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Teenage girls who experience clinical levels of anxiety could be at greater risk of eating disorders, according to researchers at UCL and University of Bristol. The study, published today in European Eating Disorders Review , looked at anxiety disorder pathology and engagement with severe levels of fasting (not eating for an entire day) in 2,406 teenage girls of Bristol's Children of the 90s study.

Meerkat clans perform a 'war dance' to frighten opponents and protect their territory, according to a new UCL and University of Cambridge study. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , is the first empirical study to reveal intergroup aggression. The researchers, who monitored hundreds of these intergroup encounters over 11 years, show that meetings between meerkat clans often turn aggressive and sometimes escalate to fighting and lethal violence.

Female MPs are roughly 20% more vocal in parliamentary debates where the cabinet minister is female than when the responsible minister is male, finds a new study by UCL. The research, published in the British Journal of Political Science , is the first to consider whether female leadership affects the processes or outcomes of political debate.

If you disagree with someone, it might not make any difference how certain they say they are, as during disagreement your brain's sensitivity to the strength of people's beliefs is reduced, finds a study led by UCL and City, University of London. The brain scanning study, published , reveals a new type of confirmation bias that can make it very difficult to alter people's opinions.

More than one in three lowand middle-income countries are facing high levels of obesity and under-nourishment, according to a report involving UCL researchers. The report, published today in The Lancet,  says a new approach is needed to help reduce the 'double burden' of undernutrition and obesity at the same time, as the issues become increasingly connected due to rapid changes in countries' food systems.

One in three people commit "financial infidelity", with potentially toxic consequences for their relationships, according to a study co-led by UCL which is thought to be the first to investigate the concept. Romantic relationships are built on trust, but partners are not always honest about their financial behaviour - they often hide spending, debt, and savings from one another.

Using geographic profiling to map half a century of ring-necked parakeet sightings, a research team involving UCL has found no evidence to support any of the colourful legends surrounding the birds' origins in the UK. Stories have circulated in recent years that seek to explain how the non-native bright green birds ( Psittacula krameri ) started breeding and spread to become one of Britain's most successful alien species.

Simian immunodeficiency virus, the monkeyand ape-infecting virus that HIV originated from, may have influenced the genetics of chimpanzees, finds a new UCL-led study. The virus is a leading contributor to differences between chimpanzee subspecies, according to the findings published in  PLOS Genetics .

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is going closer to the sun than any spacecraft has been before - Dr Daniel Verscharen (UCL Space & Climate Physics) writes about the findings so far. If you ask a child to paint a picture of the sun, you will most likely get a bright yellow circle on a piece of paper. This is actually quite accurate, given that the sun is a ball of hot gas and that its surface (called the photosphere) mostly shines in bright yellow light.

Nearly 900,000 deaths in England could have been avoided in a more equal society, according to a UCL study of 2.5 million premature deaths over the last 16 years. The study, published today in The Lancet Public Health , found that one in three deaths before the age of 75 are attributable to socio-economic and regional health inequalities.

A simple health questionnaire could be a highly effective tool to pre-screen people for early signs of oesophageal cancer, enabling much earlier diagnosis and treatment, finds a UCL-led study. The research, published in Lancet Digital Health , used artificial intelligence to analyse a large oesophageal cancer dataset, known as BEST2 (1,299 patients), to establish which health factors were common in those individuals who had Barrett's oesophagus.

A single dose of radiotherapy is as "effective" as five doses for end-of-life cancer patients suffering with painful spinal canal compression, finds a large study conducted by UCL. Spinal canal compression is a common complication in cancer patients when the cancer has spread to their spine. Radiotherapy is used to control pain and alleviate symptoms.

Mars's huge landslides can move at speeds of up to 360 kilometres an hour for up to tens of kilometres. PhD candidate Giulia Magnarini and Dr Tom Mitchell (UCL Earth Sciences) write about how these landslides may have formed. Some landslides on Mars seem to defy an important law of physics. "Long, runout landslides" are formed by huge volumes of rock and soil moving downslope, largely due to the force of gravity.

DNA from 75-year old eradicated European malaria parasites uncovers the historical spread of one of the two most common forms of the disease, Plasmodium vivax, from Europe to the Americas during the colonial period, finds a new study co-led by UCL. The research published in Molecular Biology and Evolution reports the genome sequence of a malaria parasite sourced from blood-stained medical microscope slides used in 1944 in Spain, one of the last footholds of malaria in Europe.

Professor Geraint Rees, Pro-Vice-Provost of Artificial Intelligence at UCL, writes that AI can and must be used for good, to complement and augment human endeavour rather than replace it. Recent advances in deepfake video technology have led to a rapid increase of such videos in the public domain in the past year.

Approximately one in 20 mothers whose babies are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) died within 10 years of delivery in both England and Canada, according to a new study from researchers at UCL and ICES and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Canada Neonatal abstinence syndrome (also called NAS) is a group of symptoms experienced by babies from withdrawal from certain drugs (predominantly opioids) that they are exposed to in the womb before birth.

White blood cells, which release a toxic potion of proteins to kill cancerous and virus-infected cells, are protected from any harm by the physical properties of their cell envelopes, find scientists from UCL and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. Until now, it has been a mystery to scientists how these white blood cells - called cytotoxic lymphocytes - avoid being killed by their own actions and the discovery could help explain why some tumours are more resistant than others to recently developed cancer immunotherapies.

A one-off dose of ketamine could help heavy drinkers reduce their alcohol intake, finds a new UCL experimental study. Giving a shot of ketamine to heavy drinkers after reactivating their drinking-related memories led to a rapid decrease in urges to drink and a prolonged decrease in alcohol intake over nine months, according to the study published .

Co-authoring a research paper with an established scientist early in an academic's career leads to significant future benefits for the junior researcher, finds a paper by UCL. This effect is much stronger for early-career researchers affiliated with less prestigious institutions, who are statistically less likely later in their careers to reach the same levels those at the most prestigious institutions will.

Living in a more polluted area is associated with a greater likelihood of having glaucoma, a debilitating eye condition that can cause blindness, finds a new UCL-led study in the UK. People in neighbourhoods with higher amounts of fine particulate matter pollution were at least 6% more likely to report having glaucoma than those in the least-polluted areas, according to the findings published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science .