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A new study involving researchers from UCL has found consistent evidence of a decline in ocean currents, with the Gulf Stream System, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), at its weakest in over 1,000 years. Published today in Nature Geoscience, the team found that the Gulf Stream's slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented and is likely linked to human-induced climate change.

Videos showing for the first time how small circles of DNA adopt dance-like movements have been developed by a team led by researchers at UCL and the Universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield. The footage is based on some of the highest resolution images of a single molecule of DNA ever captured, with DNA seen to "dance" in microscopy data recorded at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL.

Patients who have had treatment for early-stage testicular cancer could benefit from fewer monitoring scans, reducing the harmful radiation they are exposed to from computerized tomography (CT) imaging, according to the results of a new clinical trial involving UCL researchers. Funded by Cancer Research UK and led by researchers at UCL, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Leeds/Huddersfield, the study found that using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instead of CT scans was as effective at picking up signs of cancer relapse.

Reserves of groundwater in much of the populated parts of Africa are being replenished at rates that could help to protect communities against the damaging effects of climate change, finds a new study co-authored by UCL. Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters , the study has revealed that the long-term groundwater recharge (the rate at which groundwater is replenished) in Africa is approximately 15,000 cubic km per decade - enough to sustain widespread groundwater pumping for drinking water and irrigatation for farming.

Genetic mutations which occur naturally during the earliest stages of an embryo's development can cause the severe birth defect spina bifida, finds a new experimental study in mice led by UCL scientists. The study, published in  Nature Communications , explains for the first time how a 'mosaic mutation' - a mutation which is not inherited from either parent (either via sperm or egg cell) but occurs randomly during cell divisions in the developing embryo - causes spina bifida.

Boys who regularly play video games at age 11 are less likely to develop depressive symptoms three years later, finds a new study led by a UCL researcher. The study, published in Psychological Medicine , also found that girls who spend more time on social media appear to develop more depressive symptoms.

More than 50% of patients hospitalised with COVID-19, who had raised levels of a protein called troponin, have some heart damage, finds a new magnetic resonance imaging study, led by UCL scientists. More than 50% of patients hospitalised with COVID-19, who had raised levels of a protein called troponin, have some myocardial injury (heart damage), finds a new magnetic resonance imaging study, led by UCL scientists.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology) discusses his research which has found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales which was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose History of the Kings of Britain was written in 1136, the mysterious monoliths at Stonehenge were first spirited there by the wizard Merlin, whose army stole them from a mythical Irish stone circle called the Giants' Dance.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB*) people are significantly more likely to have mental health conditions and report alcohol and drug misuse than heterosexual people - finds a new study led by UCL researchers in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and City, University. The findings, published today in  Psychological Medicine , come despite apparently more tolerant societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships.

A large-scale analysis involving UCL and funded by Diabetes UK has found a disproportionately higher Covid-19 death risk in middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes, raising questions over vaccination strategies across Europe. The study, published in the journal Diabetologia , found that compared to people of a similar age without type 2 diabetes, the additional COVID-19 mortality risk from having type 2 diabetes increases the younger someone is.

People with prediabetes, whose blood sugar levels are higher than normal, may have an increased risk of cognitive decline and vascular dementia, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

People with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which involves visual hallucinations for people who have lost their sight, have had worsening symptoms during the pandemic, finds a study led by UCL researchers. The study of 45 patients from Moorfields Eye Hospital between June and July 2020, published in BMJ Open Ophthalmology , reports of harrowing increases in symptoms in over half of participants.

A new x-ray imaging scanner to help surgeons performing breast tumour removal surgery has been developed by UCL experts. Most breast cancer operations are what are known as conserving surgeries, which remove the cancerous tumour rather than the whole breast. Second operations are often required if the margins (edges) of the extracted tissue are found to not be clear of cancer.

UCL archaeologists have found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales that they believed was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. The stunning discovery, published in Antiquity ,  has been secretly documented by filmmakers and is the subject of an exclusive BBC programme , Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed .

Almost a third of 17-year-olds have tried cannabis and one in 10 have tried harder drugs, such as cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, with similar rates of experimentation regardless of parents' education level, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published today in a briefing paper by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the UCL Social Research Institute, examines engagement in substance use and antisocial behaviours among Generation Z as they reached late adolescence.

Wider restrictions must remain in place if schools reopen in March in order to keep the epidemic's R number below 1 in the UK, a new UCL-led modelling study suggests. The pre-print study, published on the site medRxiv, suggested that reopening schools to all pupils in some form on March 8 may lead to an increase in cases but that, if a broader lockdown remained, it was unlikely to cause the R rate to go above 1 and lead to the epidemic growing again.

An estimated 1 in 5 deaths (18 to 21.5%) every year can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution, a figure much higher than previously thought, according to research co-authored by UCL. The study shows that more than 8 million people around the globe die each year as a result of breathing in air containing particles from burning fuels like coal, petrol and diesel, which aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma and can lead to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and early death.

Online search data can help inform the public health response to COVID-19, according to a report from UCL, allowing experts to predict a peak in cases on average 17 days in advance. Analysing internet search activity is an established method of tracking and understanding infectious diseases, and is currently used to monitor seasonal flu.

Genes that determine the shape of a person's facial profile have been discovered by a UCL-led research team. The researchers identified 32 gene regions that influenced facial features such as nose, lip, jaw, and brow shape, nine of which were entirely new discoveries while the others validated genes with prior limited evidence.

SARS-CoV-2 mutations similar to those in the B1. UK variant could arise in cases of chronic COVID-19 infection, where treatment over an extended period provides the virus multiple opportunities to evolve, finds research co-led by UCL. Writing in Nature , a team led comprised of researchers from UCL and Cambridge reported how they were able to observe SARS-CoV-2 mutating in the case of an immunocompromised patient treated with convalescent plasma.