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Soldiers, athletes, and motorists could lead safer lives thanks to a new process that could lead to more efficient and re-useable protection from shock and impact, explosion, and vibration, according to a new study. Pressurised insertion of aqueous solutions into water-repellent nanoporous materials, such as zeolites and metal-organic frameworks, could help to create high-performance energy absorbing systems.

New research carried out in collaboration with the University of Birmingham has characterised a rare COVID-19 vaccine-induced syndrome which causes blood clots. The research has identified fundamental laboratory and clinical characteristics, ensuring that patients are given the correct treatment approach.

COVID-19 could pass into people's lungs from saliva with the virus moving directly from mouth to bloodstream - particularly if individuals are suffering from gum disease, according to new research. Evidence shows that blood vessels of the lungs, rather than airways, are affected initially in COVID-19 lung disease with high concentrations of the virus in saliva and periodontitis associated with increased risk of death.

Financial leaders sounding positive when they answer journalists' questions can boost share prices and soothe investors' fears about market risk, a new study reveals. Using sophisticated computer algorithms, researchers analysed the tone of voice used by US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairs during Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) press conferences and examined the impact on financial markets.

Researchers from the University of Kent, King's College London and the University of Birmingham have developed a class calculator to explore the cultural and social world of the 16 th and 17 th Century England. The calculator will allow individuals to see where they would have sat on the social scale during the period of 1560 - 1660 and can be used as a research tool to identify the status of historic figures.

Older adults are more willing to make an effort to help others than younger adults, according to new research from the University of Birmingham. The study, led by researchers in the University's School of Psychology, is the first to show how effortful 'prosocial' behaviour - intended to benefit others - changes as people get older.

Intestinal worm infections can leave women in sub-Saharan Africa more vulnerable to sexually-transmitted viral infections, a new study reveals. The rate and severity of sexually-transmitted viral infections (STI) in the region are very high, as are those of worm infections, which when caught in the intestine can change immunity in other parts of the body.

Children experiencing cognitive problems such as low attention, poor memory or lack of inhibition may later suffer mental health issues as teenagers and young adults, a new study reveals. Targeting specific markers in childhood for early treatment may help to minimise the risk of children developing certain psychopathological problems in adolescence and adult life, such as borderline personality disorder, depression and psychosis.

A new 160-million-year-old arboreal pterosaur species, dubbed 'Monkeydactyl', has the oldest true opposed thumb - a novel structure previously not known in pterosaurs. An international team of researchers from China, Brazil, UK, Denmark and Japan have described a new Jurassic pterosaur Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, which was discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China.

Stroke risk for patients with traumatic brain injuries is at its highest in the four months following injury and remains significant for up to five years post-injury, finds a new systematic review led by a team at the University of Birmingham. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health problem affecting over 60 million people a year worldwide.

Increased consumption of flavanols - a group of molecules occurring naturally in fruit and vegetables - could protect people from mental stress-induced cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart disease and thrombosis, according to new research. Researchers have discovered that blood vessels were able to function better during mental stress when people were given a cocoa drink containing high levels of flavanols than when drinking a non-flavanol enriched drink.

A new study led by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) BRACE and RSET Rapid Evaluation Centres and undertaken by researchers at UCL and the University of Birmingham say NHS staff feel remote home monitoring methods enable improved patient care and also reduce the risk of staff and patients contracting Covid-19.

Giant trees in tropical forests, witnesses to centuries of civilization, may be trapped in a dangerous feedback loop, according to a new report. The biggest trees store half of the carbon in mature tropical forests, but they could be at risk of death as a result of climate change—releasing massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere.

A new clinical trial being led by the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust aims to identify the best surgical treatment option to prevent blindness in patients with a neurological condition. Funded by almost £1.5 million from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), it is hoped the research will lead to changes in healthcare policy for the treatment of patients with Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH).

A new study carried out in collaboration with the University of Birmingham with support from the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium has found that 99% of people generate a robust immune response against COVID-19 after just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The Protective Immunity from T cells to COVID-19 in Health workers study (PITCH) examined how the immune system responds to COVID-19 after one dose of the Pfizer vaccine among people who have been infected by COVID-19 before and those who have not.

A review by an independent global network including leading experts at the University of Birmingham shows that rapid antigen tests are better at correctly identifying cases of COVID-19 in people with symptoms than in people without symptoms. The updated systematic review assessing rapid tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19), has been published today by Cochrane, a global independent network that gathers and summarizes the best evidence from research to help informed health decision-making, publishes.

A University of Birmingham-led study of top-flight UK rugby players - carried out in collaboration with the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Marker Diagnostics - has identified a method of accurately diagnosing concussion using saliva, paving the way for the first non-invasive clinical test for concussion for use in sport and other settings.

Top UK and Chinese scientists studying air pollution in the megacity of Beijing and how it affects human health have published their. A team of over 150 scientists have spent five years conducting one of the largest air pollution field campaigns in Beijing - generating new insight into air pollution and human health using novel observational and modelling tools.

A new project has been launched in collaboration with the University of Birmingham aimed at aiding more precise drug dosing in children with cancer. Children receiving chemotherapy treatment each process the drugs differently, leading to inconsistencies in drug concentrations in the blood (known as drug exposure).

Pregnant women remain at increased risk of severe COVID-19, and their risk of being admitted to intensive care or needing invasive ventilation is higher than non-pregnant reproductive aged women with the virus, an ongoing global study has found. Pregnant women with COVID-19 are at increased risk of severe COVID-19, particularly if they are from ethnic minority backgrounds, or if they have pre-existing conditions like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, concludes the research led by the University of Birmingham and World Health Organization (WHO).