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How a comet's dust tail forms bands stretching millions of kilometres across the sky has been observed for the first time by UCL scientists. The study, published today in Icarus, reveals the charged nature of the dust particles and the important role of the Sun in forming the characteristic patterns.

UCL has held an independent special inquiry into regenerative medicine research at UCL which was published in full in September 2017. The panel, chaired by Professor Stephen Wigmore from the University of Edinburgh, carried out a thorough investigation of the involvement of UCL and its personnel in regenerative medicine research but with particular focus on the field of tracheal and large airway tissue engineering.

Breast cancer cells hit blood vessel walls with up to 200 times the mechanical force exerted by normal healthy cells, finds a new UCL study. Using a novel instrument, which mimics blood vessel walls, researchers have gained new insights into the physical aspects of cancer migration and have revealed how cancer cells are able to coordinate their invasion to different parts of the body.

Treating periodontitis (gum disease) could help people with Type 2 diabetes manage their blood glucose levels, according to a new study led by UCL. The research, published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal and funded by Diabetes UK and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre also showed that treating oral health is linked to improvements in kidney and blood vessel function.

A team from UCL, University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has operated on the abnormally developed spinal cords of two babies in the womb, in a medical first for the UK. The team repaired the defect in the spine of two babies with open spina bifida, in separate operations this summer.

Learning about someone's political beliefs interferes with a person's ability to assess expertise, as people judge like-minded peers as being more expert in fields completely unrelated to politics, finds a new UCL-led study. In the paper, published in Cognition , the researchers found that people turned to peers with similar political views for help on a shape categorisation task that had nothing to do with politics, instead of seeking help from someone who was doing better at the shape categorisation task but didn't share their political leanings.

Treating the prostate with radiotherapy alongside standard treatment led to an 11 per cent increase in survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer, a study at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL has found. The findings ,  published in The Lancet , come from from one of the largest ever clinical trials for the disease.

The world's first functional oesophagus engineered from stem cells has been grown and successfully transplanted into mice, as part of a pioneering new study led by UCL. It is hoped this research, carried out by UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH), in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the Francis Crick Institute, could pave the way for clinical trials of lab-grown food pipes for children with congenital and acquired gut conditions.

The most common form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) originated in Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and the Americas with European explorers and colonialists, reveals a new study led by UCL and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. TB takes more lives than any other infectious disease and while its global burden has slowly declined over the past decade, the rise of antibiotic resistance (ABR) presents a major obstacle to its control.

Young people who read fiction have significantly stronger reading skills than their peers who do not, according to new findings from UCL. Researchers from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), analysed data from more than 250,000 teenagers aged 15, across 35 industrialised countries* who had taken part in the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA).

A newly discovered role for the enzyme glutamine synthetase could have important implications for developing anti-cancer drugs according to a new UCL study. An intrinsic part of tumour growth is the sprouting of blood vessels, which supply cancerous tumours with the blood and energy that they need to survive.

Children who are the youngest in their classroom are more likely to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than their older classmates, finds a new global study co-authored by UCL. The research, published in the  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , systematically reviewed studies that examine the relationship between a child's age relative to their classmates and their chances of being diagnosed with, or medicated for, ADHD.

Century-scale climate variability was enhanced when the Earth was warmer during the Last Interglacial period (129-116 thousand years ago) compared to the current interglacial (the last 11,700 years), according to a new UCL-led study. The findings, published today and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC), reveal that the Last Interglacial period was punctuated by a series of century-scale arid events in southern Europe and cold water-mass expansions in the North Atlantic.

Scientists at UCL have designed a virtual modelling technique which can create highly detailed 3D models of individual cancerous tumours and simulate the delivery of drugs in order to predict their effectiveness. In the study, researchers acquired high-resolution images of surgically-resected tumours and used mathematical modelling to run detailed computational experiments.

The use of e-cigarettes among smokers has shifted from more affluent early adopters to being used more widely across all socioeconomic groups, according to new UCL research. The study, published today in  Addiction  and funded by Cancer Research UK, is the first of its kind to look at the use of e-cigarettes, which includes vape pens and vape mods, by socioeconomic groups at the population level.

More young people are choosing not to drink alcohol, and many others are drinking less, according to a UCL research team. The study, published in BMC Public Health , analysed a 10-year period of data from the annual Health Survey for England. Researchers found that the proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who don't drink alcohol increased from 18% in 2005 to 29% in 2015.

A patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), is set to be given a pioneering treatment, which has been developed by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at UCL. CJD is a rare but devastating disease that causes brain damage and for which there is currently no treatment. It is always fatal and most patients sadly die within six weeks of diagnosis.

The first clinical trial of novel approach to modifying the progression of Alzheimer's disease has opened in London, led by UCL researchers. The study is being conducted at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Clinical Research Facility at the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre at Queen Square, assisted by the Royal Free Hospital.

Female guppies with smaller brains can distinguish attractive males, but they don't recognise them as being more appealing or choose to mate with them, according to a new study by UCL and Stockholm University researchers. The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution , adds weight to the link between mate preference and cognitive ability.

A healthy home environment could help offset children's genetic susceptibilities to obesity, according to new research led by UCL. The study, published this week in JAMA Pediatrics , found that the impact of genetic factors on weight is roughly halved if a child is bought up in a less 'obesogenic' home environment where healthy eating and exercise is more prevalent.