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New research from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) reveals 33 per cent of all older people experience perceived age discrimination, with less wealthy older men being at highest risk. The study highlights the high levels of age discrimination faced by older people, a situation that worsens as they age.

A loving touch, characterized by a slow caress or stroke - often an instinctive gesture from a mother to a child or between partners in romantic relationships - may increase the brain's ability to construct a sense of body ownership and, in turn, play a part in creating and sustaining a healthy sense of self.

When something we do produces a positive result, we actually perceive it differently than we would if that same action yielded a negative result. In particular, people feel a greater connection between voluntary actions and their outcomes if those outcomes are good than if they are bad. The discovery, reported in the journal Current Biology , yields important insight into notions about personal responsibility.

A type of pituitary tumour known as craniopharyngioma appears to form via a different mechanism to that thought to occur in more common tumours, according to a paper in the journal Cell Stem Cell . The novel findings, generated by a team led by the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), will be further explored to better understand how cell signalling triggers the growth of such tumours - the third most common brain tumour in children - and whether new treatments could be devised to block these signals.

The introduction of farming into Western Europe 7,500 years ago led to dramatic population collapse on a similar scale to the Black Death, according to researchers at UCL. The study, which is published , is the first to show the existence of a 'boom-and-bust' pattern, with decreases in population size as great as 60 per cent following rapid initial population increases of up to three or four times previous levels.

An intervention developed by UCL psychologists significantly increases consumption of fruit and vegetables commonly disliked among picky young children, new research has found. The research, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, showed that in a randomised controlled trial involving 450 young children, a new method of taste exposure significantly increased the proportion of children willing to try new foods and to continue eating them.

The fossilised remains of a reptile closely related to lizards are the oldest yet to be discovered. Two new fossil jaws discovered in Vellberg, Germany provide the first direct evidence that the ancestors of lizards, snakes and tuatara (known collectively as lepidosaurs), were alive during the Middle Triassic period - around 240 million years ago.

Life Study - the latest  British birth cohort study which is being led by a team based at UCL's Institute of Child Health (ICH) - is now recruiting pregnant women, their partners, and mothers of babies who are aged six or 12 months for their pilot study. The pilot study will run at University College Hospital (UCH) between October and December this year and will test the questions and survey measures in volunteers before Life Study starts recruiting pregnant mothers, babies and families next year.

The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers at UCL. The study, which is published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , helps shed light on the complex interactions between the senses of taste and touch, and could lead to a greater understanding of the causes of the tingling sensations experienced by many chronic pain patients.

Campaigns to get young people to stop smoking may find more success by focusing on the positive benefits, such as having more money and better skin, rather than emphasising negative outcomes like increased disease risk, according to UCL research. The study reveals that young people have greater difficulty in learning from bad news and using it to interpret their risk of future events.

A team of scientists and archaeologists, including UCL's Professor David Wengrow and Dr Alice Stevenson, have been able to set a robust timeline for the first eight dynastic rulers of ancient Egypt. The study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A, shows that Egypt formed far more rapidly than was previously thought and also updates the techniques first developed by Flinders Petrie over 100 years ago,.

Obesity gene testing does not put people off weight loss and may help to reduce self-blame, according to a new study by researchers from the Health Behaviour Research Centre at UCL. Previous studies have shown that genes play a role in a person's risk of becoming overweight. One gene, called FTO, has been found to have the biggest influence so far.

The space surrounding the body (known by scientists as 'peripersonal space'), which has previously been thought of as having a gradual boundary, has been given physical limits by new research into the relationship between anxiety and personal space. New findings have allowed scientists to define the limit of the 'peripersonal space' surrounding the face as 20-40cm away.

Certain types of video games can help to train the brain to become more agile and improve strategic thinking, according to scientists from UCL and Queen Mary University of London. The researchers recruited 72 volunteers and measured their 'cognitive flexibility', described as a person's ability to adapt and switch between tasks, and think about multiple ideas at a given time to solve problems.

Researchers have shown that ancient Egyptian iron beads held at the UCL Petrie Museum were hammered from pieces of meteorites, rather than iron ore. The objects, which trace their origins to outer space, also predate the emergence of iron smelting by two millennia. Carefully hammered into thin sheets before being rolled into tubes, the nine beads - which are over 5000 years-old - were originally strung into a necklace together with other exotic minerals such as gold and gemstones, revealing the high value of this exotic material in ancient times.

The essence of male beauty is down to the way males use their genes rather than what genes they have, according to a new study into the sexual attractiveness of turkeys. Geneticists have long puzzled over why individuals of the same sex show a greater or lesser degree of sexual attractiveness. In other words - why are some people better looking than others when they're genetically similar? In a new study, published today in the journal PLoS Genetics, scientists turned to male wild turkeys to solve the problem.

A team of astronomers including two researchers from UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory has made the first ever measurement of the magnetic field at a specific spot on the surface of a magnetar. Magnetars are a type of neutron star, the dense and compact core of a giant star which has blasted away its outer layers in a supernova explosion.

Researchers at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) are investigating a new treatment that could work alongside folic acid to boost its effectiveness and prevent a greater proportion of neural tube defects - such as spina bifida - in early pregnancy. A new study published in the journal Brain shows that the new treatment, when tested in mice, reduced the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) by 85 per cent.

Researchers have discovered how genetic mutations linked to Parkinson's disease might play a key role in the death of brain cells, potentially paving the way for the development of more effective drug treatments. In the new study, published , a team of researchers from UCL, the University of Cambridge and the University of Sheffield showed how defects in the Parkinson's gene Fbxo7 cause problems with 'mitaphagy' - an essential process through which our bodies are able to get rid of damaged cells.

New research from UCLPartners, and funded by the NHS in London, has shown that centralising acute stroke services in particular London hospitals has led to significant reductions in both mortality and costs. Before 2010, stroke services in London were provided in 30 acute hospitals across the region.