news 2012

An international team of scientists have discovered a rare hybrid star using ESA's XMM-Newton and Nasa's SWIFT X-ray-telescopes. While the first example of its kind was discovered two years ago, the team has now identified its long-sought twin. Featuring both the properties of magnetars and radio pulsars, the new hybrid star will help the team to understand more on the interior of neutron stars.

New research explores the intimate cellular relationship between mother and baby University of Birmingham scientists have discovered that one of the body's key immune cells remains active against the fetus during pregnancy, a finding that offers fresh understanding of the complex relationship between the mother and baby during pregnancy and offers insights to the potential causes of miscarriage and stillbirth among women.

High-tech technology, traditionally usually used to design racing cars and aeroplanes, has helped researchers to understand how plant-eating dinosaurs fed 150 million years ago. A team of international researchers, led by the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum , used CT scans and biomechanical modelling to show that Diplodocus - one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered - had a skull adapted to strip leaves from tree branches.

According to new research from the Universites of Birmingham and Oxford, funded by the National Institute for Health Research drugs prescribed to more patients aged 75 and over will help to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease for that group. The researchers claim in a study published today on bmj.com, that as the population ages, greater use of these drugs could reduce disability and prolong healthy life expectancy.

Research at Oxford University that led to a new type of sensor enabling people with diabetes to easily and accurately monitor their own blood sugar (glucose) levels has been celebrated with the unveiling of a special plaque. The National Chemical Landmark plaque from the Royal Society of Chemistry [ RSC ] recognises work by Allen Hill, Tony Cass , and Graham Davis at Oxford's Department of Chemistry.

The University of Glasgow has been named as an Arthritis Research UK (ARUK) Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre - the first in Scotland. The Centre will recruit local patients to test new and existing drugs and to find new approaches that can predict which treatment works best in individuals. With joint start-up funding of £225,000 over three years from medical research charity Arthritis Research UK and the Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office, the centre aims to take forward the recent advances in the treatments available for people with arthritis.

The team looked at more than 400 patients from across the world Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that patients who receive chemotherapy following surgery for the removal of a pancreas-related cancer have a better chance of survival compared to those patients who did not have follow-up treatment.

The biological role of a gene variant implicated in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been determined by researchers at Oxford University. The finding explains why MS patients do badly on a set of drugs used successfully in other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease - something that has been a puzzle for over 10 years.

Cutting-edge research focusing on the changing nature of journalism in the digital age is to be brought together in a new peer-reviewed journal launched by a Cardiff professor. Digital Journalism , founded and edited by Professor Bob Franklin of the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies will provide a critical forum for discussion, analysis and responses to the shifts in journalism brought about by digital technology.

Researchers at the University of Leeds have found that while UK local authorities are willing to think strategically about energy sustainability, their limited resources make it difficult to act. A study published in the journal Energy Policy , shows that while local authorities may have a vision to make cities sustainable in terms of energy use, it is difficult to implement a strategy to make this happen during this challenging time for local government.

Modern cats diverged in skull shape from their sabre-toothed ancestors early in their evolutionary history and then followed separate evolutionary trajectories, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in PLoS ONE. The study also found that the separation between modern domestic cats and big cats such as lions and tigers is also deeply rooted.

Loud music damages your hearing ­— a warning that we're used to taking as fact. But surprisingly, little research has actually been done into how sustained exposure to loud music affects our hearing in the long term, and the results we do have are far from conclusive. A new research project taking place at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing, based at The University of Nottingham, is the first to explicitly examine the effect of long-term exposure to loud music.

Human brain cells showing aspects of Huntington's Disease have been developed, opening up new research pathways for treating the fatal disorder. An international consortium, including scientists from the School of Biosciences, has taken cells from Huntington's Disease patients and generated human brain cells that develop aspects of the disease in the laboratory.

Women whose claims for asylum includes allegations that they have been raped need greater assurance their cases are being taken seriously, a study states. Researchers found that several of the problems that can hamper the fair treatment of women's rape allegations within the criminal justice system may also be present, and sometimes amplified, when made as part of women's asylum claims.

Stephen Royle: "This research is another step towards fully understanding the complexities of the human brain." Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that a protein produced by a gene identified in fruitflies, is responsible for communication between nerve cells in the brain. The 'stoned' gene was discovered in fruitflies by scientists in the 1970s.

New research examining how armed groups formed in Libya to topple Colonel Muammar Gaddafi says the revolutionary brigades are still a cohesive military force. The study highlights the emergence of the National Shield, which it calls an 'army-in-waiting'. The research suggests there is a power struggle over the rebuilding of the Libyan National Army as revolutionary commanders still distrust much of the leadership of the Libyan National Army and the Ministry of Defence who ran the war against them.

Scientists at the CERN - including members from UCL's High Energy Physics Group working at the ATLAS experiment - have discovered a new subatomic particle that could be the elusive Higgs boson, which is believed to be crucial in the formation of the universe. Videos: what the discovery of the Higgs means to UCL physicists "We've all talked before about rumours, about hints, about projections and the hows and whys.

Sussex physicists celebrate role in historic discovery at Large Hadron Collider University of Sussex physicists were celebrating today (Wednesday 4 July) following news of a giant step for science with the discovery of a tiny sub-atomic particle.

Mounting evidence of Higgs boson a "triumph” for particle physics, says Durham University expert Mounting evidence that the Higgs boson exists is a "triumph" for particle physics and could help answer other questions about the Universe, according to a Durham University expert. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, in Geneva, have announced that they have found a new particle consistent with the long-sought Higgs.

A team from the University of Bristol's Centre for Quantum Photonics (CQP) has experimentally demonstrated how to use Berry's phase to accurately control quantum interference between different photons. The effect may provide a way to implement reliable circuits for the coming generation of photonic quantum simulators, systems of photons designed to simulate other quantum systems, set to be physically realised much sooner than the universal quantum computer.