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His Royal Highness Prince Harry today visited the Rugby Football Union Injured Players Foundation (IPF) at the University to discover how the IPF-funded research can help improve player welfare and reduce players' injury risk. Visiting in his capacity as IPF Patron, Prince Harry met researchers from the University who have led advances over the past decade in developing new injury prevention techniques and protocols for rugby union.

A single dose psychological intervention, which includes using the computer game Tetris, can prevent the unpleasant, intrusive memories that develop in some people after suffering a traumatic event. Researchers have been able to demonstrate how the survivors of motor vehicle accidents have fewer such symptoms if they play Tetris in hospital within six hours of admission after also having been asked to recall their memory of the accident.

Evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a potential cause of dementia caused by repeated blows to the head, has been found in the brains of former association football (soccer) players examined at the UCL Queen Square Brain Bank. The study, funded by The Drake Foundation and published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica , looked at 14 retired footballers with dementia who were referred to the Old Age Psychiatry Service in Swansea, Wales, between 1980 and 2010.

Scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Groningen, in The Netherlands, have created a computer game style experiment which sheds new light on the reasons why starlings flock in massive swirling groups over wintering grounds. A mumeration can hold many thousands of starlings but the reasons why they put on these amazing displays are not well understood.

Former England international rugby players are set to be recruited for a major-scientific study examining the possible long-term effects of the game on brain health. Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), together with the Rugby Football Union, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Institute of Occupational Medicine, University College London and Oxford University will study the possible link between a history of concussion and neurological health in former rugby players.

Wearing a helmet in an effort to stay safe is likely to increase sensation seeking and could conversely make us less safe and more inclined to take risks, according to a significant new study from our researchers. The latest findings call into question the effectiveness of certain safety advice, notably in relation to helmets for various leisure activities, including cycling.

A pedometer shows 4781 steps - not a bad effort, but if you can increase that figure, you'll decrease your chances of dying earlier. Landmark research by The George Institute for Global Health has found that exercise can save lives, with an increase in the number of steps walked each day having a direct correlation with long term mortality.

US fans of the National Football League (NFL) and sports reporters assigned to specific teams have unrealistic expectations about how well their team will perform, finds new research from UCL and Oxford University. The study, published in PLOS ONE, also reveals which teams are most liked and disliked, as well as which teams have the most optimistic fans.

US fans of the National Football League (NFL) and sports reporters assigned to specific teams have unrealistic expectations about how well their team will perform, finds new research from UCL and Oxford University. The study also reveals which teams are most liked and disliked, as well as which teams have the most optimistic fans.

Although new kits have become more frequent, designs have become more governed by tradition over last two decades Adult market for replica football shirts as leisurewear only developed significantly from the late 1980s and early 1990s Rise due to wider social fashion trends, the phenomenon of 'kidulthood', a generation of fans who had grown up wearing child replica shirts, and the commercialisation of football as the Premier League era began The

Economists discover the introduction of neutral umpires in Test cricket led to a drop in Leg Before Wicket (LBW) decisions going in favour of home teams Findings published amid debate over whether neutral umpiring is still required following introduction of Decision Review System The introduction of neutral umpires in Test cricket led to a drop in the number of Leg Before Wicket (LBW) decisions going in favour of home teams, a study has revealed.

The introduction of neutral umpires in Test cricket led to a drop in the number of LBW decisions going in favour of home teams, a study has revealed. The findings from research by economists, published by the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society , come amidst renewed debate on whether neutral umpiring is still required in Test matches following the introduction of the Decision Review System (DRS).

A report, published today by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), highlights a correlation between the occurrence of certain football matches and increased reports of domestic abuse. The report, which was commissioned by the Scottish Government and carried out by academics at the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University, found an increase in recorded domestic violence incidents on the day that football matches were played.

Scottish Rugby is seeking the assistance of former international players with a ground-breaking medical project that could benefit future generations. Working alongside world-renowned experts in the field of head injuries, Scottish Rugby is asking Scotland players of the past to take part in a study on the effects of concussion.

A new study has discovered profound abnormalities in brain activity in a group of retired American football players. Although the former players in the study were not diagnosed with any neurological condition, brain imaging tests revealed unusual activity that correlated with how many times they had left the field with a head injury during their careers.

Athletes participating in a team sport like football, rugby, or hockey, who behave in an anti-social way on the pitch, are also antisocial in their interactions with other students at university, according to research published by University of Birmingham sports scientists in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology .

Creating the next generation of football stars may be down to understanding the teenage brain, according to new research from the University of Bristol. The study, published in the FA [Football Association] journal The Boot Room , suggests that to unlock the full potential of talented players coaches need to be aware that the decision-making process in the teenage brain operates significantly differently to the adult brain.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences are looking for volunteers to take part in a study investigating whether successful weight loss can alter perception. The study will test the effect of significant weight loss on an individual's perception of spatial layout and the built environment and is led by Guy Taylor, Doctoral Researcher for the Behavioural Medicine Group for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Consuming energy drinks during team sports could help young people perform better, a study suggests. Sports scientists found that 12-14 year olds can play for longer in team games when they drink an isotonic sports drink before and during games. Researchers at the University measured the performance of 15 adolescents during exercise designed to simulate the physical demands of team games such as football, rugby and hockey.

Nobel Prize-winning research carried out by Professor Sir Harry Kroto at the University of Sussex has been named by fellow academics as one of the ten most important discoveries made by their peers at UK universities in the past 60 years. A poll of UK academics placed Professor Kroto's 1985 discovery of the microscopic "footballs" known as buckyballs tenth in a list topped by the discovery of DNA, the first computer, stem cell research, the contraceptive pill and the Internet.