news 2017

Brain imaging can reveal a great deal about who we are and what is going inside our heads. But how far can - and should - this research take us' Julia Gottwald and Barbara Sahakian, authors of Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans: How fMRI Reveals What Really Goes on in our Minds, investigate for The Conversation.

Close friendships facilitate the exchange of information and culture, making social networks more effective for cultural transmission, according to new UCL research that used wireless tracking technology to map social interactions in remote hunter-gatherer populations. The research demonstrates how increased network efficiency is achieved through investment in a few strong links between non-kin friends connecting unrelated families, as well as showing that strong friendships are more important than family ties in predicting levels of shared knowledge among individuals.

Researchers find link between a high fat diet, obesity and cardiovascular disease risk. Obesity and a diet high in fat could lead to a harmful activation of the immune system, increasing a person's risk of heart disease, according to a study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Previous research has shown that obesity increases blood pressure and cholesterol - both risk factors for heart disease.

A new, historically accurate portrait of the most admired and revered romantic leading man in literary history, Fitzwilliam Darcy, has been unveiled for the first time, following new research co-led by QMUL's Professor Amanda Vickery. The new portraits paint a very different picture of the literary heartthrob when compared to modern day TV depictions, portrayed by Hollywood actors such as Colin Firth, Elliot Cowan and Matthew MacFadyen.

Fish embryo study indicates that the last common ancestor of vertebrates was a complex animal complete with gills - overturning prior scientific understanding and complementing recent fossil finds. The work places gill evolution concurrent with shift to self-propulsion in our earliest ancestors. Our work suggests that the physiological innovation of gills occurred at the same time as the lifestyle transition from passive to active in some of our earliest ancestors Andrew Gillis A new study has revealed that gills originated much deeper in evolutionary history than previously believed.

New research may help to unlock the mystery of why and how our evolutionary ancestors first combined a consonant with a vowel to make the first word. Kiss squeaks The research, led by Dr Adriano Lameira of the Department of Anthropology , is published Human Behaviour. The study has analysed over 4,400 individual recordings of voiceless consonant-like calls, or 'kiss squeaks', from 48 orangutans in four different populations.

The findings, based on media reports from 2014, show that wild animal welfare issues such as culling, shooting and hunting receive the most media attention, and are reported most often by media outlets. Animal welfare issues receive varying levels of UK media attention, with some species being more widely reported than others, a new University of Oxford study has found.

The findings, based on media reports from 2014, show that wild animal welfare issues such as culling, shooting and hunting receive the most media attention, and are reported most often by media outlets. Animal welfare issues receive varying levels of UK media attention, with some species being more widely reported than others, a new University of Oxford study has found.

Young people in Wales are now almost twice as likely to try an e-cigarette compared to tobacco, new research by Cardiff University shows. While there is no evidence that e-cigarettes make young people more likely to smoke, youth e-cigarette use may become a public health issue if left unmonitored, the researchers from the University's Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), suggest in a paper published in the British Medical Journal .

The human mouth can harbour more than 700 different species of bacteria. Under normal circumstances these microbes co-exist with us as part of our resident oral microbiota. But when bacteria spread to other tissues via the blood stream, the results can be catastrophic. Researchers from the University of Bristol have now revealed a potentially key molecular process that occurs in the case of infective endocarditis, a type of cardiovascular disease in which bacteria cause unwanted blood clots to form on heart valves.

Pride has a bad reputation. Christians classified it as one of the seven deadly sins and traditional peoples everywhere consider it bad luck. But new research findings suggest that pride serves an important social function and is universal in this respect. The paper in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , suggests we have evolved to seek the admiration of others.

University of Warwick researchers identify a white dwarf pulsar - a star type which has eluded astronomers for half a century Star lashes its neighbour with intense radiation beam every two minutes Research published in Nature Astronomy An exotic binary star system 380 light-years away has been identified as an elusive white dwarf pulsar - the first of its kind ever to be discovered in the universe - thanks to research by the University of Warwick.

E-cigarettes are less toxic and safer to use compared to conventional cigarettes, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine . Scientists at UCL found that people who swapped smoking regular cigarettes for e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for at least six months, had much lower levels of toxic and cancer causing substances in their body than people who continued to use conventional cigarettes.

Patients' surveys on cleanliness in NHS hospitals in England gave higher ratings on the standard of cleaning in their wards and bedrooms shortly before or during 'unannounced' inspections, according to an Oxford-led study. The authors say we can assume that  'gaming' is happening, with incentives to clean better before inspections and let standards slide afterwards.

The world's biggest study into an individual's genetic make-up and the risk of developing lung disease could allow scientists to more accurately 'predict' - based on genes and smoking - your chance of developing COPD, a deadly disease which is the third commonest cause of death in the world.

The harmful health consequences of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) are well-established and the elimination of this practice is a priority for policy makers across the world. Examining the prevalence of this behaviour has been the subject of a new study by evolutionary anthropologists from the University of Bristol which, it is hoped, will provide a greater understanding of why FGC persists and inform eradication programmes.

Study finds link between removal of both ovaries at the time of hysterectomy and premature death Increase in incidence of heart disease and cancer, and of deaths from heart disease and cancer when ovaries were removed. More than 113,000 hysterectomy cases were studied and the ovaries were removed in about a third of these A study led by the University of Warwick has found a link between the removal of ovaries during hysterectomy and an increase in heart disease, cancer and premature death.

Antibiotics can still kill drug-resistant bacteria if they 'push' hard enough into bacterial cells, finds new UCL-led research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The study opens up a promising new way of overcoming antibiotic resistance and could help scientists to design even more effective drugs.

A poor diet during pregnancy can cause biological changes that last throughout life, according to research from Imperial College London. The study , published this week in the journal Cell Reports , showed that when pregnant mice were fed a diet deficient in protein this interfered with the expression of genes within the embryo that are known to be important for healthy growth.

New research has shown that the benchmark used by the Office for Nuclear Regulation for judging how much should be spent on nuclear safety has no basis in evidence and places insufficient value on human life. The review suggests it may need to be ten times higher - between £16 million and £22 million per life saved.