news 2012

Heightened activity between the emotional and auditory parts of the brain explains why the sound of chalk on a blackboard, or a knife on a bottle, is so unpleasant. In a study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience UCL and Newcastle University scientists reveal the interaction between the region of the brain that processes sound, the auditory cortex, and the amygdala, which is active in the processing of negative emotions when we hear unpleasant sounds.

There may be many times more animal species than previously estimated after a new study has identified more reliable ways to predict biodiversity across the planet. Professor Timothy Barraclough, from the Department of Life Sciences, and his former Imperial colleague Diego Fontaneto were among a multinational team that has proposed a new way to measure the number of species of tiny creatures.

The button mushroom occupies a prominent place in our diet and in the grocery store where it boasts a tasty multibillion-dollar niche, while in nature, Agaricus bisporus is known to decay leaf matter on the forest floor. Now, thanks to an international collaboration involving Andy Bailey and Professor Gary Foster from the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, the full repertoire of A. bisporus genes has been determined.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham studying New Caledonian crows have discovered why these birds, which are famed for their intelligence, are able to use tools with such accuracy. The answer lies in their vision, according to research published today (9 October 2012) .

A team of marine biologists and geologists have unveiled the first-ever set of maps detailing where vulnerable deep-sea habitats including cold water coral reefs and sponge fields are likely to be found in the North East Atlantic. The team from Plymouth University, the Marine Biological Association, and the British Geological Survey, have used complex modelling techniques to chart a surface area more than three times the size of the UK’s terrestrial boundaries.

Scientists from the University of Leeds have discovered enough water vapour to fill Earth's oceans more than 2000 times over in a gas and dust cloud which is about to collapse into a Sun-like star. The research, led by Professor Paola Caselli, is the first detection of water vapour in a ‘pre-stellar core’, the cold, dark clouds of gas and dust from which stars form.

Creating the next generation of football stars may be down to understanding the teenage brain, according to new research from the University of Bristol. The study, published in the FA [Football Association] journal The Boot Room , suggests that to unlock the full potential of talented players coaches need to be aware that the decision-making process in the teenage brain operates significantly differently to the adult brain.

New study on children and apes gives clues to how humans became right-handed A predominance to be right-handed is not a uniquely human trait but one shared by great apes, according to new research by a leading cognitive psychologist.

PA 283/12 Should every primary school pupil in the UK be given a hearing test and what's the most effective way of doing it? These are questions that a team of academics from Nottingham and Exeter will be tackling as part of a new study. Their research will compare screening programmes in some areas of the country, with areas where no provision currently exists and will establish whether a nationwide approach would be successful — and cost effective — in picking up hearing loss in children aged between four and six years old.

The total number of papers, reports and PhD dissertations downloaded from UCL Discovery , the university's Open Access repository, surpassed 2,000,000 during September 2012. UCL Discovery, the UK repository with the largest number of records, contains nearly 14,274 records with access to full text; the 2,000,000th to be downloaded was by Professor Richard Blundell (UCL Economics): Labor Supply Models: Unobserved heterogeneity, nonparticipation and dynamics.

Studying land-based birds is tough enough, but studying seabirds that spend much of their time over, on, or under water presents a new set of challenges. In this week's Journal of the Royal Society: Interface a team led by Oxford University scientists describes how new technologies and techniques made it possible to follow an important British seabird, the Manx Shearwater.

New models are being developed to predict how changing land use in the tropics could affect future climate, air quality and crop production. Is this change in land use resulting in unwelcome side-effects on ground-level ozone?" —Professor John Pyle Ozone has a dual personality best described as "good up high, bad nearby": the atmospheric gas is both vital - and potentially fatal - for our health.

A new mathematical method can help to predict a couple's chances of becoming pregnant, according to how long they have been trying. The model may also shed light on how long they should wait before seeking medical help. For example, the researchers have found that, if the woman is aged 35, after just six months of trying, her chance of getting pregnant in the next cycle is then less than 10 per cent.

People who inject drugs (PWID) can significantly reduce their risk of HIV infection with the use of opiate substitution treatments such as methadone, as suggested by an international team of researchers in a paper published today on bmj.com. Injection drug use (IDU) is a major risk factor for the transmission of HIV and AIDS and HIV / AIDS accounts for nearly one fifth of the burden of disease among people who inject drugs.

The material remains of the First World War on the British Home Front will be investigated by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of York, thanks to £39,500 funding from English Heritage. The material remains of the First World War on the British Home Front will be investigated by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of York, thanks to £39,500 funding from English Heritage.

It's long been known that increased activity related to the 11-year solar cycle may disrupt Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). As we approach the 2013 solar maximum, researchers at the Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI) have developed a new technique which retains a high degree of accuracy under adverse ionospheric conditions.

Children in smaller families are only slightly more likely to survive childhood in high mortality environments, according to a new study of mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa seeking to understand why women, even in the highest fertility populations in world, rarely give birth to more than eight children.

Some of the most important studies of people's lives in the UK, including the University of Bristol Children of the 90s study (ALSPAC) , will be brought together in a national centre of excellence thanks to a £5 million project launched this week by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) .

Mexiletine, a decades-old drug previously used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, has been used to alleviate the symptoms of patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain. The preliminary research, published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association , shows that taking mexiletine can improve patient-reported stiffness.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have developed a new method of testing the fertility of critically endangered birds which could make captive breeding programmes more effective and help secure the future of several species. Using newly developed methods which allow experts to tell the difference between infertility and very early embryo death - something that has never been done before in endangered species - new light has been shed on methods for breeding critically endangered bird species in captivity.