news 2010

If you listen to Radio 4's Today Programme on any given day, you'll inevitably hear a spectrum of politic views from socialist through liberal to conservative. You may find yourself agreeing with the interviewee or irked by their politics depending on your own political persuasion. Liberals and conservatives may find themselves disagreeing on issues as wide-ranging as the future of the NHS, the UK's involvement in Afghanistan and whether students should pay tuition fees at university, but could these differences be a result of different brain structures?

New research has uncovered a forgotten chapter in the history of the Bible, offering a rare glimpse of Byzantine Jewish life and culture. The study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that, contrary to long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the Bible in synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought.

A group of UK primary school children have achieved a world first by having their school science project accepted for publication in an internationally recognised peer-reviewed Royal Society journal. The paper, which reports novel findings in how bumblebees perceive colour, is published in Biology Letters today.

A team of UCL researchers, part-funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust, has discovered that combining spinal fluid testing with MRI scans could provide an early indication of a person's risk of developing Alzheimer?s. The approach could allow scientists to test treatments or preventions far earlier in the disease, when experts believe they could be more effective.

PA 364/10 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have written what they believe is the world's smallest periodic table — on the side of a human hair. The table is so small that a million of them could be replicated on a typical post-it note. Experts from the University's Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre used a sophisticated combination of ion beam writer and electron microscope to carve the symbol of all 118 elements into the strand of hair taken from the head of Professor Martyn Poliakoff, an expert in Green Chemistry.

University of Nottingham News Press releases 2010 December Autistic children's exceptional visual search skills may not translate into everyday life PA 363/10 It is well established in scientific studies that children with autism repeatedly outperform typically-developing children on a range of visual search skills.

The ability to find shoes in the bedroom, apples in a supermarket, or a favourite animal at the zoo is impaired among children with autism, according to new research from the University of Bristol. Contrary to previous studies, which show that children with autism often demonstrate outstanding visual search skills, this new research indicates that children with autism are unable to search effectively for objects in real-life situations - a skill that is essential for achieving independence in adulthood.

Links: Wellcome Trust Professor Greg Towers Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute A virus previously thought to be associated with chronic fatigue syndrome is not the cause of the disease, a detailed study led by UCL scientists has shown. The research shows that cell samples used in previous research were contaminated with the virus identified as XMRV and that XMRV is present in the mouse genome.

Sheffield report reveals recommendation to mental health services for veterans Mental health services for armed forces veterans suffering from a variety of mental health conditions should be staffed by people with knowledge and understanding of the Armed Forces, a University of Sheffield report has recommended.

Study finds food in early life affects fertility The reproductive success of men and women is influenced by the food they receive at an early stage in life, according to new research by the University of Sheffield. The research, which was published online this month (17 December 2010) in the journal Ecology, is the first study of its kind to show that early life food can have a serious influence on the life-long fertility of individuals.

A once fertile landmass now submerged beneath the Persian Gulf may have been home to some of the earliest human populations outside Africa, according to an article in the December issue of Current Anthropology. Jeffrey Rose, an archaeologist and researcher with the University of Birmingham in the U.K., says that this 'Persian Gulf Oasis' may have been host to humans for over 100,000 years before it was swallowed up by the Indian Ocean around 8,000 years ago.

You only live once: our flawed understanding of risk helps drive financial market instability Our flawed understanding of how decisions in the present restrict options in the future means that we may underestimate the risk associated with investment decisions, according to new research - News release Our flawed understanding of how decisions in the present restrict our options in the future means that we may underestimate the risk associated with investment decisions, according to new research by Dr Ole Peters from Imperial College London.

An international team of astronomers have presented the first conclusive evidence for a dramatic surge in star birth in a recently discovered population of massive galaxies in the early Universe. The scientists used the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, an infrared telescope with a mirror 3.5 m in diameter, launched in 2009.

FReD helps explain how a bee sees Researchers have developed a database that shows how colours appear to bees - News Adapted from a news release issued by Queen Mary, University of London Thursday 16 December 2010 Bees can see colours but they perceive the world differently to us, including variations in hue that we cannot distinguish with the naked eye.

Science | Health 16 Dec 10 If everyone in the UK ate their 'five a day' and kept to recommended levels of salt and unhealthy fats, 33,000 deaths could be prevented or delayed every year, an Oxford University study has found. The research, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), highlights the difference getting your five a day could make to the nation's health.

University of Manchester and Health Protection Agency researchers have shown that cancer patients have a five-fold increased risk of developing listeria than people with other underlying conditions. The study, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases today (Wednesday), also showed that those with cancers of the blood have the greatest risk .

Press release issued 15 December 2010 Eating while playing a computer game or simply working through lunch could increase your food intake later in the day. Researchers from the Nutrition and Behaviour Unit in the School of Experimental Psychology have been exploring ways in which memory and attention influence our appetite and food intake.

Researchers at King's College London and the University of East Anglia have discovered that women who consume a diet high in allium vegetables, such as garlic, onions and leeks, have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis. The findings, published in the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders journal, not only highlight the possible effects of diet in protecting against osteoarthritis, but also show the potential for using compounds found in garlic to develop treatments for the condition.

Scientists using translucent zebrafish as a "window on cancer” have been able to see in real time how tumour cells are born – and immediately attract cells from the immune system. This inflammatory response seems to both attack and aid the cancer cells and the balance between the two provides a new therapeutic target for cancer researchers.

The imaging of tumour growth in zebrafish has revealed for the first time how cancer cells have the capacity to co-opt the immune system into spreading disease, leading the way for investigations into potential therapies for eliminating early-stage cancer in humans. Using different coloured fluorescent tags, scientists at the University of Bristol labelled the white blood cells of the translucent zebrafish in order to track the growth of tumours with live images.