news 2017

Surgical robots, Wi-Fi security flaws, and everything you always wanted to know about Tinder but were afraid to ask: here are the 10 most-read science stories of 2017! Surgical robots, Wi-Fi security flaws, and everything you always wanted to know about Tinder but were afraid to ask: here are the 10 most-read science stories of 2017! 1.

Surgical robots, Wi-Fi security flaws, and everything you always wanted to know about Tinder but were afraid to ask: here are the 10 most-read science stories of 2017! 1. World first: surgical robot performs precision-injection in patient with retinal vein occlusion Eye surgeons at University Hospitals Leuven have been the first to use a surgical robotto operate on a patient with retinal vein occlusion.

Caltech researchers discover that neurons within the posterior parietal cortex gather information about our memories to help us make memory-based decisions. It's a bit frustrating and a bit embarrassing: when a person looks so familiar, but their name hovers just out of mental reach, on the tip of your tongue.

A new study of TV-watching great tits reveals how they learn through observation. Social interactions within a predator species can have "evolutionary consequences" for potential prey - such as the conspicuous warning colours of insects like ladybirds. We suspect our findings apply over a wide range of predators and prey.

When a cancer patient receives a bone marrow transplant, time is of the essence. Healthy stem cells, which can restart the production of blood cells and immune system components after a patient's own are compromised, need to make their way from the circulatory system into the bones as quickly as possible.

Geoscience Professor John Valley, left, and research scientist Kouki Kitajima collaborate in the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer Lab (WiscSIMS) in Weeks Hall. Photo: Jeff Miller Researchers at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have confirmed that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and indeed the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.

A new analysis of the oldest known fossil microorganisms provides strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common. The microorganisms, from Western Australia, are 3.465 billion years old.

Dementia with Lewy bodies has a unique genetic profile, distinct from those of Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease, according to the first large-scale genetic study of this common type of dementia which was led by UCL. The genome-wide association study, conducted by a UCL-led collaboration of 65 academics in 11 countries and funded by Alzheimer's Society and the Lewy Body Society, is published today in The Lancet Neurology .

For plants, light is great, until it's not. They need the sun's energy to carry out photosynthesis, but too much light damages the chloroplasts in plant cells where light, water, and carbon dioxide are converted into sugar and oxygen. One way plants protect themselves is to dissipate that excess light, a process that also occurs in the chloroplasts.

Sleep is a crucial behavior for a properly functioning mind and body-just ask anyone who has experienced a sleepless night. But the complex neural mechanisms underlying sleep are only just beginning to be explored. As part of this exploration, neurobiologists like Caltech professor of biology David Prober aim to build up a catalog of genes that regulate sleep.

From squirtable surgical glue to gravitational waves, University of Sydney scientists have been hitting the headlines in 2017. Squirtable surgical glue Biomedical engineers at the University of Sydney working with scientists in Boston, USA, developed potentially life-saving glue. Named MeTro, the revolutionary product sets in just 60 seconds once treated with UV light.

Researchers get their first look at how the toxic protein clusters associated with Parkinson's disease disrupt the membranes of healthy brain cells. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative nervous system disorder that affects more than six million people worldwide and causes nearly 120,000 deaths per year.

Hagfishes , an ancient group of eel-like animals found on the bottom of the ocean, release a nasty slime when bitten by a predator fish. The slime sends the predator into fit as it "coughs” up the substance, trying to prevent suffocation, which usually leaves enough time for the slime eel to escape.

o Previously unknown functions of natural killer cells identified o Cells remodel and 'refresh' the lining of the womb in preparation for pregnancy o Process isn't always balanced in each cycle o Could lead to screening and treatment for women at risk of miscarriage For the first time the functions of natural killer cells in the womb have been identified.

A UCL-led research team has identified a rare mutation that causes one family to have unusually low sensitivity to pain. The researchers hope the findings, published today in Brain , could be used to identify new treatments for chronic pain. They studied an Italian family, the Marsilis, which includes six people who have a distinctive pain response that has not been identified in any other people.

EPFL scientists have discovered that neutrophils, a type of immune cell, can actually help lung tumors grow. The work is published in Cell Reports, and has enormous implications for cancer immunotherapy. Neutrophils inside lung adenocarcinoma tumors. On the left, neutrophils inside a mouse tumor are stained brown; on the right, neutrophils inside a human tumor are stained red (credit: E. Meylan/EPFL).

Cystic fibrosis is a severe hereditary disease of the lung, for which there is currently no cure. The underlying cause of the disease is a malfunction of the chloride channel CFTR, which prevents the secretion of chloride in certain body cells.

Matthew Aliota, assistant scientist in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, works with a strain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes stored in a research lab insectary in the Hanson Biomedical Sciences Building. Aliota is an expert on mosquito-borne pathogens such as the Zika virus, dengue fever and yellow fever infections.

FINDINGS An experimental blood test developed at UCLA that uses gene activity data from immune cells was 93 percent accurate in predicting survival rates for people with advanced heart failure who had surgery to implant mechanical circulatory support devices. BACKGROUND Mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices and temporary total artificial hearts, can be surgically implanted in people with advanced heart failure to help the heart's pumping function.

A perplexing question in immunology has been, how do immune cells remember an infection or a vaccination so that they can spring into action decades later? Research led by scientists at the UCalifornia, Berkeley, in collaboration with investigators at Emory University, has found an answer: A small pool of the same immune cells that responded to the original invasion remain alive for years, developing unique features that keep them primed and waiting for the same microbe to re-invade the body.