Dr Matthew Piper (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) comments on the genetics of aging and the evolutionary selection pressures. Read: Scientific American

In 2000, Nasa enthusiast Dr Kevin Fong and mountaineer Professor Mike Grocott decided to join forces to investigate the body’s response to extreme conditions. They established the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE Medicine) at UCL. Read: Metro

Professor David Balding (UCL Genetics Institute) comments on research that suggests that those of European descent still living on the continent are related to each other through a common ancestry dating back just 1,000 years. Read: Daily Mail

“The Royal Society was founded to advocate the idea that science is what matters, not deference to authority,” said Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences). Read: Sunday Times (£) More: Guardian Daily Mail Guardian (2) Times (£) Independent FT Kashmir Times Gulf Times Telegraph (no link)

A review of The Serpent's promise by Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment). Read: Times (£) More: Telegraph Sunday Times (£)

Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) discusses the science of culture and the culture of science. Listen: BBC Radio 3's Night Waves (from 35 mins)

Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) reviews new book The Archaeology of Race: the Eugenic Ideas of Francis Galton and Flinders Petrie by Debbie Challis (UCL Petrie Museum). Read: Lancet

Professor John O'Keefe (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology) comments on grid cells. Read: New York Times/International Herald Tribune (no link) More: China Daily

David McCarthy (UCL Pharmacology) assists retired scientist Steve Geschmeistner with creating dramatic images of microscopic pollen. Watch: BBC's One Show

A new generation of drugs promises diagnosis, monitoring, stealth, precision and cure – all in one package. "Doxil was a landmark in the field," says Professor Kostas Kostarelos (UCL Pharmaceutics). Read: New Scientist

Emerging fields such as nanotechnology must resist the false dichotomy that says they're either marvellous or demonic, writes Professor Kostas Kostarelos (UCL Nanomedicine). Read: Guardian

In his new book, Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics Evolution & Environment) puts the Bible under the scientific microscope. Here he asks whether religious transcendence might have a biological cause. Read: Telegraph

Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences) is the take-no-prisoners debunker of pseudoscience on his unmissable blog. Read: Guardian

"It's a compromise between having the complexity to model some of the things that we want to study - brain function, behaviour, ... - but also  the simplicity that we might be able to understand it," said Dr Jason Rihel (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology). Listen: BBC Radio 4's Material World (from 11 mins)

"Cupping doesn’t make any sense at all," says Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences). Read: Daily Mail

Professor Martin Raff (UCL Biosciences) and colleagues found that the in vitro lifespans of two different types of cells increased with their density. Read: Wired

The UK's new Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation (CASMI) launched in London last week. Dr Richard Barker (UCL School of Life & Medical Sciences) and director of CASMI said: “We hope CASMI will address one of the major societal problems of the 21st century.” Read: Lancet

Experiments are being put on the back burner – future discoveries may be scuppered by administrative overload, writes Dr Jenny Rohn (UCL Clinical Physiology). Read: Guardian

Amazon has been criticised for hosting sales of products that claim to cure or treat cancer. Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences) said: “The claims are quite grotesque. The real danger is that people will believe the hucksters and take only things like these.” Read: Times (£) More: Mirror

Dr Jenny Rohn (UCL Physiology) said: "With everything seeming so gloomy after the Budget, it may seem counter-intuitive to start spending more on science. But this is exactly the right time to do it in order to stimulate the economy." Read: Scotsman

The organisation that represents British pharmacologists has remained largely silent over the problems of both big pharma and alternative medicine. It’s time for that to change, says Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences). Read: Research Fortnight

Exaggerated claims from genetic ancestry testing companies undermine serious research into human genetic history, says Professor Mark Thomas (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment). Read: Guardian More: BioEdge

“I absolutely do believe it’s possible to coax mammal tissues into regenerating to a greater degree with the lessons we learn from newts,” says Professor Jeremy Brockes (Structural and Molecular Biology). Read: Scientific American

Professor Martin Raff (UCL Division of Biosciences) shares his first experience of presenting a talk. "As soon as I started, I hit a blank,” he recalls. Read: Nature

Draft guidance for the website NHS Choices warning that there is no evidence that homeopathy works was suppressed by officials following lobbying by a charity set up by the Prince of Wales. Correspondence from the Department of Health discussing the guidance was released under the Freedom of Information Act to Professor David Colquhoun (UCL Biosciences). Read: Guardian More: DC’s Improbable Science BMJ Daily Mail