news 2018

The past 12 months have provided many eye-grabbing headlines from the Imperial community, from world-leading research to incredible innovations. Before 2019 is upon us, we take a quick look back at the most popular articles on our award-winning news site (ranked by the number of page views). Here are our top 10 stories of 2018.

This year, researchers at Imperial made several important breakthroughs in understanding and potentially treating aggressive cancer types. The past few decades have seen remarkable progress in the survival rates of some cancers - particularly in the developed world, and particularly for cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and bowel.

Some surprise headlines need a second look, and quirky studies can often have serious impact on our lives. From holographic teachers to turtles that breathe through their genitals, here are a handful of the stories that made readers do a double-take in 2018. Napoleon dynamite In August, research from Dr Matthew Genge revealed that electrically charged volcanic ash short-circuited Earth's atmosphere in 1815 causing global poor weather - and Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

Plant scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham have unravelled a mechanism that enables flowering plants to sense and 'remember' changes in their environment. The research, published , reveals potential new targets that could support the development of new plant varieties, including cereals and vegetables, that can adapt to different environmental conditions.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have been awarded £1.6M by the Natural Environment Research Council to lead a project investigating shipping emissions in the Arctic and North Atlantic atmosphere. Called SEANA (Shipping Emissions in the Arctic and North Atlantic Atmosphere), the project also includes partners from the University of Exeter, British Antarctic Survey and Cranfield University.

A new study suggests rolling out a Type 2 diabetes remission programme in the NHS could cost around £1,067 per participant in its first year - or, factoring in the likelihood of success, £2,564 for each case of remission. Researchers say findings 'make the case for shifting resources to offer remission' in the future.

New research has discovered how plant roots sense the availability of moisture in soil and then adapt their shape to optimise acquisition of water. The discovery could enable crops to be bred which are more adaptive to changes in climate conditions, such as water scarcity, and help ensure food security in the future.

Earlier this year, the United Nations announced that the ozone layer, which shields the Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation, and which was severely depleted by decades of human-derived, ozone-destroying chemicals, is on the road to recovery. The dramatic turnaround is a direct result of regulations set by the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a global treaty under which nearly every country in the world, including the United States, successfully acted to ban the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the main agents of ozone depletion.

Researchers recommend greater action to promote best practice as a new study reveals a rise in prescriptions of opioids for treating chronic pain rise between 1998 and 2018. A review of opioid prescribing in the UK has shown that UK doctors are prescribing more and stronger opioid drugs to patients.

Fossilised newborns, egg shells, and egg bursters preserved together in amber provide the first direct evidence of how insects hatched in deep time, according to a new article published today in the journal Palaeontology . One of the earliest and toughest trials that all organisms face is birth. The new findings give scientists evidence on how tiny insects broke the barrier separating them from life and took their first steps into an ancient forest.

Laboratory tests at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) on 21 different bottles of rare Scotch whisky, potentially worth around £635,000, have confirmed them all as modern fakes. Based on these results, Rare Whisky 101 (RW101), one of the world's leading experts in rare whisky, has estimated that around £41million worth of rare whisky currently circulating in the secondary market, and present in existing collections, is fake.

Imagine an electrically-powered device as thin as paper, as powerful as human muscle, and capable of lifting 1,000 times its own weight. Researchers from the University of Bristol have done precisely that, creating an artificial 'muscle' that could boost the power of anything from microrobots to space structures.

Cambridge experiment with City of London police found that, while rarely deployed, just the presence of electroshock devices led to greater overall hostility in police-public interactions - an example of what researchers call the 'weapons effect'. The presence of Tasers appears to provoke a pattern where suspects become more aggressive toward officers, who in turn respond more forcefully Barak Ariel A new study has found that London police officers visibly armed with electroshock 'Taser' weapons used force 48% more often, and were more likely to be assaulted, than those on unarmed shifts.

Scientists have developed a 3D-printed robotic hand which can play simple musical phrases on the piano by just moving its wrist. And while the robot is no virtuoso, it demonstrates just how challenging it is to replicate all the abilities of a human hand, and how much complex movement can still be achieved through design.

Patients with suspected bowel cancer could be offered a quicker test to assess their cancer risk. This is the finding of new research from Imperial College London. The study, which tracked 7375 patients referred to hospital with suspected bowel cancer, compared two methods of examining the inside of the bowel - whole colon investigation and flexible sigmoidoscopy.

An active ingredient in eye drops that were being developed by experts in Nottingham has shown promise for treating an aggressive form of blood cancer, research has shown. Researchers from the University of Nottingham worked on the research led by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge, and other collaborators which found that the compound, which targets an essential cancer gene, could kill leukaemia cells without harming non-leukemic blood cells.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have discovered a potential combination therapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the most common form of leukaemia in the Western world, diagnosed in more than 3,500 people in the UK each year. The research, carried out in collaboration with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and published in Clinical Cancer Research , found that the combination of ibrutinib, a targeted treatment already in clinical use, with a new inhibitor called AZD8055, helped promote CLL cell death in a preclinical study.

Claims of a 'pause' in observed global temperature warming are comprehensively disproved in a pair of new studies published today. An international team of climate researchers reviewed existing data and studies and reanalysed them. They concluded there has never been a statistically significant 'pause' in global warming.

A study by the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University has shown that regular weighing at home and simple tips to curb excess eating and drinking can prevent people from piling on the pounds at Christmas. Researchers, supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and funded by the University of Birmingham, carried out the 'Winter Weight Watch Study' - a trial that aimed to prevent participants from gaining weight over the festive season by arming them with tips and techniques to avoid overindulging.