Researchers have found people with damage to a crucial part of the brain fail to recognise facial emotions, but they unexpectedly find faces looking sideways more memorable (University of Bath, 2017). The findings are more evidence that damage to the amygdala affects how facial recognition and gaze perception work in unpredictable ways. People with amygdala … Continue reading Brain damage can cause emotional blindness, while making sideways faces more memorable

Research by Cardiff University has found that community-led regeneration in deprived areas can improve the mental health of residents (Cardiff University, 2017). The study, one of the first of its kind worldwide, found a small but measurable improvement in the mental health of residents in areas of Caerphilly County Borough that underwent community-led regeneration compared … Continue reading Regeneration of deprived areas can improve residents’ mental health

Professor Gary F Baxter will take over responsibility for Cardiff University’s College of Biomedical and Life Sciences from Professor Dylan Jones who is standing down to focus on his research (Cardiff University, 2017). For the past seven years Gary Baxter has been Head of the Cardiff University’s School of Pharmacy. Cardiff University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Colin … Continue reading New Pro Vice-Chancellor for Cardiff University’s College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

Duke, an Irish retriever, has had his life turned around after the Wales Centre For Advanced Batch Manufacture (CBM) designed a prosthetic limb for him (CBM, 2017). Volunteers at Irish Retriever Rescue (IRR) found Duke abandoned. He had a complex deformity that effected his front right limb, causing it to develop smaller with an enlarged … Continue reading Dog receives 3D printed prosthesis

Researchers from institutions in China and the UK, including Swansea University, are collaborating on a project to develop a graphene-based sensor, which aims to provide an easy, low cost way of diagnosing hepatitis on the spot (Swansea University, 2017). BIOVICI, developing the next generation of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices, brings together the National Physical Laboratory … Continue reading Project to develop graphene sensor for quicker diagnosis of hepatitis

Scientists from the University of Bristol have designed a new protein structure, and are using it to understand how protein structures are stabilised (University of Bristol, 2017). This research will help to design small proteins and small molecules that could be the basis for future biotechnologies and medicines. A team of chemists and biochemists from … Continue reading New protein structure designed

The University of Bristol held its first Animal Welfare and Research 3Rs symposium on April 27th (University of Bristol, 2017). The principles of 3Rs, developed over fifty years ago as a framework for humane animal research, are embedded in European and UK law. When researchers at the University of Bristol use animals, they always comply … Continue reading University of Bristol symposium looks at humane animal research

Research and teaching at the University of Bristol will now benefit from one of the fastest and most advanced supercomputing facilities in the UK, capable of up to six hundred trillion calculations per second (University of Bristol, 2017). The new multi-million pound system, called Blue Crystal 4 (BC4), is three times faster than its predecessor … Continue reading New supercomputer to speed up research at the University of Bristol

A study led by the University of Birmingham has made a breakthrough in the understanding of how different genetic mutations cause acute myeloid leukaemia (University of Birmingham, 2017). One of the most common acute leukaemia’s in adults with around 2,400 people in the UK diagnosed with the disease each year, the survival rates for those … Continue reading Major breakthrough in understanding acute myeloid leukaemia

New research, published in The Lancet Public Health, highlights an urgent need for better disease prevention policies targeting poor diet, smoking, alcohol, high blood pressure and physical inactivity, as well as increased investment in health and social care (University of Liverpool, 2017). The research, conducted by the University of Liverpool, University College London (UCL), University … Continue reading Older people’s care needs expected to grow by 25%