news 2018

Community screening for osteoporosis could prevent more than a quarter of hip fractures in older women, according to new research. A new study, published in The Lancet , has shown that a simple questionnaire, combined with bone mineral density measurements for some, would help identify those at risk of hip fracture.

Encouraging people to change their behavior through social marketing campaigns can help the recovery of threatened wildlife populations. New research shows that social marketing campaigns play an important role in the recovery of wildlife species, offering evidence that can help conservationists design more cost-effective future campaigns.

Latest research reveals the extent to which conspiracy theories have become "mainstream rather than marginal beliefs" across much of Europe and the US.

Researchers at Cardiff University are working to understand a relatively common genetic condition that most people haven't heard of. The ECHO study, based at the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, aims to identify the challenges faced by people with 22q11. Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS), which is thought to be the second most common genetic condition behind Down's Syndrome.

A good sense of humour is the most valued quality in a friend, research of young people in Wales has found. A team of Cardiff University researchers based at the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) found that honesty and kindness were the next most valued traits.

Researchers are looking for people to take part in a new study to better understand why autistic people may be more likely to take their own life, to help shape new ways to prevent future deaths by suicide. The three-year project is being led by the University of Nottingham in partnership with Coventry University , and the University of Cambridge and is the first study of its kind.

Social care research in England is set to receive up to £20 million in new funding through the National Institute for Health Research, boosting research to improve adult social care across the country. The investment by the Department of Health and Social Care will fund the next five years of the NIHR School for Social Care Research (NIHR SSCR), of which researchers from the University of Bristol are members.

Up to one billion children worldwide are estimated to be victims of violence. Now, an intended study of 12,000 children in eight cities worldwide wants to discover what it really means to be a child of the city today - the adversities, the vulnerabilities, the resilience. By comparing a new generation from each city, we can build a scientific backbone for interventions to prevent violence against children Manuel Eisner It's 1960 and two boys are born into cities of different nations about to gain independence from the British.

Societal acceptance of domestic violence against women is widespread in developing countries, with 36 per cent of people believing it is justified in certain situations. Using Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2005-2017, researchers at the University of Bristol analysed data from 1.17 million men and women in 49 lowand middle-income countries.

Children in Northern Ireland are 80% less likely to be in foster or residential care than children in Wales, according to a study. Professor Jonathan Scourfield and Dr Martin Elliott from Cardiff University contributed to the UK-wide research that analysed the data of 36,000 children in contact with child protection services.

Artificial intelligence can help us to better understand the causes of religious violence and to potentially control it, according to a new Oxford University collaboration. The study is one of the first to be published that uses psychologically realistic AI - as opposed to machine learning. The research published in The Journal for Artificial Societies and Social Stimulation , combines computer modelling and cognitive psychology to create an AI system able to mimic human religiosity.

29 October 2018 Specially-designed beermats have been created to highlight the important role traditional pubs have to play in tackling loneliness in older men. As traditional pubs decline, and face-to-face socialising is replaced by social media, researchers at the University of Bristol have examined the role pubs play in the lives of men over 65.

Experts from Cardiff University are leading on a major new research project which will assess how new technologies are influencing transnational organised crime (Cyber-TNOC). Professor Mike Levi, Dr Luca Giommoni and Professor Matthew Williams, criminologists at the School of Social Sciences, along with Professor Pete Burnap from the School of Computer Science and Informatics, have secured funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate the ways in which criminals are making use of cyber and allied technologies.

Governments and police forces around the world need to give greater consideration to the potential harm caused by mass and social media following terror events, a report concludes. Academics at Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute (CSRI) lead an international team of analysts from the University of New South Wales, Michigan State University and the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing to learn the lessons from researching recent terror attacks in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Young people who read fiction have significantly stronger reading skills than their peers who do not, according to new findings from UCL. Researchers from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), analysed data from more than 250,000 teenagers aged 15, across 35 industrialised countries* who had taken part in the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA).

Women are using Mumsnet to swap advice on dealing with financial inequality and men who do not pay their fair share. The finding comes from a Goldsmiths, University of London and University of Birmingham study that analysed four months' worth of discussion threads on the Mumsnet website, with titles such as 'Is he tight or am I just a princess?' and 'Is he tight or am I expecting too much?'.

Research from Oxford University has revealed that bold male birds focus on forming strong relationships with their future breeding partners while shy male birds play the field. A new study from the Department of Zoology, Oxford University, has found that the individual personalities of male great tits influences how they bond with their future breeding partner.

Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre has presented new findings on drugs, alcohol and homelessness to the House of Commons' Welsh Affairs Committee. The Committee held an evidence session at the National Assembly in Cardiff as part of its inquiry into prison provision in Wales. The Wales Governance Centre's Dr Robert Jones was questioned by MPs on the new data and on his previous Imprisonment in Wales Factfile.

People who hide their autism by 'camouflaging' to try to fit into society, or who don't receive correct support are at higher risk of suicide, according to new research. Researchers from the University of Nottingham's School of Psychology and the Universities of Coventry and Cambridge worked closely with a group of autistic people who had experienced mental health problems, self-injury or thoughts of ending life, to design a new innovative study that has just been published in the journal Molecular Autism.

Digital traces from credit card and mobile phone usage can be used to map urban lifestyles and understand human mobility, according to a report led by UCL, MIT and UC Berkeley. Credit Card Records (CCRs) are currently used to measure similarities in purchasing activity, but for the first time researchers have used the data along with Call Detailed Records (CDRs) to understand the daily rhythms of human mobility and communication.