Imperial College London

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Early Data Doesn't Back Hope That Omicron Will Be Milder

There's plenty of caution that it's too early to draw conclusions

(Newser) - UK researchers say they see no indication that omicron will be milder than the delta variant of the coronavirus. In fact, they found the new strain's reinfection rate to be more than five times as high as delta's, Reuters reports. The Imperial College London study, which has not...

New COVID Trials Will Be 'a Little Different From Most'

'Human challenge' studies in the UK will involve deliberately injecting healthy subjects with virus

(Newser) - Clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine are currently in their final stages via a number of drug companies, but a new set soon to begin in the UK promises to be "a little different from most." CNN reports the British government has signed a contract for the first...

Mathematician Snags Richest Prize for His 'Alien' Equations

Martin Hairer among those to get $3M a 'Breakthrough' award

(Newser) - A researcher once said that a theory related to a branch of math dealing with random processes was so impressive, it must have come from aliens . It was actually the work of Martin Hairer, who has now been awarded the richest prize in academia, reports the Guardian . Hairer was named...

Reason for Your Achy Knee May Be a 'Little Bean'
This 'Pointless' Bone Vanished
From Humans. Now It's Back
in case you missed it
Apr 27, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

This 'Pointless' Bone Vanished From Humans. Now It's Back

Scientists thought evolution had taken its toll on knee's fabella, but it's making a comeback

(Newser) - One hundred years ago, just 11% of humans had a fabella, a tiny bone embedded in the tendon behind the knee. Last year, the percentage of people worldwide with that bone spiked to 39%, and scientists are trying to figure out why a bone that doctors generally think is "...

Mini-Strokes Changed Caesar's Personality

Researchers say it makes more sense than epilepsy

(Newser) - Julius Caesar crumpled to the ground during the Battle of Thapsus in 46BC, and theories for the dizziness and limb weakness said to have caused that fall have ranged from epilepsy to malaria seizures and parasitic infection, the Guardian notes. But now two Imperial College London researchers have proposed his...

Higher Blood Pressure Kills 8,000 Black Americans a Year

Extent of deadly racial disparity surprises researchers

(Newser) - Some 8,000 lives a year are being lost because blacks suffer from higher blood pressure than the white population, surprising new research has discovered. "We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said a researcher of the racial disparity. Some 40%...

French Debut Fat-Burning Drug
 French Debut Fat-Burning Drug 

Nov 5, 2008 10:59 AM CST

French Debut Fat-Burning Drug

New drug tricks body into burning fat

(Newser) - French scientists have developed a drug that fools the body into burning fat even when on a high-fat diet, reports the BBC. The drug is a chemical cousin of resveratrol, a substance found in red wine and thought to combat heart disease. Higher doses of the compound completely prevented weight...

Cops Probe 'Horrific' London Murder of French Students

Brits jolted by brutal killings

(Newser) - Scotland Yard detectives are investigating the "frenzied" murder of two French research students in their flat on a quiet London street, the BBC reports. The biochemistry students were tied up and stabbed a total of 243 times before being set alight. A man was seen running from the building...

Fat Cell Numbers Don't Bulge: Study

Fat cells remain stable throughout life

(Newser) - The number of fat cells is set for a lifetime in childhood, a new study indicates. The latest research into obesity reveals fundamental new insights into why some people become fat and why it is so hard for overweight people to keep excess pounds off—even after a successful diet,...

Blood Pressure Drugs Cut Elderly Death Rate

Study finds surprise major benefit of treating those over 80

(Newser) - Death rates, heart attacks, and strokes among people over 80 can be cut significantly by common blood pressure medication rarely given to older people, finds a new large-scale study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found death rates among the elderly could be cut 21%...

Of Mice and Men, and a Cure for Colds

Researchers find a way to infect rodents with rhinoviruses

(Newser) - Scientists have managed to give a mouse a cold. May not sound like a huge deal, but it is: One reason a cure for the common cold has been so elusive is that until now, only primates have been infected with rhinoviruses, which cause them. Now a team at Imperial...

PhD Will, PhD Will Rock You
PhD Will,
PhD Will
Rock You
Aug 3, 2007 2:04 PM CDT

PhD Will, PhD Will Rock You

Queen guitarist, 60, submits astronomy thesis after 36 years

(Newser) - Queen guitarist Brian May dropped his academic pursuits to tour the globe as a young rock star, but after 36 years he has finally handed in his PhD thesis, which he began researching in 1972. The 60-year-old aspiring astrophysicist delivered a 48,000-word study on "zodiacal dust clouds" to...

12 Stories