science wire

Headteachers experienced substantial increases in anxiety about work throughout the pandemic - with increases much greater than for more junior teaching staff - and with potential consequences for future recruitment of senior leaders, according to a new study by UCL researchers.

A panel of more than 350 experts from around the world, including academics at UCL, have provided recommendations on how to end the public health threat from Covid-19.

A message from the Provost to all staff. Dear colleagues, After a year of really insightful community-wide conversations about our ambitions for UCL and the route to achieving them, our Draft Strategic Plan 2022-27 is now published.

Where did the Covid-19 virus originate, in nature or in a lab? Writing in The Conversation, Professor Francois Balloux (UCL Genetics Institute) takes a look at a recent, un-peer-reviewed preprint paper claiming to have found evidence that it was created in a lab.

As parts of the African continent embrace clean energy, experts led by institutions including UCL are calling for a shift in how politicians, funders and researchers approach the transition, taking each country's radically different energy needs and pathways into account.

The new information security mandatory training course on the new CybSafe platform is due to launch on Monday 31st October.

Dr William Dunn (UCL Physics and Astronomy) has been honoured by the Institute of Physics for his "paradigm-shifting" research on outer planets of the solar system, and for his leadership of a national school science programme.

After qualifying for the world cup, the Irish Women's football team sparked controversy for singing a supposedly pro-IRA song.

A new swab test that identifies potentially dangerous cervical cell changes up to four years before they happen has been developed by researchers from UCL and the University of Innsbruck. The research, published in Genome Medicine , found that the new cervical screening method was more sensitive than other currently available tests and could reliably identify advanced cell changes and cervical cancer.

UCL researchers will play a bigger role in accelerating the move away from fossil fuels and towards zero-emission transport through a new partnership with Japanese manufacturer HORIBA.

UCL is developing a scheme which will allow some staff to leave UCL of their own personal choice in return for a payment.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alex Krause (UCL Earth Science) and Benjamin J. W. Mills at University of Leeds explain how using the James Webb Space Telescope to look for oxygen in the universe could help scientists discover evidence of extra-terrestrial life. Are we alone in the universe? This is a question that has intrigued humans for centuries and inspired countless studies and works of fiction.

The current House of Lords appointments system lacks public support, with demand for better regulated appointments and an upper limit on the size of the chamber, according to new research by UCL's Constitution Unit.

Four-fifths of students say their academic progress has suffered due to the pandemic, with state school pupils more than twice as likely to feel that they have fallen behind their classmates than independent school pupils, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Published today, the findings are the first to be published from the COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities (COSMO) study - a major national youth cohort study analysing data on around 13,000 young people from more than 500 schools across England.

Moped and bike enabled crime occurs in all areas of London. Unfortunately, Bloomsbury remains an attractive area for thieves and we have seen a rise in these offences since lockdown.

Many children with autism or intellectual disability had poor attendance or even deregistered from school, often due to unmet needs, after their schools switched to online learning, reports a study and associated policy briefing led by a UCL researcher.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Aurore Julien (UCL Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources) shares four proven tips for homeowners to reduce their house's energy waste over the cold winter.

A country's ability to transition to green energy is dependent on the structure of its political institutions, according to new research involving UCL. Published in the journal Science , the study explores why advanced industrialised countries took divergent paths in their responses to both the current energy price shock and to the oil crisis of the 1970s.

Grandparents who stopped looking after their grandchildren during the Covid-19 pandemic were considerably more likely to experience depressive symptoms compared to those who continued to care for their grandchildren, finds a new UCL-led study.

UCL academics' expertise in environmental hazards, machine learning and research computing will help build resilience to high-impact weather events and climate change through a deeper partnership with the Met Office.

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Kevin Fong (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering) explores how COVID stretched the NHS's intensive care units to its limits.

An inadequate level of social housing across London is affecting children's physical and mental health, and could permanently hinder their development, according to the latest Marmot Review from the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE).

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Andrew Coates (UCL Space & Climate Physics) explains why sending humans to land on Earth's 'evil twin' Venus might not be such a good idea.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Simon Turner (UCL Geography) and his colleagues explore how the ancient Maya used the toxic element mercury, where they sourced it and its environmental legacy in Mesoamerica. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. When leached into the natural environment, it accumulates and builds up through food chains, ultimately threatening human health and ecosystems.

A new scoring tool that helps to 'transparently' prioritise which countries are in greatest need of Covid-19 vaccines, has been developed by a UCL-led team of researchers. The researchers say the tool considers a far wider range of factors than the current global COVAX facility, which has been criticised by some countries, particularly poorer nations for insufficient access and a lack of flexibility to response to local rapid rises in infections.

Widespread, global failures in the Covid-19 response led to millions of preventable deaths and reversed progress made towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in many countries, finds a new report involving UCL researchers.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Bridget Storrie (UCL Institute for Global Prosperity) explores the contradictions around how society views mining, as both necessary to produce raw materials but at the same time undesirable because of its environmental and perceived social harms.

People who wear reusable contact lenses are nearly four times as likely as those wearing daily disposables to develop a rare sight-threatening eye infection, finds a study led by UCL and Moorfields researchers.