science wire

Imperial’s historic medical library reopens thanks to funding

Neuroscience meets robotics in stroke rehab
Etienne Burdet (Bioengineering) integrates neuroscience and robotics to develop assistive devices, particularly for people who have suffered a stroke.

Podcast: heights and sounds from the Imperial Festival

International Day for Biological Diversity: projects at Imperial
The 2013 UN International Day of Biological Diversity explores the theme of water and biodiversity. This year, the International Day of Biological Diversity coincides with the UN's International Year of Water Cooperation , so let's take a look through some of the research being undertaken across the College around these important themes.

Imperial physicists share in prize for masterminding Higgs boson detector
Two Imperial physicists have been praised as particle detector masterminds, following last year's discovery of a Higgs boson at CERN.

Good progress for integrated care pilot
A report evaluating a new scheme designed to deliver more integrated care to patients in North West London has been published today. The Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot is a large-scale programme focused on developing new models of care planning and coordination for people with diabetes and those who are over 75 years of age.

E.quinox secures funding to light up more homes in Rwanda this summer

Actor Johnny Depp immortalised in ancient fossil find
A scientist has discovered an ancient extinct creature with scissor hand-like claws in fossil records and named it in honour of movie star. The 505 million year old fossil called Kooteninchela deppi (pronounced Koo-ten-ee-che-la depp-eye), which is a distant ancestor of lobsters and scorpions, was named after the actor Johnny Depp for his starring role as Edward Scissorhands - a movie about an artificial man named Edward, an unfinished creation, who has scissors for hands.

Global carbon dioxide level reaches historic high of 400 parts per million
As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passes a landmark value, Imperial scientists take stock of implications for our climate.

President & Rector expresses his thanks after roaring success of Festival

Tree health: Spot pests and diseases for new national OPAL survey
Researchers need help checking the health of Britain's trees using the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) national survey on Tree Health, which opens today.

Scientists develop device for portable, ultra-precise clocks and quantum sensors
New quantum physics research will improve earth and space navigation tele , geological exploration, and medical imaging. Researchers have developed a portable way to produce 'ultracold' atoms for quantum technology and quantum information processing. The project was carried out jointly between University of Strathclyde, Imperial College London, University of Glasgow and the National Physical Laboratory.

Royal Society Fellowships awarded to three Imperial scientists
Fellowship of the Royal Society has been granted for three scientists at Imperial College London today.

H7N9 bird flu questions answered
What is known about the new strain of influenza emerging in China, and how concerned should we be? One hundred and twenty-six people are known to have been infected since the virus emerged a month ago.

Imperial Podcast: diabetes news, festival preview, and women in space

New gene therapy could treat devastating heart failure
Researchers at Imperial College London have begun the first UK clinical trials of a gene therapy for heart failure.

Imperial group reaches milestone in tropical disease campaign
A charitable organisation based at Imperial has given out its 100 millionth treatment for a debilitating tropical disease.

New book equips next generation with tools to make cities more energy efficient
A guide for understanding how cities can be more energy efficient is being launched this week. Understanding the impact that biomass burning stoves in rural Kenya are having on the environment and models that enable planners to plot a path for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in cities are some of the topics covered in a new textbook, developed by academics from Imperial College London.

Power of cloud computing harnessed by Imperial collaboration
Realising the potential of cloud computing for businesses will be the focus of research carried out by Imperial College London and partners.

Tom Kibble: Renaming Higgs boson would be ’silly’
Imperial's Emeritus Professor Tom Kibble FRS writes his opinion about what to call the Higgs boson, if not the Higgs boson.

Early career reseachers decend on parliament
Last month the House of Commons hosted a group of early career researchers, including 16 from Imperial, who presented their science to politicians.

Creative curriculums explored at Imperial’s Education Day

New alliance to develop programme of lung cancer trials
Leading research institutions and hospitals across London have announced plans to transform lung cancer care with a programme of clinical trials.

Imperial wins women in science award

Imperial staff at the forefront of big data
Imperial has long pioneered the use of infomation technology in university research and the recent rise of 'big data' is the latest example of this The rise of ‘big science' endeavours, su

Exclusive behind-the-scenes tours at Imperial Festival

Report lays out how farmers in Africa hold key to growing more with less impact
African smallholder farmers can increase food production and reduce poverty without harming the environment, says a new briefing paper launched today.

Modified bacteria could be used in vaccines
A modified strain of Salmonella could be used to efficiently deliver antigens, the key ingredients of vaccines, into human cells, a study suggests. Salmonella bacteria use nanoscopic needles to inject their own proteins into host cells, enabling them to survive and replicate inside those cells.

Baby bump body suit scientist explains womb movements at Imperial Festival
Expectant mothers, prospective fathers and all the family can find out more about why and how a baby moves around in the womb at Imperial Festival.

Casino Royale School of Mines team crowned Pub Quiz champs

Imperial College Podcast - 20 March 2013

Lord Darzi meets Suu Kyi to support healthcare reform in Burma

TEDMED and Imperial explore the boundaries of health and medicine

Imperial developing better construction methods for nuclear power plants
New methods for for building nuclear reactors from preassembled parts is the focus of a new academic and industrial collaboration.

New centre aims to mend broken hearts
Imperial will lead one of three new British Heart Foundation (BHF) research centres focussed on repairing the damage caused by a heart attack.

Imperial College Podcast - 10 April 2013
Dr Anna Andreou talks about her research on headaches and two business leaders discuss diversity in the corporate world.

The work of Professor Peter Kohl’s group
Peter Kohl heads up the Cardiac Biophysics and Systems Biology group at Imperial which tackles heart science issues at various scales.

Prestigious ERC Synergy grant for intelligent implant to tackle obesity

'Diseases of affluence’ spreading to poorer countries
High blood pressure and obesity are no longer confined to wealthy countries, a new study has found. These health risks have traditionally been associated with affluence, and in 1980, they were more prevalent in countries with a higher income. The new research, published in Circulation , shows that the average body mass index of the population is now just as high or higher in middle-income countries.

Magic mushrooms trial for depression delayed by red tape
Professor David Nutt says drug laws hinder research on clinical applications The UK's first clinical trial using the hallucinogenic ingredient in magic mushrooms for treating depression is being delayed due to UK and EU rules on the use of illegal drugs in research.

Bill Gates sees how school meals scheme benefits Ghanaian farmers
Imperial's Partnership for Child Development connects schools and local farmers to provide home grown meals for children.

Cutting airborne pollutants could have a large effect on climate
Science journalist Tatiana Moreno talks to Dr Apostolos Voulgarakis about the impact of airborne pollutants on our planet's changing climate. Some airborne pollutants change the make-up of our planet's atmosphere where, according to a wealth of recent research, they can strongly influence regional and global climate.

New Director of Research post for Imperial Academic Health Science Centre
Professor Jonathan Weber appointed to new combined role across Trust and College Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London have appointed a Director of Research for its Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC).

From Exhibition Road to Hollywood Boulevard
Two Imperial alumni have won Academy Awards for their work in visual film effects. Last month some of biggest megastars on the planet picked up their iconic statuettes at the annual pinnacle of the film industry.

Product pipeline: Sustainable lifestyles
As small changes in our behaviour can have a big impact on the environment, researchers are busy working to make our lifestyles more sustainable. 1. Plastic fantastic Co-founded by Visiting Professor Vernon Gibson (Chemistry), spin-out company Plaxica is converting sugars, such as cereals and sugar cane, into the next generation of plastics.

Scientists develop low-cost techniques for ’earthquake-proofing’ homes
Engineering 'quake-proof' homes could save lives, say Imperial academics. New techniques that enable people in rural communities in Central and South America to build their own earthquake resistant, low-cost housing are being developed by academics from Imperial College London. Since 1980, 18,300 people worldwide have died in homes that have collapsed because they were not engineered to be earthquake-proof.

Models to predict flood and drought risks developed by Imperial researchers
Predicting floods, droughts and contamination in UK will be easier, thanks to models developed at Imperial.

New software to unite European healthcare industry to combat diseases
Developing a software system that enables healthcare industry to share information to advance our understanding of diseases is the focus of project Developing a software system that enables pha

Research receives funds to meet global challenges
Two innovative engineering projects receive grants from a major UK funder this month. The researchers received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council as part of Frontier Engineering scheme.

Inventor’s corner: Dr Themistoklis Prodromakis
Themistoklis Prodromakis is a research fellow at the Centre for Bio-inspired Technology and is developing brain-inspired electronics using memristors What are memristors?

Behind the scenes: Virtual dissections
Human dissections are a vital part of every doctor's training, but the experience might be different for medical students from the iPad generation.

New treatments could stop multiple sclerosis progression for the first time
Thanks to research on brains donated by MS patients, Imperial researchers have made major advances in efforts to understand and treat the disease. Around 100,000 people in the UK have multiple sclerosis and, while several treatments exist to treat early attacks, there is currently nothing to stop the disease from progressing.

Health app endorsed by NHS
A mobile phone health app created by medical experts at Imperial has been officially endorsed by the NHS.

Smokefree workplaces linked to smokefree homes in India
Adults in India are substantially more likely to abstain from smoking at home if they are prohibited from smoking at work, a new study has found. According to data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India, 2009/2010, 64 per cent of adults who work in smokefree environments live in a smokefree home, compared with 42 per cent of those who work where smoking is permitted.

Advanced dissection tool comes to Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
NTU's joint medical school with Imperial is the first in Southeast Asia to have a cutting-edge tool for virtual dissection.

Medical Research Council centenary celebrations come to Imperial

Imperial celebrates women in physics

Going Public: Professor Stephen Curry on blogging as an academic
Structural biologist Stephen Curry reveals how plugging himself into the public domain has added new perspectives to his research and teaching.

Travel: Professor Tejinder Virdee
Born in Kenya, now commuting between the Alps and London, Professor Tejinder Virdee is a particle physicist working at the CMS experiment at CERN.

Ground-breaking frontier science explored at Imperial Fringe
The fifth Imperial Fringe takes place on Thursday 21 March, looking at the important work in synthetic biology happening at the College.

Visitors experience frontier science at latest Fringe event
Pedigree tomatoes, brewing yeast and waste-digesting bacteria were on the bill for a public event at Imperial College London last night.

Map of the Universe at 380,000 years old
Latest pictures from Planck satellite have mapped the whole Universe as it was just after the Big Bang Pictures taken by Europe's Planck satellite are giving scientists a view of the Universe that's more than 50 million years older than anything they have previously seen.

Kibble at 80
Imperial marks pioneering physicist Tom Kibble's 80th birthday with a guest lecture from Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg.

Researchers at Barbican Wonder: Art & Science on the Brain
From 7 to 10 April, Imperial College London neuroscientists, psychiatrists and surgeons will be engaging the public at the Barbican.

Who or what is LUCA?
Is there an evolutionary starting point and a primordial organism from which all modern life descended? Over billions of years life has diversified and adapted to Earth's changing environment.

Imperial launches major new research and translation campus
Leaders from business, research and government joined Imperial College London staff last night (6 March) for the launch of the vision for Imperial West, a new seven acre campus in White City, west London, which will become London's first major research and translation quarter.

Queen and Imperial College London honoured with a music heritage award

Imperial seeks partners to join new west London research and innovation campus
Imperial College London will today launch its vision for Imperial West, its new seven acre research and translation campus in White City, west London, at an event attended by David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London .

Climate Week calls for social and political action on carbon neutral energy
Grantham Institute for Climate Change has signed the Climate Week Declaration, urging social and political action on energy efficiency and carbon emissions for the UK.

New funding to unlock the mysteries of how babies’ brains develop
A new project to discover how brains develop during the last third of pregnancy has received €15 million from the European Research Council (ERC) as one of only 11 new prestigious Synergy grants throughout Europe.

Heart scars reveal sudden death risk
Scarring of the heart muscle visible on scans is an accurate indicator of risk for sudden cardiac death among patients with a common heart condition, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association . The finding, made by scientists at Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College London, will help doctors decide which patients should be fitted with an implanted device that can restore the heart's rhythm when it beats abnormally.

Scientists to support the manufacture of future electronics
Scientists are being backed by government to put the UK at the forefront of a growing global high-tech electronics industry.

Imperial academic onboard to help realise London’s global ambitions

Training scheme to prevent infections in Rwanda

Smart living
Providing a secure and sustainable energy supply is one of the key issues facing the UK today. Finding innovative solutions to this challenge will involve academics working with local authorities, businesses and governments.

Hear how maths can predict random global events

Changing tack
In the wake of the financial crash of 2008, many scientists have found themselves working in an environment of squeezed budgets in which they must increasingly make the case that their research adds value to the wider economy.

Engineering scholarship aims to boost UK industry

Imperial celebrates its automotive research prowess
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial has been at the forefront of research to develop the next generation of vehicles for more than 40 years.

Imperial Festival returns for second fun-filled extravaganza

Inventor’s Corner: Refining oil extraction
Oil refineries take crude oil from drilling pipelines and extract its useful constituent parts – gas, petrol, aircraft fuel and engine oil – using a series of heating and cooling steps. Professor Sandro Macchietto and PhD student Francesco Coletti (both Chemical Engineering) have devised a way to increase the efficiency of this complex process.

Team to study Jupiter’s moons in first outer-planetary European mission
A sophisticated instrument designed and built by scientists and engineers from Imperial College London will fly to Jupiter in 2022, when Europe launches its first mission to the giant planet.

Q and A on Imperial’s future W3 accomodation

Lightyear foundation brings practical science to schools in Ghana
In October 2012 PhD students Naomi Nickerson and Adam Billing (both Physics) travelled to Accra, Ghana, with 16 other volunteers from the Lightyear Foundation, an organisation bringing practical science to schools there.

Researchers win three Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards
Academics at Imperial College London have won three prestigious Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards to support their research into health and disease.

Staff satisfaction at hospitals may affect the quality of patient care
The satisfaction levels among a hospital's staff are closely linked to the quality of healthcare it provides, say a team of doctors from Imperial College London. In the first study of its kind, Richard Pinder and colleagues at Imperial found that hospitals in England with lower mortality rates were more likely to have members of staff satisfied with the quality of care they provide.

Car sharing scheme launched

Imperial-Tsinghua workshop tackles healthcare challenges
Research group leaders from Tsinghua University in China and their College counterparts came together at Imperial at the end of January to identify tools and technologies to tackle current healthcare challenges.

New grant to power translation of heart research
New knowledge about the genetic causes of heart diseases will be translated into improvements in diagnosis and treatment with a £1.8 million grant to Imperial from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund. Roughly one in 100 of us are affected in some way by inherited cardiac conditions (ICCs). Innate propensities for heart malfunction can lie embedded within a person's genetic code from birth, inherited from their parents.

Professor Kneebone on his Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowship
The start of this month marked the official start of Roger Kneebone's Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowship , alongside a Wellcome Trust Society Award.

Nuclear engineer appointed to top Government role

New hall of residence purchased in W3

Make a date with discovery at Imperial’s Arts Experiment
Take part in a unique experiment and blur the lines between science and the arts at an Imperial Fringe event on Thursday in the Main Entrance on Exhibition Road from 17.00-2000 .

Volunteers needed to chart fifty years of ch-ch-changes in pop music
Music lovers are invited to take part in an online experiment to explore the ways that popular music has evolved between 1960 and the present day.

Medical excellence recognised through Faculty of Medicine Fellowships

Environment schemes for kids influence parents’ behaviour
Teaching children about the environment can affect the knowledge and behaviour of their parents, according to new research.

Improving patient care is the focus of a new project at Imperial
Bringing data from GPs and hospitals together to improve healthcare is the focus of a new £2million project by researchers from Imperial College London in conjunction with the Peter Sowerby Foundation. There is a wealth of data in the NHS but it is often held in separate, isolated, pockets at hospitals and in GP surgeries.

New strategy needed to fight non-communicable diseases
Learning lessons from the fight against HIV and Tuberculosis and addressing social and economic inequalities amongst the world's most vulnerable groups could help tackle the rise in non-communicable diseases (NCD), according to researchers from Imperial College London.

The ’Oscars’ of philanthropy world honours Imperial leading light

Science from scratch: just how big is a supermassive black hole?
Black holes are deeply mysterious objects that exist throughout the universe: giant plugholes in space that drag in and consume anything that strays too close.

RAG Week gets off to a flying start

Earth League assembles at Imperial to take on global sustainability challenge
The inaugural meeting of the Earth League, a voluntary alliance of leading scientists and institutions addressing earth science and sustainability challenges, took place at Imperial College London yesterday, 7 February 2013.

Mini profile: James Moore
James E Moore Jr is the Bagrit Chair in Medical Device Design at Imperial College London's Department of Bioengineering, and one of the College's newest members of staff.

Imperial academics win three new Wolfson Research Merit Awards

Doctors call for boycott of PR firms which deal with the tobacco industry

Government funds projects to reduce cost of Carbon Capture technology
Three projects based on Imperial research will share almost half of £20 million new funding from the UK Government to reduce the cost of low carbon energy.

Uncovering the unsung medical heroes of the Great War
The expression ‘standing on the shoulders of giants', made famous by Isaac Newton, is often used to acknowledge the fact that no discovery or leap forward happens in isolation and that progress owes to the efforts of all the minds gone before, whose work we build upon.

Workshop Wizardry: new scheme at Imperial to train skilled research technicians
Scientific research today is nearly always a team effort – and is becoming increasingly collaborative and multidisciplinary.

Young researcher receives grant to make gas turbines greener
For the next five years, Aimee Morgans (Aeronautics) will receive funding for her research into lower emissions for gas turbine combustors following a successful grant application to the European Research Council (ERC).

Imperial gets a diamond of a gift from The Queen

Light reading: The Department of Physics's nanoplasmonics group
Stefan Maier's nanoplasmonics group started five years ago with just one other member. It is now a 30-strong team which last year produced 40 publications, almost all in high impact journals, including Nature journals and Science.

Imperial College Business School forges ahead with new partnership in India

New centre to tackle diseases that affect billions
An event on 30 January will launch the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research, a partnership between Imperial College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Natural History Museum .

The future of digital money: Business School academic shares his thoughts
The technological, social and economic future of digital money will be discussed at a symposium led by an Imperial College Business School academic.

Profile: Professor Tony Cass
Tony Cass Tony Cass (Chemistry) celebrates his 30th year at the College in 2013, having worked across numerous departments and centres – some now extinct, and others that have evolved into groups such as the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, for which Tony serves as Deputy Director.

Suspended bird flu research resumes
There have been over 500 human cases of H5N1 influenza since 2003, but so far the deadly virus has not proven infectious in humans. Researchers in the Netherlands and the US have created highly transmissible strains in the lab in an attempt to understand what mutations might enable it to pass between humans, but worries over the safety of these studies led to all such research being put on hold in January 2012.

Games workshop: new design software paves way for more immersive video games
The video games industry is big business now and developers are constantly looking to push the boundaries in terms of graphical prowess and immersive gameplay.

Imperial alumni gather in India

Why do I get the sniffles each winter?
No winter season passes without its characteristic sniffles and sneezes. Why is it that every year cold and flu viruses return in full force? Well, these coughs and sneezes help spread airborne particles containing the infectious viruses.

Indian alumni join forces with Imperial to launch new scholarships

Southern hospitality

More imaginative approach should be adopted by Government to rescue Remote Care

Grants awarded to two researchers for work reducing our reliance on fossil fuels
Two Imperial researchers have been awarded grants by national research councils to help advance sustainability and combat reliance on fossil resources.

Gastro grub on the menu for Imperial explorers
Eating cricket kebabs, collecting bugs with local villagers, and extending our knowledge of insect eating practices in Benin were all on the menu for a two-month expedition led by two Imperial students before Christmas.

Citizen science project inspires thousands to rediscover the outdoors
Over the past five years, more than half a million people from towns and cities up and down the country have been exploring their local green spaces as part of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) project, led by Imperial College London and supported by a £14 million Big Lottery Fund grant. Many participants were carrying out a nature survey for the very first time and have provided important data about biodiversity, including information about some places - particularly urban areas of deprivation - never sampled before by scientists.

Wind in the willows boosts biofuel production
Willow trees cultivated for 'green energy' can yield up to five times more biofuel if they grow diagonally, compared with those that are allowed to grow naturally up towards the sky. This effect had been observed in the wild and in plantations around the UK, but scientists were previously unable to explain why some willows produced more biofuel than others.

Lunar library could unlock origins of life
Understanding how life evolved in our Solar system by studying the chemistry of meteorites that have smashed into the Moon's surface will be the focus of research, which begins this week. Scientists from the Imperial College London, along with academics from Birkbeck College and University College London, aim to understand in more detail the organic chemistry inside rock fragments on the Moon, which are like a “lunar library” – an unspoilt source of geological information spanning billions of years.

Managing change successfully: Business School Prof talks on book launch today

Health kick-start for 2013
Caroline Prew and Amna Siddiq (both and Development) reviewed the seminar. A: To increase my awareness of nutrition and healthy living as a whole.

Scientists seek out cancer cells hiding from treatment
Scientists hope to improve leukaemia treatment by investigating how cancer cells use 'hiding places' in the body to avoid chemotherapy drugs. Each year 300 British children are diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the blood. The majority respond well to current therapies, but the disease returns in a quarter of patients.

Planning a science comeback
Getting back into postdoctoral research after taking a career break can be very difficult – a particular issue for female scientists who have decided to start a family.

Scientists receive grants of over €25m from European Research Council

Tribute: Felix Weinberg
Felix Weinberg , Emeritus Professor of Combustion Physics died on 5 December 2012 at the age of 84.

Imperial congratulates staff recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list

Physics hits the West End
Science is no stranger to cinema, being a regular staple of Hollywood blockbusters ever since Star Wars in the 1970s through to Prometheus last year.

The year ahead
Attempting to make predictions about science, technology and economics is a famously fraught task. Former IBM Chairman Thomas Watson apparently once remarked: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”.

New funding to research ’super material’ graphene
Scientists at Imperial College London are set to receive over £4.5 million of public funding to investigate how the 'super material' graphene can drive improvements in high-tech industries, such as aerospace design and medical technologies.

Five Festive Fossils
Picture a traditional British Christmas scene: a huge tree stands beside a roaring fire, the roast dinner is in the oven and cheerfully wrapped presents litter the floor.

Mini profile: Terry Rudolph
Ever since being introduced to quantum physics as an undergraduate, Professor Terry Rudolph (Physics) has pondered its mysteries, even getting up in the small hours to think of new ways around problems.

Is graphene a wonder material?
Graphene is the latest revolutionary material that has scientists and engineers salivating. What is it? Well, take a lump of pencil lead (graphite), which is essentially stacked layers of carbon, put some tape on it, then peel it off.

Gerry George in focus: the work behind his Editor-in-chief title
Gerry George, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School, is this Summer to be appointed the 20th Editor-in-chief of the AMJ , a highly prestigious journal.

Digital Messenger
For someone who insists she's never had a real career plan, Debby Shorley can look back with pride and perhaps a little surprise as she retires as Director of Library Services, with a clutch of professional accolades, publications and modernising campaigns behind her.

AI computer program develops free downloadable game for Christmas
Researchers at Imperial College London have developed an Artificially Intelligent (AI) computer program that has itself designed a video game for the Christmas season, which can be downloaded for free today. The game developed by the AI computer program is called "A Puzzling Present". In the game, Santa Claus has been sucked into a Christmas present and it is the player's goal to help Santa collect gifts in the 30 Christmas-themed lands, which are filled with deadly holly and other obstacles.

Obama’s science advisor calls for climate science investment in Imperial address
Good weather forecasting saved America tens of billions of dollars' worth of damage to homes and belongings during super-storm Sandy, The White House's most senior science advisor told an audience at Imperial College London last week.

Inventor’s Corner: Capturing brain waves
Danilo Mandic from the and Signal Processing Group (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) is developing a discreet, wearable device that can measure the brain's electrical activity using a method known as electroencephalography (EEG).

HOSTs with the most
A number of international students from Imperial will be spending time with British families over the festive period, as part of a scheme run by the charity HOST UK together with the College's International Office.

Early warning dementia detector under development
A new hi tech early dementia assessment service that could slash the time it takes for doctors to diagnose Alzheimer's disease from 18 months to three months is being developed, thanks to underpinning research at Imperial College London. The assessment service integrates several cognitive tests with computerised examinations of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans.

Coffee table sized MRI to improve imaging of joints being created at Imperial
A new system that enables medics to image difficult areas of the body, which could potentially improve the way procedures such as knee replacement surgery are carried out, is being developed by researchers at Imperial College London.

Brain gain
An Innovation and Entrepreneurship Professor from Imperial College Business School has been made the first Editor-in-Chief of the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) from an institution outside the USA.

Blood pressure, smoking and alcohol: the health risks with the biggest burden
Over 9 million people died as a consequence of high blood pressure in 2010, making it the health risk factor with the greatest toll worldwide, say experts.

Imperial College Business School to reveal biotechnology enterprise secrets
Imperial College Business School will meet European partners in London this week to plan a revolution in the application of biotech research to challenge the US stronghold.

James Stirling to be Imperial’s first Provost
James Stirling CBE FRS has been named Provost of Imperial, and becomes the first person to occupy the new position at the university.

Imperial physicists share world’s biggest science prize
Three Imperial physicists will receive a share of a new $3 million prize, awarded for their part in identifying a Higgs-like boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator at CERN.

Imperial alumnus’ generosity enables new projects to start in developing world

Researcher joins team to solve mystery of buried Spitfires
Determining the fate of a squadron of Spitfire fighter aircraft, believed buried in the jungles of Burma, will be the focus of an aviation archaeological expedition involving a researcher from Imperial College London.

General practice in London must improve to meet challenges of the future
Based on a news release from The King's Fund There are significant variations in the quality of primary care in London, according to a new report commissioned by NHS London from The King's Fund and Imperial College London.

Nature and nurture teased apart in brain’s reward centre
By Eliot Barford A study by Imperial College London scientists has provided an unprecedented insight into the roles nature and nurture play in our behaviour, with important implications for future research into disorders such as schizophrenia, addiction and Parkinson's disease. Paul Stokes of the Department of Medicine and his colleagues spent over three years performing brain scans on pairs of twins, measuring the function of the brain chemical dopamine.

Extreme weather and climate change: are they linked?
The Earth has seemingly been under siege from extreme weather events in 2012, including record summer temperatures in the USA and Russia, 'superstorm' Sandy and a deluge of flooding in the UK.

Imperial College Business School is awarded triple-accreditation

No place like bone

National phenome research facility to open at Imperial
The MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, which will analyse thousands of samples of blood, urine and tissue to discover how our genes interact with our environment to cause and affect the course of disease, will now be located at Imperial College London.

Autumn telethon underway

Westminster Medical School 30 year reunion

Weathering the storm: Finance Director Andrew Murphy moves on
The last few years have been financially challenging for all universities; but Imperial's Finance Division, headed by Andrew Murphy, has helped the College maintain a strong position.

Imperial College media mentions
Financial Times – (6.11.2012) Some business schools have been wary of emerging technologies in the past but it appears that the tables may be turning, the Financial Times reported.

Imperial West campus takes shape