news 2013

Think you can figure out a way to unlock one of the biggest secrets of the universe? The recently launched third Gravitational Lensing Accuracy Testing challenge (GREAT3) is giving researchers the opportunity to do just that. GREAT3, which is led by Carnegie Mellon University's Rachel Mandelbaum and UCL's Barnaby Rowe, invites researchers from fields including astrophysics, statistics and machine learning, to test new and existing methods for measuring weak gravitational lensing.

I strongly suspect that there are more lakes awaiting discovery as our radar investigations of the ice-sheet base continue Julian Dowdeswell The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters , discovered two subglacial lakes 800 metres below the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The two lakes are each roughly 8-10 km2, and at one point may have been up to three times larger than their current size.

A novel malaria vaccine developed at Oxford University has shown promising results in the first clinical trial to test whether it can protect people against the mosquito-borne disease. The trial was carried out in Oxford by researchers led by Professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, along with colleagues from the biotechnology company Okairos.

The Schmallenberg virus that causes birth defects in sheep and cattle was carried to the UK by midges blown over from French and Belgian farms, say Oxford University scientists. Schmallenberg was first seen in Germany in 2011 and spread rapidly across Europe through Culicoides midges, the same insects that carry the bluetongue virus.

Researchers have shown that a single monomer of the protein tau can be enough to kick-start an aggregation process which may explain the onset of Alzheimer's in the brain. It is one piece in the puzzle that could provide us with an explanation as to why head injuries may be connected to Alzheimer's. It's not necessarily correct - but it is plausible.

Scientists are a step closer to understanding how some of the brain's 100 billion nerve cells co-ordinate their communication. The study is published in the journal Cell Reports. The University of Bristol research team investigated some of the chemical processes that underpin how brain cells co-ordinate their communication.

A new app has been developed by researchers at Cardiff University that enables users to measure their understanding of different groups in society. The 'Masquerade' app is based on The Imitation Game (IMGAME); a new research method that can be used to compare societies across space and time. IMGAME is innovative in its combination of collecting quantitative measures as well as qualitative data by asking sociological questions.

Researchers believe findings could help the many individuals for whom anti-depressants offer little or no relief Modafinil has actions on a number of neurotransmitter systems. This may explain why adding it to traditional anti-depressants has beneficial effects on the symptoms experienced by depressed patients Professor Barbara Sahakian A new study has concluded that taking the drug modafinil, typically used to treat sleep disorders, in combination with antidepressants reduces the severity of depression more effectively than taking antidepressants alone.

UK researchers have discovered a gene that regulates alcohol consumption and when faulty can cause excessive drinking. They have also identified the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. The study showed that normal mice show no interest in alcohol and drink little or no alcohol when offered a free choice between a bottle of water and a bottle of diluted alcohol.

A gene mutation for excessive alcohol drinking found Sussex researchers are among a team of UK scientists who have discovered a gene that regulates alcohol consumption and, when faulty, can cause excessive drinking. They have also identified the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. The study showed that normal mice show no interest in alcohol and drink little or no alcohol when offered a free choice between a bottle of water and a bottle of diluted alcohol.

UK researchers have discovered a gene that regulates alcohol consumption and, when faulty, can cause excessive drinking in mice. The study found that normal mice drink little or no alcohol when offered a free choice between a bottle of water and a bottle of diluted alcohol. However, mice with a mutation in the gene Gabrb1 overwhelmingly preferred drinking alcohol over water, choosing to consume almost 85 per cent of their daily fluid as drinks containing alcohol.

Scientists and clinicians from five leading UK universities will begin a groundbreaking trial next year to test a possible cure for HIV infection. Efforts to cure HIV in the past have been thwarted by the virus's ability to lie dormant inside blood cells without being detected. The new therapy combines standard antiretroviral drugs with two new weapons: a drug that reactivates dormant HIV, and a vaccine that induces the immune system to destroy the infected cells.

Scientists have discovered how drugs that have been used for 60 years to kill the parasite that causes sleeping sickness actually work. Research has revealed that the drugs used to attack Trypanosoma brucei enter through pores in the parasite's cells known as aquaporins which function as water channels.

Results published today in The Lancet give the most detailed picture yet of the British population's sex lives over the last 10 years, as part of the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) survey. Over 15,000 adults aged 16-74 participated in s between September 2010 and August 2012.

A new study, published in The Lancet as part of the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) survey, systematically assesses the association between individuals' general health and their sex lives, finding that close to one in six (17%) of men and women in Britain say that their health affects their sex life.

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. Archaeological discoveries confirm early date of Buddha's life Archaeologists working in Nepal have uncovered evidence of a structure at the birthplace of the Buddha dating to the sixth century B.C. This is the first archaeological material linking the life of the Buddha - and thus the first flowering of Buddhism - to a specific century.

Steroid injections given to pregnant women before premature birth may increase the child's risk of later behavioural difficulties, a study has found. Mothers who are expected to give birth prematurely are often given an infusion of glucocorticoids, which mimic the natural hormone cortisol. This treatment is vital for helping the baby's lungs mature, but the new research suggests it may also increase the risk of mental health problems including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Professor Dan Shechtman celebrated crystallography's profound impact on modern science in the Bragg Centenary Lecture 2013 - and explained how he overturned one of the discipline's key principles. Professor Shechtman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011, spoke in the University’s Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre on November 21 at the culmination of a year of events marking the centenary of the development of X-ray crystallography by William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg at Leeds in 1912-13.

UCL scientists have shown that there are widespread differences in how genes, the basic building blocks of the human body, are expressed in men and women's brains. Based on post-mortem adult human brain and spinal cord samples from over 100 individuals, scientists at the UCL Institute of Neurology were able to study the expression of every gene in 12 brain regions.

Scientists from Plymouth University are beginning to develop computer models of tadpole brains as part of a £1.3 million project to understand how the brain makes the decision to initiate motion. A collaborative project, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), will see the Plymouth team working in conjunction with biologists at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews to understand and build computer models of how sensory signals are interpreted by the brain and lead to the initiation of locomotion.