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UCL is releasing its animal research statistics today in collaboration with Understanding Animal Research - an organisation that explains why animals are used in medical and scientific research. UCL and nine other institutions together conducted nearly half of all UK animal research in 2019. The statistics pertain to animal procedures used in medical, veterinary and scientific research, and are freely available on UCL's animal research website as part of joint commitments to transparency and openness.

A quarter of people have reported their relationships with colleagues and co-workers have worsened over lockdown, and a fifth have said their friendships outside of their household have also got worse, finds UCL's Covid-19 Social Study. In addition, 18% of respondents reported a worsening of relationships with their spouse/partner, 20% reported a worsening of relationships with other adults they lived with and 17% with children they lived with.

Despite expecting to live longer, people in their 40s and 50s are likely to suffer more years of ill health than older generations now in their 60s and early 70s, according to a new UCL-led study. The study , published in the journal Population Studies , compared generations born between 1945 and 1980 and found a greater prevalence of ill health among those born later, with these younger cohorts more likely to rate their health as poor and have clinically measured poor health at equivalent ages during their working lives.

People with low incomes have below-average health outcomes in middle age in both the US and England, but particularly so in the US, finds a new international study involving UCL. Across every income group surveyed, people living in the US had worse health than their counterparts of similar incomes in England, finds the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine , led by the University of Michigan.

The skulls of toothed whales have become more asymmetric over time, according to a new study led by UCL and the Natural History Museum in London. The team also found that early ancestors of living whales had little cranial asymmetry and likely were not able to echolocate, in the findings published in BMC Biology .

A gene has been discovered that can naturally suppress the signs of Alzheimer's disease in human brain cells, in research involving UCL and led by Queen Mary University of London. The scientists have also developed a new rapid drug-screening system for treatments that could potentially delay or prevent the disease, they report in Molecular Psychiatry.

Children whose parents report poverty in pregnancy are nine times more likely to face additional traumatic experiences compared to their wealthier peers, UCL research finds. Academics from UCL's ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies analysed data taken over two decades from 14,000 women, their children and partners, to explore the connections between commonly investigated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)*.

Neurological complications of Covid-19 can include delirium, brain inflammation, stroke and nerve damage, finds a new UCL and UCLH-led study. Published in the journal Brain , the research team identified one rare and sometimes fatal inflammatory condition, known as ADEM, which appears to be increasing in prevalence due to the pandemic.

Scientists at UCL have discovered sets of regulatory genes in fruit flies, which are responsible for maintaining healthy hearing. Professor Joerg Albert (UCL Ear Institute) explains how the findings could potentially lead to treatments for age-related hearing loss in humans. Hearing loss is a common age-related ailment, affecting nearly one in every three people over the age of 65.

Neurological complications of Covid-19 can include delirium, brain inflammation, stroke and nerve damage, finds a new UCL and UCLH-led study. Published in the journal Brain , the research team identified one rare and sometimes fatal inflammatory condition, known as ADEM, which appears to be increasing in prevalence due to the pandemic.

MBPhD researcher Sam Ereira (UCL Medical School) shares his research on brains and discusses how we distinguish between thinking about our minds versus those of others. We are highly sensitive to people around us. As infants, we observe our parents and teachers, and from them we learn how to walk, talk, read - and use smartphones.

Low-income workers are almost twice as likely to be laid-off or furloughed as high-income workers, according to a new UCL study examining income and consumption effects of Covid-19. The working paper, published by Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research , highlights that a significant proportion of those low-income workers - 70 percent from the bottom fifth of the income distribution - have struggled to afford living costs.

People from BAME backgrounds have had higher levels of depression and anxiety throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, as well as lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction, finds UCL's Covid-19 Social Study. In addition, whilst 21% of people from white backgrounds have reported being often lonely during lockdown, this figure has been 23% amongst those from BAME backgrounds.

Families of autistic children have been greatly impacted by lockdown reveals a study by UCL, the University of East London and the University of Bedfordshire. It found that despite the relaxed legislation on lockdown measures for autistic people brought into effect in April, 86% of those surveyed still felt that the needs of autistic people and their families were not adequately planned for or addressed by officials during the pandemic.

Tiny diamond crystals could be used as an incredibly sensitive and small gravitational detector capable of measuring gravitational waves, suggests new UCL-led research. Predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, gravitational waves are ripples in space-time generated by certain movements of massive objects.

A deep-sea soft coral garden habitat has been discovered in Greenlandic waters by scientists from UCL, ZSL and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, using an innovative and low-cost deep-sea video camera built and deployed by the team. The soft coral garden, presented in a new Frontiers in Marine Science paper, is the first habitat of this kind to have been identified and assessed in west Greenland waters.

Staring at a deep red light for three minutes a day can significantly improve declining eyesight, finds a new UCL-led study, the first of its kind in humans. Scientists believe the discovery, published in the Journals of Gerontology , could signal the dawn of new affordable home-based eye therapies, helping the millions of people globally with naturally declining vision.

Neurological and psychiatric complications observed in critically ill patients during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, shine new light on conditions which may be linked to coronavirus, finds new research co-led by UCL. The study, published in the Lancet Psychiatry , describes 153 patients treated in UK hospitals, who were deemed by doctors to represent the most severe cases.

On balance a third of people in the UK have been enjoying the lockdown, while 46% have not been enjoying it and 21% have mixed feelings, finds UCL's Covid-19 Social Study. The research also shows that 17% of people have not been enjoying lockdown 'at all', whilst only 4% of people have been enjoying it 'very much'.

New muscle has successfully been created in mice using a minimally invasive technique dubbed 'intravital 3D bioprinting' by a team involving UCL scientists. This new research could pave the way for minimally invasive surgical techniques for organ repair and reconstruction that could remove the need for transplantation in children with complex conditions.