news 2012

Earth Sciences - 28.12.2012
Living close to a rubbish tip reduces house prices by 2.6%, research shows
Living close to an active landfill site reduces house prices by 2.6% and the cost to home owners can still be counted two decades after the facility has shut, new research shows. - Experts at the University of Birmingham have found that houses situated within 3 kilometres of an active site, or within 1 kilometre of a historic site, suffer a significant price drop.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 24.12.2012
Rare genetic faults identified in families with bowel cancer
Rare DNA faults in two genes have been strongly linked to bowel cancer by Oxford University researchers, who sequenced the genomes of people from families with a strong history of developing the disease.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 23.12.2012
Understanding cell organisation to tackle cancer
23 Dec 2012 - Charles Streuli and Nasreen Akhtar of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research have conducted new research that leads to a better understanding of cell polarity. Properly organised tissues are vital to maintaining functional organs and a healthy body.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 21.12.2012
World-leading cancer expert to head-up Cambridge Institute
I am delighted that Tavaré will be leading the Cambridge Institute. One of my main aims in Cambridge is to cross-fertilise different disciplines and Simon's work applying mathematical approaches to understanding cancer is a fantastic example of how powerful this can be." - —Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge - The University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK have appointed Simon Tavaré to be the next director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 21.12.2012
Brain imaging insight into cannabis as a pain killer
The pain relief offered by cannabis varies greatly between individuals, a brain imaging study carried out at the University of Oxford suggests. - The researchers found that an oral tablet of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, tended to make the experience of pain more bearable, rather than actually reduce the intensity of the pain.

Pedagogy/Education Science - Medicine/Pharmacology - 20.12.2012
Occasional family meals boost kids’ fruit and veg intake
Eating meals together as a family, even if only twice a week, boosts children's daily fruit and vegetable intake to near the recommended 5 A Day, according to researchers at the University of Leeds.

Earth Sciences - 19.12.2012
Ants aquaplaning on a pitcher plant
When the hairs of the plant are wet, the ants' adhesive pads essentially aquaplane on the surface, making the insects lose grip and slip into the bowl of the pitcher. This is the first time that we have observed hairs being used by plants in this way, as they are typically used to make leaves water repellent." - —Dr Ulrike Bauer - An insect-trapping pitcher plant in Venezuela uses its downward pointing hairs to create a 'water slide' on which insects slip to their death, new research reveals.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 19.12.2012
Better approach to treating deadly melanoma identified by scientists
19 Dec 2012 - Researchers funded by Cancer Research UK have been looking at why new drugs called “MEK inhibitors”, which are currently being tested in clinical trials, aren't as effective at killing cancer cells as they should be.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Business/Economics - 19.12.2012
The drugs don’t work
Health Technology Assessment is not 'pure science'. The drug industry is a key actor in the process of issuing recommendations" - —Professor Larry King - King and colleagues Piotr Ozieranski (University of Leicester) and Martin McKee (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) found that multinational drug companies are deploying their massive financial resources to capture stakeholders at every stage of the process for the scientific recommendation of drugs in Poland.

Earth Sciences - 18.12.2012
Study of 2011 census reveals greater diversity and integration
Dr Gemma Catney is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Planning - A study of the 2011 Census by the University of Liverpool has found that the population of England and Wales is more diverse than ever yet is more integrated.

Literature/Linguistics - 18.12.2012
A bigger melting pot: what the census really tells us
18 Dec 2012 - The detailed analysis of the 2011 census data of England and Wales by the University's new research Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) reveals the term ‘ethnic minority' is fast becoming redundant.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.12.2012
Schizophrenia linked to social inequality
Our data seems to suggest that both absolute and relative levels of deprivation predict the incidence of schizophrenia." - —James Kirkbride - Higher rates of schizophrenia in urban areas can be attributed to increased deprivation, increased population density and an increase in inequality within a neighbourhood, new research reveals.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 14.12.2012
More than two hundred genes identified for Crohn’s Disease
More than two hundred gene locations have now been identified for the chronic bowel condition Crohn's Disease, in a study that analysed the entire human genome. - Published today in The American Journal of Human Genetics , scientists at UCL have devised a new method for identifying and mapping gene locations for complex inherited diseases.

Life Sciences - 13.12.2012
Pheromone helps mice remember where to find a mate
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that male mice produce a pheromone that provokes females and competitor males to remember a preference for the place where the pheromone was previously encountered.

Astronomy - 12.12.2012
“missing link” of black holes
The discovery of a bingeing black hole that is expelling powerful beams of material has shed new light on some of the brightest X-ray sources seen in other galaxies, according to new research led by Durham University.