News 2019

New research from the University of Sussex shows that people who take part in Dry January - living alcohol-free for a month - are still drinking less six months later. In the most robust research on the subject to date, the study, led by University of Sussex psychologist Dr Richard de Visser , compared the experiences of participants in the Dry January 2019 challenge with adult drinkers who did not take part.

People transported animals over huge distances for mass gatherings at one of Ireland's most iconic archaeological sites, research concludes. Dr Richard Madgwick of Cardiff University led the study, which analysed the bones of 35 animals excavated from Navan Fort, the legendary capital of Ulster. Researchers from Queen's University Belfast, Memorial University Newfoundland and the British Geological Survey were also involved in the research.

Older people who engage with the arts live longer than those who take part infrequently or not at all, according to UCL research. The study, published today in the BMJ , measured engagement in the 'receptive arts' such as going to the theatre, concerts, opera, museums, art galleries and exhibitions, and linked this to mortality.

People exposed to higher levels of air pollution are more likely to experience depression or die by suicide, finds a new analysis led by UCL. The first systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence connecting air pollution and a range of mental health problems, published in Environmental Health Perspectives , reviewed study data from 16 countries.

Meerkat clans perform a 'war dance' to frighten opponents and protect their territory, according to a new UCL and University of Cambridge study. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , is the first empirical study to reveal intergroup aggression. The researchers, who monitored hundreds of these intergroup encounters over 11 years, show that meetings between meerkat clans often turn aggressive and sometimes escalate to fighting and lethal violence.

After nearly a decade, the Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme (MOOP) is drawing to a close, having conducted research in more than ten countries in an effort to uncover how and why migration plays such a significant role in poverty reduction in some contexts, but not in others. Funded by the UK's Department for International Development, MOOP has built up a robust body of evidence on the relationship between migration and poverty, with research feeding directly into regional policy in the global South, and cited in international reports on development.

Just 14% of people in the world population have access to palliative care services that allow people to die with dignity and alleviate their suffering, according to new research led by the University of Glasgow. And more than half of the world's population - mainly in low and middle-income countries - have very poor or non-existent access to palliative care.

Research from Oxford University calls us to reconsider how behaviours may spread through societies of wild animals, and how this might provide new insights into human social networks. Our social connections to one another, whether it be online or in real life, give rise to our 'social networks'. Previously, it has often been assumed that the individuals with the most social connections are the primary 'social influencers' and most likely to acquire, and spread, new behaviours.

Thousands of young women are unnecessarily admitted to UK hospitals and undergo surgery they do not need each year in the NHS, according to a new study. Surgery for appendicitis is one of the world's most common emergency operations. UK hospitals exhibit the world's highest rate of 'normal appendicectomy,' where patients undergo surgery for suspected appendicitis but laboratory examination of the removed appendix finds it to be normal.

New research investigating the effect of sleep on eyewitness memory has found that having a period of sleep, compared to a period of wake, does not improve eyewitness identification accuracy. The research team, led by PhD student, David Morgan at Royal Holloway, University of London, Professor Laura Mickes, senior author at the University of Bristol and including researchers from Royal Holloway, the Universities of California, USA and Birmingham, and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is published today [4 December] in Royal Society Open Science .

For Cambridge students For our researchers Business and enterprise Colleges and Departments Email and phone search Give to Cambridge Museums and collections Undergraduate Events and open days Fees and finance Postgraduate Postgraduate courses Fees and funding Frequently asked questions International students Continuing education Executive and professional education Courses in education How the University and Colleges work Visiting the University

In the study academics from the universities of Manchester, Bristol, Manchester Metropolitan and Kings College London found 13 per cent of children whose mothers did not experience domestic violence had an IQ of below 90 at eight years of age. If their mothers experienced physical violence from their partner either in pregnancy or during the first six years of the child's life, the figure rises to 22.8 per cent.

Dating and relationship violence (DRV), including both physical and emotional violence, is a significant issue among young people in Wales, academics say. Cardiff University researchers analysed survey data from nearly 75,000 students aged 11-16, from 193 schools in Wales. Of young people with dating experience, 17% of boys and 12% of girls said that they had experienced physical violence by a romantic partner at least once.

Professor Marianne Ailes , a specialist in medieval French narrative poetry has identified rare fragments of the French poem Fierabras (composed c. 1200), recovered from a sixteenth-century binding in Dundee City Archives. The identification came about by a happy coincidence of circumstances when Dr Julian Luxford of St Andrews University came across the fragments when working in the archive.

Women who spend longer periods of their early lives in less affluent neighbourhoods are at greater risk of experiencing violence during their early adulthoods at the hands of their intimate partners, finds a new study published in Epidemiology . Intimate partner violence - physical, psychological, or sexual violence committed by a current or former partner - is the most common form of violence experienced by women worldwide.

Intimate partner violence - physical, psychological, or sexual violence committed by a current or former partner - is the most common form of violence experienced by women worldwide. In the UK, an estimated 7% of women (approximately 1.1 million women) reported experiencing this violence in the last year alone according to the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales.

The study published in PLOS ONE today [Wednesday 20 November] investigated whether the donation of personal data could be a publicly acceptable act to support the use of consumer personal data for academic research. The researchers developed a new questionnaire that measured individuals' motivations for donating data, which could be used in future research on data donation in different contexts, such as medical data.

Community cooking programme improves eating in young children and families A Glasgow-based community cooking programme has been shown to improve family eating and could help to combat poor diets. The six week NHS programme, which included one cookery class a week and practical guidance on how to choose healthier foods was assessed by researchers at the University of Glasgow and deemed to have a positive impact on families' cooking and children's eating habits.

University reading lists are not representative of the student body and tend towards overrepresentation of white, male and Eurocentric viewpoints, a new study from UCL has found. The study, published in Higher Education, analysed 144 authors of Social Science papers and 146 authors of Science papers included in two university reading lists, gathering data on gender, ethnicity and the country in which the researchers' affiliated institutions were based.

Engaging in artistic activities such as singing and dancing from a young age can reduce social inequalities and encourage healthy behaviours, according to a new report from UCL and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The study, published today, is the world's largest review to date into the health benefits of the arts.