science wire

BBC broadcaster gives media tips to Sussex psychologists
BBC broadcaster gives media tips to Sussex psychologists BBC broadcaster and Sussex alumna Claudia Hammond gave invaluable media tips to psychology students and researchers when she paid a return visit to campus on Friday (17 May) and met up with some of her former tutors.

Volunteers needed to put best foot forward
13 May 2013 Researchers at The University of Manchester are looking for volunteers from across the North West to take part in a new study to help people act on their good intentions to walk more. Studies show that despite many people wanting to increase their physical activity levels, they often fail to do so by not thinking through exactly how they are going to fit it into their busy lives.

Putting the humanity back into healthcare
An innovative study led by The University of Nottingham is to investigate whether arts and humanities can help improve the mental health and well-being of patients and carers alike.

New conceptions: single mothers by sperm donation
Sophie Zadeh, a PhD candidate in the Centre for Family Research, is contributing to a new study of the well-being of single mothers by sperm donation and their children.

Treating laughter lines leaves patients feeling more depressed
Injections of botulism toxin A (often referred to as Botox) to reduce crows' feet leaves people feeling more depressed, according to new research by a Cardiff University psychologist. A study carried out on people who had received Botox treatment for facial lines found that depending on which facial lines were treated, determined how depressed they felt.

Founding Director of adoption centre appointed
Founding Director of adoption centre appointed Professor Gordon Harold – an expert in child development and the role of the family in children's psychological development - has been appointed to the new post of the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Chair in Psychology. His focus after arriving at Sussex this October will be to establish and lead a new adoption research centre at the University.

£5m Frontier Engineering grant to safeguard world’s water
A team at the University of Glasgow and collaborators at Bangor University and the University of Lancaster have received £1,207,488 funding from National Institute for Health Research to test the effectiveness of a new treatment for depression for people with a learning disability. Even though depression is the most common type of mental health problem experienced by adults there is a lack of evidence about psychological treatments for people with learning disability.

Walking with zombies: Sussex researchers explore consciousness at Science Museum event
University of Sussex researchers will join forces with the public later this month (January 2013) to fend off a zombie attack – all in the name of science.

Child autism expert joins the IoP
King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tony Charman to the IoP's Department of Psychology.

“Hello. My name is Joe. I’m 12 years old. I’m standing outside my new placement.”
The young people have given us a unique and personal insight into the emotional impact of entering the care system." —Valerie Dunn The film, which forms part of a new training co

Planning how to manage a bad mood could help avoid failing your New Year’s Resolution
Bad moods could cause us to quit our New Year's resolutions according to research by the University of Sheffield on how negative moods and high levels of emotion can lead to risky and impulse behaviour. The research, which was published in the British Journal of Social Psychology in June 2012, investigated whether having a plan specifying how to deal with a bad mood could help break the link between moods and risky behaviour.

How new technology could help people with mental health disorders
People with serious mental health problems and developmental disorders like ADHD, Tourette's and autism could soon benefit from a new collaboration between The University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare.

Monday blues explain why patients miss hospital and GP appointments
Significant health and financial savings could be achieved by changing when hospital outpatient and GP appointments are scheduled, say researchers from the University of Glasgow's School of Psychology. Approximately 12 per cent of all outpatient appointments at UK hospitals are not kept, costing the health system an estimated £600 million a year.

Global mental health project led by King’s wins € 5.8m award
An international consortium of scientists, led by the Centre for Global Mental Health at King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has launched the EMERALD global mental health project to improve mental health systems in lowand middle-income countries.