news 2024

New research highlights how gender inequalities in sports could be distorting injury data and calls for more accurate measurements A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine , involving the University of Bath, questions the widely cited claim that women are 2-10 times more likely than men to sustain ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries.

Scientists reveal how coffee wilt fungi gained genes to better infect arabica and robusta crops. A new study reveals how genetic interactions between fungal pathogens contributed to the repeated outbreaks of coffee wilt disease threatening arabica and robusta coffee. Coffee wilt disease is caused by Fusarium xylarioides , a soil-borne fungus that invades coffee plants through the roots, eventually blocking water uptake and causing the plants to wilt.

An MRI-based imaging technique developed at the University of Cambridge predicts the response of ovarian cancer tumours to treatment, and rapidly reveals how well treatment is working, in patient-derived cell models. We can image a tumour pre-treatment to predict how likely it is to respond, and then we can image again immediately after treatment to confirm whether it has indeed responded Kevin Brindle The technique, called hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging, can increase the detected signal in an MRI scanner by more than 10,000 times.

Cambridge scientists have developed a urine test for early detection of lung cancer. The test, the first of its kind, detects 'zombie' cells that could indicate the first signs of the disease. Researchers hope that early detection, through the simple urine test, could enable earlier treatment interventions, significantly improving patient outcomes and prognosis.

Major 25-year study reveals a "dual pathway" for when people start carrying. Carrying a concealed firearm is now a common event in the life course for Americans Charles Lanfear Around a third (32%) of people who grew up in Chicago have carried a concealed firearm on the city streets at least once by the time they turn 40 years old, according to a major study of gun usage taking in a quarter of a century of data.

Adults who frequently post on social media are at more risk of developing mental health problems than those who passively view social media content, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, investigated how different types of social media use might affect the mental health of adults over time.

People who are either too trusting or too mistrustful are more likely to believe conspiracy theories and ascribe to vaccine hesitancy, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in PLOS Global Public Health, also found that people who are highly credulous are less capable of recognising fake news.

A new study from the University of Oxford demonstrates how clinicians could use data to predict the risk of falls in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) to help improve effective longer term care planning. Falls are a common problem for people living with Parkinson's. A recent review estimated that some 60% of all people living with PD have experienced at least one fall.

Specialist macrophages play a key role in the control of muscle and movement Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered that specialist macrophages - a type of white blood cell -play a key role in the control of muscle contraction and locomotion. The discovery overturns previous assumptions that muscle contraction and movement is controlled solely by the nervous system - including the brain and spinal cord.

Most young people who were confirmed to have long Covid three months after a positive PCR test had recovered within 24 months, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The Children and young people with Long Covid (CLoCK) study, published in Nature Communications Medicine and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is the world's largest longitudinal cohort study on long Covid in children.

Bath engineers co-author new research, finding parks can cut air pollution by almost a quarter With house building a priority for the new UK Government, University of Bath engineers have co-authored research that urges city planners not to forget to build parks and to include green spaces in new communities.

Researchers uncover a 'chemical metronome' in the brain, which helps to synchronise the master clock telling us when it's time to sleeep. In a study of brain cells from mice and humans, researchers have found that star-shaped cells called astrocytes rhythmically produce a chemical pulse that helps the brain's master clock to keep time, influencing our circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycle.

A new study by an Oxford University researcher finds that owning a home in early adult life adds approximately four months to the lives of male Americans born in the early twentieth century. Dr Casey Breen , Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Oxford University's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Department of Sociology, conducted the study, published in Demography .

The number of sex offences committed by strangers decreased significantly in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, new research shows. According to researchers at the University of Birmingham, the amount of offending in night-time economy and outdoor settings dropped significantly, but so too did offences taking place at home.

A team of astronomers has found that Venus has never been habitable, despite decades of speculation that our closest planetary neighbour was once much more like Earth than it is today. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, studied the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere and inferred that its interior is too dry today for there ever to have been enough water for oceans to exist at its surface.

What can exploding stars teach us about how blood flows through an artery' Or swimming bacteria about how the ocean's layers mix' A collaboration of researchers, including from the University of Cambridge, has reached a milestone toward training artificial intelligence models to find and use transferable knowledge between fields to drive scientific discovery.

Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions - could this shape the future of pharmaceutical research? Controlling matter at the atomic level has taken a major step forward, thanks to groundbreaking nanotechnology research by an international team of scientists led by physicists at the University of Bath.

Around 32% of people who have had prior damage from lung diseases will die after five years if they also get a common fungal infection, a major global review has found. The review also finds that 15% of people with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) die in the first year following other lung diseases.

Scientists are calling for changes to chemistry textbooks after discovering a fundamental aspect of structural organic chemistry has been incorrectly described for almost 100 years. The team from Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, dispute the long-held belief that alkyl groups - a chemical group consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in a chain - donate electrons to other parts of a molecule.

The first computer algorithm capable of identifying which tumour cells are driving aggressive cancer growth has been developed by Cancer Research scientists from UCL and The Francis Crick Institute. The innovative algorithm, called SPRINTER*, analyses individual cells within a tumour to identify those that are growing the most rapidly.