UCL in the media
Could treatments for physical health be used for mental disorders?
Professor Graham Easton (UCL Medical School) discusses recent research which suggests drugs used for physical health could be used to treat serious mental health problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Listen: BBC World Service ‘Health Check’ (from 0 mins 17 secs)
'Cuddle therapy' wellness trend could get rid of stress and boost wellbeing
Commenting on 'cuddle therapy', a growing wellness trend that promises to get rid of stress and boost wellbeing, PhD researcher Marina von Mohr (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said tests had shown being touched by a stranger "can reduce feelings of social exclusion.”
The truth about nutrigenetics
Emeritus Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) comments that nutrigenetics, a new science which reads DNA and tells people how to optimise diet, can give useful information, but “the baselines of health are basically common sense."
The internet was not intended to spy on us
The internet started life in the 1960s as a research project to ensure that the US stayed ahead of the Soviet Union in science and technology, explains Professor Peter Kirstein (UCL Computer Science).
How to keep your brain young
Dr Andrew Sommerlad (UCL Psychiatry) has demonstrated that being married is strongly associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
Political noise will not drown out climate signals
Professor Mariana Mazzucato (UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose) said the scale of change needed to tackle climate change demands that fear is transformed into "a mission to be accomplished.”
Astral geeks: Why postgrads are turning to space
UCL’s one-year MSc in space science and engineering and a five-day short course on space’s industrial landscape, the anatomy of a spacecraft and telecommunications applications, both feature in an article on the increasing popularity of space science.
Former EU Ambassador Sir Ivan Rogers’ perspectives on what’s next for Brexit
Sir Ivan Rogers, former Ambassador to the EU and guest speaker at an event hosted on 22 January by UCL’s European Institute, said the risk of crashing Brexit negotiations was “higher than either the markets or the commentariat believe”.
Read: Huffington Post, More: Spectator, FT, Times (£). Watch: UCL TV
Chinese scientist who made world's first gene-edited babies 'evaded oversight', say authorities
The Chinese scientist who claimed he had created gene-edited babies contravened national guidelines, an investigation says, but Dr Helen O’Neill (UCL Institute for Women's Health) says the report still does not shed light on the full story.
Is the ability to do maths innate in humans?
In a panel discussion, Professor Brian Butterworth (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) and Dr Hannah Fry (UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis) explore whether humans have always been able to count and if mathematical ability goes beyond simply quantifying things.
Listen: BBC Radio 4 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' (from 3 mins 33 secs)