news 2021

A new test for hepatitis C which uses origami-style folded paper to deliver fast, accurate and affordable diagnoses could help the global fight against the deadly virus. The test, developed by biomedical engineers and virologists from the University of Glasgow, delivers lateral-flow results similar to a COVID-19 home test in around 30 minutes.

The gender of a young father's firstborn child affects the likelihood of both him and his friends committing crime, a UCL-led study has found. For the first time, researchers established that young fathers who have a firstborn son rather than a daughter are convicted of fewer crimes in subsequent years, and crucially that this reduction also leads to a drop in criminal convictions among peers living in the same neighbourhood.

A Triassic herbivore, known for its supposed similarities to a modern-day ostrich, has been revealed to have an entirely different approach to feeding from previously thought, according to research involving UCL and University of Birmingham researchers. The new findings, published in The Anatomical Record , reveal a much broader diversity of herbivore behaviour during the Triassic period than has been recognised to date.

Researchers have developed a new approach to machine learning that 'learns how to learn' and out-performs current machine learning methods for drug design, which in turn could accelerate the search for new disease treatments. I was surprised how well it works - better than anything else we know for drug design Ross King The method, called transformational machine learning (TML), was developed by a team from the UK, Sweden, India and Netherlands.

Levels of a fungus hazardous to patients with respiratory disease are more abundant in rooms with outside facing windows during the summer months, University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) researchers have found. The team - investigating the levels of Aspergillus fumigatus at Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre (MACFC) , at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of MFT - found a direct correlation between indoor and outdoor levels of the fungus between November 2014 and January 2016.

Initial findings from a world-first study of the impact of 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on both engines of a commercial jet have provided promising early results. The ECLIF3 study, involving Airbus , Rolls-Royce , German research centre DLR , and SAF producer Neste , marks the first time 100% SAF has been measured simultaneously on both engines of a commercial passenger aircraft - an Airbus A350 aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Snow monkeys living in one of the world's coldest regions survive by 'going fishing' - scooping live animals, including brown trout, out of Japanese rivers and eating them to stay alive, a new study reveals. The snow monkey (Japanese macaque Macaca fuscata) is native to the main islands of Japan, except Hokkaido.

Sooty terns' wide ranging migration patterns present big challenges for conservationists working to understand and address a sharp population decline, according to scientists at the University of Birmingham. The team used GLS ('geolocator') tracking data to show the migration patterns of sooty terns from the largest breeding population of terns in the Atlantic, based on Ascension Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

An international team of scientists may have solved a key mystery about the origins of the Earth's water, after uncovering persuasive new evidence pointing to an unlikely culprit - the Sun. In a new paper published today in the journal Nature Astronomy , a team of researchers from the UK, Australia and America describe how new analysis of an ancient asteroid suggests that extraterrestrial dust grains carried water to Earth as the planet formed.

A reliable early warning system to detect tsunamis could be a step closer thanks to research from Cardiff University. Researchers say their analysis of ocean soundwaves triggered by underwater earthquakes has enabled them to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that allow prediction of when a tsunami might occur.

Researchers have developed a jelly-like material that can withstand the equivalent of an elephant standing on it, and completely recover to its original shape, even though it's 80% water. At 80% water content, you'd think it would burst apart like a water balloon, but it doesn't: it stays intact and withstands huge compressive forces Oren Scherman The soft-yet-strong material, developed by a team at the , looks and feels like a squishy jelly, but acts like an ultra-hard, shatterproof glass when compressed, despite its high water content.

Scientists have discovered a new route to produce complex antibiotics exploiting gene editing to re-programme pathways to future medicines urgently required to combat antimicrobial resistance , treat neglected diseases and tackle future pandemics. Researchers from The University of Manchester have discovered a new way of manipulating key assembly line enzymes in bacteria which could pave the way for a new generation of antibiotic treatments.

Amateur boxing is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and earlier onset of dementia, according to a study carried out by Cardiff University. The research team found that men who had boxed in their youth were twice as likely to have Alzheimer's-like impairment as those who had not boxed.

Women are more likely than men to struggle with both regular daily tasks and mobility activities as they age, according to new analysis of longitudinal cohort studies led by researchers at UCL and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in France. However, the researchers say disparities in ability to perform daily tasks have been steadily decreasing as the socioeconomic gap between the sexes has decreased.

Mathematical model could help in physical therapy and shed light on learning more generally. The COIN model may also generalise to many other forms of learning and memory, not just memories underlying our movement Máté Lengyel How is it that a chef can control their knife to fillet a fish or peel a grape and can wield a cleaver just as efficiently as a paring knife? Even those of us less proficient in the kitchen learn to skilfully handle an astonishing number of different objects throughout our lives, from shoelaces to tennis rackets.

The threat of disease transmission from conservationists moving wild animals between habitats or back into the wild needs to be urgently assessed to minimise risk. Experts at the University of Birmingham are calling on local and national health authorities and wildlife managers to adopt a robust approach.

Just three minutes of exposure to deep red light once a week, when delivered in the morning, can significantly improve declining eyesight, finds a pioneering new study by UCL researchers. Published in  Scientific Reports , the study builds on the team's previous work*, which showed daily three-minute exposure to longwave deep red light 'switched on' energy producing mitochondria cells in the human retina, helping boost naturally declining vision.

A new meta-analysis of over 150 research papers published during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the link between the weather and the spread of the illness. The study, published in the journal Weather, Climate, and Society , was conceived and conducted at The University Manchester and led by Ling Tan, a visiting scientist at the Centre for Crisis Studies and Mitigation.

An international team of scientists and pharmaceutical collaborators have made a breakthrough 'bench to bedside' discovery, ten years in the making, which they hope will advance the future treatment of Alzheimer's Disease in patients.

A new study has shown that the airborne transmission of COVID-19 is highly random and suggests that the two-metre rule was a number chosen from a risk 'continuum', rather than any concrete measurement of safety. We strongly recommend that people keep wearing masks in indoor spaces - there's no good reason to expose yourself to this risk as long as the virus is with us Epaminondas Mastorakos A team of engineers from the used computer modelling to quantify how droplets spread when people cough.