' campaign a question sent in by Silvan Griffith is answered by Claire Vallance from Oxford's Department of Chemistry.

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This week sees the launch of Accelerate! a programme of interactive physics show for Oxford schools.

The aim is to bring the excitement of particle and accelerator physics to ages 11 and up: the fun kicks off with a launch event this Friday.

Highlights from OU science in the news this week:

Could your electricity meter save £££s and the planet?

That's the hope behind the smart meter technology being developed by Oxford spinout Intelligent Sustainable Energy, as Martin Arnold reports in the FT.

One of the mysteries of Venus is the strange patches in the clouds that show up in ultraviolet light.

Whether you turn out to be a good or bad mother is partly down to how you were treated by your own mother: at least if you are a rat.

Some galaxies, like some humans, can enter a period of graceful decline rather than suffer violent transformation, according to two new studies.

Road-building in Africa's Congo basin could spell catastrophe for the forest elephant.

New research by WCS and Save the Elephants published today in PLoS One shows that encroaching roads create a 'siege mentality' in forest elephants as they avoid roads, associating them with the threat of poaching.

Is it better to sterilise males with a dose of radiation or by inserting a gene?

That's part of the thrust of an article by Clive Cookson in the FT on the work of Oxford spinout Oxitec.