People who experience strokes while infected with COVID-19 appear to be left with greater disability after the stroke, according a study led by UCL and UCLH researchers. Having COVID-19 at stroke onset was also associated with more than double the mortality rate of other stroke patients, according to the findings published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry .

Mammals, birds and amphibians worldwide have lost on average 18% of their natural habitat range as a result of changes in land use and climate change, a new study has found. In a worst-case scenario this loss could increase to 23% over the next 80 years. We found that the higher the carbon emissions, the worse it gets for most species in terms of habitat loss.

A short online game in which players are recruited as a "Chief Disinformation Officer" and use tactics such as trolling to sabotage elections in a peaceful town has been shown to reduce susceptibility to political misinformation in its users. Fake news and online conspiracies will continue to chip away at the democratic process until we take seriously the need to improve digital media literacy across populations Sander van der Linden The free-to-play  Harmony Square  is released to the public today, along with a study on its effectiveness published in the  Harvard Misinformation Review.

Some antibodies created by the immune system during infection with common cold coronaviruses can also target and provide a degree of protection against COVID-19, finds new research by scientists at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute. In response to infection with a virus, the immune system creates antibodies to help fight it.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 - uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells. This could inform the development of effective drugs that target specific parts of the virus genome, in the fight against COVID-19.

Many of us rely on public transport to get to work, school, and to meet friends and family. But in the time of Covid-19, Dr Lena Ciric (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering) asks: is it safe to use these vehicles and is there a difference between them? Transport has contributed to the spread of coronavirus - locally, regionally and internationally.

One of the antler picks that were sampled during the research. As these picks were used to dig out the ditches of the henge, they provide a good indication of the date that the monument was constructed. (Credit: Cardiff University) Frantic building activity around 2500 BC resulted in massive ceremonial structures appearing in southern Britain, a study from Cardiff University says.

Brain cells called astrocytes play a vital role in preventing acidification of the brain, according to a new study in mice led by UCL researchers. The researchers hope their findings, published , could help further understanding of several common brain diseases that involve disturbances of pH balance, such as stroke and epilepsy, and may support research into the development of new treatment options.

Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibres in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. It's possible our treatment could be further developed as a way of protecting retinal neurons from death, as well as stimulating their axons to regrow Veselina Petrova Axons - nerve fibres - in the adult central nervous system (CNS) do not normally regenerate after injury and disease, meaning that damage is often irreversible.

Banning the sale of cigarettes close to schools and playgrounds would reduce the number of shops allowed to sell tobacco products in Scotland by more than 70 per cent, a study suggests. Preventing tobacco sales within 300 metres of children's spaces would greatly reduce availability, and could aid efforts to prevent young people taking up smoking, researchers say.

A new study suggests that it is possible to design drugs that can target a type of shape-shifting protein involved in Alzheimer's disease, which was previously thought to be undruggable. We hope that we can extend this understanding to also target disordered proteins involved in other diseases Gabriella Heller A team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, have identified a new mechanism of targeting amyloid-beta, a protein fragment that clumps together and kills healthy brain cells in people with Alzheimer's disease.

The brain is uniquely protected against invading bacteria and viruses, but its defence mechanism has long remained a mystery. Now, a study in mice, confirmed in human samples, has shown that the brain has a surprising ally in its protection: the gut.

Scientists from the University of Glasgow have played an important role in understanding why some patients respond better to drug treatments than others. The study - and involving the University of Glasgow and a number of international partners - uncovers a new layer of complexity in how the body responds to medical treatments by using the power of data analysis on GPCRs.

The University of Glasgow has received funding to repurpose drugs that are currently used to treat some parasitic diseases in humans - Sleeping Sickness, Chagas Disease and Leishmaniasis - to manage amoebic gill disease in Atlantic salmon. Researchers hope that opening new markets for these drugs in the developed world will also help to drive down their costs in the developing world, where unaffordable healthcare can lead to many unnecessary deaths.

T cells form a crucial part of the immune system and work by detecting fragments of viruses, bacteria and cancer cells using their T cell receptors (TCRs). A comparison of two key research tools used by immunologists to study different types of T-cell receptor signals has identified important features of existing technologies that could allow scientists to better understand immune responses, in a new study led by scientists at the University of Birmingham.

Our researchers have developed a new way to turn the rubbish we throw away into chemicals that can help make fuel, medicines, fertilisers and biodegradable packaging. The low-cost, powerful method can turn old cooking oil and agricultural waste into biodiesel, and turn food scraps and plastic rubbish in to high-value chemical precursors, which are used make every day products.

For a long time, it was assumed that hunting in prehistoric societies was primarily carried out by men. Now a new study adds to a body of evidence challenging this idea, says Honorary Research Fellow Dr Annemieke Milks (UCL Archaeology). The research reports the discovery of a female body, buried alongside hunting tools, in the Americas some 9,000 years ago.

A novel method to sample earwax could be a cheap and effective way to measure the hormone cortisol, according to a study led by researchers at UCL and King's College London. The findings, published in the academic journal Heliyon , could point to new ways of monitoring depression and stress-linked conditions.

A new study from the University of Birmingham has found that 50% of patients with a rare type of cancer that has spread into the lining of their abdomen may be suitable for immunotherapy treatment. Unfortunately for around 1% of bowel cancer patients, their cancer spreads to the lining of their abdomen (peritoneal cavity) - known as colorectal peritoneal metastasis (CPM).

A cell in worms that transforms itself into a completely different type of cell when males mature, to play a key role in mating behaviour, has been recently discovered by a team led by UCL researchers. The researchers say their findings, published in eLife , may lead to new clinical applications if scientists can reproduce the mechanism to reprogram cells to adopt new functions.