Scientific press releases
2017
Pay more, smoke less: possible effects of raising tobacco taxes across the EU
September 21
Playing American football before age 12 could have long-term health effects
September 19
Astronauts don’t develop anemia during spaceflight, NASA study suggests
September 8
The ‘weekend effect’ – risk of dying is higher if admitted to Intensive Care Units at the weekend
September 7
Mobile phone use while pregnant not linked to child neurodevelopment problems
September 5
Stressed lemurs have worse chances of survival
September 1
Research sheds new light on the link between gut bacteria and anxiety
August 25
Epigenetics may explain how Darwin’s finches respond to rapid environmental change
August 24
Supermarkets could trick you into buying fewer calories
August 23
Winners announced for the BMC Ecology Image Competition 2017
August 18
Computer program developed to spot signs of depression from social media photos
August 08
Improving students’ academic performance – there’s an app for that
August 04
Study highlights potential health consequences of selectively breeding German Shepherd Dogs
July 28
Psychopaths are better at learning to lie, say researchers
July 25
Why sugary drinks and protein-rich meals don’t go well together
July 21
MRSA emerged years before methicillin was even discovered
July 20
Fake news: study tests people’s ability to detect manipulated images of real-world scenes
July 18
9/11 survivors may be at increased risk of heart and lung disease years later
July 17
Decline in financing could undermine malaria efforts
July 14
Tall men and obese men at higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer
July 13
NASA is studying fungi to keep space travelers safe on new worlds
July 11
Removal of invasive shrub could be an easy way to help reduce malaria transmission
July 05
Study reveals lung changes in mice exposed to second-hand smoke in utero
June 27
Occupation may be a major factor in vitamin D deficiency
June 22
Early-life exposure to the Chinese famine increases risk of dyslipidemia in adult women, but not men
June 14
Pet dogs could help older owners be more active
June 09
Binge drinking throughout life is associated with higher blood glucose levels in women, but not men
June 08
The part of rice we don’t eat may be highly nutritious
June 02
Happiness and harm awareness could keep young people from drinking and smoking
May 25
Enforcing a weekday bedtime could help your child get sufficient sleep
May 24
At least 42 percent more people will need palliative care in England and Wales by 2040
May 18
Computer model developed to assess risk of a Zika epidemic in real-time
May 04
In a neuro-techno future, human rights laws will need to be revisited
April 26
When it comes to your profile picture, let a stranger do the choosing
April 14
Mouse experiment sheds light on the dietary benefits of extra-virgin olive oil
April 11
What do old books smell like?’ - Preserving smells as important cultural heritage
April 07
Living in an area with high air pollution may impact women’s breast density
April 06
Computer program developed to diagnose and locate cancer from a blood sample
March 24
ZeitZeiger: computer tells the time according to your body clock
February 28
Broad cancer vaccine may be out of reach
February 24
LemurFaceID: using facial recognition software to identify lemurs
February 17
Dating on the fly - female flies are attractive to mates on sunny days
February 14
Newly discovered beetle species catches a ride on the back of army ants
February 10
Male contraceptive gel experiment in monkeys shows potential as an alternative to vasectomy
February 07
Tuberculosis-resistant cows developed for the first time using CRISPR gene-editing technology
February 01
500 Million Year-Old Species offers insights into the lives of ancient legged worms
January 31
Eating disorders are affecting more UK women in their 40s and 50s than expected, finds new study
January 17
Here be ruby seadragons! New species seen in the wild for the first time
January 13
Exploiting the placebo effect can improve recovery of heart surgery patients
January 10
2016
CCTV at metro stations could be used to identify people at risk of attempting suicide
December 15
Would you take a free predictive test for Alzheimer’s disease?
December 13
Pets offer valuable support for owners with mental health problems
December 09
December 08
Being part of a community group could protect you from cognitive decline
December 02
Alcohol may increase risk of some types of stroke but not others
November 24
Pessimism associated with risk of death from coronary heart disease
November 17
Urine of pregnant women could be used to predict fetal growth and birth weight
November 04
Prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis in West Africa higher than previously thought
November 03
First genome sequence of Amur leopard highlights the drawback of a meat only diet
November 02
Top-level football referees are better at spotting fouls because of enhanced visual perception
October 31
Mother’s BMI may affect the biological age of new born babies
October 18
October 13
Mediterranean diet could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in the UK
September 29
Nearly one-third of unnecessary endoscopies could be avoided with faeces blood test
September 26
Tooth x-rays provide new insights into bird origins
September 23
New ‘results free’ peer-review process to be piloted for academic publishing
September 20
Your judgement of how drunk you are appears to depend on those around you
September 13
Genome of the world’s largest bony fish may explain fast growth rate and large size
September 09
New test needed to assess the quality and safety of sunglasses
August 26
Male and female cats respond differently to distressed kittens
August 12
Effects of chemotherapy on developing ovaries in female fetuses
August 11
Winners announced for the BMC Ecology Image Competition 2016
August 09
Mum’s high-fat diet may have a lasting impact on baby’s gut
August 09
Prescription drug abuse in Europe is a bigger problem than previously thought
August 04
Scientists warn about health of English bulldog
July 29
Smokers quitting tobacco also drink less alcohol
July 22
To protect yourself from malaria sleep with a chicken next to your bed
July 21
Deceptive sexual signals keep the peace in a bonobo society
June 30
Do you know what you’re smoking? Research suggests that you don’t
June 23
Good fathers sing simple songs
June 14
Growth spurts lower teenage boys’ coordination
May 20
Email-based exercises could improve mental health long-term
May 17
Genetic tug of war linked to evolution of same-sex sexual behavior in beetles
May 13
Soft wearable robot lightens heavy loads
May 12
Do probiotics have an effect on healthy adults? It’s too early to tell
May 10
May 04
April 20
Seeing e-cigarettes in shops may influence their use by teenagers
April 14
Potential effects of fertility treatments on breast density and cancer risk
April 13
Man’s best friend is getting smaller
April 05
Over fifty per cent of obese Spanish workers are metabolically healthy
April 01
Increased dementia risk in women – a matter of proteins?
March 17
What influences 11 year olds to drink?
March 04
Chikungunya could be misdiagnosed as dengue – masking spread of the disease
March 03
Successful precision medicine will require more accurate genome sequencing
March 02
The alcohol harm paradox explained
February 18
What your gut bacteria can tell you about type 2 diabetes
February 17
A combined carbon and sugar tax could have environmental and health benefits
February 03
Breast cancer survivors could be vulnerable to common viral and bacterial infections
January 26
Better healthcare could reduce crippling personal costs of tuberculosis care in China
January 25
What’s height got to do with it?
January 19
New test could predict dementia risk during routine GP visits
January 21
How, when and where could affect outcome of psychological treatment
January 15
2015
Family focus for children of substance abusing parents
December 18
Urban swans’ genes make them plucky
December 11
Many health professionals lack knowledge and guidelines on female genital mutilation and cutting
December 10
Chewbaaka migrated from North America
December 09
Where did Australian cats come from?
December 04
Breast cancer clinic attributes increased uptake of double mastectomies to ‘Angelina Jolie effect’
November 25
Adélie penguin numbers may expand as glaciers retreat
November 18
November 10
Earliest embryonic lethality gene identified
November 05
Smoking more common in films produced outside of Hollywood
November 03
Researchers identify association between reproductive factors and risk of death
October 30
How clean is the International Space Station?
October 27
Dying at home leads to more peace and less grief, but requires wider support
October 09
Climate change could benefit northern lizards
October 08
New study sheds light on characteristics of the ‘predatory’ scholarly publishing market
October 01
Open peer review could result in better quality of peer review
September 30
Information handling by some health apps not as secure as it should be
September 25
Man walks again after years of paralysis
September 24
No link between coffee consumption and common type of irregular heartbeat
September 23
How the chameleon climbed to the top of the tree
September 18
Fruit and vegetables aren’t only good for a healthy body-they protect your mind too
September 17
Early warning gene signature for Alzheimer’s
September 07
Giant ‘sea scorpion’ fossil discovered
September 01
Chimpanzees found to survive in degraded and human-dominated habitats
August 25
GM – “the most critical technology” for feeding the world
August 21
Imaging software could speed up breast cancer diagnosis
August 20
Male doctors are more likely to have legal action taken against them
August 13
Predators might not be dazzled by stripes
August 12
BMC Ecology Image Competition 2015 winners announced
July 30
Black men are at double the risk of prostate cancer compared to white men
July 30
Kiwi genomes explain the unusual characteristics of an endangered bird
July 23
Worms hitch rides on slugs when traveling to far flung places
July 13
Seafaring spiders depend on their ‘sails’ and ‘anchors’
July 03
Medical research not addressing patient and clinician priorities
June 25
New colon cancer culprit found in gut microbiome
June 24
Increased anxiety associated with sitting down
June 19
Nightingales show off their fathering skills through song
June 18
Stroke patients recover arm use with virtual reality
June 09
Cat got your tongue? New research says ‘no’
June 03
Parental smoking puts nearly half a million UK children into poverty
May
Sex chromosomes – Why the Y genes matter
May 28
Raising a glass to the holidays
May 22
What did the first snakes look like?
May 20
New insights into the male bias of autism
May 13
Bacterial forensics – tracing a suspect from the microbes on their shoes
May 12
A healthy lifestyle before bowel cancer diagnosis could help improve survival
May 07
Improving the effect of HIV drugs by the use of a vaccine
April 29
Common back problems may be caused by evolution of human locomotion
April 27
Bumblebee genomes give insights into threats to pollinators
April 24
Mortality risks of cigar smoking similar to that of cigarette smoking
April 24
We may be looking at wrong mutation for breast cancer treatment
April 09
The hoo’s hoo of gibbon communication
April 08
Pet foods contain animal contents not explicitly identified on labels
April 01
E-cigarettes are being accessed by teenagers who are both smokers and non-smokers
March 31
Fecal transplants successful for treating C. difficile infection
March 30
2°C climate change target ‘utterly inadequate’
March 27
Mobile DNA sequencer shows potential for disease surveillance
March 26
Good news for serial cereal eaters
March 24
Melatonin can help you get a good night’s sleep in a noisy environment
March 19
Dietary dioxins not associated with increased breast cancer risk
March 17
Rare glimpse into how coral procreates could aid future conservation
March 16
Some genes ‘foreign’ in origin and not from our ancestors
March 13
Blue blood on ice – How an Antarctic octopus survives the cold
March 11
How drinking behaviour changes through the years
March 06
Aggressive plant fungus threatens wheat production
February 27
Up in smoke: belief that shisha pipe ‘filters out’ heavy metals
February 20
Culture shock - Are lab-grown cells a faithful model for human disease?
February 04
Renewable biofuel production avoids competition with food resources
January 30
The ‘fifth taste’, Umami, could be beneficial for health
January 26
What to do in a flu epidemic? Stay at home and watch TV
January 23
Experts call for a rethink on guidelines about children’s screen time
January 22
Endangered chimpanzees may experience drastic habitat loss within five years
January 21
New hope for fighting major fungal disease in durum wheat
January 19
Researchers identify association between blood groups and longevity
January 15
Alcohol sales linked with alcohol deaths across GB regions
January 07
2014
New hope for rare disease drug development
December 18
Microbial ‘signature’ for sexual crimes
December 16
March of the penguin genomes
December 12
Jamie’s Ministry of Food brings about changes in food attitudes and behaviors
December 12
Debate on safety of e-cigarettes continues
December 09
Cancer from asbestos caused by more than one cell mutation
December 04
Endangered hammerhead shark found migrating into unprotected waters
November 26
El Niño stunts children’s growth in Peru
November 25
Does a yogurt a day keep diabetes away?
November 25
Tapeworms on the brain expand our knowledge of their genome
November 21
Real-time genome sequencing helps control hospital outbreak
November 20
Ebola surveillance may become quicker and cheaper
November 18
80 million bacteria sealed with a kiss
November 17
Many microbiome studies flawed by contamination
November 12
How did complex life evolve? The answer could be inside out
October 28
Time check: moving to the light side could improve health
October 23
Head injury causes the immune system to attack the brain
October 20
Viagra protects the heart beyond the bedroom
October 20
Fly genome could help us improve health and our environment
October 14
Cautious optimism as childhood obesity rates in Ireland plateau
October 13
Bowel cancer risk reduced by adopting multiple healthy behaviors
October 10
Genetic data could help doctors know whether to prescribe statins
September 30
Experts call for a moratorium on use of new internet domain .health
September 26
Turmeric compound boosts regeneration of brain stem cells
September 26
New analysis of human genetic history reveals female dominance
September 24
Are you in or out? What is best for organ donation?
September 24
Food affected by Fukushima disaster harms animals, even at low-levels of radiation
September 23
The ‘Angelina Effect’ was not only immediate, but also long-lasting
September 19
Sharks’ skin has teeth in the fight against hospital superbugs
September 17
Dental and nutrition experts call for radical rethink on free sugars intake
September 16
Sloths are no slouches when it comes to evolution
September 10
Sex hormones may play a part in autism
September 09
Global snapshot of infectious canine cancer shows how to control the disease
September 03
Socioeconomic status and gender are associated with differences in cholesterol levels
August 29
BMC Ecology Image Competition winners reveal the private lives of animals and plants
August 29
Better classification to improve treatments for breast cancer
August 28
RNA sequence could help doctors to tailor unique prostate cancer treatment programs
August 26
Fossil arthropod went on the hunt for its prey
August 22
Climate change could see dengue fever come to Europe
August 22
Woodrats’ genes help them to win the arms race against their food
August 15
Stress during pregnancy can be passed down through generations
August 07
Improve peer review by making the reviewers better suited to task
04 August
How black truffles deal with the jumpers in their genome
July 31
Smartphone experiment tracks whether our life story is written in our gut bacteria
July 25
The human parasite Leishmania is a probiotic for the fly that carries it
July 23
Dodos and spotted green pigeons are descendants of an island hopping bird
July 16
Researchers identify urgent need for Alzheimer's disease drug development
July 03
New test predicts the risk of non-hereditary breast cancer
June 27
A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but not much else
June 27
Presenting food like a masterpiece makes it more flavorful
June 20
Investing in cancer research boosts economy as well as health
June 16
Beyond Spiderman - toolkits for black widow silk and venom discovered
June 11
Genetics results add new insight to indigenous knowledge about wolves
June 10
Evidence for dangers of repellent DEET in question
June 03
A genomic signature for lethal heart attacks in at risk patients
May 30
3,000 rice genomes could help feed growing world population
May 28
Urban life bites for kestrels lured in by glamorous city dwellings
May 27
Female pigs can recognize the sex of sperm
May 21
$233m yearly cost of antibiotic resistance in pneumonia treatment
May 21
A Brazilian Samba? It’s a giant virus from the Amazon rainforest
May 14
Mediterranean diet may help reduce health risks
May 14
Exoskeleton adds power to your step while reducing metabolic energy use
May 09
Preventing depression through mental health programs at work
May 09
Adverse childhood experiences and their relationships with health harming behaviors in adulthood
May 02
Better targeting of therapies could improve arthritis treatments
April 30
Using 3D-genomics to classify leukaemia
April 30
A thousand genomes and then some
April 29
Are your sunglasses protecting your eyes from UV?
April 25
Want to improve the taste of strawberries? Make them peachy
April 17
Modified stem cells offer potential pathway to treat Alzheimer’s disease
April 16
If in doubt always ask for a second opinion
April 15
By the time they’re teenagers, guinea pigs are already domesticated
April 09
The state of the cell
March 26
Goats are far more clever than previously thought
March 26
Timber! Loblolly pine genome sequence fells the Norway spruce’s record
March 20
Scientists identify genes linked with OCD…in dogs
March 20
Study finds married women are less likely to die from heart disease than unmarried women
March 12
Are humans infecting our buildings?
March 07
How Great tits fool their nosy neighbours...
March 03
Coordinating care for persons with dementia and their carers improves outcomes
February 28
Getting a head start on Apert syndrome
February 28
Oral immunotherapy with antibody-based medication could be used to treat multiple food allergies
February 27
Mosquitoes resistant to DDT are also resistant to mosquito net insecticide
February 25
You are what your dad’s mum ate
February 20
Stem cells from foreskin could be used to treat congenital muscular dystrophy
February 12
Invasive Harlequin ladybird larvae use cannibalism as a survival tactic
February 05
Researchers analyse microbes found in neonatal intensive care unit
January 28
Female mate choice enhances offsprings' ability to cope with infection
January 23
Black widow males twerk and avoid the chop
January 17
Adolescent mothers with higher educational hopes give birth to heavier babies
January 15
