A new approach to treating cancers and other diseases that uses a mechanically interlocked molecule as a 'magic bullet' has been designed by researchers at the University of Birmingham. Called rotaxanes, the molecules are tiny nanoscale structures that resemble a dumbbell with a ring trapped around the central post.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a new sensor to measure weak magnetic signals in the brain, which has the potential to increase understanding of connectivity in the brain, and detect signs of traumatic brain injury, dementia and schizophrenia. Magnetic signals in the brain are measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG).

People who are dogmatic about their views seek less information and make less accurate judgements as a result, even on simple matters unrelated to politics, according to a study led by UCL and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics researchers. The researchers say their findings, published in PNAS , point to differences in thinking patterns that lead people to hold rigid opinions.

A new study suggests that individuals who have previously had COVID-19 are highly unlikely to contract the illness again, for at least six months following their first infection. The study, done as part of a major collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust, was published today as a pre-print.

Preventing serious complications from COVID-19 in potentially vulnerable populations in high risk environments, such as prisons, and preventing spread to surrounding communities needs a coordinated evidence-based approach to managing outbreaks of COVID-19 in prison settings.

An international team of researchers from Bristol and China has prepared biocompatible protocells that generate nitric oxide gas - a known reagent for blood vessel dilation - that when placed inside blood vessels expand the biological tissue. In a new study published today , Professor Stephen Mann and Dr Mei Li from Bristol's School of Chemistry, together with Associate Professor Jianbo Liu and colleagues at Hunan University and Central South University in China, prepared synthetic protocells coated in red blood cell fragments for use as nitric oxide generating bio-bots within blood vessels.

Researchers studying a group of UK healthcare workers discovered that non-white individuals recovering from COVID-19 displayed higher antibody levels than white individuals, with significantly greater levels observed in Asian individuals. Led by experts at the University of Birmingham, the researchers studied a cohort of 956 UK healthcare workers who self-isolated between March and June 2020 because of COVID-19.

16% of teenagers report high levels of psychological distress at age 17, finds a new study led by UCL researchers based on data collected in 2018-19. The findings also show 24% of young people report self-harming and 7% report self-harming with suicidal intent by age 17. The research, which is being published in a  briefing paper  by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the UCL Social Research Institute provides evidence of widespread mental health difficulties among the UK's Generation Z before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Existing financial inequalities within society are widening as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. Almost half (47%) of those who were finding things "very difficult" financially before lockdown are now reporting things are "much worse", with a further 23% saying things are "worse".

International development projects that target the education of the world's very poorest children and marginalised girls also significantly improve other young people's attainment, according to new research that suggests such initiatives should become a priority for international aid.

Scientists have discovered that the Firth of Clyde is an important source of juvenile whiting to the wider Scottish west coast waters, in new research likely to be important for fisheries management. In a new joint study, between the University of Glasgow and Marine Scotland Science published today in Communications Biology, researchers found that as juvenile whiting grow to become adults some cross the fish stock boundary between the Irish Sea and waters to the west of Scotland.

Identifying and assessing frailty in people with diabetes should be a priority, in order to better treat and manage patients and reduce mortality. A new study, led by researchers at the University of Glasgow and published today in the Lancet Healthy Longevity, undertook a systematic review of more than 100 studies, and concluded that diabetes is a risk factor for the development and progression of frailty.

Testing the immune response of care home staff and residents to COVID-19 is to be expanded to help combat the spread of the virus among vulnerable people, as part of a UCL-led study. The Vivaldi 2 study will more than triple in size to provide a detailed picture of coronavirus infection in care homes in England.

New research into the HIV-1 virus has shed light on an important factor in the evolution of viruses, which is likely also to affect SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19). This new insight could have important implications for vaccine development. Differences in the cellular immune system in different human populations are now known to influence a virus's evolution.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Sussex are investigating the possibility of 3D printing patient-specific silverbased implants to reduce infection and antimicrobial resistance. Despite substantial advances in invasive surgery and aseptic techniques, implant-related infection remains an all too common complication.

Testing the immune response of care home staff and residents to COVID-19 is to be expanded to help combat the spread of the virus among vulnerable people, as part of a UCL-led study. The Vivaldi 2 study will more than triple in size to provide a detailed picture of coronavirus infection in care homes in England.

Homeless adults are 1.8 times more likely to have pre-existing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) compared to other adults, putting them at higher risk of severe coronavirus and early death, according to UCL researchers who have led the first large-scale study of its kind. The study, published in the European Heart Journal , used primary care data collected between 1998 and 2019 to compare 8,482 homeless individuals with 32,134 housed people who were matched by age and gender and lived in the same general practice area in UK.

A team led by UCL researchers has demonstrated a new form of wearable, baby-friendly brain mapping technology that has important implications for understanding developmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. The technology uses harmless levels of red and near-infrared light delivered via a wearable cap to generate detailed 3D images of babies' brain activity.

Oxford University and PHE confirm lateral flow tests show high specificity and are effective at identifying most individuals who are infectious Extensive clinical evaluation from Public Health England and the show Lateral Flow Tests are accurate and sensitive enough to be used in the community, including for asymptomatic people.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to research past and present smells of Europe to identify and trace their link to language, places, cultural practices and emotions. The international research project, Odeuropa, has received €2.8m (£2.5m) of funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.