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A commercial blood test could detect Alzheimer's disease as accurately as standard lumbar punctures, finds a new study involving a UCL researcher. The research, published in JAMA Neurology, found that the ALZpath's Blood-Based Test was capable of detecting 'p-tau217', a form of the protein tau, which is a hallmark protein of Alzheimer's disease.

A gene that causes heart defects in Down syndrome has been identified by researchers at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute. The team found that reducing the overactivity of this gene partially reversed these defects in mice, paving the way for potential future therapies for heart conditions in people with Down syndrome.

Menopausal women who regularly swim in cold water report significant improvements to their physical and mental symptoms, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Post Reproductive Health , surveyed 1114 women, 785 of which were going through the menopause, to examine the effects of cold water swimming on their health and wellbeing.

Groundwater levels are declining at rapid and accelerating rates in numerous aquifers around the world, but the decline can be reversed in some cases, finds a new study involving researchers from University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), UCL and ETH Zürich. The research, published in Nature , analysed measurements taken over the last two decades from 170,000 wells in 1,693 aquifer systems across more than 40 countries.

People who experience stressful life events or circumstances are more likely to have worse biological health, as indicated by biomarkers involved in the interaction between our immune, nervous and endocrine systems, according to a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity , found that not only major stressful experiences such as bereavement but chronic challenges such as financial strain were detrimental to the healthy interaction of these systems.

There is a difference between how the brains of healthy older adults perceive colour compared to younger adults, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Scientific Reports , compared how the pupils of younger and older people reacted to different aspects of colour in the environment.

The global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration involving UCL researcher Dr Ziri Younsi has released new images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87. The new images are from observations taken in April 2018, one year after the first observations of M87* in April 2017 which resulted in the first ever image of a black hole.

Recent SARS-CoV-2 variants such as BA.4 and BA.5 developed abilities missing from the first Omicron variants that allowed them to overcome humans' innate immunity, according to research from UCL. The study, published in Nature Microbiology , examined viral evolution in eight Omicron variants to better understand how the virus has reacted since the introduction of vaccinations 1 .

An experiment outlined by a UCL-led team of scientists from the UK and India could test whether relatively large masses have a quantum nature, resolving the question of whether quantum mechanical description works at a much larger scale than that of particles and atoms. Quantum theory is typically seen as describing nature at the tiniest scales and quantum effects have not been observed in a laboratory for objects more massive than about a quintillionth of a gram, or more precisely 10^(-20)g.

Children whose irritability does not reduce between three and seven years are at higher risk of depression and self-harm as teenagers, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The new findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ( JAACAP ), suggest that interventions helping parents and caregivers to support children with high irritability could help to reduce the future risk of mental illness.

More than 200 genes linked to depression have been newly identified in a worldwide study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Nature Genetics , found more than 50 new genetic loci (a locus is a specific position on a chromosome) and 205 novel genes that are associated with depression, in the first large-scale global study of the genetics of major depression in participants of diverse ancestry groups.

By exploiting the technology used in Covid-19 vaccines, a team led by UCL, King's College London and Moderna scientists has created an effective therapy for a rare disease, in a study in mice, demonstrating the technology's potential therapeutic use in people. The research, published in Science Translational Medicine , found that messenger RNA (mRNA) could be used to correct a rare liver genetic disease known as argininosuccinic aciduria in a mouse model of the disease.

International students do not importantly affect education and labour market outcomes of domestic students in higher education in England, finds a new study involving UCL. The study, published in the European Economic Review by researchers at UCL and the Universities of Surrey and Essex, investigated whether international students in undergraduate programmes affect the educational performances and early labour market outcomes of their UK-domiciled peers.

A major international collaboration of 356 scientists led by UCL researchers has found almost identical patterns of tree diversity across the world's tropical forests. The study of over one million trees across 1,568 locations, published in Nature , found that just 2.2% of tree species make up 50% of the total number of trees in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon, and Southeast Asia.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration involving UCL researchers has achieved one of the most robust measurements of the constraints on the universe's expansion to date. The international group of researchers, led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), analysed nearly 1,500 supernovae using machine learning techniques.

Dr. Angela Aristidou (UCL School of Management) highlights the mental health impact of the pandemic on PhD students and the coping mechanisms that can help in The Conversation. A pre-pandemic study  on PhD students' mental health showed that they often struggle with such issues. Financial insecurity and  feelings of isolation  can be among the factors affecting students' wellbeing.

Traditional navigation techniques from across the world, some of which have been in use for thousands of years, can inform western science, according to research from UCL and the University of York. The new review paper, published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences , sheds new light on remarkable feats of navigation from cultures ranging from sailors in the Marshall Islands using wave patterns to navigate the vast Pacific Ocean, to indigenous communities in Alaska using stars to find their way across the Yukon.

A first potential therapeutic target for a type of early-onset dementia has been established by a team of scientists, including UCL researchers. The new study, published in Nature , and led by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, identified abnormal aggregates of a protein called TAF15 in the brains of individuals with early-onset dementia, known as frontotemporal dementia, where the cause was not previously known.

Dr Elaine Kingwell (UCL Epidemiology & Health Care) discusses her study, with Dr Kyla Mckay (Karolinska Institutet), that shows antiretroviral therapy for HIV can influence the risk of developing MS. Over the last decade,  several case studies  have reported that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who started antiretroviral therapy for HIV (to keep the virus in check) subsequently found that their MS symptoms had either disappeared completely or the disease progression had slowed considerably.

Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth's magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , describes how changes in the Earth's magnetic field imprinted on iron oxide grains within ancient clay bricks, and how scientists were able to reconstruct these changes from the names of the kings inscribed on the bricks.