news 2016

The results of a major criminology experiment in Peterborough suggest that investing in proactive PCSO foot patrols targeting crime 'hot spots' could yield a more than five-to-one return: with every £10 spent saving £56 in prison costs.

MPs have expressed an overwhelming willingness to use a proposed new service to swiftly link them with academics in relevant areas, to help ensure policy is based on the latest evidence. The government is pursuing a drive towards evidence-based policy, yet policy makers still struggle to incorporate evidence into their decisions.

Online poker offers new insights into the mind-set of scheming Machiavellians, researchers have found. Researchers from Lancaster University and the University of Helsinki show that the card betting game can be used as a novel way to better understand the psychology of strategic deception. Before now, the trait has rarely been studied in natural settings outside laboratories.

Peer to peer support or mentoring is an effective way of boosting disabled people's employment prospects, and should have a stronger role in government work programmes - two studies published today by Disability Rights UK (DRUK) and The Work Foundation suggest. Disabled people say peer support offers hope, self-belief, encouragement and good role models.

People power crucial for low-carbon future, new research shows Policy makers must harness the power of ordinary people if society is to transition to a low-carbon energy future, argues a leading technology historian. New research by Johan Schot , Director of SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex, shows that viewing people as mere energy consumers means we risk losing a vast amount of potential in altering society and bringing about the substantive change we need to our existing energy system.

A small scale study into treating depression, using psilocybin, the psychedelic compound of magic mushrooms, has found it can be safely administered. The team, from Imperial College London, say this could pave the way for future randomised-controlled trials to establish the efficacy of the compound in treating this form of depression.

Body-worn cameras associated with increased assaults against police, and increase in use-of-force if officers choose when to activate cameras Preliminary results from eight UK and US police forces reveal rates of assault against officers are 15% higher when they use body-worn cameras.

Oxford University research has suggested that the 'weekend effect', the suggestion that patients admitted to hospital at the weekend are more likely to die, may in fact be the result of the way medical records are coded for data returns. The study of more than 90,000 stroke patients, by Dr Linxin Li and Professor Peter M Rothwell from the Oxford Vascular Study, has not yet been published, but has been the subject of media reporting.

Researchers from Imperial are investigating whether reducing the number of antibiotics prescribed to patients could increase serious infections. In a bid to combat the growing number of bacteria resistant to our most commonly used treatments, medical staff and patients have recently been urged to reduce antibiotic use.

People who have had the painful and serious skin infection 'cellulitis' are being asked to help scientists design new medical research to improve treatment of the condition. Cellulitis is a common condition. It can affect some groups of people more than others. There has been little research to improve the lives of sufferers.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and Cornell University have measured how ranking workers affects later levels of performance. A total of 18 experimental sessions took place in a laboratory study involving 300 students, who were divided into groups made up of 17 people for the various tasks.

Developed cities are spending significantly more than developing cities on measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change - with spending seemingly linked to wealth rather than number of vulnerable people - finds UCL research. The paper, published today , analysed the amount that ten megacities (cities with a population greater than three million, or GDP ranking amongst the top 25 of cities, or both) across the globe spent on climate adaptation measures, such as better drainage systems, coastal defences and more resilient infrastructure.

New research suggests smoking bans across the UK have reduced the uptake of smoking by teenagers by roughly a fifth. While smoke-free legislation has been a great success for tobacco control, its impact on the smoking habits of adolescents was poorly understood. Researchers at the University of Glasgow's MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit along with colleagues at the Welsh Government and the University of Stirling, looked at school-based surveys to see what effect comprehensive smoke-free policies has had on smoking uptake in adolescents.

Coercive instructions make people feel less responsible for the outcomes of their actions, as opposed to merely saying that they are less responsible, researchers from UCL and the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium have found. Society holds individuals responsible for their own actions. However, individuals sometimes claim reduced responsibility because they were "only obeying orders".

A study led by King's College London and the University of Southampton has shown that a higher registered nurse to patient ratio is linked to a reduced risk of inpatient death. The study of staffing levels in NHS hospitals, published in the online journal BMJ Open , found that in trusts where registered nurses had six or fewer patients to care for, the death rate for patients with medical conditions was 20 per cent lower than in those where they had more than 10.

Children whose GPs are easy to access are less likely to visit A&E than those whose GPs are less able to provide appointments. These are the findings of a new study, led by researchers from Imperial College London , and published in the journal Pediatrics. The research also found that during weekdays, children's visits to A&E peak after school hours.