News 2019

Led by UK Universities, multi-disciplinary researchers from around the globe are joining forces in an innovative new research centre aimed at speeding up the use of radical new cooling solutions to help small-holder farmers, medicine suppliers and others make the most of clean and sustainable chilled distribution systems.

DnaNudge, co-founded by Imperial professor Chris Toumazou, has launched a flagship store in London's Covent Garden. DnaNudge offers the world's first DNA-based service for healthier food choices. The new Covent Garden store provides on-the-spot DNA testing, which is then used to 'nudge' users to make healthier food shopping choices.

Deep divides fuelled by the Brexit debate have been laid bare in new research from Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh. Academics say the latest Future of England Survey, which explores people's attitudes to the constitution across England, Scotland and Wales, will be 'uncomfortable reading' for both those who voted Leave and those who voted Remain in the 2016 EU Referendum.

UCL is a key partner in four of seven new centres announced by Health Data Research UK. The data hubs, to be set up across the UK from October this year, will speed up research for new medicines, treatments and health technologies to support quicker diagnosis and save lives. They will promote better use of health data by linking up different types of data and making it more easily accessible and user-friendly for research, while maintaining strict controls around data privacy and consent.

Professor Ruth Morgan (UCL Security and Crime Science) writes about the misinterpretation of forensic evidence and the issues that this causes for the criminal justice system. Imagine you're in court, accused of a crime that you know you didn't commit. Now imagine a scientist takes the stand and starts explaining to the court how your DNA is on the murder weapon.

Global threat detection and security technologies company Smiths Detection have announced the opening of an office at Imperial College London. The new office is opened in the I-Hub with the intention of establishing an R&D partnership between the two organizations. Smiths Detection, part of Smiths Group, specialises in sensors and detection technology for security and defence purposes.

Scientists discover novel viruses carried by the Scottish midge Scotland's biting midge population carries previously-unknown viruses, according to new research. The study - published in Viruses and carried out by scientists at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) - used high throughput sequencing to study, for the first time, the total collection of viruses in the biting midge ( Culicoides impunctatus ).

A Royal Society report, led by Imperial experts, has urged the UK Government to take the lead on tech that merges brain, body and machine. The report , part of a new perspective on this emerging technology and published by the Royal Society , argues that the UK government should launch a national investigation into neural interface technologies - devices that "blur the lines between mind and machine" - and their ethical implications.

Europe has the capacity to produce more than 100 times the amount of energy it currently produces through onshore windfarms, new analysis from the University of Sussex and Aarhus University has revealed. In an analysis of all suitable sites for onshore wind farms, the new study reveals that Europe has the potential to supply enough energy for the whole world until 2050.

The Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London was announced today. Cancer Research UK is bringing together scientists from two of the UK's foremost academic research institutions under the leadership of renowned cancer experts, Professor the Lord Ara Darzi from Imperial College London and Professor Paul Workman from The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

A University of Sussex professor has helped draw up new guidance to aid European policymakers in making better informed decisions on issues of complex scientific evidence. Professor Andy Stirling has contributed to the new report Making Sense of Science by Science Advice for Policy by European Advisors (SAPEA) which brings together outstanding expertise in engineering, humanities, medicine, natural and social sciences from over 100 academies, young academies and learned societies across Europe.

Researchers have developed world-leading Compound Semiconductor (CS) technology that can drive future high-speed data communications. A team from Cardiff University worked to innovate an ultrafast and highly sensitive 'avalanche photodiode' (APD) that creates less electronic 'noise' than its silicon rivals.

Our future TV and smartphone screens could have double the energy efficiency, thanks to a technique invented by Imperial scientists. The pixels in many modern screens for TVs, smartphones, tablets, and laptops are lit by little devices called OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes). The findings could make screens of all kinds brighter, with better contrast and longer life.

The NHS remains vulnerable to cyber-attack, and must take urgent steps to defend against threats which could risk the safety of patients. This is the finding of a new White Paper on NHS Cyber Security presented at the House of Lords. For the safety of patients, it is critical to ensure that the data, devices and systems that uphold our NHS and therefore our nation's health are secure.

Glaciers are beginning to move faster than they have ever done before. Our warming world is melting the ice on top of glaciers, causing meltwater to trickle down through cracks and holes and act as a lubricant over which the glacier can roll - much like shopping items on a conveyer belt. When a glacier slides downstream and eventually meets the ocean, it melts and causes sea levels to rise with potentially devastating effects for coastal communities around the world.

Imperial academics have developed low-cost, smartphone-linked, eco-friendly spoilage sensors for meat and fish packaging. These sensors are cheap enough that we hope supermarkets could use them within three years. Dr Firat Güder Department of Bioengineering The researchers say the new sensors could help detect spoilage and reduce food waste for supermarkets and consumers.

Melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic, and subsequent sea level rise (SLR) this will cause, is widely recognised as posing a significant threat to coastal communities and ecosystems. Strategies and measures to mitigate and plan for the potential impacts are reliant on scientific projections of future SLR - conventionally provided using numerical modelling.

A new network of the world's leading Biofoundries has been launched to drive forward synthetic biology research and industry. The Global Alliance of Biofoundries (GBA) brings together 16 institutions from countries including the UK, US, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Denmark and Canada. The London DNA Foundry , based at Imperial College London, is one of the leading founders of the new Global Alliance.

Sussex research helps show how technology behind the V&A's Cast Courts underpins the modern world Research conducted by a University of Sussex teaching fellow has proved fundamental to the recently restored Cast Courts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, revealing how the developments pioneered by a Victorian manufacturer are relevant today.

A ground-breaking £20m centre will develop technologies to create dementia-friendly 'Healthy Homes' and provide insights into how dementia develops. The new Care Research & Technology Centre at Imperial College London joins six national discovery science centres that collectively make up the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) .