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Research headlines

Disputed results a fresh blow for social psychology

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Professor David Shanks (UCL Cognitive, Perceptual & Brain Sciences) is lead author on a paper that reports failure to replicated intelligence priming experiments. Read: Nature

Trachea Transplants Test the Limits

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Professor Martin Birchall (UCL Ear Institute) comments on bioengineered trachea transplants. Read: Science

Caldicott 2 and patient data

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Dr Paul Taylor (UCL Centre for Health Informatics i& Multiprofessional Education) writes about the updated Information Governance Review. Read: BMJ

Should the UK introduce compulsory vaccination?

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Dr Helen Bedford (UCL Institute of Child Health) writes that sustained work at a local level, rather than compulsory immunisation, is the best means of increasing vaccine uptake and achieving herd immunity. Read: Lancet

My Juventus

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Professor John Foot (UCL Italian) comments on the Agnelli family that have owned Juventus football club for 90 years. “Reserved, stylish, elegant, ‘British’ is the family myth," he says. Read: FT

30,000 Britons could be carrying mad cow disease, say government experts

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Government experts believe there is still a risk of people contracting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) through blood transfusions. "There needs to be blood testing to answer this question of prevalence properly,” said Professor John Collinge (UCL Neurodegenerative Diseases). Read: Telegraph

The Social Brain

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Professor Uta Frith (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) and Professor Chris Frith (UCL Institute of Neurology) speak about what autism and Asperger's Syndrome can teach us about our Social Brain. Listen: ABC Radio

Will a tattoo ever hang in the Louvre?

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Helen Lewis meets Gemma Angel (UCL History of art), a tattoo historian who has spent three years working with the macabre collection, consisting primarily of skin from “sailors, soldiers and criminals”, sold to the 19th-century collector Henry Wellcome. Read: New Statesman

Being overweight and drinking alcohol triples the risk of deadly liver disease in women

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Being overweight and drinking alcohol dramatically increases the risk of developing fatty liver disease, according to a study conducted by Dr Paul Trembling and Professor William Rosenberg at the UCL Institute of Liver and Digestive Health. Read: Daily Mail More: New Zealand Herald

Google searches predict market moves

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"Large data sets allow us to look for patterns in people's behaviour which we can then use as a predictions for things that repeat in the future," said Dr Suzy Moat (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering). Read: BBC News More: UCL News Forbes Independent Investment Week IT News Fresh Business Thinking The Australian Herald Sun (no link) Daily Express (no link) IT Pro CNN Investment Europe Pensions & Investments All Voices Investment News Wealth Professional Straits Times (£) Watch: CNN More: BBC Midlands Today

Stealth drugs: Panacea pills make targeted kills

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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

Interdisciplinarity: Artistic merit

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"The only way you get questions that have never really been asked before is to bring in different perspectives and question assumptions,” said Dr Beau Lotto (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology). Read: Nature

Diabetes cell treatment breakthrough

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“In the long-term the treatment will become a one-off treatment for diabetes patients that will have a lasting effect,” said Professor Hans Stauss (UCL Immunology). Read: Camden New Journal More: Islington Tribune

Don’t waste your breath, husky voices are the most sexy

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“What we found is that for males listening to females, they preferred the voice to be high-pitched — although not too high — and as breathy as possible,” said Dr Yi Xu (UCL Speech, Hearing & Phonetic Sciences). Read: Times (£) More: Daily Mail Metro (no link) Smithsonian The Australian US News Globe & Mail Hindustan Times Telegraph Jagran Post Spiegel (German) Metro Canada Health Magazine

Beat the bookies by training your brain to be as accurate as a computer

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"Unlike machine systems, people's decisions are messy because they rely on whatever memories are retrieved by chance," said Professor Bradley Love (UCL Cognitive, Perceptual & Brain Sciences). Read: Daily Mail More: UCL News Counsel & Health CBC News

Nanotechnology: striking a balance between glorification and 'grey goo'

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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

Most popular surnames of Great Britain mapped

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Alistair Leak (UCL Security & Crime Science) and Dr Muhammad Adnan (UCL Geography) have created a map of the most popular surnames around the UK. Read: Guardian More: Gizmodo Evening Standard Daily Mail Best Magazine Algemeiner Luton Today Listen: LBC Eastern Daily Press London Loves Business Grimsby Telegraph

Inside the Materials Library

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“People say, what do you think of smart materials? I say, all materials are smart; you just haven’t asked the right questions,” said Dr Zoe Laughlin (UCL Institute of Making). Read: Telegraph

What does a memory look like?

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Dr Hugo Spiers (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) shows Maureen Lipman what a memory looks like. Watch: BBC One's If memory serves me right

Why is the zebrafish so important for genetic research?

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"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)

Measles could hit two million children

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"There is a great big group - probably of the order of approaching two million children - who are susceptible who have not been immunised," said Dr Helen Bedford (UCL Institute of Child Health). Read: Independent More: Express Sun Daily Mail Belfast Telegraph Economist Metro (no link) Mirror (no link) LBC Watch: Newsnight Sky News (no link) BBC Radio London's Vanessa Feltz Show (from 29 mins)

Up to three pupils in every class have learning disabilities, study finds

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“We now know that there are many disorders of neurological development that can give rise to learning disabilities, even in children of normal or even high intelligence,” said Professor Brian Butterworth (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience). Read: Times (£) More: UCL News

Death tests assess how isolation shortens lifespan of social creatures

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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

Xtreme Everest 2: Testing in Kathmandu

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"Not only do I think it’s very interesting, but ultimately it improves my knowledge and makes me a better doctor," said Dr Ned Gilbert (UCL Institute of Child Health). Read: Metro More: Times of India Times Higher Education

Light drinking during pregnancy not linked to developmental problems in childhood

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“Our results suggest that there isn’t any harm from these low levels of alcohol,” said Professor Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health). Read: Times (£) More: UCL News Guardian Huffington Post Daily Mail BBC Telegraph (no link) Sun (no link) Mirror (no link) Yorkshire post (no link) Zee News New York Times Watch: BBC Breakfast (not available to watch again) Listen: BBC Radio London's Breakfast Show (from 59 mins) More: LBC's Morning News MSN Fox News Irish Sun Mother Nature Network Medical Daily CBS MSN NZ NPR CBS (2) Express Global News And a range of local and international media.

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