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Neuroscientists at UCL have uncovered how exploratory actions enable animals to learn their spatial environment more efficiently. Their findings could help build better AI agents that can learn faster and require less experience. Unit at UCL found the instinctual exploratory runs that animals carry out are not random.

Safer cancer drugs are now one step closer after a new study led by UCL researchers found the likely reason that some treatments damage the heart. Modern drugs can be very effective at treating cancer and have led to greatly improved survival rates. However, some cancer treatments can cause damage to the heart, or cardiotoxicity.

Life in the ocean's "twilight zone" could decline dramatically due to climate change, suggests a new study involving UCL researchers. The twilight zone (200m to 1,000m deep) gets very little light but is home to a wide variety of organisms and billions of tonnes of organic matter. The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications , warns that climate change could cause a 20-40% reduction in twilight zone life by the end of the century.

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool could be an effective way of identifying retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), the leading cause of childhood blindness in middle-income countries, finds a new study led by UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital researchers. The team developed a deep learning AI model that can identify which at-risk infants have ROP that may lead to blindness if left untreated, and they hope their technique could improve access to screening in the many areas with limited neonatal services and few trained ophthalmologists.

Two massive touching stars in a neighbouring galaxy are on course to become black holes that will eventually crash together, generating waves in the fabric of space-time, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and the University of Potsdam. The study, accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics , looked at a known binary star (two stars orbiting around a mutual centre of gravity), analysing starlight obtained from a range of groundand space-based telescopes.

Researchers at UCL, the Francis Crick Institute and King's College London have shed light on the genetics underlying changes in the structure and shape of the face and head in a mouse model of Down syndrome. They found that having a third copy of the gene Dyrk1a and at least three other genes was responsible for changes in development that result in 'craniofacial dysmorphology', which shows up as shortened back-to-front length and widened diameter of the head.

A world-first trial at UCL and UCLH has found a new genetic therapy for Alzheimer's disease that is able to safely and successfully lower levels of the harmful tau protein known to cause the disease. The trial, led by consultant neurologist Dr Catherine Mummery (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology & the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery), represents the first time that a 'gene silencing' approach has been taken in dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The more vividly a person imagines something, the more likely it is that they believe it's real, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in Nature Communications , involved over 600 participants who took part in an online experiment, where they were asked to imagine images of alternating black and white lines while looking at a computer screen.

The genomes of two hornet species, the European hornet and the Asian hornet (or yellow-legged hornet) have been sequenced for the first time by a team led by UCL scientists. By comparing these decoded genomes with that of the giant northern hornet, which has recently been sequenced by another team, the researchers have revealed clues suggesting why hornets have been so successful as invasive species across the globe.

Dr Nikki Sure and Anna Adamecz-Volgyi (both IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society) describe in The Conversation how their research links a person's overconfidence in adolescence to their job market outcomes later in life. There has been a steady stream of popular literature in recent years telling women to "lean in", be more confident, and not worry about "imposter syndrome".

Scientists at UCL have worked with the Royal British Legion to assess a new plastic-free Remembrance poppy, finding that it produces 40% less carbon emissions over its lifetime. The Royal British Legion has been developing the plastic-free poppy for the last three years, in collaboration with expert partners, in efforts to reduce its use of single-use plastic and be economical, sustainable, and less impactful to the environment.

Using talking therapies to effectively treat depression in adults over the age of 45 may be linked with reduced rates of future cardiovascular disease, finds a new analysis of health data led by UCL researchers. In the first-of-its-kind study, published in the European Health Journal , researchers assessed whether evidence-based psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), used to treat depression could play a role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.

Remnants of ancient retroviruses passed down in our DNA could be an effective target for antibodies against lung cancer, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute. The research, published in Nature and part-funded by Cancer Research UK, could improve our understanding of why patients respond differently to immunotherapy treatments - allowing the therapies to be improved for the future.

Researchers at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology have discovered a network of connections in the brain linked to seizures in people with epilepsy. The team believe that their findings, published in Brain , will help redesign neurological operations for patients whose epilepsy can't be controlled by medication.

People living with long Covid who suffer from loss of smell show different patterns of activity in certain regions of the brain, a new study led by UCL researchers has found. The research used MRI scanning to compare the brain activity of people with long Covid who lost their sense of smell, those whose smell had returned to normal after Covid infection, and people who had never tested positive for Covid-19.

A modified form of Botox could give long term pain relief to patients with chronic nerve injury pain, according to a study by scientists from UCL, the Universities of Sheffield and Reading and US-based biopharmaceutical company Neuresta. The researchers have created a new, elongated botulinum neurotoxin which can alleviate chronic pain without risk of paralysis or addiction.

Researchers at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute believe they are now one step closer to understanding the causes behind cachexia - the sudden loss of weight, appetite and muscle - that some cancer patients experience in the later stages of the disease. The study, which is part of the Cancer Research UK TRACERx programme and is published in Nature Medicine , found distinct patterns of genes that were much more likely to be found in the tumours of patients with cachexia, and could lead to a way to diagnose the condition before symptoms appear.

Genomic surveillance could aid in tracking pathogen evolution and crop resistance, preventing crop failures, suggests a new study co-led by UCL researchers. The new PLOS Biology paper, conducted by an international team of researchers from four continents, suggests that surveillance could help manage emerging crop diseases and identify genetic traits for breeding disease-resistant crops.

Scientists at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute have uncovered early genetic clues that could indicate where and when cancer cells might spread next. The research, which is funded by Cancer Research UK and published across seven papers in Nature and Nature Medicine , could pave the way for doctors to use blood tests to predict cancer's future, monitor it in real-time and adapt treatments accordingly.

Those educated at private schools are twice as likely to be consistent Conservative voters in adulthood as those who had a state education, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. Published in the journal Sociology , the study uses data from a longitudinal study of almost 7,000 British people born in 1970.