news 2015

A commonly used skin care ingredient is one of several newly identified compounds that can mimic the life-extending effect of a starvation diet, new University of Liverpool research has revealed. Calorie restriction, a reduction in calorie intake without malnutrition, has been found to slow down the ageing process in several animal models from worms to mammals, and developing drugs that can reproduce this effect, without the side effects, could have widespread human applications.

Cancer cells take up nanoparticles more rapidly than normal brain cells. New research carried out by drug delivery experts at The University of Nottingham has highlighted more advantages to using nanoparticles for the delivery of cancer drugs. This will help in developing improved ways to treat cancer.

Study of 1,000 quotes in newspaper articles found people were portrayed as 'dehumanised consumers' A dominant neoliberal narrative may affect people's response to the current economic situation Newspaper coverage of the financial crisis portrayed people as 'dehumanised consumers' rather than 'victims of a calamity' - which may explain why they are not angrier about the UK's economic position, a report has found.

The first results from direct searches for new physics were announced today from CERN's energy-upgraded Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Among these results was a search for signs of a new theory called supersymmetry in which members of the University of Bristol particle physics group have played a leading role.

Plants are unable to maintain a high level of resistance to infection 24/7 - Fungal infection appears more likely to occur at dawn - Plants use their molecular clock to raise resistance levels before dawn in anticipation of infection - Molecular clock and immune system found to be connected by a single protein Plants are able to predict when infections are more likely to occur and regulate their immune response accordingly, new research has found.

Researchers are unraveling the mystery of how bacteria switch into 'standby mode' in the human body, enabling the bugs to evade antibiotics. Bacteria enter standby mode when they encounter adverse conditions in the body, such as when they are starved of nutrients. This enables them to shut down their metabolism, and remain in this state until conditions become more favourable.

A non-invasive, low cost blood test that could help doctors diagnose some types of malignant childhood tumour has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Health NHS Foundation Trust. At the moment, we are not good enough at diagnosing these tumours and monitoring their treatment: we need better, safer and more cost-effective tests Nick Coleman Reported today in the British Journal of Cancer, the test could enable doctors to monitor the effectiveness of treatments without exposing patients to repeated doses of radiation.

Our understanding of evolution can be enriched by adding fossil species to analyses of living animals, as shown by scientists from the University of Bristol. Their paper, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , investigates patterns of evolutionary change in a group of mammals known as Afrotheria.

People vary according to different personality traits, such as extraversion or conscientiousness, and new UCL research suggests that they also vary according to a particular cognitive trait: distractibility. The findings are published in Psychological Science , a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Private equity firms have charged hidden fees amounting to $20 billion to companies, while some of the firms' partners have sat on the companies' board of directors, according to a new study. Dr Ludovic Phalippou, Associate Professor of Finance at the Saïd Business School, and his coauthors Dr Christian Rauch and Professor Dr Mark Umber examined the portfolio fees of 592 US companies worth $1.1 trillion in total.

A panorama of the X-ray sky has been completed by an international team of more than 100 scientists, providing new insights into the nature of the Universe. The XXL team, which includes astrophysicists from the University of Bristol, used the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory to take over 250 individual images of the sky.

Mariners have long spoken of 'walls of water' appearing from nowhere in the open seas. But oceanographers have generally disregarded such stories and suggested that rogue waves - enormous surface waves that have attained a near-mythical status over the centuries - build up gradually and have relatively narrow crests.

A University of Manchester biologist has for the first time established that the painful and debilitating symptoms endured by osteoarthritis sufferers are intrinsically linked to the human body clock. The study, led by Dr Qing-Jun Meng, who is a Senior Research Fellow for Arthritis Research UK, could in the years to come, pave the way for drug treatment of the joint condition that affects 8 million people in the UK.

Scientists have discovered enhanced weathering of rock could counter man-made fossil fuel CO2 emissions and help to protect our oceans. An international team, led by researchers from the University of Sheffield, found that speeding up the naturally occurring process of the weathering of rock to draw CO2 out of the atmosphere could help to significantly stabilise the climate and avert ocean acidification caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

At least 1 in 4 women will return to the family court, having previously lost a child through court order, and the chances of having a child removed increase to at least 1 in 3 for the youngest women who were teenagers at the birth of their first child. A team of researchers, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by Professor Karen Broadhurst from Lancaster University, have updated initial findings, presented last year, confirming that a 'hidden population' of mothers are caught up in a cycle of family court proceedings, with one child after another being removed from women's care.

The Large Underground Xenon dark matter experiment is the most sensitive dark matter detector in the world, and it just became much more sensitive. Dark matter is thought to be the dominant form of matter in the universe. Scientists are confident in its existence because the effects of its gravity can be seen in the rotation of galaxies and in the way light bends as it travels through the universe.

Scientists have discovered a gene mutation that may trigger muscle and heart disorders. The findings, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation , suggest that the gene, called Popeye domain containing-1, has a role in 'gluing' muscles cells together. When the gene is mutated, the muscle tissue becomes significantly weakened and damaged.

Lancaster is working with the University of Oxford on a £5.2m project which aims to design and develop the world's most efficient thermoelectric material. QuEEN (Quantum Effects in Electronic Nanodevices) funded by the EPSRC involves teams from the Physics Department at Lancaster and the Departments of Materials and Chemistry at Oxford.

The drug anastrozole is effective in treating an early form of breast cancer, according to a clinical trial led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The results of the IBIS-II DCIS trial show that anastrozole is as effective as tamoxifen for this type of breast cancer and could offer a new treatment option for post-menopausal women.

Dr Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh from QMUL's School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science looks at what it takes to teach an AI how to read natural human languages. Wikipedia is to put artificial intelligence to the enormous task of keeping the free, editable online encyclopedia up-to-date, spam-free and legal.