science wire

A stone marking Henry VIII's foundation of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Deptford 500 years ago has been rediscovered behind a false wall in the Geography department of UCL.

A new treatment for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome has seen mortality rates plummet by about 80 per cent. The results of a Phase II trial led by Dr Geoff Bellingan (UCL Clinical Physiology and medical director at University College London Hospitals) have been published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine .

People who appreciate the beauty of mathematics activate the same part of their brain when they look at aesthetically pleasing formula as others do when appreciating art or music, suggesting that there is a neurobiological basis to beauty.

GPs and other doctors will be equipped with a new, online information system to help diagnose and treat a range of balance disorders, thanks to €3.5m European Union funding for EMBalance .

The Institute of Education (IOE) and UCL today announced that they are to begin consultation on a proposed merger.

A £10.3 million grant has been awarded to researchers today by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to find safer, more sustainable materials for manufacturing.

The Minister for Science and Universities, the Rt Hon David Willetts, announced today that the Medical Research Council (MRC) has made an investment of £8.9 million to a consortium of institut

UCL is involved in a number of projects under the £73 million 'Big Data' initiative announced today by the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP.

The astonishing transformation of the German economy from the 'sick man of Europe' to a lean and highly competitive economy is predominantly due to the decentralisation of wage bargaining rather than government labour market reforms, according to new research led by UCL. The resurgence of the German economy has often been attributed to government policy, notably the so-called 'Hartz reforms' implemented in 2003.

People who enjoy life maintain better physical function in their daily activities and keep up faster walking speeds as they age, compared with people who enjoy life less, according to a new study led by Professor Andrew Steptoe (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health). The research, published in CMAJ ( Canadian Medical Association Journal ), was based on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

With the award of €1.9m to Professor Angelos Michaelides (London Centre for Nanotechnology), UCL's share of European Research Council (ERC) funding for 2008-2013 has breached the €156m barrier with over €33m awarded in 2013.

A working culture and longer-term approach to funding that reflects the changing landscape of heritage science is essential for delivering impactful research, a team representing several of the UK's foremost cultural and academic institutions has found. The AHRC/EPSRC* Science and Heritage Programme funded project, Mind the Gap: Rigour and Relevance in Heritage Science Research examined the perceived gap between researchers (often based in acade

UK cancer death rates are likely to fall more rapidly between now and 2013 than they have done in the previous 20 years, according to research presented today by the UCL School of Pharmacy.

Three new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) at UCL have been announced today by Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts.

Patients' own bone-marrow stromal (stem) cells could be used to treat resistant tuberculosis (TB), according to a preliminary study by an international research team.

It has been a great year for UCL, with changes to campus completed, ground-breaking research published, and the welcoming of a new President & Provost. Can you uncover the answers to these questions about UCL's 2013, as well as some hidden university secrets? UCL Christmas Quiz 2013 It has been a great year for UCL, with changes to campus completed, ground-breaking research published, and the welcoming of a new President & Provost.

UCL and Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced they will establish the UCL Big Data Institute.

The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Bob Sheil as new Director of the School, effective from January 2014.

Cycling to campus has become an increasingly popular option for students and staff in recent years. It can be cheaper and greener, whilst also acting as a great form of exercise on your commute.

On Thursday 19 December at 09:12 GMT, a satellite designed to unlock the secrets of the birth and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy will be launched by the the European Space Agency.

A new UCL project is developing the idea that microalgae could provide more sustainable production of a wide range of useful oils - from omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids to lubricants to next-generation biofuels.

The Prime Minister today called for a global effort to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time: dementia.

UCL has been awarded more than £8.5 million by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to help tackle the challenges associated with dementia. The investment was announced at today's G8 dementia summit and represents a significant proportion of the total £20 million funding awarded by the two organisations for research into dementia prevention and improvements in the quality of life for people with dementia.

Professor Naomi Fulop (UCL Department of Applied Health Research), along with colleagues at the University of Oxford and King's College London, has won ' Best Public Sector Paper ' and ' Best Health

Prime Minister David Cameron officially opened IDEALondon - an initiative between Cisco, DC Thomson and UCL - today.

The Department of Health has today designated UCLPartners to continue as an Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) for the next five years, from April 2014.

Researchers have called for salt content in medicines to be labelled in the same way as food products in order to limit the risk of cardiovascular events, after research highlighted high salt levels in common medicines. The research shows that that taking the maximum daily dose of some medicines would exceed the recommended daily limits for sodium, without any additional dietary intake.

New results published in The Lancet as part of the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) survey reveal how sexual behaviour and attitudes in Britain have changed in recent decades.

New results from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), published in The Lancet , provide a picture of sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and testing, uptake of sexual health interventions and service use, and risk behaviours in Britain. In the decade since the last Natsal survey, of several strategies aimed at improving sexual health in Britain, three have been STI-specific interventions: the English National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP); the UK HPV immunisation programme; and increasing HIV testing in target groups .

One in six pregnancies among women in Britain are unplanned, and one in 60 women (1.5%) experience an unplanned pregnancy in a year, according to new results from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), published in The Lancet . The findings come from the first study to provide population prevalence estimates of unplanned pregnancy in Britain since 1989, and the first ever using a validated multi-component measure (the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy).

Around half (51%) of women and four out of ten (42%) men report having had a recent sexual problem, but only one in ten say they are worried or distressed about their sex life, according to new results from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), published in The Lancet .

One in ten women (9.8%) and roughly one in seventy men (1.4%), when asked "Has anyone actually made you have sex with them, against your will?" said yes, according to new results published as part of the third Natsal survey, published in The Lancet . Of those who reported having had sex against their will (non-volitional sex), fewer than half (42.2% of women and 32.6% of men) had told anyone about it, and fewer still had reported it to the police (12.9 % of women and 8% of men).

UCL is leading seven centres that will train the engineers and scientists of the future in a wide range of disciplines including medical imaging, materials science and heritage science.

Patchy use of electronic prescribing in NHS hospitals - and the huge diversity of systems - creates huge challenges for both patient safety and staff training, according to a new study published today in the journal PLOS ONE . Of 101 hospitals in England that took part in a survey about their current use of electronic prescribing, just one has a system that is used in all clinical areas (including outpatients) with a further 12 hospitals using electronic prescribing in all adult medical and surgical wards.

Although health behaviours such as smoking are directly linked to the majority of early deaths in the UK, tackling these individual factors fails to address the underlying cause.