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Ketamine addiction is linked to high levels of physical health problems and psychological consequences, with nearly half of those affected not seeking support or treatment, reports a new study by UCL and University of Exeter researchers. The study, published in Addiction , is the largest to date to explore the experience of people currently living with ketamine addiction in-depth.

Scientists have developed a new technique to screen engineered enzyme reactions, which could lead to faster and more efficient creation of medicines and sustainable chemicals. Enzymes are proteins that catalyse chemical reactions, turning one substance into another. In labs, scientists engineer these enzymes to perform specific tasks like the sustainable creation of medicines, and materials.

Research published in the journal Human Reproduction reveals that women with endometriosis are at a significantly higher risk for developing a range of autoimmune, autoinflammatory, and mixed-pattern diseases. The new study, of unprecedented scale, examines not only clinical associations, but also for the first time the biological basis for these comorbidities - through genetics.

There is no difference over time in the spatial working memory of older people who have autistic traits and those who are neurotypical, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The new research, published in The Gerontologist , is the first study to explore age-related rate of decline in spatial working memory in older people who may be autistic.

An aluminium tab from a drinks can found encased in a new form of rock on the Cumbrian coastline has helped provide scientists with a shocking new insight into the impact of human activity on the Earth's natural processes and materials. Researchers from the University of Glasgow have found that slag, an industrial waste product produced by the steel industry, is turning into solid rock in as little as 35 years.

Mothers who are anaemic in the first 100 days of pregnancy have a much higher chance of having a child with congenital heart disease, according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the journal BJOG . As a result, researchers will now investigate whether taking iron supplements before and during pregnancy could help to prevent some heart defects at birth.

A groundbreaking study involving our Department of Archaeology has uncovered the first physical evidence of human-animal gladiatorial combat in the Roman period. The study conducted by an international team of archaeologists and osteologists centres on a skeleton discovered in a Roman-period cemetery outside York, UK.

Research suggests that Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection before a skin cancer diagnosis improves patient response to immunotherapy (a form of treatment that harnesses the immune system to target cancer). A new study led by the University of Oxford has revealed that a common and usually harmless virus may positively influence how skin cancer patients respond to current treatments.

People with Alzheimer's disease may retain their ability to empathise, despite declines in other social abilities, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The researchers found that people with Alzheimer's disease scored slightly higher on a measure of empathy than peers of the same age with mild cognitive impairment, despite scoring worse on other measures of social cognition such as recognising facial emotions and understanding the thoughts of others.

Scientists have discovered a previously unidentified species of mosquito along the coast of Kenya and Tanzania with potential implications for malaria surveillance and control. This newly discovered mosquito species, provisionally named the Pwani molecular form, belongs to the Anopheles gambiae complex, which is a group that includes some of the world's most important malaria vectors.

A team of scientists including UCL researchers has tested four anti-amyloid Alzheimer's therapeutics to find out how the drugs bind to toxic amyloid beta protein to tackle the disease. Using new, highly sensitive methods, the researchers detected and visualised how amyloid beta protein - a plaque that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease - binds to lecanemab, donanemab, gantenerumab and aducanumab.

Adolescents who sleep for longer - and from an earlier bedtime - than their peers tend to have improved brain function and perform better at cognitive tests, researchers from the UK and China have shown. Even though the differences in the amount of sleep that each group got was relatively small, we could still see differences in brain structure and activity and in how well they did at tasks Barbara Sahakian But the study of adolescents in the US also showed that even those with better sleeping habits were not reaching the amount of sleep recommended for their age group.

English GPs in areas of socioeconomic deprivation endure increased job pressures related to managing complex patients, insufficient resources, and difficulty in finding locum cover, an analysis by University of Manchester researchers has shown. The researchers suggest that policymakers should increase funding so that deprivation is taken into account as a factor in general practice funding to address income disparities between GPs in more deprived and less deprived areas.

A new study from our Department of Psychology has uncovered evidence that the body's internal regulation of eating may be influenced by an individual's socio-economic background. Published in the journal Food Quality and Preference , the research highlights how physiological signals, particularly those transmitted via the vagus nerve, interact with socio-economic factors to shape dietary behaviour.

Metformin, a widely used and affordable diabetes drug, could prevent a form of acute myeloid leukaemia in people at high risk of the disease, a study in mice has suggested. Further research in clinical trials will be needed to confirm this works for patients. We've done the extensive research all the way from cell-based studies to human data, so we're now at the point where we have a made a strong case for moving ahead with clinical trials Brian Huntly Around 3,100 people are diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) each year in the UK.

Macaque mothers experience a short period of physical restlessness after the death of an infant, but do not show typical human signs of grief, such as lethargy and appetite loss, finds a new study by UCL anthropologists. Published in Biology Letters, the researchers found that bereaved macaque mothers spent less time resting (sleep, restful posture, relaxing) than the non-bereaved females in the first two weeks after their infants' deaths.

A team of researchers at UCL and UCLH have identified the key brain regions that are essential for logical thinking and problem solving. The findings, published in Brain, help to increase our understanding of how the human brain supports our ability to comprehend, draw conclusions, and deal with new and novel problems - otherwise known as reasoning skills.

First time that strong evidence for a 'polar planet' orbiting a stellar pair has been collected Astronomers have discovered a planet that orbits at a 90-degree angle around a rare pair of strange stars - a real-life 'twist' on the fictional twin suns of Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine.

Wildflowers growing on land previously used for buildings and factories can accumulate lead, arsenic and other metal contaminants from the soil, which are consumed by pollinators as they feed, a new study has found. Our results should not discourage people from planting wildflowers in towns and cities.

A breakthrough by researchers at The University of Manchester sheds light on one of nature's most elusive forces, with wide-reaching implications for medicine, energy, climate modelling and more. Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a ground-breaking method to precisely measure the strength of hydrogen bonds in confined water systems, an advance that could transform our understanding of water's role in biology, materials science, and technology.