She is one of 44 new Fellows announced this year, recognised for their outstanding contributions to research, innovation, leadership, and public life in Wales and beyond. Fellows of the LSW are part of distinguished body of interdisciplinary experts who promote, support, and advise on research and policy benefitting Wales by sharing their expertise, informing on policy, fostering collaboration, and providing mentorship.

Professor Hywel Thomas, President of the Learned Society of Wales, said: 鈥淲elcoming our new Fellows to the Society is always one of the highlights of the Society鈥檚 year. I congratulate them on this recognition of the excellence and importance of their work and contributions to life in Wales and beyond. We look forward to bringing their experience and knowledge to our work on policy and researcher development.鈥�

Specialising in the mathematics of liquid crystals and partially ordered materials, Professor Majumdar鈥檚 research has been instrumental in advancing the field in an interdisciplinary context. Bridging mathematical modelling, applied analysis and theoretical physics, she has led international and interdisciplinary research networks, collaborating with partners across four continents.

Throughout her career, she has also been a committed advocate for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), leading national and international initiatives to support underrepresented groups in mathematics. In 2015 she became the inaugural winner of the London Mathematical Society鈥檚 Anne Bennett Prize, awarded for contributions to mathematics and for inspiring women mathematicians. She also pioneered and co-led the hugely acclaimed 鈥淯K Retreats for Women in Applied Mathematics鈥� from 2023-2026.

The 2026 cohort of LSW Fellows reflects the breadth of expertise across Welsh academia and civic society, spanning the arts, humanities, sciences, and engineering. This year marks a significant milestone for the Society, with 52% of new Fellows being women, the highest proportion in its history.

Professor Thomas added 鈥淚 am also thrilled that our work on equity, diversity and inclusion is starting to see the Fellowship include increasing numbers of women. In three of the last five years, women have made almost or just over 50% of the new intake. This has been the result of concerted efforts to embed our EDI commitment at every turn, to make the nomination process more accessible, and to run a series of events that specifically target women academics and civic leaders who might be interested in joining the Fellowship.鈥�

This year鈥檚 Fellows include leading figures in music, heritage, sculpture, climate science, coastal research, and ocean governance, highlighting Wales鈥檚 global contributions to cultural vitality and environmental stewardship. The Society also emphasised the growing importance of engineering and artificial intelligence, recognising researchers pioneering AI applications in manufacturing and innovators developing technologies to improve energy and carbon management in buildings.

Professor Majumdar鈥檚 election places her among a distinguished community of scholars whose achievements continue to shape Wales鈥檚 academic, cultural, and scientific landscape.

Professor Apala Majumdar said "I am delighted and honoured to be elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. It is a fantastic opportunity to engage with the best minds in Wales, and to contribute to Welsh higher education and Welsh mathematics. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of my nominator, Professor Marco Marletta and my seconder, Professor Gennady Mishuris, and the generous and continuous encouragement of my parents and friends in Cardiff. I look forward to working closely with the Learned Society of Wales and bringing different communities together".

Organised by , the roundtable was hosted at the University as one of 24 research-intensive universities which have pledged to strengthen the NHS and the public health system under the Russell Group鈥檚 Healthier Communities 2030 commitment, through expanding training, widening access to health careers and accelerating innovation.

A vital part of this commitment is engaging stakeholders in each region, to make sure universities are best applying their globally renowned expertise to local needs and experiences.

Attendees included representatives from the NHS and the Greater 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Combined Authority (GMCA), in addition to academics, local councils, alumni and current students.

They heard from Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Ashley Blom, Vice-President and Dean for the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at 黑料网吃瓜爆料, and medical students and graduates of the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Access Programme (MAP).

The discussion was framed on the themes of pipeline, skills and partnership, and how these can be aligned to create a more resilient and inclusive future health workforce.

黑料网吃瓜爆料 is proud to run the UK鈥檚 largest medical school and it is the biggest provider of graduate healthcare professionals to the NHS in the North West. This is underpinned by the University鈥檚 deep partnerships across the health and care ecosystem.

MAP, which marks its 20^th anniversary this year, has supported more than 8,500 young people from under-represented backgrounds access higher education.

Under the Healthier Communities 2030 commitment, Russell Group universities are aiming to train 181,000 UK graduates with the skills the country needs to build a healthier future.

The universities have also pledged to harness research expertise to increase support for new life sciences spinouts, with the aim to help them secure around 拢5 billion in external investment.

For more information on the Healthier Communities initiative, please visit the .

The research partially answers a quandary puzzling scientists for decades on why squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) in the mouth, lungs, and skin often look similar under the microscope, but vary dramatically in how aggressively they grow and spread. Squamous cell carcinomas are a type of epithelial cancer.

Co-author from 黑料网吃瓜爆料 says the key to the difference lies not in the cancer cells themselves, but in the fibroblasts鈥攕upporting cells in the surrounding tissue鈥攖hat send powerful biochemical signals shaping how the cancer behaves.

The translational study published in Nature Metabolism is funded by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research.

According to the study, fibroblasts from the mouth and lungs have strikingly different patterns of fat metabolism, producing and transferring different types of fats to nearby cancer cells.

The transferred fats act as molecular cues that push SCC cells to become more invasive through a process known as epithelial鈥憈o鈥憁esenchymal transition, a change that allows cancer cells to move more freely and spread.

In oral cancers, fibroblasts supply cancer cells with sphingomyelins, a type of fat that activates the ceramide/S1P/STAT3 pathway, a chain of molecular events known to drive cancer cell migration and invasion.

In lung cancers, fibroblasts instead transfer another type of fat called triglycerides, which stimulate cholesterol production inside the cancer cells and fuel a highly invasive behaviour associated with poorer patient survival.

By contrast, fibroblasts in the skin contain far fewer fats, and as a result, cutaneous SCC tends to be less invasive than its oral or lung counterparts.

Dr Viros said: 鈥淭hese findings highlight that the tumour microenvironment鈥攑articularly the fibroblasts and the fats they produce鈥攑lays a decisive role in determining how dangerous a particular SCC will become.

鈥淚t suggests several promising therapeutic strategies, including blocking fat production in fibroblasts, preventing cancer cells from taking up these fats, or disrupting the pathways that break them down once inside the tumour. It is encouraging that many drugs that already exist approved for lipid disorders, like statins, can potentially be repurposed to prevent aggressive epithelial cancers鈥�.

Co-author Dr Timothy Budden from the University of Liverpool said: 鈥淭argeting these fat鈥慸riven interactions could slow or even halt the spread of oral and lung SCC, offering new hope for patients with these aggressive cancers.

鈥淪o we think this work opens the door to more personalized cancer treatments based on the biology of the tissue where the tumour arises, rather than treating all SCCs as a single disease.鈥�

• The paper Tissue-specific fibroblast lipid cues impose the rate of epithelial cancer invasion is available DOI:

This new technique utilises self鈥�assembling polymer carriers for gene delivery, improving effectiveness and reducing the toxicity to cells over existing techniques in lab tests. These advances rely on safe and efficient methods for delivering gene鈥慹diting tools into cells, which is a key bottleneck in enabling widespread application. Improving upon existing gene delivery methods has become essential to enable these developments and allow more effective transfection.

The process of introducing DNA or RNA into cells to change gene expression, can be achieved using viral or non鈥�viral vectors. While viral vectors are powerful, they raise safety and manufacturing concerns, driving intense interest in the development of safer, non鈥�viral alternatives. Transfection, using polymeric carriers or lipid nanoparticles to deliver genetic material, is a key non鈥�viral strategy. However current systems often struggle to balance efficiency and toxicity. In order to develop polymer systems for molecular delivery applications, more advanced polymer systems need to be developed and screened.

In research published in ACS Materials Letters, the team demonstrates that polyplexes produced via Polymerization鈥�Induced Electrostatic Self鈥�Assembly (PIESA) offer a more effective and versatile route to gene delivery than conventional produced polymeric polyplexes. Polyplexes are formed when positively charged polymers bind to negatively charged DNA or RNA, creating nanoscale complexes that can enable genetic material to enter cells. Traditionally, polyplexes are prepared using pre-synthesised polymers which are then mixed with DNA or RNA. However, this post鈥�assembly step can lead to instability and increased cell toxicity, often limiting the size of genetic payloads that can be delivered effectively.

PIESA using PET鈥�RAFT (Photoinduced Electron/Energy Transfer Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain-Transfer) polymerisation overcomes these limitations by driving electrostatic self鈥�assembly during polymer growth. As the polymer forms, it binds to the genetic material, producing polyplexes with controlled sizes, structures, and physicochemical properties. By using a 鈥渙ne鈥�pot鈥� approach to produce polyplexes, the need for complex post鈥�processing is avoided, resulting in improved consistency and facilitating high鈥�throughput screening of formulations

The study shows that PIESA鈥�derived polyplexes are less toxic to cells than their conventionally assembled counterparts and act as more effective gene delivery vehicles in transfection trials, achieving higher gene expression while preserving cell viability.

Transitioning to advanced synthesis and assembly strategies such as PIESA could open the door to the next鈥�generation of non鈥�viral gene delivery systems, with improved transfection, broader formulation windows, and reduced cell toxicity.

Dr Lee Fielding added 鈥淭his approach potentially opens up a more reliable and scalable route to non鈥憊iral gene delivery. By innovating in how polyplexes can be prepared and screened for improved efficiency, while reducing toxicity, we hope it will help accelerate the development of gene delivery technologies and make them more accessible across biomedical research and clinical applications."

• Higher levels of education are consistently linked to longer life expectancy
• In some countries, the gap between education levels exceeds a decade of life
• Women aged 20-49 show particularly large differences in mortality by education
• New statistical methods allow researchers to estimate mortality even where data is missing
• The study provides new evidence from under-researched regions including North Africa and Western Asia

What did the study find?

The study, funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences analysed mortality patterns across 13 countries in South-East Europe, Western Asia and North Africa between 1980 and 2015. 

Researchers reconstructed mortality rates by age, sex and education level using a new statistical model designed to work even where official data is incomplete or inconsistent.

The findings revealed a clear and consistent pattern: people with more education live significantly longer than those with little or no formal education. 

How was the research done?

The research was carried out by Professor Arkadiusz Wi艣niowski from 黑料网吃瓜爆料, alongside Dr Andrea Tamburini and Dr Dilek Yildiz from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.

The team developed an innovative modelling framework that combines data from multiple international sources, including the United Nations, Eurostat and Demographic and Health Surveys.

This approach made it possible to estimate life expectancy differences even in countries where reliable birth and death records are limited. 

Where are the biggest differences seen?

In some countries included in the study, the difference in life expectancy between people with higher and lower levels of education was equivalent to more than ten years.

The gap was particularly striking among women aged 20 to 49, where those with secondary education or higher experienced much lower mortality rates.

Why does education affect life expectancy?

The findings highlight the wide-ranging impact of education on people鈥檚 lives.

鈥淎ccess to education means better health knowledge, better jobs, and better access to healthcare - but it also changes how people make decisions about their lives,鈥� said Professor Arkadiusz Wi艣niowski. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a powerful social equaliser.鈥� 

Why has this been hard to measure before?

Until now, much of the global evidence linking education and life expectancy has come from high-income countries with strong data systems.

In many parts of the world, incomplete or inconsistent records have made it difficult to understand how education shapes health outcomes.

Why does this matter?

By filling these data gaps, the study provides one of the most comprehensive pictures to date of how education influences survival across diverse global populations.

The model could now be applied more widely to help governments and international organisations better understand population health and plan future services.

What are the implications?

The researchers say the findings strengthen the case for treating education as a key public health intervention, not just a social or economic priority.

鈥淲e hope this work helps policymakers see education not only as a path to better jobs, but as a key public health intervention,鈥� said Professor Wi艣niowski. 鈥淚nvesting in education is investing in life itself.鈥� 

Publication details

This research was funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences and is published in Demographic Research.

DOI:

Researchers from 黑料网吃瓜爆料 are among the international team awarded the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their contributions to the Muon g鈥�2 experiment, a 60鈥憏ear scientific endeavour spanning CERN, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermilab. The prize follows 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 prominent role in the 2025 Breakthrough Prize, awarded to the ATLAS and LHCb collaborations at CERN for precision tests of the Standard Model and discoveries including new particles and matter鈥揳ntimatter asymmetries.

Valued at $3 million, the Breakthrough Prize is often dubbed the 鈥淥scars of Science鈥� and is considered the world鈥檚 premier science award. Unlike the Nobel Prize, which recognises up to three individuals or a single organisation, the Breakthrough Prize honours the approximately 350 collaborators across the world who produced the most precise measurement ever achieved at a particle accelerator: the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.

Understanding the muon鈥檚 magnetic moment

Muons, one of the smallest known particles, interact with a sea of virtual particles that constantly flicker in and out of existence. Acting like tiny magnets, their magnetic moment shifts slightly due to these quantum effects. Comparing the measured value with theoretical predictions reveals the composition of this quantum 鈥渇oam鈥� and tests whether unknown particles or forces exist beyond the Standard Model.

Decades of increasingly precise measurements now indicate that the Standard Model remains our best description of fundamental physics.

黑料网吃瓜爆料 leadership across UK institutions

The UK played a central role in the collaboration, providing one of the experiment鈥檚 two major detector systems and in developing simulations and software to analyse the data alongside contributions to the theoretical calculations.

Professor Mark Lancaster, from 黑料网吃瓜爆料, led the UK involvement across 黑料网吃瓜爆料, Lancaster, Liverpool and UCL, and served as co鈥憇pokesperson of the global Fermilab Muon g-2 collaboration between 2018 and 2020.

A global scientific milestone

The Muon g鈥�2 experiments began at CERN in the 1970s, moved to Brookhaven in the 1990s and concluded at Fermilab with the final publication in 2025. The goal was to measure the muon鈥檚 magnetic moment with ever鈥慽ncreasing precision, probing the quantum vacuum where virtual particles appear and vanish. Even the smallest deviation from theoretical predictions could point to new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The achievement represents the combined effort of scientists and engineers across multiple disciplines, reflecting the scale and diversity of expertise required to reach record鈥慴reaking precision.

With 黑料网吃瓜爆料 researchers again at the forefront of a globally celebrated breakthrough, the University continues to demonstrate its leadership in shaping the future of particle physics and advancing our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.

Professor Mark Lancaster FRS said 鈥淥ur attention at 黑料网吃瓜爆料 now turns to a next generation of experiments that are striving to find evidence of new particles and interactions using novel quantum technologies鈥� 

-Colonel Philip Neame MBE 2 PARA and Rear Admiral Jeremy Larken DSO. From this, attendees learnt of the land battles such as Goose Green and the adherence of Rear Admiral Larken to Nelsonian traditions of using sandbags to protect the ships鈥� bridges, saving many lives on his ship, HMS Fearless.

The first keynote on day one discussed the theme of diplomacy in the 1982 conflict with a paper from the two authors who co-wrote Signals of War, one of the very first works to examine the 1982 conflict from both Argentine and British sides. Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at Kings鈥� College London and author of the Official History of the Falklands Campaign and Professor Virginia Gamba, United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 2017 to 2025 and previously serving as UN Assistant Secretary-General. Professor Gamba, despite flight cancellations, had made a world-wind journey, spanning two days from southern Argentina, a significant commitment to the Falklands/Malvinas Conflict Conference at 黑料网吃瓜爆料, to deliver her keynote. Amongst other themes were the press in both Argentina and Britain, archival researching into the conflict, veterans鈥� testimonies and legal perspectives.  

The event fostered a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment, encouraging dialogue between academics, veterans, and students from both sides of the 1982 conflict. Many attendees commented how the conference at 黑料网吃瓜爆料 was the first conference they had been to where the next generation 鈥� 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 students 鈥� had not only given papers at the conference, but also contributed to the running of the conference across the two days.

This was a real achievement for 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 students, presenting at the conference, chairing panels, helping with catering set up, meeting delegates and greeting them at the registration desk and managing panels set up. A real University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 first!

Therefore, special thanks must go to:

CATERING TEAM 鈥� Elias Cadji-Newby and Faye Navesey.

CHAIRING TEAM 鈥� Duru Erdogan, Tom Finlayson, Jorja Flitcroft, Will Friday, Tehani Owais, Hanna Saunders and Amelia Vivash.

MEET AND GREET TEAM 鈥� Rehan Choudhry and Grace Pegram.

PANELS TEAM 鈥� Freddie Bayless, Henry Delap-Smith and Suki Leese.

Organisers described the conference as a significant success, building on previous events and helping to strengthen a growing network of Falklands/Malvinas researchers. There are hopes that the connections formed will lead to future collaborations, projects, and publications as the 45th anniversary of the conflict approaches.

The conference was kindly supported by the British Commission for Military History, the Society for Latin American Studies, and 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 Student Enhancement Fund.

Thank you also to all attendees, keynotes and presenters. Roll on the next Falklands/Malvinas Conflict Conference event at 黑料网吃瓜爆料! 

In the new study, 黑料网吃瓜爆料 engineers, including Dr , compared a conventional packed鈥慴ed reactor with an intensified membrane鈥慳ssisted system. By feeding oxygen gradually through a porous ceramic membrane, the team achieved better control of the reaction and suppressed unwanted combustion pathways. 

Under optimised conditions, the membrane reactor delivered up to 58.7% acrylic鈥慳cid selectivity 鈥� a 10鈥憄ercent improvement over standard reactor technology. It also helped regulate temperature, reducing hot鈥憇pots and improving reaction stability. 

A more sustainable route for a globally important chemical

Glycerol is produced in large quantities by the biodiesel sector as a major by-product, with global production growing rapidly over the last two decades. Its oversupply has depressed market prices and created a need for new valorisation routes. Converting this low鈥憊alue by鈥憄roduct into acrylic acid offers a way to lower emissions, reduce reliance on fossil resources and increase the circularity of chemical manufacturing.

The researchers used two catalysts, one to add oxygen in the right way, and one to remove water molecules (orthorhombic Mo鈥揤鈥揙 (Ortho鈥慚oVO) oxidation catalysts and HZSM鈥�5(200) dehydration catalysts) respectively, to enable high glycerol conversion (94鈥�99%) across all tested conditions, while the membrane reactor design strategically minimised over鈥憃xidation to CO/CO鈧� (CO鈧�).

The team applied a statistical Design of Experiments (DoE) approach to map the coupled effects of temperature, GHSV, oxygen-to-glycerol ratio and feed鈥憈o鈥憁embrane ratio. This enabled the identification of precise operating windows that maximise acrylic acid yield while maintaining high conversion and limiting CO鈧� formation.

A 44鈥慼our stability study highlighted that catalyst deactivation is primarily driven by coke deposition on HZSM鈥�5(200), suggesting future work should focus on developing more coke鈥憆esistant materials or regeneration strategies. Ortho鈥慚oVO, by contrast, retained its structure and showed minimal deactivation.

Pathway to industrial implementation

The results demonstrate strong potential for integrating membrane鈥慳ssisted reactors into future commercial glycerol鈥憈o鈥慳crylic鈥慳cid processes. Beyond enhanced selectivity, the reactor design:

• reduces oxygen consumption,
• improves temperature control,
• may reduce downstream purification costs due to higher product yields, and
• provides a more sustainable alternative to propylene鈥慴ased production.

The researchers note that next鈥慻eneration membranes specifically engineered for selective oxygen transport could unlock even greater performance improvements, along with opportunities to optimise operating pressure and reactor compactness.

The awards support entrepreneurs with solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing issues. Ideas with Impact is open to applications from innovators across all disciplines 鈥� from engineering to health, and policy to creative. 

Through generous donor support there is a total of 拢300,000 in prize funding available, and individual awards of 拢100,000, 拢75,000 and 拢50,000 will be given to winners, who will also receive support from experienced mentors to build their networks and accelerate impact. 

This year鈥檚 competition follows the success of 2025鈥檚 winning ventures that spanned health and life sciences, medical diagnostics, industrial biotechnology, and agri鈥憈ech, reflecting the breadth of 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 research strengths and its focus on real鈥憌orld impact. From novel treatments for endometriosis and rapid, field鈥慴ased heart attack diagnostics, to sustainable metal extraction technologies and early warning systems for crop disease, the winners demonstrated how academic insight can be translated into solutions addressing major societal, environmental and economic challenges.  

The team behind LanthaGen Bio, who received 拢75,000 in 2025, highlighted their progress.

Application timeline 

The awards are run in partnership with the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Innovation Factory, the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre and Unit M. The window for applications is open now until 22 May 2026. Any students, colleagues or alumni (within three years) from across the University are welcome to apply if they are working on solutions to global challenges, and must be at an early stage in their entrepreneurial journey. 

To find out more and apply, visit the Ideas with Impact Awards . 

• 22^nd April 鈥� applications open
• 22^nd May 鈥� applications close
• 2^nd July 鈥� final pitching competition and Ideas with Impact Awards event 

Philanthropic support  

Innovation is at the heart of the University鈥檚 Challenge Accepted campaign, fuelling our ambition to become Europe鈥檚 most inclusive and impactful innovation network, and helping deliver progress that changes lives.  

Are you interested in supporting brilliant future founders and ensuring entrepreneurship for all? We鈥檇 love to explore opportunities with you.  

Contact Olympia Kennard to begin a conversation: Olympia.Kennard@manchester.ac.uk.  

Our innovation ecosystem  

• Read more about Unit M here:
• Read more about the Innovation Factory here: 
• Read more about the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre here:   

The visit offered the chance to hear directly from the scholars about their experiences at university, how the bursary is supporting them day to day, and the aspirations they are developing for life beyond their studies.

Conversations reflected a wide range of academic interests and career ambitions, with many scholars pointing to the importance of financial security in allowing them to fully engage with their education and the wider opportunities available at university, including involvement in student societies.

The Sadler Bursary provides funding for up to 36 undergraduates for each year of their course.

This programme supports care鈥慹xperienced students, providing 拢10,000 per year for the full duration of their degree. Care鈥慹xperienced young people continue to be significantly under鈥憆epresented in higher education, with around 15 per cent progressing to university compared with 47 per cent of their non鈥慶are鈥慹xperienced peers. The bursary aims to help address this imbalance by reducing financial pressure and supporting students throughout their time at university.

The second programme, called the Sadler Access Bursary, supports additional 30 students who have graduated through the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Access Programme (MAP), the University鈥檚 flagship widening鈥憄articipation initiative for high鈥慳chieving students from Greater 黑料网吃瓜爆料.

The Sadler Bursaries reflect the University鈥檚 wider commitment to student inclusion and success, a core priority of the Challenge Accepted fundraising and volunteering campaign. Challenge Accepted brings together the University鈥檚 global community in a shared philanthropic effort to remove barriers to education and help talented students from all backgrounds to access a world-leading education and thrive once they arrive in 黑料网吃瓜爆料. By reducing financial pressures and providing financial stability, bursaries such as these play a pivotal role in enabling students to focus on their studies, engage fully in university life and plan confidently for the future.

Simon is a graduate of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), where he studied Management, and was the first in his family to attend university. He has previously described the Sadler Bursary as a way to help young people who have had 鈥減articularly complicated starts to their lives鈥� to pursue opportunities in higher education and realise their potential.

Applications for the next cohort of Sadler Bursary Scholars are currently open, with a deadline in April 2026.

The event brought together over 60 language teachers, professors, linguists, students and language researchers from across the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. 

The conference considered topics such as phonetics (the production of sounds), phonology (how sounds are arranged to create meaning in speech)  and prosody (the patterns of intonation and stress in a language) within spoken English; methods for teaching English pronunciation to speakers of different languages and language families; and tools for addressing the types of pronunciation errors commonly made by learners of English as a foreign language. 

Topical issues of discussion included the use of AI to support the teaching of English pronunciation, and the ways in which women, transgender and gender non-conforming people can face prejudice and discrimination due to their speech tone and patterns.  

The event was planned with regard for the aim of greater linguistic equality. Themes running through the two days included accent bias, linguistic imperialism and whether global English speakers should be encouraged to cultivate a native accent.  

Alex Baratta, Reader in Language and Education, said: 鈥淲e were excited to host this important event in 黑料网吃瓜爆料. EPIP brought together experts from across our discipline, allowing us to learn together and to showcase how we are focusing on applied linguistics within the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Institute of Education.鈥� 

Dr Wayne Rimmer, Academic English Tutor in the University Centre for Academic English, added: "Feedback from participants has been very positive, commending both the event and the university as a host."

Keir Starmer鈥檚 decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US keeps coming back to haunt him. It has now emerged that Mandelson was granted security clearance by the Foreign Office, despite concerns raised during the . Top Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins was sacked over these revelations.

Mandelson was controversial long before Starmer appointed him in 2024. A New Labour figure known as the 鈥減rince of darkness鈥� due to his reputation as an adept but often ruthless and underhand political operator, Mandelson had already been embroiled in a number of scandals involving allegations of corruption. He was also known to have had a close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as close business links in China.

Starmer fired him in September 2025 after emails were released showing Mandelson offering supportive messages to Epstein, who faced charges of soliciting a minor at the time. Further emails released by US officials suggested that Mandelson might have passed privileged and market-sensitive information to Epstein during the fallout of the financial crisis. In February 2026, the former ambassador was on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has denied criminal wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Therefore, it is perhaps unsurprising that Mandelson did not pass the vetting process carried out by the Cabinet Office鈥檚 UK Security Vetting team. Almost all civil servants are required to go through some form of vetting. But as a top diplomat, Mandelson was subject to the most intensive form of scrutiny. From what is known about the process, red flags were probably raised about Mandelson鈥檚 links with Chinese and Russian business interests, though the exact details have not been made public.

Starmer and his allies have argued that Robbins did not tell the prime minister about concerns raised in the vetting process as he should have. , Robbins said that Number 10 took a 鈥渄ismissive鈥� approach to the vetting process. He also said that he was under 鈥渃onstant pressure鈥� to approve Mandelson鈥檚 clearance due to this being a political priority for Starmer. Mandelson鈥檚 appointment was announced publicly before the vetting took place.

The opposition is piling on the pressure for Starmer to resign. But behind speculation about the prime minister鈥檚 future stands a deeper set of constitutional questions about accountability and standards in public life.

From Starmer鈥檚 perspective, the scandal has revealed a pressing need to improve the independent scrutiny of appointments. He has ordered a review into vetting procedures, and argued that failings lie with civil servants in the FCDO and with the robustness of vetting processes 鈥� not with him.

On one level, this defence is an effort to deflect blame. Yet the response also fits with Starmer鈥檚 approach to politics as a .

In arguing for a more robust independent process around vetting in their attempts to avoid blame, Starmer and his allies invoke a of Whitehall culture. This view treats independent, depoliticised scrutiny and checks and balances as key missing links in British politics. Building these would be vital for ensuring transparency and accountability around appointments and politics more broadly.

Since coming to office, Starmer has consistently argued for a rewiring of the British state to modernise the government. Like academics, thinktanks, journalists and former Whitehall insiders before him, Starmer鈥檚 view suggests that Whitehall and the centre of the British state operate in an antiquated way. When it comes to accountability and standards, the government arguably lacks proper independent scrutiny and constitutional checks and balances to hold decision-makers to account.

Instead, Whitehall is too reliant on a , which suggests politicians typically act with the best of intentions and therefore do not need to be subject to independent scrutiny.

Who is responsible?

Critics, echoing Robbins鈥� testimony, have argued that Starmer and his allies pressed Mandelson鈥檚 ambassadorship as a political priority, announcing it before vetting procedures had been completed in order to push through the appointment.

Many have pointed out that Mandelson鈥檚 reputation as a potentially suspect character was well known before the release of the Epstein files. Within this narrative, blame for the appointment of Mandelson lies squarely with Starmer.

In a sense, this approach offers a different view of British politics. In terms of appointments 鈥� both to top civil service positions and to more political posts 鈥� the UK鈥檚 approach has been argued to resemble . Here, the ruler decides their key advisers on the basis of their own preferences and objectives.

This too implies a lack of proper checks and balances around appointments. But one of the proposed advantages of such a system is that it places accountability and responsibility for decisions clearly in the hands of elected politicians. Britain has a longstanding tradition of individual ministerial accountability.

Starmer, however, is now seemingly weakening this tradition by deflecting blame onto the civil service and its processes. It is this notion of direct political accountability that Starmer鈥檚 opponents are invoking when they call for his resignation.

Overall, these two images of British politics are contradictory and indicative of the emergence of an . On the one hand, the state has failed to move towards modern and robust independent scrutiny of ministerial decision-making around appointments. On the other hand, politics has shifted away from a culture of clear, individual ministerial accountability.

This leaves Britain in a 鈥渨orst of both worlds鈥� scenario when it comes to accountability and standards in public life. It has neither robust independent scrutiny, nor clear lines of political accountability. More than anything, the Mandelson vetting scandal reveals the need to fix this broken system.

, Research Associate, Department of Politics, and , Research Associate,
This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

• Growing global demand for beef is a major driver of deforestation in the Amazon
• Up to 80% of cleared forest land is converted into cattle pasture
• Higher land values after deforestation create strong financial incentives to clear forests
• Gaps in supply chain oversight allow deforestation to continue
• New framework identifies where interventions could have the greatest impact

What did the study find?

The research focuses on the Brazilian Amazon, where cattle farming is a leading cause of deforestation. It shows that decisions made by farmers are shaped by a powerful mix of global market demand, land prices and government policies. 

In many cases, clearing forest actually increases land value, creating a cycle where deforestation leads to profit 鈥� and to more deforestation. At the same time, environmental rules and sustainability initiatives often fail to fully reach the people making land-use decisions on the ground. 

Why does this matter to people?

Although the Amazon may feel far away, the study highlights how everyday consumption is connected to environmental change. Beef sold around the world in supermarkets and restaurants can be linked back to land-use decisions in the rainforest. 

The consequences are global. The Amazon plays a vital role in storing carbon and regulating the climate. As forests are cleared, this contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss and more extreme weather patterns worldwide.

What makes this study different?

Most research looks either at economic systems or environmental systems, but rarely both together. This study introduces a new approach that connects global supply chains with local ecosystems, showing how they influence each other in real time. It reveals that environmental damage is not just an unintended side effect 鈥� it is built into how global production systems operate. 

Where are the biggest challenges?

A key issue is that governance systems are fragmented. Governments, companies, and environmental organisations often work separately, with limited coordination.

For example, large meat companies may enforce sustainability rules for direct suppliers, but indirect suppliers 鈥� where much deforestation occurs 鈥� can slip through the cracks. 

At the same time, smaller farmers often lack access to credit or technical support, making it harder for them to adopt more sustainable practices. 

What are the solutions?

The study highlights several key opportunities to reduce deforestation:

• Strengthening enforcement of environmental laws
• Improving traceability across supply chains
• Supporting farmers with finance and training
• Rewarding conservation through incentives like payments for ecosystem services

Importantly, the research shows that no single solution will work on its own 鈥� progress depends on better coordination across global and local systems. 

Why this research matters now

As global demand for beef continues to grow, pressure on the Amazon is expected to increase. The researchers say their findings provide a clearer roadmap for policymakers, businesses and organisations trying to balance economic growth with environmental protection, and offers a new way to tackle one of the world鈥檚 most urgent environmental challenges. 

The study was conducted by an international team of researchers from 黑料网吃瓜爆料 and Brazil鈥檚 Funda莽茫o Getulio Vargas S茫o Paulo School of Business Administration, and is published in Competition & Change.

DOI:  

Academics at the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Institute of Education realised that, whilst many parents were rising to the challenge of providing quality education, home educators sometimes struggle to provide the kind of hands-on learning and sharing that would be experienced in school. This realisation led to the creation of Curiosity Catalyst. 

Sara Jackson, Lecturer in Education at the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料, explains: 鈥淭alking to parents who home鈥慹ducate their children, we found that science is often one of the hardest subjects, largely because homes don鈥檛 have access to the specialist equipment and practical experiences schools can offer. 

鈥淲e realised that we could use our expertise as educators and our contacts in local institutions to work with parents who are home-educating to give them and their children better access to science learning.鈥� 

Curiosity Catalyst is co-produced between lecturers and parents, allowing home educators to help shape the activities provided. Key partners include 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum, The Whitworth Art Gallery and the Museum of Science and Industry, all of which have provided venues for workshops, activities and sharing days.  

Sara explains: 鈥淲e鈥檙e blessed in 黑料网吃瓜爆料 to have access to such amazing museums and galleries and we鈥檙e so grateful that the teams at these institutions have been so enthusiastic about working with us. Most recently 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum hosted a takeover day, where home educators visited the museum on a day when it was closed to the public and collectively explored whether birds are dinosaurs.鈥�

Speaking at the Museum takeover day, Katie, a home-educator from Wigan, said: 

Amanda Banks Gatenby, Lecturer in Digital Technologies, Communications & Education said: 鈥淐uriosity Catalyst is built on trust and on two-way sharing between parents who are home-educating and us as educators. Yes, we have expertise in education, but we can also learn so much from what others are doing. It鈥檚 great to see some of the innovative ways in which these parents approach education and it鈥檚 provided us with ideas to take back into our own teaching as we train the teachers of tomorrow.鈥� 

Since 2023 over 200 families have engaged with Curiosity Catalyst and the project team are now developing a new app to support learning in everyday places. 

Curiosity Catalyst was set up with support from the School of Environment, Education and Development鈥檚 Social Responsibility fund. The project has been shortlisted for the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 .  

Find out more about Curiosity Catalyst email cc@manchester.ac.uk. 

A Lego-style Iranian military commander : 鈥淥ur inbox is flooded with Americans saying they don鈥檛 watch the news. They listen to our songs instead since your media is full of sh*t.鈥�

This is the opening line of an AI-generated video which is part of Iran鈥檚 meme campaign 鈥� built around Lego-style animation and rap soundtracks, which have online. The line captures the strange reality of contemporary politics: news is often most effectively disseminated not through journalism but humour, memes and entertainment.

Since late February, pro-Iranian media groups 鈥� most notably, the 鈥� have flooded social media with AI-generated video content mocking Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and US foreign policy. It has been dubbed 鈥� but the sophistication is striking.

These videos but do not look or feel like state propaganda 鈥� despite the spokesperson for Explosive Media admitting to the BBC that the . They capture the internet zeitgeist: fast, funny, visually familiar and designed for virality.

Trojan horses

The success of these memes lies in their audience strategy. They do not target people actively seeking news. Instead, they mimic the language of everyday internet culture to reach those who are not following events in the Middle East at all.

Humour is the mechanism they use to get reach. These videos function as Trojan horses, drawing viewers in with recognisable imagery, references and music 鈥� while communicating a narrative about American overreach, dysfunction and corruption.

As , a US-based expert in disinformation, notes, this kind of content reaches 鈥減olitically uninvested people who otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have engaged with war-related content鈥�.

The key insight here is not geopolitics but audiences. Conventional political communication, including press conferences, policy statements and traditional news coverage, reaches people who are already paying attention. These AI meme videos are designed to reach everyone else: the millions of people whose understanding of international conflict extends no further than what happens to appear in their social media feed.

Humour is the primary mechanism these videos have harnessed to conquer the social media algorithms. The joke is not the message 鈥� it is the delivery system. By packaging geopolitical arguments inside 鈥渄iss tracks鈥�, pop culture references and shareable clips, these videos communicate political ideas before audiences have even registered they are consuming political content.

What makes audiences receptive to 鈥榮lopaganda鈥�?

But this raises a deeper question. Why are people so receptive to receiving political information in this form? The answer is that they have been primed for it.

For two decades, a generation of Americans 鈥� and increasingly British and European viewers 鈥� have learned to process political news through satire. Jon Stewart鈥檚 The Daily Show became, for many younger viewers, a than the nightly news.

The likes of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel also built enormous audiences by making politics funny, accessible and emotionally engaging in ways that conventional journalism often failed to do. The implicit message, repeated nightly, was that humour was not merely a gloss on political commentary. It was a .

This was largely a progressive phenomenon. The targets were politicians and large institutions, both government and private sector 鈥� and the satirists positioned themselves as holding power to account. But this created an expectation that , and that comedy is a legitimate vehicle for political understanding.

Iran is copying populist strategy

Since 2008, many populists have recognised the in their election campaigns 鈥� none more so than Trump. His campaign appearances on comedy podcasts, his and stunts, and his endless memes are not distractions from his political strategy 鈥� they are his political strategy.

Trump reached, and mobilised, millions of who had long since stopped engaging with political news in any traditional form.

Iran has been paying attention. The American scholar of propaganda has that Iran is now 鈥渦sing popular culture against the No.1 pop culture country, the United States鈥�.

The Lego aesthetic, the rap beats, the 1980s pop covers, the selection of jokes are not random choices. They demonstrate a precise calibration of what can effectively reach online audiences in the western attention economy.

The result is content that is not immediately visible as foreign propaganda, and instead looks like entertainment. For audiences already accustomed to learning about politics through comedy, the distinction barely registers.

There is a profound irony here. The cultural conditions that produced shows like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight 鈥� the erosion of trust in mainstream political communication and the demand for authenticity and humour over formal rhetoric 鈥� have produced a media environment in which a foreign state can distribute propaganda to millions of Americans, and have it feel indistinguishable from domestic entertainment.

This is not to say that late-night satire and Iranian AI content is equivalent. But they are operating in the same media ecosystem 鈥� one in which humour has become a primary method of political communication.

The most unsettling thing about what is happening right now is what this means for our information environment.

If propaganda is indistinguishable from satire, and satire accumulates millions of views while news does not, the line between political entertainment and political persuasion has seemingly collapsed. And the people most affected are those who think they are not following the war at all.

, Early Career Researcher, Religions and Theology Department
This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

In a ceremony celebrating the invention鈥檚 impact on data storage, computing and communications, Vice-Chancellor, Duncan Ivison, accepted the award on behalf of the University, the commemorative bronze plaque will be mounted on the outside of the Coupland 1 Building, Bridgeford Street.

The Milestone award recognises exceptional technological innovation and excellence in electrical and electronic engineering; awarded to innovations which have benefited humanity via products, services, seminal papers or patents. A bronze plaque commemorating the achievement is then placed at an appropriate site with an accompanying dedication ceremony.

黑料网吃瓜爆料 remains one of the few institutions with three awards. In 2022 黑料网吃瓜爆料 was awarded two IEEE Milestone awards; the first was awarded for the famed 黑料网吃瓜爆料 鈥楤aby鈥� (1948-1951) the world鈥檚 first stored computer; the second for Atlas Computer & Virtual Memory (1957-1962), introducing the concept of virtual memory, a cornerstone of modern computing.

What is 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code?

黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code has been a feature of computing and communications since its invention in 1948. It was first used in the University鈥檚 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Mark I computer, a prototype for the Ferranti Mark I, the first commercially available computer.

Invented for the storage of data in magnetic drums, it became a standard for use in magnetic tapes and floppy disks. It also found wide use in early ethernet networks, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and domestic remote controllers found in millions of homes across the world.

Nearly eight decades after its invention, humanity鈥檚 most distant human鈥憁ade objects, Voyagers 1 and 2, travelling through interstellar space, still communicate through the robustness of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code.

Elegantly designed, the code is 鈥榮elf-clocking鈥� which means the data can be extracted from the signal without a separate clock line. This design ensures highly reliable transmission, even across the vast distance to interstellar space, 25 billion kilometres (Voyager 1) and 21 billion kilometres (Voyager 2).

The principles of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code remain embedded in technologies we use every day; its elegant simplicity and reliability have helped accelerate the development of modern digital systems. To this day, it remains a key fixture in modern day life, from communicating to the furthest human-made objects or simply opening a garage door.

Thomas Coughlin, past president of the IEEE said: 鈥淭he 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code enabled the development of early digital storage technologies and reliable communication systems that are still in use. Humanity's furthest space probe, Voyager 1, still communicates with earth using the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Code.鈥�

黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 University Challenge team have been crowned winners of the UK鈥檚 toughest quizzing tournament.

Having beaten out New College Oxford and LSE to reach the quarterfinals, from there defeating UCL and Sheffield, and sailing past Imperial with 250 points to 70 in the final semi-final round, they finally triumphed over Edinburgh in last night鈥檚 finale.

The victory is an historic one for the University, as with this fifth win (2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2025) it becomes the most successful University in the history of the competition, joint with Imperial College London.

The winning team this year was made up of Ray Power (Film Studies and English Literature), Kirsty Dickson (Medicine), Rob Faulkner (Physics with Astrophysics) and their captain, Kai Madgwick (PhD, AI and Astrophysics), along with reserve player, Argyro Olympitis (PHD in Immunology).

It can feel as though there鈥檚 something mystic about acquiring a seat on the University Challenge team, a tap on the shoulder in a quiet area of the quad one day maybe, but according to Ray, that that isn鈥檛 so.

鈥淕rowing up, my Grandma was always a huge fan of University Challenge, and when a friend of mine who鈥檇 been a contestant a couple of years before told me that they were recruiting again, I signed myself up!鈥�

After passing a first-stage online quiz, and doing herself proud in a trial match held by Quiz Society, Ray鈥檚 name was on the team sheet.

鈥淭he great thing about how UoM do it is that the whole thing is led by students. The Uni supports it, but it鈥檚 all run by Quiz Society. There鈥檚 a real sense of community, we even have contestants from previous years coming back for mentoring and to help us practice.鈥�

Rob, Kirsty, and Ray, all took the same sign-up route to the team, while their Captain, Kai Madgwick, was already a Quiz Soc stalwart, having competed in plenty of inter-university quiz tournaments.

Once in the team, the training process is tough, spending hours each Tuesday sequestered away in a quiet part of the library, testing each other and playing along with old episodes. It wasn鈥檛 all about gruelling revision, though.

鈥淚 feel really lucky to have been able to meet the rest of the team, I鈥檝e made four really good friends. I don鈥檛 think we expected to have such a good time together!鈥� said Ray. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to pick out just one highlight, but filming the trophy presentation in London was amazing, and it was so lovely to be together with the team through the whole process.鈥�

Ray insists that it isn鈥檛 all down to their hard work 鈥� there鈥檚 some chance involved too, and that losing starter questions, or feeling like you don鈥檛 have the momentum of the game, can really affect the outcome. The score of the semi-final against Imperial, she says, really didn鈥檛 reflect how strong that team were, and that 黑料网吃瓜爆料 were lucky to have played such a great team game that round, where everybody contributed to the win.

And while there might be an element of chance, it sounds like there鈥檚 a little bit of fate in there too, with a semi-final tie against UCL seeing them ace a music round, picking out tunes from Fontaines DC, Black Midi, Squid, and Wet Leg.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so weird, Kai鈥檚 a huge Squid fan - one of the first conversations I remember having with them was about going to a Squid gig鈥� after that music round, Squid actually shouted us out on Instagram!鈥�

Ray says they never expected to win when they began the contest, they just kept playing and ended up in the final.

鈥淲e never expected to win, we were just happy to be there. The whole thing was nerve-wracking! It was so intense and felt so much like a super weird school trip!鈥�

Having been beaten by Edinburgh 195 to 80 in the quarterfinals of the competition, the tournament鈥檚 last leg was a chance for the 黑料网吃瓜爆料 team to right some wrongs.

鈥淵eah, they beat us really badly. It was scary but we were happy with how far we鈥檇 already come. We knew how wonderful and clever the team from Edinburgh were, and we just went into it wanting to do our best!鈥�

Do their best they did, and in bringing home the trophy for 黑料网吃瓜爆料, they are the fifth team to do so, placing UoM at the top of the all-time leaderboard, in the company of ICL.

The partnership will build  an  interdisciplinary team focused on the links between domestic violence, family courts and women鈥檚 health in South India.

That, they say,  will generate early frameworks that can inform future reforms, judicial training and survivor鈥慶entred practice, laying the foundation for long鈥憈erm community partnerships and multi鈥慶ountry research.

Domestic violence is widespread in India, with national surveys showing that almost half of Indian women have faced some form of spousal abuse.

The southwestern state  Karnataka alone recorded more than seventeen thousand cases in 2022.

Lead researcher from 黑料网吃瓜爆料 said: 鈥淎lthough India handles well over a million family disputes each year, there is still no systematic research on how these legal journeys shape women鈥檚 long鈥憈erm wellbeing.

鈥淎nd there is some evidence which shows that court processes can sometimes prolong stress, fear and control.鈥�

The project will initially focus on assessing the feasibility of the study and map how family court procedures actually work for the women who go through the system.

The team will also map key organisations in Karnataka, from women鈥檚 police stations to community health workers, to understand where survivors seek help and where systems may be falling short.

鈥淭his groundwork matters because India needs its own evidence base to make sure women are supported, not harmed, when they turn to the courts,鈥� added Dr Dalgarno.

The collaboration will provide opportunities for students in 黑料网吃瓜爆料 and Karnataka interested in understanding   the intersection of law, health and gender鈥慴ased violence

is Clinical Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology and Head of the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care.

She said: 鈥淭his  partnership aligns closely with both our universities鈥� commitments to tackling inequality, strengthening international collaboration and improving outcomes for marginalised communities.

鈥淏y focusing on women鈥檚 health, domestic violence and legal systems, the project speaks directly to shared priorities around gender equality, prevention of harm and access to safe, trauma鈥慽nformed services.鈥�

Professor Arathi Rao from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education said: 鈥淔amily courts are often a crucial point of contact for women seeking protection from domestic violence. Legal processes, while designed to deliver justice, can also impact women鈥檚 health, safety, and well-being.

鈥淏y examining these intersections, we aim to inform more responsive, survivor-centred systems that truly protect and support women during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.鈥�

This breakthrough provides fresh insight into one of chemistry鈥檚 most familiar concepts 鈥� aromaticity 鈥� and shows it can occur not only in carbon鈥慴ased rings like benzene, but also in unusual clusters of heavy metals.

A new twist on a classic chemical idea

In everyday chemistry, aromatic molecules such as benzene are valued for their stability, which comes from electrons circulating smoothly around a ring. This 鈥渞ing current鈥� is a signature of aromaticity and is usually found in organic (carbon-based) molecules.

The new study shows that a tiny ring of three bismuth atoms (Bi鈧�) also supports these circulating currents, behaving as an aromatic system, despite being made entirely of heavy metals.

Even more remarkably, this behaviour is dominated by sigma (蟽) electrons, rather than the more familiar 蟺 electrons that define aromaticity in organic chemistry.

What this means for chemistry 

The finding bridges the gap between traditional organic chemistry and the emerging field of all-metal aromaticity, offering:

• The heaviest aromatic ring ever identified, made from three bismuth atoms.
• The first actinide 鈥渋nverse sandwich鈥� complexes supporting such a metal ring, using uranium and thorium to hold the Bi鈧� unit in place.
• Clear experimental and computational evidence that the bismuth ring has strong ring currents 鈥� a hallmark of aromaticity 鈥� even in the presence of large, magnetic metal ions.

This adds a new entry to the catalogue of aromatic molecules and helps scientists understand how aromaticity behaves in heavy elements, which is valuable for areas such as materials science, metal cluster chemistry, and actinide research.

A step toward understanding heavy element chemistry

The international team synthesised and studied two new complexes: 

• a diuranium complex containing the Bi鈧� ring, and
• a dithorium version that behaves similarly.

Using Xray crystallography, the researchers confirmed the shape and symmetry of the three-atom ring. They then used magnetic measurements, spectroscopy and advanced computer modelling to show that electrons move around the bismuth ring in a continuous, stabilising current, just as they do in classic aromatic molecules.

Even more intriguingly, the dithorium complex showed measurable exalted diamagnetism, an effect directly associated with aromatic ring currents.

The work provides benchmark data to help chemists compare traditional organic aromaticity with its all鈥憁etal counterpart. It also shows how unusual ring systems can be stabilised using actinides 鈥� metals at the bottom of the periodic table that often behave in unexpected ways.

By proving that such a heavy鈥慹lement ring can not only exist but also display aromatic stability, the research opens new possibilities for designing metal鈥慴ased clusters and exploring the boundaries of chemical bonding.

The findings - published in the International - emerge against a backdrop of rising mental health needs.

The researchers analysed Annual Population Survey data from more than 535,000 working鈥慳ge adults between 2015 and 2020 to examine whether regional differences in the supply of NHS Talking Therapies were linked to labour force participation.

They found that people reporting long鈥憈erm mental health problems were less likely to be in the labour force than otherwise similar adults without such conditions: a participation gap of 36% in the analysis sample.

After adjusting for a wide range of personal and local factors, the researchers found that increasing the volume of supply of talking therapies by one additional appointment offered per referral in the average region, equivalent to about 22% more appointments, was associated with a 0.92鈥憄ercentage鈥憄oint reduction in the labour force participation gap.

The association was strongest among people aged 45 to 65, those not claiming benefits, and men.

The researchers highlight how decades of evidence show that pharmacological and psychological therapies can reduce symptoms and improve productivity, absenteeism and labour force participation.

The NHS Talking Therapies programme, launched in England 18 years ago, is considered to be the first large鈥憇cale programme of its kind.

It was designed to expand the supply of evidence鈥慴ased psychological treatments, reduce stigma, and make it easier for people to seek help.

The service offers assessment appointments, tailored treatment plans and session鈥慴y鈥憇ession monitoring.

Although previous studies have shown these sorts of impacts in individual patients, this study examined the impact of differences in therapy provisions across areas.

The authors argue that the supply of therapy services may have indirect effects on economic activity by improving help鈥憇eeking behaviour, reducing stigma, and influencing how GPs manage mental health problems in primary care.

They note that only around one鈥慺ifth of working鈥慳ge adults with a mental health diagnosis receive a course of NHS Talking Therapies, suggesting that wider community鈥憀evel effects may be important.

Lead author is, a PhD researcher from 黑料网吃瓜爆料.

He  said: 鈥淥ur findings suggest that improving access to psychological therapies doesn鈥檛 just support people鈥檚 wellbeing 鈥� it may also help close the long鈥憇tanding labour market gaps experienced by those with mental health problems.

鈥淎s governments look for ways to boost labour force participation, mental health policy should be part of that conversation.

鈥淧olicymakers should consider the indirect economic effects of expanding psychological therapy services when designing future mental health strategies.鈥�

• The study was funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) and supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
• The paper Availability of psychological therapies and workforce participation of individuals with long-term mental health problems: a retrospective observational study鈥� is available DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-026-00706-z

• Social media can reduce loneliness when used to build or maintain relationships
• Passive use, such as scrolling without interacting, is linked to higher loneliness
• People with strong offline networks benefit more from social media use
• User motivations - such as connection versus escape - shape outcomes
• Platform design and online experiences influence whether users feel connected or isolated
• More long-term research is needed to fully understand impacts on wellbeing

What did the study find?

Dr Rebecca Nowland assessed the latest global evidence on the relationship between social media and loneliness.

The findings highlight a complex picture. Social media can strengthen social connections when it is used to interact meaningfully - such as messaging friends, sharing experiences or receiving supportive responses.

However, simply scrolling through content without engaging - often referred to as 鈥榩assive use鈥� - is consistently linked to higher levels of loneliness. 

Why does how we use social media matter?

The study shows that the impact of social media depends heavily on how and why people use it.

People who go online to connect with others may experience reduced loneliness. In contrast, those using social media to escape difficult feelings or social situations may see the opposite effect.

In some cases, trying to replace face-to-face interaction with online activity can actually make loneliness worse. 

Who benefits most from social media use?

Not everyone benefits equally.

The research found that people who already have strong social networks are more likely to gain positive experiences online, including support and a sense of belonging.

Those who feel isolated offline, however, may struggle to achieve the same benefits - even if they use social media frequently.

What role do platforms and online experiences play?

Platform design is also important.

Features that encourage direct interaction - such as private messaging or sharing images - can help create a stronger sense of connection. By contrast, platforms or features focused on broadcasting or passive consumption offer fewer emotional benefits.

Experiences themselves also matter. Supportive comments and meaningful exchanges can reduce loneliness, while being ignored, excluded or exposed to negative interactions can increase it. 

What are the gaps in current research?

Despite growing interest in the topic, the study highlights important gaps in existing research.

Much of the evidence is based on snapshots in time rather than long-term studies, making it difficult to determine cause and effect. The paper calls for more robust research using real usage data and longer-term methods.

Why does this matter?

With loneliness increasingly recognised as a major public health issue, the findings suggest that improving how people engage online could play an important role in tackling the problem.

Encouraging more active and meaningful use of social media - and designing platforms that support this - may help maximise benefits while reducing harms.

This research was published in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.

DOI:  

• Governments across the global North and South are increasing their role in delivering affordable housing
• States are adopting new tools to influence housing supply, finance and land development
• Public-private partnerships and new financial models are being used to support large-scale housing
• Cities are experimenting with different ways to balance social need and market pressures
• Salford and Shanghai highlight contrasting but equally interventionist approaches

What did the study find?

Led by Dr Tom Gillespie, the study provides one of the first global comparisons of how states are responding to a growing housing crisis affecting billions of people.

Drawing on research from Shanghai, Salford, Nairobi, Paris, Casablanca and Rome, it shows that governments are increasingly stepping in as private markets struggle to deliver adequate and affordable homes at scale.

While previous decades favoured light-touch state involvement, this is now changing, with governments taking a more active role in shaping housing systems.

How are governments responding?

The research shows that states are adopting a wide range of new approaches to influence housing supply, finance and land development.

In many cases, this includes experimenting with public-private partnerships, land value capture and new state-backed financial mechanisms to make large-scale housing programmes viable.

Across all six cities, the researchers identified common themes, including what motivates governments to intervene, how new financial and institutional tools are being used, and how risks in housing markets are being redistributed.

What is happening in Salford?

Salford is highlighted as one of the most distinctive examples in the study.

Within England鈥檚 market-driven planning system, the local authority has developed an unusually interventionist approach. While earlier regeneration focused on property-led development such as Salford Quays, more recent efforts have aimed to address the lack of affordable housing.

From 2016, the Council began redirecting developer contributions into a council-owned company to build new social housing. These homes are let at below-market 鈥淪alford rents鈥� and are exempt from the national 鈥榬ight to buy鈥�, helping to protect them from speculative pressures.

Although still relatively small in scale, the model is identified as an example of local state action designed to 鈥渄e-financialise鈥� housing while still working within a market-led system.

What about Shanghai?

Shanghai offers a contrasting but equally interventionist model.

After decades of market-driven housing growth, the city has shifted towards a more active role, using state control of land and developers to deliver affordable homes for different social groups.

Policies include shantytown renewal, shared ownership schemes and subsidised rental housing, aimed at tackling rising property prices while supporting social stability and inclusion.

Why is this shift happening?

The study highlights a broader global shift away from reliance on private markets alone.

As housing affordability crises deepen, governments are increasingly intervening to address gaps in supply and access. This marks the end of an era of minimal state involvement and the emergence of more active, experimental approaches to housing policy.

Researcher quote

鈥淥ur research shows that states are once again becoming central players in efforts to tackle the global affordable housing crisis, but this isn鈥檛 a simple return to old models of public housing,鈥� said Dr Tom Gillespie. 鈥淚nstead, we are seeing a wide range of new approaches emerging as governments try to balance social needs with the realities of financialised urban development.

What are the implications?

The researchers suggest that understanding how different cities are responding can help inform future housing policy.

By identifying shared patterns and innovative approaches, the study provides a framework for policymakers seeking to tackle housing crises in their own contexts.

Publication details

The study was published in journal Urban Studies.

DOI:

Key findings

Rwanda has achieved rapid economic growth and built a reputation for effective state-led development, but the book argues that long-term prosperity may depend on deeper industrial transformation rather than continued reliance on service-led growth.

Why has Rwanda been described as Africa鈥檚 鈥榤odel nation鈥�?

Over the past two decades, Rwanda has often been portrayed as one of Africa鈥檚 standout economic success stories. The country has recorded strong GDP growth, expanded healthcare and education, increased tourism revenues and built an international reputation for effective state leadership.

Kigali has also positioned itself as a hub for finance, conferences and high-end tourism, helping Rwanda gain praise from international donors and policymakers.

What does the new book examine?

In , Dr Pritish Behuria offers one of the most in-depth accounts yet of how Rwanda has pursued rapid development in the face of major historical and structural challenges.

Drawing on nearly two decades of research, including extensive fieldwork and interviews with policymakers, business leaders and development partners, the book explores whether Rwanda has achieved genuine economic transformation or whether its growth masks deeper vulnerabilities.

Why might Rwanda鈥檚 future remain uncertain?

Dr Behuria argues that growth alone does not necessarily lead to long-term development.

Instead, sustainable prosperity typically depends on what economists call structural transformation: the shift from dependence on agriculture and raw materials towards higher-value manufacturing and productive domestic industries.

While this process underpinned the rise of many economies in Europe and East Asia, manufacturing remains limited across much of Africa, including Rwanda.

Has Rwanda relied too heavily on services?

Rather than prioritising manufacturing, Rwanda has focused heavily on services such as tourism, finance and international events.

The book examines whether this strategy can create enough jobs, technological learning and domestic business development to sustain long-term economic progress.

Rather than offering a simple verdict, the book presents a balanced assessment that recognises Rwanda鈥檚 achievements while exploring the risks and limits of its current model.

What does Rwanda鈥檚 experience say about development more broadly?

The book contributes to wider debates about whether African countries can build new pathways to development in today鈥檚 global economy.

鈥淭he space to experiment, protect industries and build domestic champions is much narrower. Rwanda鈥檚 experience shows what is possible - and how fragile success can be - in today鈥檚 globalised era.鈥�

Publication details

will be published by Cambridge University Press on April 30th, and will be available open access.

• Peer pressure, bullying and emotional difficulties are linked to higher substance use
• Strong relationships with parents and teachers, and a sense of school belonging, are protective
• Substance use increases with age, with alcohol the most commonly reported
• Close friendships are not always protective and may increase exposure to substance use
• Girls, LGBTQ+ young people and those from disadvantaged backgrounds report higher levels of use
• Differences between schools explain more variation than differences between neighbourhoods

What did the study find?

The study analysed data from the #BeeWell programme, covering more than 30,000 pupils across 100 schools and over 1,500 neighbourhoods. #BeeWell is a collaboration between 黑料网吃瓜爆料, The Gregson Family Foundation and Anna Freud who, together with the Greater 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Combined Authority (GMCA), launched the programme in 2019.

It shows that teenage substance use is shaped by a combination of social, emotional and environmental factors. Young people who felt pressured by peers, experienced bullying or struggled with emotional difficulties were more likely to use substances.

In contrast, those with strong relationships with parents and teachers, a sense of belonging at school and positive perceptions of their academic performance were less likely to report substance use.

How does substance use vary by age and type?

The findings show that substance use increases with age, with older teenagers significantly more likely to report using alcohol or drugs.

Alcohol was the most commonly-reported substance, with around one in six young people reporting recent use. Vaping was less common but still notable, with around one in fifteen reporting use.

What role do friendships and peer relationships play?

The study highlights a complex role for peer relationships. While often seen as protective, close friendships were in some cases associated with higher substance use.

This may reflect increased exposure to social situations where substances are available, suggesting that peer influence can both increase and reduce risk depending on context.

Are there differences between groups?

The researchers found important differences between groups of young people. Girls and LGBTQ+ young people were more likely to report substance use than boys.

Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were also more likely to vape, smoke and use drugs, indicating that inequalities play a role in shaping these behaviours.

How do different factors influence different substances?

The study found that different substances are influenced by different factors.

Stress and emotional difficulties were strongly linked to vaping, smoking and alcohol use, suggesting these behaviours may act as coping mechanisms. In contrast, illicit drug use appeared to be more strongly shaped by relationships with adults and broader school experiences.

Why does the school environment matter?

While a wide range of determinants were identified, the study found that differences between schools explained more variation in substance use than differences between neighbourhoods.

This suggests that the school environment - particularly peer relationships, social norms and support systems - plays a crucial role in shaping young people鈥檚 behaviour.

Researcher quote

鈥淲e often assume that where young people live shapes their behaviour most, but our findings show that a wide range of social and emotional factors are at play,鈥� said lead researcher Dr Emma Thornton. 鈥淓xperiences like peer pressure, bullying and mental health difficulties can increase risk, while strong relationships and a sense of belonging can be protective.鈥�

What are the implications?

The research team hopes their findings will inform national policy and support the development of more targeted, evidence-based approaches to preventing substance use among young people.

Publication details

The study was published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

DOI:

The ICAM is a successful partnership between bp, 黑料网吃瓜爆料, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Since its launch in 2012, the ICAM has supported research ranging from PhD-led exploratory projects to large-scale strategic initiatives involving multiple teams. The Centre has strengthened research capabilities, fostered interdisciplinary collaboration and provided students and early career researchers with valuable experience working alongside bp experts. Its model embeds bp Mentors within project teams, ensuring research remains industrially relevant and accelerates translation from laboratory to application.

The ICAM鈥檚 Next Chapter

Building on more than a decade of interdisciplinary research in materials science, the ICAM will continue to make a difference in today鈥檚 energy systems and help build tomorrow鈥檚, while aligning with bp鈥檚 strategic interests and technology roadmaps.

The ICAM鈥檚 research supports bp鈥檚 ambition to be a net zero company and to help get the world to net zero by 2050 or sooner by improving understanding of materials, processes and energy systems that can lower emissions and enhance performance. Recent examples include research on sustainable catalysts for CO鈧� conversion through the ICAM's EPSRC Prosperity Partnership on Sustainable Catalysis for Clean Growth, and work to develop better modelling tools for sustainable aviation fuel.

In recent years, the ICAM has welcomed additional expertise from associate members including Cardiff University and Johnson Matthey, both central to its previously mentioned Prosperity Partnership as well as University College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Leeds, University of Sheffield and University of Texas at Austin.

In its next chapter, the ICAM will continue to exemplify what can be achieved when industry and academia work together to address energy challenges.

Key findings

• A grammar-based authorship analysis method matched or exceeded leading AI systems across most test datasets
• The approach outperformed several neural network-based authorship verification models
• Researchers tested the method across 12 real-world writing datasets including emails, forums and reviews
• The system is more transparent than many AI models because it shows which grammatical patterns informed decisions
• Researchers say the findings challenge assumptions that more complex AI always produces better results

What did the study find?

Researchers found that a relatively simple, linguistically grounded method can perform as well as - and in some cases better than - complex artificial intelligence systems in identifying authorship.

The study suggests that increasingly sophisticated AI is not always necessary for high-performing writing analysis, particularly when methods are designed around established principles of how language works.

How does the LambdaG method work?

The method, called LambdaG, analyses patterns in grammar rather than relying on large-scale machine learning models.

It builds a statistical profile of how an individual writes by measuring features such as function word usage (words like it, of and the), sentence structure, punctuation patterns and other grammatical habits.

The researchers say these features create a distinctive behavioural signature for each writer.

Why is this different from AI-based authorship analysis?

Many current authorship verification systems rely on complex AI models trained on vast datasets. While effective, these systems can be difficult to interpret, computationally expensive and hard to explain in high-stakes settings such as legal investigations. By contrast, LambdaG provides a transparent explanation of which grammatical features influenced its conclusions.

How accurate was the method?

Researchers tested LambdaG across 12 datasets designed to reflect real-world writing scenarios, including emails, online forum posts and consumer reviews.

In most cases, the method achieved higher accuracy than several established authorship verification systems, including neural network-based approaches.

Why does grammar reveal authorship?

The researchers argue that grammar acts as a behavioural signature, like how we write our signature or how we walk.

Over time, individuals develop unconscious habits in how they structure sentences and use language. These habits create identifiable linguistic patterns that can distinguish one writer from another.

What are the potential applications?

The researchers say the method could support work in:

• Forensic linguistics
• Criminal investigations
• Online abuse detection
• Academic integrity monitoring

The study was published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

DOI:

Fifty researchers from institutions  around the world -  including the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 - have issued the alert in calling for urgent action to stop fungal infections becoming untreatable.

They say fungi in soil, crops and hospitals are increasingly resistant to the medicines used to control them.

For most healthy people this poses little danger, but for patients with weakened immune systems the infections can be deadly.

Global strategies to tackle antimicrobial resistance have focused too heavily on bacteria and viruses while largely overlooking fungi, they argue.

To combat it, they have produced a five鈥憇tep plan to improve awareness, surveillance, infection control, responsible drug use and investment in new treatments.

The plan is intended to help shape the World Health Organization鈥檚 updated Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance later this year.

Scientists warn that several dangerous fungi are already spreading, including Trichophyton indotineae, which causes severe skin infections that are increasingly hard to treat.

Hospitals are also battling Candida auris, a fungus that can trigger life鈥憈hreatening bloodstream infections and kills around a third of those affected.

Another concern is Aspergillus fumigatus, a common mould that has developed resistance to widely used azole drugs in many countries.

Experts say much of this resistance begins not in hospitals but in the environment.

Fungicides used in agriculture are chemically similar to antifungal medicines used in human healthcare, allowing resistant strains to evolve in fields before reaching patients.

This link between environmental, agricultural and medical use 鈥� known as One Health 鈥� means resistance in crops can undermine treatments for people.

Researchers say coordinated action across science, farming, healthcare and policy is now essential to protect both global food supplies and patient safety.

They point to early initiatives, including the WHO鈥檚 fungal priority pathogen list and new One Health working groups, but warn these efforts must be embedded in global antimicrobial resistance policies.

The authors are urging governments and international bodies to prioritise antifungal resistance before more infections become untreatable.

鈥淔armers use huge amounts of fungicides to protect crops, and some of these chemicals stay in the environment for decades,鈥� said Professor from the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料.

鈥淭here is now clear evidence these chemicals are helping fungi evolve into strains that can no longer be treated in people, plants or animals.鈥�

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 act, we will see more infections that simply can鈥檛 be cured, which puts lives and food supplies at risk,鈥� he added.

Professor Paul Verweij from Radboud University Medical Center in the natherlands, said: 鈥淲e are already seeing a quiet rise in dangerous fungi, from Candida auris in intensive care units to moulds in the community that no longer respond to standard medicines.

鈥淯nless antifungal resistance is included in the WHO鈥檚 2026 global plan with proper funding and targets we risk repeating the same mistakes made with antibiotic resistance.

鈥淯sing the same types of antifungal chemicals in both farming and medicine is speeding up resistance, and what happens in the fields is now affecting what happens in hospital wards,鈥� added  Professor Michaela Lackner of the Medical University of Innsbruck.

• Image: aspergillus fumigatus. Credit Isabelle Storer
• Closing the gap on fungal resistance is published in  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04334-5

Routine monitoring of fibre release is considered essential for designing more sustainable textiles and informing policies aimed at reducing pollution at source. However, existing methods are time consuming, prone to bias and vulnerable to contamination. 

By adapting industrial dyeing techniques used in textile manufacturing and combining them with established microplastic analysis methods, the research bridges fashion technology and environmental science to overcome these barriers. The result is a faster, more reliable way to measure microfibre emissions under real world conditions such as washing and mechanical stress. 

The researchers say the method could support better eco-design of textiles, improve testing standards and inform future regulation 鈥� including policies such as extended producer responsibility. It may also help guide the development of technologies designed to capture fibres, such as washing machine filters. 

鈥淚f we want to reduce microfibre pollution, we need reliable ways to measure it,鈥� Dr Allen added. 鈥淭his approach opens the door to routine testing that reflects what鈥檚 really being released into the environment 鈥� not just what鈥檚 easiest to see.鈥�

The findings, published today in  journal BBA: Molecular Basis of Disease  shed new light on ocular coloboma, a rare congenital eye condition affecting around 1 in 5000 births and responsible for roughly 10% of childhood blindness.

Some of the researchers are also based at 黑料网吃瓜爆料 University NHS Foundation Trust  and the Greenwood Genetic Centre in the United States.

Coloboma arises when a structure in the developing eye, the optic fissure, fails to close properly and often co鈥憃ccurs with other tissue鈥慺usion problems such as cleft lip and/or palate.

The research focused on YAP1, a protein that helps guide how organs form and how tissues stay healthy.

YAP1 acts like a switch inside cells, helping them decide when to grow, change, or survive based on signals they receive.

Although changes in YAP1 have been linked to coloboma, it has been unclear why some people with these changes develop severe eye defects while others remain unaffected. To address that, they tested the different variants and compared their effects.

To understand the consequences of YAP1鈥檚 inactivity during eye development, the researchers studied human retinal organoids - lab-grown miniature versions of the developing human retina grown in the lab. When they reduced the activity of YAP1, they saw effects on how early retinal cells grow and develop.

Disrupting YAP1, they found,  reduced the activity of genes needed for early retinal cells to grow and maintain their identity.

 As a result, the cells developed more slowly, providing a potential explanation for how eye formation goes wrong.

The study also showed that not all YAP1 variants have the same effect. Using computer modelling alongside experimental data, the researchers found that the precise location of each genetic change determines how strongly it disrupts YAP1 function.

This helps explain why coloboma can vary so widely between individuals, even among those carrying changes in the same gene.

Coloboma has been linked to disease causing variants in more than 40 genes, but thanks to the study, YAP1 is now identified as  an important contributor.

鈥淭hese findings give us a much clearer picture of how small genetic changes can have major effects during eye development,鈥� said the lead author from 黑料网吃瓜爆料.

鈥淏y pinpointing how each variant disrupts YAP1鈥檚 function, we can better interpret genetic results in patients and move closer to ways of supporting healthy eye formation.

鈥淏y combining stem鈥慶ell models with detailed genetic testing, we鈥檙e finally beginning to understand how tiny changes in YAP1 can have such a big impact on how the eye forms.

鈥淭his work brings us a step closer to explaining why some children develop coloboma.

鈥淭hough retinal organoids cannot currently replace the use of animal models, this study shows how they can help us meet our ethical and legal obligations to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research wherever feasible.

鈥淚t also offers a new framework for understanding how likely YAP1 mutations are to cause disease in children with unexplained eye conditions.鈥�

• Domain-specific mechanisms of YAP1 variants in ocular coloboma revealed by in-vitro and organoid studies is available DOI:

• Image: retinal organoid

The initiative, called KOKU Bladder, brings together evidence鈥慴ased education, pelvic floor muscle training, behaviour change techniques and gamification to support engagement and long鈥憈erm adherence.

The programme is designed for people to use independently at home while also complementing face鈥憈o鈥慺ace care delivered by healthcare professionals.

Pelvic health plays a vital role in healthy ageing, helping people maintain mobility, dignity, independence and overall quality of life.

Urinary incontinence affects more than 14 million people in the UK and between 55 and 60 million across Europe.

Around one in three adults over 60 experience urinary incontinence, rising to nearly half of those aged 80 and above.

Despite its scale and impact, incontinence remains one of the most under discussed and under treated health conditions, often hidden due to stigma, embarrassment and fragmented services.

Professor  Javier Jerez鈥慠oig from the University of Vic, Principal Investigator, said: 鈥淜OKU Bladder is not just another digital tool; it is a solution shaped directly by the people who will use it and the professionals who support them.鈥�

Professor  Emma Stanmore from 黑料网吃瓜爆料 is CEO of KOKU Health, a UK digital health company which originated as a research project at the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 

As a university spin-out, KOKU translates academic research into a practical tool designed to reduce falls, improve mobility, and support people to live healthier, more independent lives at home.

She added: 鈥淏y embedding gamification within a clinically credible framework, we aim to make self鈥憁anagement both motivating and meaningful.鈥�

Although several digital pelvic health tools already exist, a recent review identified only four evidence鈥慴ased solutions that include people over 50, and none have been genuinely co鈥慸esigned with end users and professionals.

In 2025, a total of 54 people across Spain, Lithuania and the UK contributed to the co鈥慸esign of KOKU Bladder, including 31 potential users, 15 healthcare professionals and eight experts in pelvic health and ageing.

Participants highlighted the need for clinically trustworthy content, adaptive pelvic floor training, meaningful personalisation, multimedia guidance and embedded behaviour change techniques such as goal setting, self鈥憁onitoring and feedback.

KOKU Bladder is now in its pilot phase, with 75 participants testing the platform across English, Spanish and Lithuanian versions.

The next stage of the project will be an experimental study beginning this summer in 黑料网吃瓜爆料, led by 黑料网吃瓜爆料 to formally evaluate feasibility, engagement and user experience.

• More information about the project is available at , where you can also register interest via the Contacts section

The study, published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), describes how the research team, led by Professors and , used directed evolution to develop a bespoke aminotransferase, a type of enzyme, to significantly accelerate the manufacturing process and reduce production costs. This new biocatalytic route has the potential to improve global access to this important medicine.

Lenacapavir, recently approved by the FDA and MHRA, is a twice鈥憏early injectable drug that has shown extremely high levels of protection in pre鈥慹xposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trials. Royalty鈥慺ree licence agreements are already in place to enable generic manufacturers to supply Lenacapavir to 120 lower鈥慽ncome countries, yet the high cost of producing its active pharmaceutical ingredient remains a major barrier to widespread availability.

A sustainable route to a complex molecule

Made up of four distinct building blocks, Lenacapavir鈥檚 highly functionalised central core is a very challenging building block to synthesise. This core is constructed from a chiral amine that can exist in two mirror-image forms (like a left and a right hand). The handedness 鈥� or chirality 鈥� is important in pharmaceuticals as only one form of the molecule will work as intended.

Currently, Lenacapavir is made via traditional multi-step chemical synthesis, but due to the central core鈥檚 chirality and challenging molecular structure it is a costly and time-consuming process. Biocatalysis offers significant potential for faster and cheaper production.

To achieve this, the MIB team focused on using directed evolution 鈥� a method that speeds up nature鈥檚 trial-and-error evolution process 鈥� to develop an enzyme that could catalyse the target reaction to produce the chiral amine core. Using an approach known as substrate walking, the researchers began with an aminotransferase that showed no detectable activity on the desired substrate. Over eight rounds of directed evolution, involving screening more than 12,000 enzyme variants, they installed ten mutations that progressively unlocked activity, improved stability and reshaped the active site of the enzyme so that it could accept the central amine core鈥檚 bulky ketone precursor.

The final enzyme performed exceptionally well, converting 98% of the starting substrate, producing a yield of more than 90% with a purity of over 99% enantiomeric excess (e.e.) meaning that the correct chiral form was produced. The researchers also tested the enzyme under industrially relevant conditions showing its potential to work at scale.

The team also used X-ray crystallography to create a detailed 3D picture of the improved enzyme showing how the molecular changes arising from evolution allowed the enzyme to accept the substrate and transform it into the target product. Understanding the enzyme鈥檚 structure helps scientists unpick its mechanism of action which allows them to improve future enzyme design campaigns.

Towards large鈥憇cale implementation

The team is now collaborating with industrial partners to translate the methodology from laboratory scale to industrial biomanufacturing. The details of this new manufacturing route are also freely available for companies to use. Any company interested in producing Lenacapavir via this new process can contact to request free samples of the enzyme. If implemented at scale, the process could enable a shorter, cleaner and more economical production route for Lenacapavir, supporting ambitions to make long鈥慳cting HIV prevention accessible worldwide.

Figures for 2025 show the Museum welcomed 648,595 visitors throughout the year, meaning it continues to buck the trend, in the face of an overall decline in visitor numbers since 2019.

黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum's visitor numbers are up 76% over that period, compared with a decline of 7% across all ALVA member sites.

The total number of visits to 409 ALVA sites in 2025 was 165 million. This did, however, represent a 2% increase on the previous year.

Since reopening in February 2023, following a 拢15 million redevelopment, has seen impressive growth in audiences, driven by exciting new gallery spaces, special exhibitions such as The Cat That Slept for a Thousand Years, a rich and diverse events programme and engagement with schools across Greater 黑料网吃瓜爆料.

The Vivarium is a centre for globally-significant conservation projects, caring for around 30 different amphibian and reptile species, many of which are critically endangered. It has sat at the heart of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum for more than 60 years, growing out of work by researchers at the University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料 to inspire generations of visitors.

黑料网吃瓜爆料 is the only place outside the Americas where you will find the Variable harlequin toad (Atelopus varius). The Museum Museum houses the world鈥檚 only captive 鈥榖ack-up鈥� population, thanks to a pioneering partnership with Panama Wildlife Conservation Charity, just one of many projects designed to safeguard the future of endangered species and develop learning programmes that raise awareness of threats to biodiversity.

Scheduled for completion in Spring 2027, the 鈥楬abitats of Hope鈥� development promises to connect museum audiences with this world-class care, research and international collaboration.

Funding will help to revitalise public displays and create new, state-of-the art facilities and bespoke naturalistic environments for the amphibian and reptile species cared for by the Vivarium. It will also allow the development of dedicated facilities for schools teaching and visiting tour groups, further enhancing the gallery鈥檚 potential for learning.

The Museum will also create new permanent displays that explore the connections between its wider collections and the animals it cares for, celebrating the deep ties between reptiles, amphibians and people, and revealing how these animals have shaped human cultures and understanding.

Georgina Young, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum, said: 鈥淗abitats of Hope speaks to how wonderful and how vulnerable the world鈥檚 rarest amphibians are. Major investment from the DCMS/Wolfson Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund means 黑料网吃瓜爆料 Museum can match the highest standards of animal care with a more accessible visitor experience, while weaving stories of research, conservation, partnership and action that stretch from thriving ponds in 黑料网吃瓜爆料 to hyper-biodiverse ecosystems in Costa Rica and Panama.鈥�

The Habitats of Hope project is expected to commence in December 2026 and complete in April 2027. The Vivarium will close during this period.

The study, published in PLOS Mental Health comes as Colombia has taken steps to expand healthcare access to some of the 2.86 million Venezuelans in the country, including offering temporary protection status.

However large numbers of the migrants are ineligible for protection, particularly those with irregular status who can only access emergency services or limited humanitarian programmes while discrimination and administrative barriers persist.

Led by GP Dr John Fitton, the study was adapted from his Master of Public Health dissertation at 黑料网吃瓜爆料. He is now a PhD student at University College London.

Nari帽o, on the Ecuadorian border, is a major crossing point for Venezuelan migrants fleeing economic collapse, political instability, food insecurity, and breakdown of health and social services.

That and the physical and emotionally exhausting nature of the journey itself contributed to their poor psychological condition.

Dr Fitton also says substance abuse-  particularly  among unaccompanied men in transit -  may be seen as self鈥憁edication for hunger, exhaustion and distress.

The drugs, he says, are cheap, widely available along routes, and may even be more accessible than food when resources are scarce.

The researcher interviewed frontline community workers, who explained how recent cuts in international aid to NGOs working in Colombia have intensified gaps in care.

The community workers reported that mental health services for irregular migrants in Nari帽o are now almost entirely provided by dwindling numbers of humanitarian and community organisations.

As the organisations start to withdraw through lack of funding, irregular migrants are likely to be left with no mental health support at all.

The community workers described how poverty, unstable housing, lack of transport and the pressures of constant movement make it nearly impossible for migrants to seek ongoing mental health treatment.

And there was, said Dr Fitton, confusion among some healthcare staff about migrants鈥� legal rights and documents conflicting views on whether discrimination affects access to care.

鈥淥ur findings show that community workers are doing everything they can, but the system in Colombia is simply not built to meet the mental health needs of people in constant transit,鈥� said Dr Fitton.

鈥淲e show a system under strain with community workers struggling to fill widening gaps in support.

鈥淐aught between hunger, exhaustion and exclusion, some migrants slide into a brutal spiral: substances numb pain but deepen isolation, bar them from shelter, fracture their dignity, and leave a mental health crisis untouched.

鈥淲hat begins as a will to survive has become a sorry tale of abandonment by systems and services.鈥�

• The paper Barriers to access and unmet needs in mental health care for Venezuelan migrants in a southern border region of Colombia: the experiences of community workers is available . DOI:
• Image: John Fitton at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia in Pasto, Nari帽o who hosted him.