news 2016

Toddlers' fussy eating habits are mainly the result of genetic influences rather than the result of poor parenting, according to new research led by scientists at UCL. The research, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , investigated to what extent genes and environmental factors can explain why some children tend to refuse to try new foods or are very selective about what foods they eat.

Every day, people use their hands effortlessly to assess an object's stiffness, like the ripeness of a piece of fruit. For the first time an international team of scientists led by UCL, have discovered the area in the brain where stiffness perception is formed. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience , could aid rehabilitation in patients with sensory impairments.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Why your own brain might be your worst enemy A new study into brain activity during strategy based games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors has found that tactics go out of the window as soon as you lose or win big, making it harder for you to win next time around. Research by psychologists at the University of Sussex measured competitors' brain activity and discovered that following a big win or any kind of loss, the human brain acts more predictably.

A study in which free-foraging bee colonies were placed in the field has shown that pesticide exposure can affect colony development. A class of pesticides called neonicotinoids have faced scrutiny in recent years for potentially contributing to bee declines. If bees decline then many plants will go un-pollinated, including important crops we rely on for food.

New research will find out if a drug used for stroke patients could offer hope for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The MS Society has announced it is funding a project at the University of Glasgow into a specially modified version of the blood thinner heparin. ‌‌‌ In MS the loss of protective myelin around nerve fibres leads to the disruption of messages from the brain to the body and also exposes the nerves to permanent damage.

Scientists at Imperial College London have discovered a feedback mechanism at the heart of photosynthesis that protects plants from damage by light. The researchers have discovered that the key enzyme in photosynthesis can tune its activity to avoid being damaged by light and oxygen. Knowing how photosynthesis is regulated and protected could allow scientists to improve the process, potentially making agriculture and food production more efficient.

Researchers have prevented the development of Alzheimer's disease in mice by using a virus to deliver a specific gene into the brain. Researchers have prevented the development of Alzheimer's disease in mice by using a virus to deliver a specific gene into the brain. The early-stage findings, by scientists from Imperial College London , open avenues for potential new treatments for the disease.

Mice court one another with ultrasonic love songs that are inaudible to the human ear. New research shows they make these unique high frequency sounds using a mechanism that has only previously been observed in supersonic jet engines. Mice seem to be doing something very complicated and clever to make ultrasound.

When does our heart first start to beat? Until now, researchers thought that the first time our heart muscle contracted to beat was at eight days after conception in mice, which equates to around day 21 of a human pregnancy. Now, a team funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) at the University of Oxford has demonstrated earlier beating of the heart in mouse embryos which, if extrapolated to the human heart, suggests beating as early as 16 days after conception.

A protein found within the powerhouse of a cell could be the key to holding back the march of time, research by scientists at The University of Nottingham has shown. The discovery could offer a new target for drugs that may help to slow the debilitating effects of aging on our bodies. And their research, published in the academic journal Aging , could have special significance for combatting age-related decline and halting the progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol have used ultrasonic forces to accurately pattern thousands of microscopic water-based droplets. Each droplet can be designed to perform a biochemical experiment, which could pave the way for highly efficient lab-on-a-chip devices with future applications in drug discovery and clinical diagnostics.

Rapid advances in neuroscience are driving a huge shift in our understanding of how the brain works and could improve both our cognitive abilities and our brain health, writes Professor Barbara Sahakian (Department of Psychiatry) on The Conversation website. A recent explosion of neuroscience techniques is driving substantial advances in our understanding of the brain.

Rapid advances in neuroscience are driving a huge shift in our understanding of how the brain works and could improve both our cognitive abilities and our brain health, writes Professor Barbara Sahakian (Department of Psychiatry) on The Conversation website. A recent explosion of neuroscience techniques is driving substantial advances in our understanding of the brain.

The Zika virus outbreak in the Americas has transformed a previously little-known virus into a World Health Organization (WHO) declared global public health emergency. Yet scientists still don't know enough about Zika, including why and how it has spread so rapidly in recent months and what has led to the rise of new disease symptoms.

Despite an assessment in 2007 that night shift work was probably carcinogenic, data from three new studies and a review of currently available evidence indicate that night shift work has little or no effect on breast cancer incidence. The work was led by Oxford University and is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .

A number of new links between families of genes and brain size have been identified by UK scientists, opening up a whole new avenue of research to better understand brain development and diseases like dementia. A team of scientists from the Universities of Bath and Lincoln compared the genomes of 28 mammals with differing sizes of neocortex - the region of the brain that is involved in higher cognitive behaviours such as language and decision-making.

People who carry variants in a particular gene have an increased preference for high fat food, but a decreased preference for sugary foods, according to a new study led by the University of Cambridge. The research has provided insights into why we make particular food choices, with potential implications for our understanding of obesity.

In contrast to previous research, scientists have found that habitat warming can reduce the diversity of species in marine environments, but increase speciation in freshwater habitats. Scientists from the University of Bath's Milner Centre for Evolution working with colleagues at the University of York have shown that for an important group of aquatic crustaceans called the Anomura, which includes hermit crabs, king crabs and squat lobsters, habitat warming decreases species diversity in marine environments.

Bumblebees can learn to pull strings for food and pass on the ability to a colony, according to researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Pulling strings to obtain food is an experiment often used to test the intelligence of apes and birds, but it is the first time this technique has been discovered in an insect.

Following the news that the UK government is to ban plastic microbeads by the end of 2017, a team of scientists led by the University of Oxford has discovered the first evidence of microplastics being ingested by deep-sea animals. Researchers working on the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Cook at two sites in the mid-Atlantic and south-west Indian Ocean found plastic microfibres inside creatures including hermit crabs, squat lobsters and sea cucumbers at depths of between 300m and 1800m.