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This week we meet third-year Economics and Geography student Megan, who volunteers as a drama school assistant with the Anna Fiorentini Film & Theatre School.

No single country is adequately protecting children's health, their environment and their futures, finds a landmark report co-led by UCL and convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and The Lancet.

UCL has received £4.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to build a national supercomputer centre to improve support for UK researchers making scientific breakthroughs, such as designing better batteries and improving drug design. Since 2016, the Materials and Molecular Modelling Hub led by UCL, has brought together partners in London's Thomas Young Centre and others across the country to carry out ground-breaking research on the properties of new and existing materials, and this new funding will build on the Hub's capability.

New funding for the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), which extends across 20 institutions and is hosted by the UCL Energy Institute, will enable engineers, social scientists and natural scientists to conduct vital research into the challenges of a net zero emissions future.

Attempts to reduce love down to one simple cause, whether pheromones or fate, are misguided and romantic love is more complex than simple science, explains Professor Parashkev Nachev (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology).

The global reading gap between girls and boys is closing, but in most cases this is due to decline in girls' performance, rather than an improvement in boys', explains Professor Francesca Borgonovi (UCL Institute of Education). Girls consistently outperform boys on reading tests - and have done so for several decades around the world.

Dr Katherine Woolf (UCL Medical School) looks writes about differential attainment in medical education and training in an opinion piece where she argues that those from ethnic minority backgrounds suffer worse outcomes during recruitment.

A new way to monitor crop production for global food security developed by scientists at UCL and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has won the Newton Prize 2019 Chair's Award.

Dr Katherine Woolf (UCL Medical School) looks writes about differential attainment in medical education and training in an opinion piece where she argues that those from ethnic minority backgrounds suffer worse outcomes during recruitment.

Academics at UCL have identified 18 reasons why megaprojects such as HS2 and Crossrail often fail, as well as 54 preventative solutions.

Despite the passage of the Brexit withdrawal Agreement, the EU may struggle to force the UK to comply with Northern Ireland protocol commitments, argues Professor Ronan McCrea (UCL Laws).

A place-based payroll tax incentive can be effective in stimulating employment in remote and underdeveloped regions, helping to address regional inequalities, according to a new UCL and University of Oslo study. The study, published in the Journal of Public Economics, examined the effect of a tax reform in Norway that harmonised payroll tax rates across regions.

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter, which carries instruments proposed, designed and built at UCL, launched today from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 4am UK time.

With the race for the Labour Party leadership continuing Professor Meg Russell (UCL Political Science) argues that the wider membership of political parties should not necessarily choose the leader.

A new study is urging GPs to consider shortness of breath and coughs as potential predictors of lung cancer. Here Professor Sam Janes (UCL Medicine) explains why awareness of these symptoms needs to be raised among doctors and the general public. A new study has been released urging GPs to consider shortness of breath and cough as potential predictors of lung cancer, after the study found they were becoming more common as the first symptom in diagnosis.

Strike action is planned for 14 days over a four-week period in February and March 2020, while Action Short of a Strike (ASoS) is ongoing.

Professor Hiranya Peiris (UCL Physics & Astronomy), Dr Lasana Harris (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock (UCL Physics & Astronomy) are three of the 16 new council members appointed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

With the coronavirus being declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) Dr Jennifer Rohn (UCL Medicine) writes for the Guardian on lessons that must be learned from the Sars outbreak in 2003.

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is the first major literary work, in any language, to be developed into a web and mobile phone app with original scholarship, due to a new project by academics at UCL, the University of Saskatchewan (USask), and The National Library of Wales.

Our knowledge of dinosaurs has expanded greatly since the public first became aware of their existence, but the history of these animals encompasses more than just the fossils themselves, writes Richard Fallon (UCL Science & Technology Studies).

The ruling by the International Court of Justice that the Rohingya minority in Myanmar remains at serious risk of genocide sets an important precedent and could help prevent genocide in the future, argues Dr Julie Norman (UCL Political Science).

An ambitious survey of a former Ice Age landscape, which sits off the coast of Jersey in the English Channel seabed, is to be carried out on foot by a team of archaeologists led by UCL's Institute of Archaeology.

Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost, UCL Library Services) writes about the Sorbonne Declaration on research data management and research data rights.

Reported cases and deaths of coronavirus are increasing and patients have now been reported from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Australia and the US.

A tax on carbon dioxide emissions in Great Britain, introduced in 2013, has led to the proportion of electricity generated from coal falling from 40% to 3% over six years, according to research led by UCL.

One in 20 teachers in England are reporting a long-lasting mental health problem and their wellbeing has not improved over the past three decades, according to a new UCL study.