UCL in the media
Decline in smoking stalled after pandemic, study reveals
A decade-long decline in the number of cigarettes a smoker has per day has stalled, with some people actually smoking more, according to a new study by Dr Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care).
Read: The Telegraph (£); More: Daily Mail (1), Daily Mail (2), Independent, Shropshire Star; UCL News
Running around a 'wall of death' could keep moon settlers fit
Professor Ilan Kelman (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) said: ‘considering the limited space in any lunar settlement, this experiment is a helpful and needed contribution to understanding time and cost-efficient ways of keeping moon settlers healthy.’
Don’t sack Cambridge academic for race views, say colleagues
Dr Adam Rutherford (UCL Biosciences) said the concept of race was socially constructed, with categorisations used to describe people of different ethnicities not reflected meaningfully in genetics.
Sleep resets brain connections – but only for first few hours
During sleep, the brain weakens the new connections between neurons that had been forged while awake – but only during the first half of a night’s sleep, according to a new study in fish by Professor Jason Rihel (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology).
Withdrawal of stop-smoking pill could lead to thousands of avoidable deaths
The disruption to the supply of a prescription medicine that helps people stop smoking may have led to thousands fewer people quitting each year in England, which will lead to avoidable deaths in future, suggests Dr Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health).
One in five 10-year-olds experience physical punishment
More than one in five 10-year-olds experienced physical punishment in 2020 and 2021 in the UK, reports new research briefing by UCL researchers, led by Dr Anja Heilmann (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health).
Female athletes more likely to get injured at certain points in their menstrual cycle
Football players were six times more likely to experience a muscle injury in the days leading up to their period compared to when they were on their period shows new research led by Dr Georgie Bruinvels (UCL Surgery & Interventional Science, Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health)
Read: BBC Sport (1); More: BBC Sport (2), The Times (£), Mirage News; Listen: BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ (from 5 min, 29 sec); BBC Radio 2 ‘The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show’ (from 32 min, 19 sec), BBC World Service ‘The Newsroom’ (from 17 min, 03 sec); Watch: ITV Evening News (from 36 mins); UCL News
Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir: Religion and Politics in India
Dr Ashraf Hoque (UCL IOE - Social Research Institute) discusses the significance of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya built on the site of a previous Muslim Mosque, and the controversy that surrounded it which led to it being pulled down by a mob in 1992.
Only those with the sharpest eyesight can solve this brainteaser in under 9 seconds
Dr Yuntao Chen (UCL Epidemiology and Public Health) said: “It is shocking to think that the number of people living with dementia by 2040 may be up to 70% higher than if dementia incidence had continued to decline.”
Anger ‘increases risk of heart attack for 40 minutes’
Professor Riyaz Patel (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) said the study was an “elegant experiment” finding that “recalling memories that evoke anger causes a temporary disruption in the usually healthy functioning of the blood vessels”.