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Climate change and intensive agricultural land use have already been responsible for a 49% reduction in the number of insects in the most impacted parts of the world, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The study published in Nature is the first to identify that an interaction between rising temperatures and land use changes, is driving widespread losses in numerous insect groups across the globe.

Scientists at UCL have significantly boosted the effectiveness of a therapeutic vaccine designed to control chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infection, after uncovering and thwarting 'the enemy within'. Published in Science Translational Medicine , researchers say the findings in mice are a breakthrough in the field of vaccine development, as they reveal how to enhance the antiviral T cell response that therapeutic vaccines are intended to trigger.

Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began. For the study, published in Science Advances , the research team analysed a fist-sized rock from Quebec, Canada, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old.

A first-of-its-kind roadmap traces each step in the development of blood stem cells in the human embryo, providing scientists with a blueprint for producing fully functional blood stem cells in the lab, reports a team led by UCL and UCLA scientists. The research could help expand treatment options for blood cancers like leukaemia and inherited blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

More people are now more worried about their finances (38%), than catching Covid-19 (33%), find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. The proportion of people concerned about finances is up from 32% in January 2022 - the highest level since the start of the pandemic two years ago - and likely reflects the pressures felt by the 'cost of living crisis'.

The reasons why Covid-19 causes severe inflammation in some people, leading to acute respiratory distress and multi-organ damage, has been revealed in a new study involving a UCL scientist. Published in Nature , the study led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital (US) , found evidence that the virus might activate inflammasomes, large molecules that trigger a cascade of inflammatory responses that ends in cell death.

Feeling a sense of purpose or meaning in life is associated with a lower risk of dementia years later, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers. The academics were looking at whether positive psychological constructs, which also included positive mood and optimism and found that purpose and meaning in life were the key factors consistently associated with reduced risk, they report in Ageing Research Reviews .

An international team including researchers at UCL have made the most precise measurement of an elementary particle - which does not match predictions under the guiding theory of physics. The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) collaboration, which involves 400 scientists from around the world, have measured the mass of the W boson, one of nature's force-carrying particles.

Around 180,000 avoidable deaths over 14 years in fast-growing tropical cities were caused by a rapid rise in emerging air pollution, a study led by researchers at UCL and the University of Birmingham has revealed. The international team of scientists aimed to address data gaps in air quality for 46* future megacities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East using space-based observations from instruments onboard NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) satellites for 2005 to 2018.

First Light Fusion, which was co-founded by UCL's Head of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Yiannis Ventikos, has declared a world first in nuclear fusion. The Oxford University spinout has managed to accomplish the reaction by using a unique projectile method for the first time. The approach used by First Light Fusion has now been verified by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and involves using a 22-metre gas gun to fire a 100g projectile at 6.5km a second at a fuel pellet containing tritium and deuterium.

An international team of researchers involving UCL has created a series of brain charts spanning our entire lifespan - from a 15-week-old foetus to 100-year-old adult - that show how our brains expand rapidly in early life and slowly shrink as we age. The charts are the result of a research project spanning six continents and bringing together possibly the largest ever MRI datasets ever aggregated - almost 125,000 brain scans from over 100 different studies - reported in a new Nature paper.

More than a third of cancers in the UK are discovered after patients are rushed to hospital, one of the highest rates in comparable high-income countries, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and cancer societies in participating countries, found also that countries with higher incidences of these emergency presentations had poorer survival rates for patients.

Lower Covid-19 vaccine uptake among Black ethnic groups in London compared to White British groups was driven by trust, including mistrust in the vaccine itself and in authorities administering it, according to research led by UCL. The peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Public Health, was undertaken by UCL researchers funded by National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) ARC North Thames, in collaboration with the Government's Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) as well as other London partners.

More than a third of cancers in the UK are discovered after patients are rushed to hospital, one of the highest rates in comparable high-income countries, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and cancer societies in participating countries, found also that countries with higher incidences of these emergency presentations had poorer survival rates for patients.

Landmark research, involving scientists at UCL, has for the first time identified ten genes with extremely rare protein-disrupting mutations, that significantly increase an individual's risk of developing schizophrenia. In a linked paper researchers also identified an unprecedented number of genetic links to schizophrenia in the human genome - the body's DNA blueprint.

Older people who were shielding throughout the pandemic were nearly twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms compared to those who were not, even after accounting for loneliness and having fewer social contacts, according to researchers from UCL. The study from UCL and the University of Manchester is published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Immediate and deep emissions reductions are required across all sectors - as well as widespread use of carbon removal technology - to limit warming to 1.5°C, according to a new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, involving contributions from UCL academics. Released today, the report assesses the literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of climate change mitigation.

Global opioid sales increased by an estimated 4% annually from 2015 to 2019, but massive disparities in access to essential pain relief medications persist between countries, finds a study led by UCL researchers. Opioid use in some countries in Africa and South America was less than one tenth of 1% of the rates in wealthier countries in North America, Europe and Australia, according to the findings published in The Lancet Public Health .

Inadequate exposure to microbial organisms, which are essential for healthy human development, may help to explain the reduced life expectancies experienced by people of 'low socio-economic status' (SES), according to a new review by a UCL researcher. Around the world, households and individuals of low SES, which are defined by very low income/wealth and low educational level, are significantly more likely to experience multiple health issues, and in the most extreme situations, life expectancy can be 20-30 years lower than more wealthy and privileged individuals.

Fewer cars are broken into at night on roads with part-night lighting (PNL), where street lights are switched off between midnight and 5am, finds researchers from UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The rate of thefts from cars at night was halved on roads with PNL, compared to the same roads before PNL was introduced.