news 2022

Seven million Christmas trees end up in landfill in the UK each year, releasing an estimated 100,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere New research has found a more efficient, simplified process for using pine needles to produce formic acid, for use in hydrogen fuel cells, as a food preservative and in agricultural and industrial manufacturing Pine needles collected after Christmas and processed in this way could be used to

Females, on average, are better than males at putting themselves in others- shoes and imagining what the other person is thinking or feeling, suggests a new study of over 300,000 people in 57 countries. Our results provide some of the first evidence that the well-known phenomenon - that females are on average more empathic than males - is present in wide range of countries across the globe David Greenberg Researchers found that females, on averag

People sleep less in mid-adulthood than they do in early and late adulthood, finds a new study led by UCL, University of East Anglia and University of Lyon researchers. Sleep duration declines in early adulthood until age 33, and then picks up again at age 53, according to the findings published in Nature Communications .

Drugs used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients in hospital have long-term benefits, according to new research. The study, published in JAMA , found that treating critically ill patients with the drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the risk of dying over six months by a quarter, compared to those who did not receive these treatments.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have left people living with obesity more vulnerable to the cost-of-living crisis, warns a study led by UCL researchers. Adults with obesity surveyed in the study reported that their mental health - which is known to be associated with weight gain - had deteriorated between the end of the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown in July 2020 and September 2021.

Heat pumps could reduce biogas carbon footprint by 36%, research suggests An alternative source of heat could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a process which turns food waste into power, new research suggests. A University of Glasgow-led team of scientists have demonstrated that using air-source heat pumps to support anaerobic digestion could cut the carbon emitted during the production of biogas by more than a third.

Pandemic study shows distraction of social media may suck up the time and energy that allow us to find new passions People who turn to social media to escape from superficial boredom are unwittingly preventing themselves from progressing to a state of profound boredom, which may open the door to more creative and meaningful activity, a new study of the Covid pandemic shows.

An interdisciplinary team led by University of Manchester scientists has adapted a technique originally developed to analyse data from stars to devise a way of accurately measuring the human body clock in hospital patients. The development of the method called ClinCirc could one day help doctors to target patients at risk of long term health problems caused by clock disruption, which is thought to be common in patients admitted to hospital.

How much someone likes a piece of artwork can impact their memory of when they first encountered it and which direction they were facing, finds new UCL-led research. The findings show that aesthetic experience is not limited to just the visual features of a piece of artwork, but also the moment in which it was viewed.

New report reveals that in the past 10 years, public opinion has warmed to immigration which could lead to changes in immigration policy in the UK. A new report published by Professor Robert Ford from the University of Manchester and Marley Morris written for the Institute of Public Policy Research reveals that public attitudes towards immigration have warmed in recent years.

2022 was another packed year for news from the Faculty Science and Engineering. From dinosaurs, to robots and amazing students to distant stars, here are some of our highlights: Palaeontologists working on the Ichthyosaur skeleton found at Rutland Water August 26 2021 Matthew Power Photography www.matthewpowerphotography.co.uk 07969 088655 matthew@matthewpowerphotography.co.uk @mpowerphoto In January we kicked the year off with a colossal story.

Study of farmer preferences shows that turning whole areas of farmland into habitats comes with half the price tag of integrating nature into productive farmland, if biodiversity and carbon targets are to be met.

UK forests could store almost double the amount of carbon than previous calculations suggest, with consequences for our understanding of carbon stocks and humanity's response to climate change, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. For the study, published today in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence , the international team of scientists used a novel 3D scanning technique and analysis to assess the amount of aboveground biomass (AGB) - used to derive carbon storage - of 815 trees in a UK woodland.

2022 was another bumper year for news from the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and health. Here are some of our highlights: January we showed how early data for multivariant COVID-19 vaccine booster shows promise. The first results of an early trial of a multivariant COVID-19 vaccine booster, launched in Manchester in September 2021, showed it is driving a comprehensive immune response.

In new research published in Nature Communications , University of Sussex scientists demonstrate how a highly conductive paint coating that they have developed mimics the network spread of a virus through a process called 'explosive percolation' - a mathematical process which can also be applied to population growth, financial systems and computer networks, but which has not been seen before in materials systems.

A new study finds that antibodies produced in the nose decline 9 months after infection, while those found in the blood last at least a year. A new study finds that antibodies produced in the nose decline nine months after COVID-19 infection, while antibodies found in the blood last at least a year.

Nature is a powerful tool that can be harnessed by social prescribers to improve people's health and wellbeing, according to a series of new evidence reviews led by a UCL researcher.

Cambridge scientists have managed to identify and kill those breast cancer cells that evade standard treatments in a study in mice. The approach is a step towards the development of new treatments to prevent relapse in patients. Tumours are incredibly complex, made up of many different types of tumour cells - and some of these cells are able to evade standard cancer treatments Kirsty Sawicka Tumours are complex entities made up of many types of cells, including cancer cells and normal cells.

The brains of three different species of stranded dolphins show classic markers of human Alzheimer's disease, according to the most extensive study into dementia in odontocetes (toothed whales). The new pan-Scotland research, a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh and the Moredun Research Institute, studied the brains of 22 odontocetes which had all been stranded in Scottish coastal waters.

A new study involving UCL has uncovered how magnetic waves are transmitted past a standing shock wave, known as the bow shock, that forms ahead of Earth as a result of the solar wind hitting our magnetic bubble (magnetosphere). Shock waves occur in air when a plane travels faster than the speed of sound and also occur in plasma (a fourth state of matter that makes up 99% of the visible Universe) in space.