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One in five people from ethnic minority groups report racial discrimination and these individuals are more likely to develop poorer mental and physical health, according to researchers from UCL and King's College London. The study, published in BMC Public Health, finds for the first time, a link between racism and negative changes in physical health based on a UK population.

Psychosis rates for all local areas in England have been estimated using a new modelling tool developed by UCL researchers. The method is cited in government guidance on how policy makers can allocate mental health resources for people experiencing their first episode of psychosis. The PsyMaptic tool estimates the expected number of people who will newly develop psychosis for each locality, providing both a current and forward-looking estimate up to 2025.

The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, USA. These particles are highly charged and, if they reach Earth's atmosphere, can potentially disrupt satellites and electronic infrastructure, as well as pose a radiation risk to astronauts and people in airplanes.

People who have previously had COVID-19 have an enhanced antibody response with a single dose of RNA vaccine, finds new research co-led by UCL researchers. These are the findings of a study, published as a research letter* in the Lancet , of 51 UK healthcare workers, around half of whom had a previous laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Scientists at UCL and the IIT -Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) have created a temporary tattoo with light-emitting technology used in TV and smartphone screens, paving the way for a new type of "smart tattoo" with a range of potential uses. The technology, which uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), is applied in the same way as water transfer tattoos.

Modifying brain cell activity can extend the lifespan of fruit flies while also preventing the damage characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The researchers found that by modifying the levels of two different proteins that are active in two different types of brain cells, they could extend fruit fly lifespans by around 7-9% (close to an extra week), they report in PNAS.

A new study involving researchers from UCL has found consistent evidence of a decline in ocean currents, with the Gulf Stream System, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), at its weakest in over 1,000 years. Published today in Nature Geoscience, the team found that the Gulf Stream's slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented and is likely linked to human-induced climate change.

Videos showing for the first time how small circles of DNA adopt dance-like movements have been developed by a team led by researchers at UCL and the Universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield. The footage is based on some of the highest resolution images of a single molecule of DNA ever captured, with DNA seen to "dance" in microscopy data recorded at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL.

Patients who have had treatment for early-stage testicular cancer could benefit from fewer monitoring scans, reducing the harmful radiation they are exposed to from computerized tomography (CT) imaging, according to the results of a new clinical trial involving UCL researchers. Funded by Cancer Research UK and led by researchers at UCL, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Leeds/Huddersfield, the study found that using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instead of CT scans was as effective at picking up signs of cancer relapse.

Reserves of groundwater in much of the populated parts of Africa are being replenished at rates that could help to protect communities against the damaging effects of climate change, finds a new study co-authored by UCL. Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters , the study has revealed that the long-term groundwater recharge (the rate at which groundwater is replenished) in Africa is approximately 15,000 cubic km per decade - enough to sustain widespread groundwater pumping for drinking water and irrigatation for farming.

Genetic mutations which occur naturally during the earliest stages of an embryo's development can cause the severe birth defect spina bifida, finds a new experimental study in mice led by UCL scientists. The study, published in Nature Communications , explains for the first time how a -mosaic mutation a mutation which is not inherited from either parent (either via sperm or egg cell) but occurs randomly during cell divisions in the developing embryo - causes spina bifida.

Boys who regularly play video games at age 11 are less likely to develop depressive symptoms three years later, finds a new study led by a UCL researcher. The study, published in Psychological Medicine , also found that girls who spend more time on social media appear to develop more depressive symptoms.

More than 50% of patients hospitalised with COVID-19, who had raised levels of a protein called troponin, have some heart damage, finds a new magnetic resonance imaging study, led by UCL scientists. More than 50% of patients hospitalised with COVID-19, who had raised levels of a protein called troponin, have some myocardial injury (heart damage), finds a new magnetic resonance imaging study, led by UCL scientists.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology) discusses his research which has found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales which was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose History of the Kings of Britain was written in 1136, the mysterious monoliths at Stonehenge were first spirited there by the wizard Merlin, whose army stole them from a mythical Irish stone circle called the Giants' Dance.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB*) people are significantly more likely to have mental health conditions and report alcohol and drug misuse than heterosexual people - finds a new study led by UCL researchers in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and City, University. The findings, published today in  Psychological Medicine , come despite apparently more tolerant societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships.

A large-scale analysis involving UCL and funded by Diabetes UK has found a disproportionately higher Covid-19 death risk in middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes, raising questions over vaccination strategies across Europe. The study, published in the journal Diabetologia , found that compared to people of a similar age without type 2 diabetes, the additional COVID-19 mortality risk from having type 2 diabetes increases the younger someone is.

People with prediabetes, whose blood sugar levels are higher than normal, may have an increased risk of cognitive decline and vascular dementia, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

People with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which involves visual hallucinations for people who have lost their sight, have had worsening symptoms during the pandemic, finds a study led by UCL researchers. The study of 45 patients from Moorfields Eye Hospital between June and July 2020, published in BMJ Open Ophthalmology , reports of harrowing increases in symptoms in over half of participants.

A new x-ray imaging scanner to help surgeons performing breast tumour removal surgery has been developed by UCL experts. Most breast cancer operations are what are known as conserving surgeries, which remove the cancerous tumour rather than the whole breast. Second operations are often required if the margins (edges) of the extracted tissue are found to not be clear of cancer.

UCL archaeologists have found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales that they believed was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. The stunning discovery, published in Antiquity ,  has been secretly documented by filmmakers and is the subject of an exclusive BBC programme , Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed .