science wire

The sexual exploitation of boys and young men is a much bigger problem than previously thought according to a landmark study released today.

UCL scientists are set to continue investigations into why expansion of the universe is speeding up, having already secured high quality early data. On 15th August, with its successful first season behind it, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration, which includes over a dozen researchers from UCL's Astrophysics Group (within Physics & Astronomy), began its second year of mapping the southern sky in unprecedented detail.

In July, UCL Engineering and UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE) teamed up with the James Dyson Foundation to create an innovative week-long summer school.

A group of secondary school students have designed their own space missions during a new week-long work experience programme at the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL).

UCL has no places available through Clearing. However, we have a small number of places available through UCAS Adjustment for very well qualified applicants that have exceeded the conditions of their firm choice.

Proposals are invited for the IOE/UCL New Grant Development Fund. The Fund is intended to facilitate applications for significant external funding for research collaboration between the IOE and UCL.

UCL is continuing its commitment to the growth of technology entrepreneurship and the development of London's Tech City through a revolutionary scheme that aims to encourage and nurture brand new start-ups within the technology industry.

The UCL Green project primarily works closely with UCL departments, academics and the student union to improve the sustainability and environmental impact of UCL in terms of their curriculum, energy and transport.

Weight loss significantly improves physical health but effects on mental health are less straightforward, finds new UCL research funded by Cancer Research UK. In a study of 1,979 overweight and obese adults in the UK, people who lost 5% or more of their initial body weight over four years showed significant changes in markers of physical health, but were more likely to report depressed mood than those who stayed within 5% of their original weight.

Every year, London's centralised stroke services save around 96 stroke patients who would have died under standard hospital treatment, finds UCL-led research.

UCL has appointed Professor Stephen Caddick to a new position to include responsibilities for London.

After a string of penalties aimed in the same direction, goalkeepers are more likely to dive in the opposite direction on the next penalty but kickers fail to exploit this pattern, finds new UCL research.

The world's largest arts festival returns this summer, offering a huge programme that includes theatre, comedy, dance, music and more.

Invertebrate numbers have decreased by 45% on average over a 35 year period in which the human population doubled, reports a study on the impact of humans on declining animal numbers.

An experiment in 'scholarly crowdsourcing', which engages the public in the online transcription of papers written by the celebrated philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), has published its 10,000th transcription this week.

The partners of women who miscarry often feel invisible, ignored and sidelined during and after miscarriage - and unable to talk about their own feelings of loss and pain - according to new findings from UCL and the Miscarriage Association.

Labelling people with moderately high blood sugar as pre-diabetic is a drastically premature measure with no medical value and huge financial and social costs, say researchers from UCL and the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota. The analysis, published in the BMJ, considered whether a diagnosis of pre-diabetes carried any health benefits such as improved diabetes prevention.

UCL Special Collections, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, have announced the launch of a digitised archive of papers by the Victorian scientist, Sir Francis Galton. Containing a substantial number of biographical notes and images spanning several generations, the digitised collection also includes a number of letters between Galton and notable Victorian scientists, travellers, and politicians including his cousin Charles Darwin and Joseph Hooker.

Schools from in and around London have used over 12000 lemons in a day of frenzied lemonade selling that would rival The Apprentice as part of international Citrus Saturday.

An initiative to see if playground design can inspire schoolchildren to be more active, Camden Active Spaces, is launched today at the Institute of Sport Exercise and Health (ISEH) in partnership with UCL and Camden Council.

A team of researchers led by Dr Helen Chatterjee (UCL Museums & Collections) will begin a new three year project this month, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), to explore the value and role of museums in social prescribing.

Treatments to reduce blood sugar levels do more harm than good in many type 2 diabetes patients, particularly older people, finds new research from UCL, the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital.

UCL, in collaboration with Ricardo-AEA, has been appointed by WWF Scotland - part of the international WWF network, one of the world's most influential environmental organizations - to propose possible 2030 targets for the country's renewable energy production.

Climate scientists need to establish a professional body to help define their roles, values and practices to satisfy society's needs, and to provide guidance to improve their training and development

The bright core of a spiral galaxy has unexpectedly dimmed, according to a new study by an international team of astronomers. The nucleus of galaxy NGC 5548, which contains a region of powerful X-ray light surrounding the galaxy's central black hole, has been obscured by a fast-flowing stream of gas.

Over the past four months, we have been working with colleagues from across UCL to develop our academic and financial plans to establish a new campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP).

Although we were disappointed by some elements of the Ofsted report for the UCL Academy, we have found the process productive and fully accept the recommendations from the inspection team, which are entirely in line with the Academy's plans.

The Chiesi Group and UCL (University College London) are collaborating to test a novel melatonin formulation as a brain protective medicine for babies who suffer birth asphyxia.

UCL is featuring in a UK-wide campaign from 9-15 June to highlight the value and importance of university research to our everyday lives.

HPV (human papillomavirus) infection is widely known to induce cancer. Many of the mutations that cause this virally-induced cancer are caused by a family of genes that normally combats viral infections, finds new UCL research. This raises the possibility of developing drugs to regulate the activity of these genes to prevent HPV-associated cancers from developing and reduce the ability of existing cancers to evolve resistance to treatments.

Surgeons will be able to use better tools, imaging techniques and therapies in future operations on unborn babies due to a £10 million award from the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) to develop these technologies.

The 2014 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience was today awarded to Professor John O'Keefe, Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at UCL and affiliated faculty member in the UCL Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.