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Professor Ruth Morgan (UCL Security and Crime Science) writes about the misinterpretation of forensic evidence and the issues that this causes for the criminal justice system. Imagine you're in court, accused of a crime that you know you didn't commit. Now imagine a scientist takes the stand and starts explaining to the court how your DNA is on the murder weapon.

Babies born by caesarean section have a reduced level of "good" gut bacteria and an increased number of pathogens linked to hospital environments, according to research co-led by UCL that is the most comprehensive study of the baby microbiome to date. In the study researchers analysed gut bacteria in stool samples taken from 596 babies born in British hospitals - 314 babies who had a natural, or vaginal, birth, and 282 who were born by caesarean.

The intensity of brain activity during the day, notwithstanding how long we've been awake, appears to increase our need for sleep, according to a new UCL study in zebrafish. The research, published in Neuron , found a gene that responds to brain activity in order to coordinate the need for sleep. It helps shed new light on how sleep is regulated in the brain.

Most British adults, including a majority of Leave voters, think existing EU rules would provide "enough control" over EU immigration, according to a UCL and University of Cambridge survey conducted by YouGov. Crucially, the survey revealed that few people are aware of restrictions the UK could enforce under existing EU free movement regulations.

Water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures by UCL researchers in a world first. K2-18b, which is eight times the mass of Earth, is now the only planet orbiting a star outside the Solar System, or 'exoplanet', known to have both water and temperatures that could support life.

Using your feet like hands can cause organised 'hand-like' maps of the toes in the brain, never before documented in people, finds a new UCL-led study of two professional foot painters. These findings, published in Cell Reports , demonstrate an extreme example of how the human body map can change in response to experience.

A dietary supplement, sarcosine, may help with schizophrenia as part of a holistic approach complementing antipsychotic medication, according to a UCL researcher. In an editorial published in the British Journal of Psychiatry , Professor David Curtis (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment and QMUL Centre for Psychiatry) suggests the readily available product could easily be incorporated into treatment plans, while calling for clinical trials to clarify the benefit and inform guidelines.

One in five women report sex discrimination and these women are more likely to develop poorer mental health after the sexist experience, according to a new UCL study investigating links between sexism and mental health and wellbeing. The study, published today in Health Psychology, analysed data from nearly 3,000 women from T he UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) over a period of four years.

A close study of auroras has revealed new ways of understanding the physics of explosive energy releases in space, according to new UCL-led research. Auroras are an incredible light show caused by electrically charged particles in near-Earth space spiralling down Earth's magnetic field and colliding with gases in the atmosphere, causing them to glow.

A five-minute scan of blood vessels in the neck during mid-life could predict cognitive decline ten years before symptoms appear, claims new UCL research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The findings were presented at the AHA Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago. If confirmed in larger studies, the scan could become part of routine screening programme for people at risk of developing dementia.

Prospective students Current students Vaccinia virus, a poxvirus closely related to smallpox and monkeypox, tricks cells it has infected into activating their own cell movement mechanism to rapidly spread the virus in cells and mice, according to a new UCL-led study. The findings explain how the virus mimics infected cells' own proteins to kick-start the signalling pathway enabling the cell to move around.

How a comet's dust tail forms bands stretching millions of kilometres across the sky has been observed for the first time by UCL scientists. The study, published today in Icarus, reveals the charged nature of the dust particles and the important role of the Sun in forming the characteristic patterns.

UCL has held an independent special inquiry into regenerative medicine research at UCL which was published in full in September 2017. The panel, chaired by Professor Stephen Wigmore from the University of Edinburgh, carried out a thorough investigation of the involvement of UCL and its personnel in regenerative medicine research but with particular focus on the field of tracheal and large airway tissue engineering.

Breast cancer cells hit blood vessel walls with up to 200 times the mechanical force exerted by normal healthy cells, finds a new UCL study. Using a novel instrument, which mimics blood vessel walls, researchers have gained new insights into the physical aspects of cancer migration and have revealed how cancer cells are able to coordinate their invasion to different parts of the body.

Treating periodontitis (gum disease) could help people with Type 2 diabetes manage their blood glucose levels, according to a new study led by UCL. The research, published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal and funded by Diabetes UK and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre also showed that treating oral health is linked to improvements in kidney and blood vessel function.

A team from UCL, University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has operated on the abnormally developed spinal cords of two babies in the womb, in a medical first for the UK. The team repaired the defect in the spine of two babies with open spina bifida, in separate operations this summer.

Learning about someone's political beliefs interferes with a person's ability to assess expertise, as people judge like-minded peers as being more expert in fields completely unrelated to politics, finds a new UCL-led study. In the paper, published in Cognition , the researchers found that people turned to peers with similar political views for help on a shape categorisation task that had nothing to do with politics, instead of seeking help from someone who was doing better at the shape categorisation task but didn't share their political leanings.

Treating the prostate with radiotherapy alongside standard treatment led to an 11 per cent increase in survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer, a study at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL has found. The findings ,  published in The Lancet , come from from one of the largest ever clinical trials for the disease.

The world's first functional oesophagus engineered from stem cells has been grown and successfully transplanted into mice, as part of a pioneering new study led by UCL. It is hoped this research, carried out by UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH), in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the Francis Crick Institute, could pave the way for clinical trials of lab-grown food pipes for children with congenital and acquired gut conditions.

The most common form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) originated in Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and the Americas with European explorers and colonialists, reveals a new study led by UCL and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. TB takes more lives than any other infectious disease and while its global burden has slowly declined over the past decade, the rise of antibiotic resistance (ABR) presents a major obstacle to its control.