science wire

Professor Anthony Costello (UCL Institute for Global Health) lists the issues which led to the failure of England's test, track and trace programme and calls for reform to this system to keep a second wave of Covid-19 under control. After a summer of social gatherings, "eat out to help out" and urging commuters to "get back to the office", the government appears to be losing control of the pandemic.

PhD researcher Pablo Izquierdo (UCL Biosciences) and his colleagues discuss Spain's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and urge for stronger collaboration between public and private research, as well as more government support for scientific research.

Professor Steve Keen (UCL Office of the Vice-Provost: Research) disagrees with the assertions of Noble Prize winner William Nordhaus on climate change and asserts climate change will negatively affect industries and economies worldwide.

Dr Adam Winstock (UCL Epidemiology & Health) and his colleagues discuss the results of the Global Drug Survey which found whilst some are drinking more and others less during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a concern that unhealthy drug use will resume once the coronavirus ends.

Professor David Napier (UCL Anthropology) discusses a case study of a Ugandan community and takes away lessons to be learned about vulnerability before disasters.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot (UCL Epidemiology & Health) co-writes a piece on how best to protect pupils in schools from Covid-19.

Dr Julia Shaw (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) explores how the 'cross-race effect' has potentially damaging consequences for innocent people of colour and in episode 5 of the podcast Bad Peo

Researchers at UCL have developed a decision-making guide for dementia carers, to ensure they can provide the right support and with dignity, should those they care for become infected with coronavirus. Dementia is the most common underlying condition in people who die with COVID-19 - a quarter of COVID-19 deaths have been people living with dementia * .

Researchers at UCL will play a leading role in the new UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), which aims to better understand the immune response to COVID-19. UK-CIC has received £6.5m funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and brings together leading immunologists from 17 UK research institutions including UCL.

Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths (UCL Epidemiology & Health) and her colleagues discuss the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 in Europe, and calls for increased track and tracing and testing as the world awaits a working vaccine.

Only 10% of people plan to return to living exactly as they did before Covid-19 after the pandemic ends, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study.

Following the suspected poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition activist in Russia, Dr Ben Noble (UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies) explains why the 'charismatic, anti-Kremlin' may have been targeted.

This week we meet Jasmine Ho, Clinical Research Training Fellow at the Ear Institute. Here, Jasmine chats to us about founding the PPE charity MedSupplyDrive UK, which has directed over 250,000 items of PPE to more than 500 health and social care establishments to date.

UCL's COVID-19 Research platform reached a landmark moment this August as it recorded its 500th entry.

As a large trial confirms the effectiveness of single-dose radiotherapy in treating breast cancer, Principle Investigator, Professor Jayant Vaidya (UCL Surgery & Interventional Science), describes how he and colleagues developed a new therapy which challenged convention.

The world's fastest data transmission rate has been achieved by a team of UCL engineers who reached an internet speed a fifth faster than the previous record.

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story Dr Josh Ryan-Collins (UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose) and his colleague present analysi

Dr Keren Weitzberg (UCL History) comments on the plight of stateless citizens who struggle to move outside refugee status, and on the harms of data-driven surveillance in the UK and Kenya.

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story An innovative digital programme, developed by UCL researchers with Barts Health NHS Trust and UCL Partners, to treat the long lasting effects of COVID-19 infection, is now being used by patients. The app, believed to be the first such tool to be rolled out in the UK, is being given to patients from Barts Health hospitals, who have been discharged but are continuing to recover and rehabilitate at home.

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story A quarter of people in the UK report experiencing some kind of discrimination since lockdown began, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. The most common forms of discrimination included being treated with less courtesy or respect than others, others acting as if they were afraid of them and receiving poorer service than others for deliveries or in stores.

A half-a-million-year-old internationally significant archaeological site in Sussex, England, offers unprecedented insights into the life of a poorly understood extinct human species, according to new UCL research. The findings of a meticulous study led by UCL Institute of Archaeology are detailed in a ground-breaking new book ' The Horse Butchery Site ', published by UCL Archaeology South-East's 'Spoilheap Publications'.

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story Dr Matthew Pope (UCL Archaeology) discusses new evidence about an extinct human species found at the Boxgrove site, where Britain's oldest human remains reveal new insights into ancient toolmaking. Boxgrove in Sussex, England, is an iconic, old stone age site.

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story Professor Francois Balloux (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) highlights the political sentiment

The UCL Research Ethics Committee is looking to recruit staff as volunteer ethics reviewers - find out more about the role and register your interest. The UCL Research Ethics Community (REC)  is led by Chairs Professor Lynn Ang (Institute of Education) and Professor Michael Heinrich (School of Pharmacy), and supported by the UCL Research Integrity and Ethics Team comprising Helen Dougal, Cat Collins, Lola Alaska, Magdalena Morowska and Rowena Lamb as Head of Research Integrity.