news 2013

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have discovered ground breaking clues as to how the pioneering heart drug ticagrelor might reduce the risk of dying following a heart attack, in comparison to previous standard treatments. The new findings, published in Platelets , show that ticagrelor may reduce the risk of dying as a result of a lung infection after suffering a heart attack compared to patients treated with the drug clopidogrel.

The iron in the Earth's inner core weakens dramatically before it melts, explaining the unusual properties that exist in the moon-sized solid centre of our planet that have, up until now, been difficult to understand. Scientists use seismic waves - pulses of energy generated during earthquakes - to measure what is happening in the Earth's inner core, which at 6000 km beneath our feet is completely inaccessible.

Hunter-gatherers and immigrant farmers lived side-by-side for more than 2,000 years in Central Europe, before the hunter-gatherer communities died out or were absorbed into the farming population. In a paper , researchers describe their analysis of DNA and isotopes from human bones found in the 'Blätterhöhle' cave near Hagen in Germany, where both hunter-gatherers and farmers were buried.

11 Oct 2013 Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown how ethnic minority groups in England and Wales have been consistently more unhealthy than the majority White population. Analysing census data from over two decades, the team find Pakistani and Bangladeshi women have long term illness rates which are 10 per cent higher than their White counterparts.

Depression in pregnant women appears to increase the risk that their children are more likely to have depression when they are 18-years-old, according to a report led by University of Bristol researchers and published by   JAMA Psychiatry . Depression in late adolescence is a public health issue worldwide and identifying early-life risk factors would be important to guide prevention and intervention efforts, according to the study background.

Babies who suffer a bleed on their brain could be saved from debilitating brain damage after researchers at the University of Birmingham found that a new drug can prevent the swelling of the organ which causes it. The researchers found that Decorin, a drug which has been shown to have anti-scarring properties, prevented hydrocephalus - the swelling of the brain - in juvenile rats, opening up the possibility of it as a treatment for the severe condition, which, until now, has only had surgery available as a treatment.

Latest research on rocky relics suggests a distant planetary system, now past its "death throes", had very similar water 'delivery system' to our own - and consequently the potential to contain habitable exoplanets complete with water A system cannot create things as big as asteroids and avoid building planets, and GD 61 had the ingredients to deliver lots of water to their surfaces Jay Farihi Astronomers have found the shattered remains of an asteroid that contained huge amounts of water orbiting an exhausted star, or white dwarf.

Oxford University scientists have found a way of delivering drugs more effectively to treat life-threatening cancers that have spread to the brain. The study, in mice and tissue samples, used a protein called TNF that can track down sites in the brain where cancer has spread by recognising a marker found only on tumour blood vessels.

Head of the University of Liverpool's School of Environmental Sciences , Professor George Wolff, will join British scientists at a ceremony attended by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, for the naming of a new Royal Research Ship - RRS Discovery. The vessel, based at NERC'S National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, is a state-of-the art platform for world-leading oceanographic research and represents a £75m investment in frontier science by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills.

A new method of imaging cells is allowing scientists to see tiny structures inside the 'control centre' of the cell for the first time. The microscopic technique, developed by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, represents a major advance for cell biologists as it will allow them to investigate structures deep inside the cell, such as viruses, bacteria and parts of the nucleus in depth.

Athletes participating in a team sport like football, rugby, or hockey, who behave in an anti-social way on the pitch, are also antisocial in their interactions with other students at university, according to research published by University of Birmingham sports scientists in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology .

Birds, such as great and blue tits, scout for food in the morning but only return to eat it in late afternoon to maximise their chances of evading predators in the day without starving to death overnight, Oxford University research has found. This 'early bird' strategy was revealed by a team studying the winter foraging behaviour of birds in Wytham Woods, near Oxford.

A breakthrough in understanding the evolutionary pathways along which some crops have become significantly more productive as others may help scientists boost yields of some staple foodstuffs. What their work reveals provides incredible new insight into a complex evolutionary process Julian Hibberd Research carried out at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and published last week in the journal eLIFE makes an important contribution to worldwide efforts to develop high-yielding crops by mimicking the natural processes of evolution that have led some plants to be more productive than others.

New research from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) reveals 33 per cent of all older people experience perceived age discrimination, with less wealthy older men being at highest risk. The study highlights the high levels of age discrimination faced by older people, a situation that worsens as they age.

Risks of hospital admissions and deaths from stroke and heart disease are higher in areas with high levels of aircraft noise, a study has found. Researchers at Imperial College London and King's College London compared data on dayand night-time aircraft noise with hospital admissions and mortality rates among a population of 3.6 million people living near Heathrow airport.

With optical fibre networks gradually approaching their theoretical capacity limits, new types of fibres such as multicore fibres have been at the focus of worldwide research to overcome critical capacity barriers, which threaten the evolution of the Internet. The University of Bristol in collaboration with the National Institute of Information and Technology (NICT) have demonstrated successfully for the first time a multicore fibre-based network, which will form the foundation for the future Internet infrastructure.

Scientists have discovered how a tick which transmits devastating diseases to cattle has developed resistance to one of the main pesticides used to kill it. Approximately 80% of cattle around the world, mostly in the tropics and sub-tropics, are exposed to the cattle tick - Rhipicephalis microplus - which can cause anaemia, reduced rate of growth and death, resulting in a major economic impact on farmers.

A loving touch, characterized by a slow caress or stroke - often an instinctive gesture from a mother to a child or between partners in romantic relationships - may increase the brain's ability to construct a sense of body ownership and, in turn, play a part in creating and sustaining a healthy sense of self.

Scientists 'bad at judging peers' published work,' says new study Are scientists any good at judging the importance of the scientific work of others? According to a study in the journal PLOS Biology (08 October 2013) 1 , scientists are unreliable judges of the importance 2 of fellow researchers' published papers.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. Babies learn to anticipate touch in the womb Babies learn how to anticipate touch while in the womb, according to new research.