UCL Grand Challenge of Human Wellbeing

Scientists at UCL have developed new technology which reveals that blood pressure measured close to the heart is much higher during sleep than previously thought. Night time blood pressure is a strong predictor of both heart disease and stroke, with previous studies establishing that blood pressure measured over the arm falls at night during sleep. However these new data indicate that the night-time decline in blood pressure may be less extensive than previously thought.

Different brain areas are activated when we choose for ourselves to suppress an emotion, compared to situations where we are instructed to inhibit an emotion, according a new study from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Ghent University.

When children with conduct problems see images of others in pain, key parts of their brains under-react, according to new research published today in Current Biology.

Joanna Brunker, a PhD student in the UCL Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, struck Gold at a competition in the House of Commons, for the excellence of her Biology research, walking away with a £3,000 prize yesterday.

Childhood body weight is strongly influenced by genes according to new research published today in the International Journal of Obesity.

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Modern cardiovascular surgery is being transformed by virtual imaging, according to a talk given at the Yale UCL Cardiovascular Device Innovation Summit.

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• Future Proofing Cities
• UCL Development Planning Unit

The UCL Grand Challenges Small Grants Scheme invites applications to fund cross-disciplinary projects in Global Health, Sustainable Cities, Intercultural Interaction and Human Wellbeing.

The first in-depth investigation of whether youthful happiness leads to greater wealth in later life reveals that, even allowing for other influences, happy adolescents are likely to earn more money as adults.

A major three-year trial led by researchers at UCL, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency, has shown that giving one-to-one feedback to healthcare workers makes them twice as likely to clean their hands or use soap.

UCL Behaviour Change Month in November 2012 will comprise a series of cross-disciplinary talks, discussions and workshops, and lead up to a £10,000 research prize workshop in January 2013.

Targeted health support is necessary for people with lower IQs according to new research which shows that they are unhappier and more likely to have poorer health than people with higher IQs. 

Dementia scientists at UCL are set to gain from a funding boost after Alzheimer’s Research UK committed a record amount of money to new research projects.

Neighbourhood income deprivation has a strong negative effect on altruistic behaviour when measured by a ‘lost letter’ experiment, according to new UCL research published today in PLoS One.

A new e-health research Centre of Excellence led by UCL will be established in London following an award of £4.3 million.

The UCL News podcast gives you the opportunity to listen to the latest news and research from around UCL every fortnight. Split up into three parts, you can either listen to the podcast all in one go, or save features for later listening. 

Research carried out at the UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital has identified that the gene causing red hair - melanocortin-1-receptor (MC1R) - is more common in children with Congenital Melanocytic Naevi (CMN), a rare form of birthmark.

UCL is one of eight leading academic partners to form the newly established National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research (SfPHR) in England.

A new type of prostate cancer treatment, which uses sound waves to selectively target individual cancer sites, could provide an alternative to traditional treatment with significantly fewer side effects, according to promising results from a clinical trial.

Professor Richard Moorhead, a highly-respected voice in legal education and legal aid, has been appointed as the first Chair in Law and Professional Ethics at UCL.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has visited the Dementia Research Centre at UCL as part of this morning’s government pledge to double dementia research funding to £66 million by 2015.

UCL will play a key role in a new £3.7million regional centre for supercomputing, following an award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

A new project is being launched that will help forecast what the UK’s coastline will look like in up to 100 years’ time.

A conference titled ‘Tuberculosis: Local and Global’ is being held today (24 March) at UCL to mark World TB Day.