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Our brains use basic 'building blocks' of information to keep track of how people interact, enabling us to navigate complex social interactions, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. For the study, published in Nature , the researchers scanned the brains of participants who were playing a simple game involving a teammate and two opponents, to see how their brains were able to keep track of information about the group of players.

Online tests of women's reaction times offer insights into cognitive function and could help fill data gaps on early cognitive problems, potentially shedding light on dementia development later in life, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and other universities. The new paper, published in BMJ Open , finds that online tests can be an easy and effective way for women in their 40s and older to volunteer for dementia prevention research from their homes instead of visiting clinics.

Circuits in the brain that are crucially involved in implementing decisions by directing between perseverance, exploration and disengagement have been identified by a UCL-led research team, in a new study in mice. The neural circuits found in the brainstem may help to further understand a number of neuropsychiatric conditions including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism and major depressive disorder.

Analysis of Earth's past ice ages, tracked across one million years, has shed new light on the mystery of the planet's natural climate cycles, enabling improved projections of future climate, finds a new study co-authored by UCL researchers. Published in Science, the international team of scientists led by Cardiff University identified the specific contributions of various subtle changes in Earth's orbit that cause the climate to shift between warm periods and glacial periods every 100,000 years.

The oldest collection of mass-produced prehistoric bone tools reveal that human ancestors were likely capable of more advanced abstract reasoning one million years earlier than thought, finds a new study involving researchers at UCL and CSIC- Spanish National Research Council. The paper, published in Nature, describes a collection of 27 now-fossilised bones that had been shaped into hand tools 1.5 million years ago by human ancestors.

A team including UCL researchers has identified two new dinosaur species found in present-day Romania that lived shortly before dinosaurs went extinct. The end of the Cretaceous Period, 66 million years ago, marked the dramatic extinction of the dinosaurs following an asteroid impact. Until now, our understanding of this mass extinction has been largely shaped by fossils from North America.

A large-scale study involving UCL researchers has found huge variation between GP practices on whether they are likely to pick up prostate cancer using a blood test. The study aimed to investigate the proportion of patients whose prostate cancer was identified by using a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test when patients had no symptoms.

Our organs age at different rates, and a blood test determining how much they've each aged could predict the risk of conditions like lung cancer and heart disease decades later, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The findings, published in The Lancet Digital Health , show how accelerated ageing in specific organs can predict not only diseases affecting that organ, but diseases across the rest of the body as well.

A landmark study, involving UCL researchers, has found 69 previously unidentified genetic determinants of rare disease, including uncommon forms of epilepsy and schizophrenia. The research, published in Nature and led by Queen Mary University of London, uses a new analytical approach for identifying the genetic basis of rare diseases, which could diagnose more cases and help develop new treatments for patients.

Among people prescribed antipsychotics on the NHS for a diagnosis of severe mental illness, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and those from deprived areas in the UK are prescribed higher doses, according to an analysis led by UCL researchers. The researchers say their findings, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry and supported by Wellcome, do not confirm why some groups are prescribed higher doses, but raise concerns that certain groups may be given higher than necessary doses with associated risks of side effects.

Enhancing levels of 'healthy fats' like omega-3s in the brain could be beneficial in motor neurone disease (MND) finds a new study in fruit flies and brain cells, led by UCL researchers. Previous epidemiological studies have linked high dietary levels of omega-3 fatty acids - like those found in oily fish, nuts and seeds - with a lower risk of developing MND, and longer survival in people affected by the disease.

The UK's new legal requirement for folic acid to be added to non-wholemeal wheat flour does not go far enough and a bolder policy would prevent hundreds more birth defects each year, say researchers including UCL's Professor Sir Nicholas Wald. In a new study, published in the , the research team argue that the evidence has been consistent that higher levels of folic acid fortification would prevent about 80% of neural tube defects - defects which result in life-threatening and disabling spinal conditions such as spina bifida and anencephaly.

A new service aimed at supporting older people who are starting to become frail, could reduce emergency hospital admissions by more than a third and save the NHS money, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The results from the clinical trial, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), evaluated the effect and cost-effectiveness of a new service, consisting of six personalised home-based visits from a support worker, tailored to each person to identify what they need to stay well and independent.

A new psychological therapy designed by a team of UCL-led researchers has been found to reduce rates of violence and aggression among male offenders with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), investigated whether aggression and antisocial behaviours could be improved by a modified form of mentalisation-based treatment (MBT).

The immune systems of cancer patients are highly disrupted, with those who have a higher number of immune cells in their blood having a better survival rate, finds a new study that uses a pioneering technique developed by researchers at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute. The tool, described in Nature Genetics , is called Immune Lymphocyte Estimation from Nucleotide Sequencing (ImmuneLENS).

Older people have greater life satisfaction and sense of life's worth than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic, finds a new study led by a UCL researcher. The research, published in Aging and Mental Health , used the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to track 3,999 people over the age of 50 in England for 11 years.

Ancient Egyptian mummified bodies smell 'woody,' 'spicy' and 'sweet', finds a new study led by researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana, revealing new details about mumification practices. The research, published in Journal of the American Chemical Society , is the first time that the smells of mummified bodies have been systematically studied combining a mix of instrumental and sensory techniques, including an electronic 'nose' and trained, human 'sniffers.' Nine ancient Egyptian mummified bodies were studied.

Schoolchildren who are taught that stress and sadness are normal parts of life are likely to have better mental health, finds a new study led by UCL and mental health charity, Anna Freud. The Education for Wellbeing trial, which was commissioned and funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and led by researchers from the Evidence Based Practice Unit (a collaboration between UCL and Anna Freud), investigated which strategies are most effective at improving the mental health awareness of British schoolchildren.

Historical inhabitants of the region that is now Ukraine have had diverse European, Asian and Middle Eastern ancestry for thousands of years, finds a new study co-led by UCL researchers. The analysis of ancient DNA shows the genetic imprint of Ukraine's history as a crossroads of human migrations, connecting people from the vast Eurasian steppe with central Europe.

'Temperamental' stars that brighten and dim over a matter of hours or days may be distorting our view of thousands of distant planets, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. Most of the information we have about planets beyond our solar system (exoplanets) comes from looking at dips in starlight as these planets pass in front of their host star.