• Just 4% of patients in the dataset were offered social prescribing between 2019 and 2024

• Patients living in the least deprived areas were significantly more likely to be offered social prescribing than those in the most deprived communities

• Women were substantially more likely than men to be offered social prescribing

• Older patients and people with multiple long-term conditions were more likely to receive offers

• More than three quarters (77.7%) of those offered social prescribing received a referral

• Ethnic minority patients were generally as likely - or more likely - to accept referrals

What else did the study find?

The researchers analysed anonymised NHS primary care records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), one of the largest healthcare datasets in England.

The study explored which groups of patients were offered social prescribing and which went on to receive referrals after offers were made.

Social prescribing schemes aim to support people whose health may be affected by wider social issues such as loneliness, poor housing, financial stress or isolation by linking them with non-medical community services through dedicated NHS link workers.

Clear inequalities

Patients in more affluent areas consistently had higher odds of being offered social prescribing than those in deprived areas, despite evidence that poorer communities often experience worse health outcomes and greater levels of long-term illness.

Women were also more likely to be offered referrals than men across almost every age group examined.

The study found strong links between long-term illness and social prescribing access, with patients suffering multiple health conditions far more likely to receive offers and referrals.

Why it matters

Researchers say the findings are significant because social prescribing has become a major part of NHS plans to reduce pressure on healthcare services and improve public health.

Since 2019, thousands of social prescribing link workers have been recruited across England through the NHS Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

The researchers warn that unequal access to these services could risk widening existing health inequalities if patients in deprived communities are less likely to benefit. However, the study also found encouraging signs once offers had been made.

Patients from ethnic minority backgrounds were often more likely than white patients to accept referrals, while deprivation itself did not appear to reduce uptake after an offer was made.

Researchers say this suggests the key inequality may lie in access to offers rather than willingness to engage.

Men and older patients less likely to engage

The study also found important differences between being offered social prescribing and accepting referrals.

While older patients were more likely to be offered support, they were less likely to go on to receive referrals once offered. Male patients were consistently less likely than women to both receive offers and proceed to referral.

Researchers say more work is needed to understand why some groups may be underrepresented or less likely to engage with social prescribing services.

What the researchers say

“It is concerning that the patients most likely to benefit from social prescribing support appear to be among the least likely to be offered it,” said Research Fellow Anna Wilding. “People living in deprived communities are more likely to experience long-term illness, financial hardship, isolation and poor mental health - the very issues social prescribing is designed to help address.”

“Our findings suggest the biggest challenge is not whether people will engage with social prescribing once offered support, but ensuring disadvantaged communities are not left behind in the first place.”

Publication details

The study was published in journal PLOS One.

DOI:

The National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) has committed £50 million over five years to drive forward the vital research led by clinicians, researchers, and communities across the consortium marking the most significant step forward in maternal health research in a generation.

The launch comes at a pivotal moment for maternity care in the UK, with national attention increasingly focused on improving safety, equity and women's experiences of care.

The 91ɬ��-led part of the research will involve improving and reducing inequalities in maternity care pathways. The focus will be on major contributors to maternal morbidity and mortality, particularly cardiometabolic complications (obesity, hypertension, gestational diabetes (GDM), perinatal mental health, and complications in early maternal recovery after birth.

Dr Debbie Smith, Co-Lead of the Perinatal mental health and wellbeing work, said: “I am really excited that 91ɬ�� are co-leading the perinatal mental health and wellbeing work as part of this consortium and look forward to co-producing equitable behavioural interventions with key stakeholders over the next few years”.

The Government's renewed Women's Health Strategy highlights the need to improve care before and between pregnancies for marginalised communities, against this backdrop, the consortium will generate the evidence, interventions and research capacity needed to help translate national ambition into practical, equitable improvements for women, babies and families.

“This funding represents a critical opportunity to make the step change we need to improve outcomes for women and their babies. Alongside the research, the Consortium will be investing in tomorrow's research leaders today to ensure we have the capacity to deliver on improving pregnancy outcomes, access to, and experience of, care”, says Professor Judith Rankin OBE, Consortium Co-lead for Research and Capacity Development, Newcastle University.

“National attention on maternity safety and equity has never been greater, but ambition must now be matched by evidence and implementation. Through this consortium, we will work across the UK to understand what works, for whom and in what contexts, and to ensure that research leads to practical changes in care for the women, babies and families who need them most,” says Professor Joht Singh Chandan, Consortium Co-lead for Research, University of Birmingham.

• Elite football increasingly relies on investment from fossil fuel-rich states and companies, including sponsorships and ownership models linked to Gulf nations and energy firms.
• FIFA’s partnership with Saudi oil giant Aramco is singled out by the authors, who claim football has become central to a wider strategy of sportswashing by fossil fuel interests.
• The expanded 48-team format for the 2026 Men’s World Cup will significantly increase emissions due to the greater number of matches and the vast travel distances across North America.
• The tournament will feature 104 matches across 16 host cities spanning the entire continent. The last Men’s World Cup in 2022, Qatar, saw 64 matches played across the 32-team tournament.
• FIFA’s environmental policies are scrutinised, with the research team accusing the organisation of promoting sustainability rhetoric while simultaneously expanding competitions and strengthening ties with fossil fuel sponsors.

The study highlights concerns over future tournaments, noting that Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup while the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement under President Donald Trump.

Why this matters

The researchers say the expanded 48-team format for the 2026 Men’s World Cup will significantly increase emissions due to the greater number of matches and the vast travel distances across North America.

The tournament will feature 104 matches across 16 host cities spanning the entire continent. The last Men’s World Cup in 2022, Qatar, saw 64 matches played across the 32-team tournament.

FIFA’s environmental policies are also scrutinised, with the research team accusing the organisation of promoting sustainability rhetoric while simultaneously expanding competitions and strengthening ties with fossil fuel sponsors.

The study also highlights concerns over future tournaments, noting that Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup while the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement under President Donald Trump.

What the researchers say

Lead researcher, Dr Mark Doidge, Reader in Sociology of Sport at Loughborough University, said: “Football is the world’s most popular sport, and probably the most popular activity. It is for this reason that football authorities, like FIFA, continue to exploit it for commercial profit."

“Football is also a cultural powerhouse with millions of fans, volunteers, and players trying to make the sport better. Football can, and should, use its influence to mitigate against climate change.”

Dr James Jackson, Lecturer at The University of 91ɬ��, said: “Despite the last World Cup offering a preview of what football would be like in a significantly warmer world, FIFA has remained indifferent to better regulation. Rather than being proactive and ensuring football helps mitigate against the worst impacts of climate change, they are - at best - pursuing meagre adaptation measures for things which affect fans and players."

Dr Oscar Berglund, Senior Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy at the University of Bristol, said: “FIFA has made elite men’s football the primary target of Petrostate sportswashing. This World Cup, with the ridiculous Trump Peace Prize and having Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest polluter, as its main sponsor, reaches new levels.

“It has been a key strategy of Petrostates to use football’s unrivalled cultural influence globally. They don’t need to convince us that fossil fuels are good, just that they are inevitable. So, as we watch and love our beautiful game, we come to accept the necessary evil of fossil capital.”

Club sustainability and commercial pressure

As part of the study, researchers interviewed sustainability managers working in football clubs across Europe, many of whom described tensions between environmental targets and the commercial demands of the modern game.

According to the report, sustainability initiatives are often only approved if they do not disrupt football’s core product, including the scheduling and broadcasting of matches.

Some interviewees said clubs remained more focused on increasing revenues than reducing environmental costs, despite the growing financial risks posed by flooding, heatwaves and fixture disruption.

Recommendations

The investigation proposes a series of recommendations aimed at reducing football’s environmental impact.

• FIFA should stop awarding tournaments to Petrostates.
• Restrictions should be placed on fossil fuel ownership of clubs.
• Fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship should be banned in football.
• Football authorities should halt the expansion of competitions.
• Sustainability managers should be embedded into all levels of club decision-making rather than operating in isolated compliance roles.

FIFA response

FIFA has previously defended its sustainability strategies and said major tournaments can drive investment, infrastructure and development in host nations. The organisation has also said that expanding competitions increases global participation and opportunities for smaller footballing nations.

Publication details

To read the full report, . The findings will form part of Football and Climate Change: The Unsustainability of the Beautiful Game, due to be published in 2027.

, a new model for low‑light image enhancement (LLIE), was created by Computer Science undergraduate Alexandru Brateanu during his third-year project, working with academic supervisors.

The model outperforms comparable compact systems, recovering detail and clarity from images that would previously have been considered unusable.

The advancement has significant implications for photography, security, and a wide range of computational imaging tasks.

Low‑light image enhancement seeks to restore natural visibility, colour fidelity, and structural detail in scenes captured under poor illumination. While recent LLIE models have achieved impressive results, many rely on heavy architectures with large parameter counts, resulting in high computational cost and limited real‑time applicability. Efficiency has therefore become a central research challenge: how to enhance images more effectively while dramatically reducing model size.

In the work presented at the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2026, the team proposes a structured solution grounded in classical colour vision theory and implemented using modern neural components within the Retinex framework. Retinex, a foundational approach in image enhancement, decomposes an image into illumination (light) and reflectance (colour) components to better handle low‑light scenes.

The design motivation behind Multinex is to extract as much useful information as possible from low‑light images using a highly compact architecture. By prioritising enhancement over reconstruction and leveraging lightweight neural operations, Multinex achieves strong illumination correction, detail recovery, and colour fidelity while using only a fraction of the parameters required by existing approaches.

The model is released in both a lightweight version (45K parameters) and an extremely compact nano version (0.7K parameters), each offering substantial reductions in computational load. Comparison to corresponding lightweight models such as PairLIE (330K parameters) and ZeroDCE (80K parameters) Multinex shows a significant performance improvement.

Like other LLIE techniques, Multinex still faces challenges in scenes with severe spectral distortions, lens flares, or mixed artificial and natural lighting. The team aims to extend the framework to these complex cases, exploring alternative formulations such as tone‑mapping or multiplicative residuals, and applying Multinex principles to related domains including intrinsic image decomposition, colour constancy, underwater enhancement, and haze removal.

The researchers demonstrate that Multinex delivers state‑of‑the‑art performance at real‑time cost, highlighting the power of combining analytic priors with modern lightweight design.

The study led by the Indian Childhood Collaborative Leukaemia (ICiCle) group, which includes University of 91ɬ�� researchers, treated over 3000 children with acute B‑cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) at six major centres across India.

ALL is a fast‑growing blood cancer that starts from very early B‑cells in the bone marrow. It is the most common form of ALL, especially in children.

Publishing in the Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, the researchers compared the standard four‑week continuous steroid course with a pulsed schedule given in weeks one, two and four.

Children on the pulsed schedule had far fewer early deaths, with rates falling from 3.5% to 1.3%.

Most leukaemia related early  deaths are currently caused by severe infections linked to continuous steroid use - a major challenge in low‑ and middle‑income countries.

Crucially, the shorter steroid exposure did not affect how well treatment worked, with remission rates of around 98% in both groups.

Survival outcomes were also similar, showing that the safer approach does not compromise cure.

The trial also found that using a powerful and highly effective class of chemotherapy drugs called anthracyclines early in treatment increased the risk of treatment‑related deaths.

The findings come from the ICiCle‑ALL‑14 trial, the first multicentre randomised paediatric oncology trial conducted in India.

Childhood leukaemia now has survival rates above 90% in many wealthy countries.

But children in low‑ and middle‑income countries still face far higher risks of dying during treatment, often because infections strike early on.

Since 2013, the ICiCle group team has been working to bring a consistent, modern treatment approach to children with leukaemia across India, rolled out to centres across India.

Professor Vaskar Saha from The University of 91ɬ�� and Tata Medical Center, is lead author and founder of the ICiCle group.

He said: “We show for the first time that a simple change in how we give steroids can save lives. By reducing continuous exposure, we appear to lessen the risk of severe infections without compromising the effectiveness of treatment. This is a practical, low‑cost intervention that could be adopted widely, particularly in settings where treatment‑related mortality remains high.”

Professor Venkatraman Radhakrishnan of the Cancer Institute (WIA) said: “The study provides robust randomised evidence that steroid scheduling itself is a modifiable determinant of induction mortality. The lack of any detriment in MRD response or survival makes this a particularly compelling practice change.”

The study was funded by the National Cancer Grid, Indian Council of Medical Research, DBT-Wellcome India Alliance and Tata Consultancy Services.

The participating centres were:

• BR Ambedkar Rotary Cancer Hospital — All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
• Department of Pediatrics, PGIMER Chandigarh — Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research
• Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS New Delhi — All India Institute of Medical Sciences
• Department of Pediatric Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai — National cancer centre
• Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Tata Medical Center Kolkata — Tertiary paediatric cancer service
• Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA) Chennai — One of India’s oldest cancer institutes

Professor Michael Garrett, the Sir Bernard Lovell Chair of Astrophysics, chaired a global effort to update the long-standing “post-detection protocols” used by researchers involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). The updated guidelines have now been formally ratified by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

The revised Declaration of Principles marks the first major update to the protocols in more than 15 years and reflects a media landscape transformed by social media, artificial intelligence and the 24-hour news cycle.

Acknowledging that any credible detection of extraterrestrial technology would be a transformative event for humanity, the new Declaration establishes a rigorous framework for verification, transparency and global risk communication.

"The information environment we operate in today is vastly more complex than it was in 2010," said Professor Michael Garrett, Chair of the IAA SETI Committee. . "In an era of deepfakes, automated misinformation, and instant global connectivity, a single unverified claim could trigger confusion or panic. These new protocols ensure that scientists maintain the highest standards of evidence before making announcements to the world."

Adapting to a new era of SETI research

SETI and Technosignature research have expanded significantly since the previous protocols were adopted in 2010. Scientists now investigate the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including excess infrared heat signatures from megastructures, optical laser emission, and even multi-messenger signals. The updated Declaration explicitly recognises this broader approach.

It also addresses other modern challenges, including protections for researchers, acknowledging that scientists involved in potential detection could face harassment, doxxing, or intense media scrutiny.

It also acknowledges the risk of viral rumours, ensuring verified data is distinguished from hoaxes or terrestrial interference.

Verification before announcement

At the heart of the new rules is a reaffirmation of a core scientific principle: “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”.

Under the revised protocols, no public announcement should be made until a signal or artifact has been rigorously authenticated by independent organisations using different instrumentation.

"We do not shout “alien” the moment we see a strange blip," Professor Garrett added. "The scientific method demands we check, check again, and then ask others to check. Only when we have reached a consensus that a signal is credible do we bring it to the world."

The 'No Reply' Consensus

While the protocols outline how to share news of a discovery, they remain firm on one critical restriction: No reply should be sent.

The Declaration reaffirms the enduring principle that transmitting a response to an extraterrestrial intelligence is a decision that belongs to all of humanity and should only take place following international consultations, specifically through the United Nations.

What happens next

With the updated Declaration ratified by the IAA Board, the aim is to see the document lodged with other stakeholders, including the United Nations. A formal technical presentation of the protocols to the wider community, including the scientific press, will take place at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) later this year in Türkiye.

The IAA SETI Committee will also establish a permanent Post-Detection Sub-Committee, bringing together experts in social science, law, and ethics, to advise on the longer-term societal implications of a confirmed discovery.

The full document is available here: 

Professor Woodward is a geomorphologist and geoarchaeologist whose research spans river systems, microplastics in river catchments, Mediterranean geomorphology, Ice Age environments and long-term environmental change. His work explores how landscapes and river systems respond to environmental pressures over timescales ranging from the deep past to the present day.

The group, backed by House of Lords peer Baroness Natalie Bennett, say the UK urgently needs a new national strategy to tackle fungal antimicrobial resistance — a growing and often overlooked threat to human health, food production and the environment.

In a new paper published in Nature NPJ Antimicrobials and Resistance, they reveal how widespread use of fungicides in agriculture could be undermining life‑saving medicines used to treat patients.

Calling for sweeping changes, including a powerful cross-government body to coordinate action, they argue for a nationwide system to monitor resistance in both the environment and clinics, and stricter regulation of fungicides linked to resistance.

Dr Michael Bottery, co-author of the study from The University of 91ɬ��, said: “Fungal resistance is a silent and underestimated threat. The same substances helping to protect crops are also reducing the effectiveness of essential medicines. If we fail to act, we risk losing critical treatments and putting lives at risk.”

The concern centres on so‑called “dual-use” fungicides — chemicals used in both medicine and farming. In the UK, these are applied to around 94 per cent of arable crops, exposing fungi in the environment to the same compounds relied upon in hospitals.

Over time, this exposure allows fungi to evolve and develop resistance, making infections harder to treat when they infect humans. Some resistant strains have already been detected in clinical settings, raising fears that treatments could become increasingly ineffective.

Fungal infections already pose a major global threat, killing an estimated 2.5 million people each year. They disproportionately affect vulnerable patients, including those undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplants, or intensive care treatment.

Despite this, researchers warn that the UK’s current response is fragmented, with responsibility split between agriculture, healthcare and environmental regulators, and limited coordination between them.

They argue that without better surveillance, dangerous resistance trends may go unnoticed until it is too late. More coordinated data-sharing, they say, could allow earlier intervention and more effective policymaking.

Speaking in parliament Baroness Bennett added that tackling the issue requires recognising the close links between human health, farming and ecosystems.

Dr Bottery added: “Without urgent action, the UK risks sleepwalking into a crisis that could threaten not only public health, but also food security, as resistance undermines crop protection and agricultural productivity.”

The full paper, “Addressing the Dual-Use of Antifungals and Fungal Antimicrobial Resistance (fAMR) through a One Health Approach”, is open-access and .

• The image was created with AI

• Psychological therapy is often assessed using research models originally developed for medicines

• Unlike drugs, therapy is typically personalised, open-ended and shaped by the therapist–client relationship

• Heavy reliance on RCT evidence may narrow treatment options in public healthcare and insurance systems

• Short-term symptom measures may miss broader outcomes such as improved relationships, stability and self-understanding

• A broader evidence base is needed, including real-world outcomes and patient experience

Why this matters

RCTs are commonly used to decide which treatments receive funding, policy backing and public provision.

The editorial argues that this has had significant consequences in mental healthcare, where therapies with strong trial evidence - particularly CBT - have become dominant in many systems.

In England’s NHS Talking Therapies programme, only a small minority of high-intensity practitioners offer non-CBT approaches, according to evidence discussed in the article.

Why therapy is different from drugs

The article highlights key differences between medicines and psychological therapies.

While drugs can typically be standardised and tested under controlled conditions, therapy is more fluid. Sessions evolve in response to the individual, progress can be non-linear, and meaningful change may include outcomes that are harder to quantify.

What current evidence may miss

The editorial argues that many therapy studies are relatively short, often capturing early symptom improvement but missing longer-term change, setbacks or deeper psychological development.

It also suggests that recovery is often more complex than a single score or endpoint, and may involve ongoing change over time.

To illustrate this, the author uses a fictional case study showing how different therapy models can lead to very different long-term outcomes, even where short-term symptom improvement appears similar.

Towards a broader understanding of evidence

Rather than rejecting trials altogether, the editorial calls for a more pluralistic approach to evidence, including:

• Real-world service data from routine NHS and community settings

• Research into how therapy works, including the role of relationships and context

• Greater emphasis on patient perspectives and lived experience

What the researcher said

“We have become so used to treating Randomised Controlled Trials as the gold standard that we rarely stop to ask whether they are the right tool for every intervention,” said Dr Sahanika Ratnayake, philosopher of psychiatry at The University of 91ɬ��.

“This editorial is not based on a new experiment, but on analysing the strengths and limits of the existing evidence base. Therapy is not a pill - it is a human relationship shaped by trust, timing, context and individual need.

Why it matters now

Demand for mental health support is rising, while services face pressure over waiting times, staffing and budgets.

The article argues that policymakers need evidence systems that better reflect how therapy is actually practised, and what patients themselves value from care.

Publication details

The editorial was published in BJPsych.

DOI:

The research found that large-scale tree planting, restoration schemes and expanding plantations have likely transformed woodland cover across parts of the country over the past decade.

But the study also warns that headline gains can hide a more complicated picture, with native woodlands still being lost in some areas even as overall tree cover increases.

Key findings

• India gained around 2.1 million hectares of tropical dry woodland between 2014 and 2024

• Government forest lands saw major gains linked to restoration and afforestation programmes

• Many woodland increases outside government lands appear likely to be linked to timber and tree-crop plantations

• Researchers also recorded continued woodland loss in some important native forest areas

• Scientists say national tree-cover figures can mask important differences between natural forests and plantations

What did the study find?

The study mapped changes in India’s tropical dry woodlands - which cover vast areas of the country, but have received far less scientific and conservation attention than tropical rainforests - over a ten-year period using high-resolution satellite imagery.

The researchers found a large overall increase in woodland cover across the country, driven partly by major government-backed restoration efforts including the Green India Mission, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund and the National Afforestation Programme.

The findings suggest these schemes are having a visible impact on the landscape.

Where are the new woodlands appearing?

The study found contrasting patterns inside and outside government-managed forest land.

Within state-administered forest areas, researchers say gains are likely linked to restoration and conservation programmes aimed at increasing forest cover and meeting climate goals.

Outside government lands, however, many gains appear to come from commercial timber plantations and tree crops in agricultural landscapes.

Why this matters

India’s tropical dry woodlands are among the country’s most important but overlooked ecosystems.

They support wildlife, store carbon and provide livelihoods for millions of people, especially in poorer rural regions.

Researchers say understanding exactly what kind of woodland is increasing - and where - matters for biodiversity, climate policy and local communities.

Tree cover is not always the same as forest recovery

The researchers warn that national statistics showing rising tree cover do not always mean natural forests are recovering.

Some native dry woodlands inside protected or government-managed areas continued to experience losses during the study period.

Scientists say plantations can provide economic and climate benefits, but they may not fully replace the biodiversity and ecological value of long-established natural woodlands.

How researchers tracked the changes

The team used satellite imagery to reconstruct changes in woodland cover across India between 2014 and 2024 at very high detail.

This allowed them to identify where woodland was expanding, where it was being lost, and how those patterns differed across landscapes and land ownership types.

What the researchers said

“Our study shows that India has seen substantial gains in dry woodland cover over the past decade,” said lead author Dhanapal Govindarajulu. “A lot of this appears linked to major restoration and afforestation programmes, which demonstrates the scale of change that government policy can achieve - but we also found that not all woodland gains are the same.”

Why it matters now

Countries around the world are pledging large-scale tree planting and forest restoration as part of climate and biodiversity targets.

Researchers say the study highlights the importance of looking beyond headline numbers to understand whether restoration efforts are protecting natural ecosystems, supporting wildlife and benefiting local communities.

Publication details

The research was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

DOI:

Professor Zühlke is also honorary professor at The University of 91ɬ�� and Vice President of the South African Medical Research Council.

The award was given in  recognition for her work with children with heart conditions especially rheumatic heart disease (RHD) that disproportionately affects children living in poverty.

Zuhlke’s research repositioned RHD as a socio-political issue tied to health system deficiencies and inequities.

In a press release, UNESCO said her dedication to scientific excellence, leadership in global health, and capacity building activities have improved the lives of vulnerable children with cardiovascular disease.

The five researchers will be recognized for their pioneering contributions to life and environmental sciences ON  11 June at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

This year's selection highlights their major roles in tackling global health and environmental challenges, from revolutionary tissue engineering and genomic research to agricultural innovation and the impact of nutrition on mental health.

The programme, now in its 28^th year, reflects the growing excellence of women in science worldwide.

The Laureates were selected from a record 504 nominations representing 89 countries, and now join the more than 5,000 women who have been recognized by the programme.

That includes 142 International Award Laureates, among whom seven have received a Nobel Prize in science.

This selection was conducted by an independent international jury chaired by Professor Brigitte L. Kieffer, Research Director Emeritus at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) France, Member of the French Academy of Sciences and former Laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards.

Professor Zühlke  said: “ I am deeply humbled by this immense honour. Childhood-onset heart disease remains not only globally neglected but also serves as a stark barometer of inequality and inequity, with profound differences in survival, outcomes, and quality of life. My sincere thanks go to all those working tirelessly in this field, as well as to the exceptional support from my academic institutions, including the University of 91ɬ��, and to my collaborator of over a decade, Professor Bernard Keavney. This equitable partnership has really extended our work and improved our science, but also served as a source of capacity development for all in the team”.

BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine , a longterm collaborator with Prof Zühlke at The University of 91ɬ��, said: “This well-deserved award reflects Liesl’s huge contributions to the cardiovascular health of children and young people in poor countries. Liesl is a truly remarkable and inspiring woman.”

As part of the University’s ongoing civic commitment, festivalgoers can experience the best of research, teaching, and culture at the event on Saturday, June 13, 2026.

Discover, create and connect

From atoms to art, calligraphy to computing, and music to medicine there’s plenty to discover and do. With over 90 hands-on stalls, visitors will be encouraged to explore what makes for a greener, healthier and fairer world.

Find out how diverse cultures, creativity and wellbeing come together, discover fascinating stories of space, technology and engineering, or take a journey through the body and learn what makes us human.

Get moving with outdoor sporting challenges, featuring a range of fun activities designed to get everybody active and involved. Enjoy a quiet moment at the University Community Allotment, hosted in partnership with Ardwick Climate Action, a space to connect with nature.

Find out more about 91ɬ�� as a UNESCO City of Lifelong Learning and hear how the University is a key partner in helping to create a healthier and more inclusive city.

See the Flash Bang Show - a dazzling display of colour changes, flashes and the occasional bang.

Meet up with a heritage specialist to tour the campus on foot and hear how the University’s work has shaped innovation and society.

Vibrant cultural institutions

Visitors can take part in a lively mix of creative drop-in workshops hosted by the University’s cultural institutions in partnership with local community organisations. The Jodrell Bank engagement team are joining the University on campus to help answer some of the biggest questions about the universe. At the Whitworth, festivalgoers can immerse themselves in playful and artful spaces – get ready to build, explore and reimagine. Pop along to 91ɬ�� Museum to follow a language trail around the enchanting collections and stop off for a selfie with Stan the dinosaur.

Bee Curious

Our Bee Curious programme features thought-provoking talks and performances for all ages. Audiences will have the chance to meet with leading academics and explore curious questions ranging from What are asteroids made of? To How can we save the world’s frogs? And can you master the psychology to win The Traitors? Visitors can also join Afrocats musician Godfrey Pambalipe, in an entertaining and rhythmic drumming session. No experience needed – just bring your enthusiasm and have a go!

Find out more

Find out more about the free Universally 91ɬ�� Festival at The University of 91ɬ��’s Oxford Road Campus on Saturday, June 13, from 11am to 4:30pm.

Take a look at the full programme here:

The NHS programme called “Healthy Living for people with type 2 diabetes” is a website containing written articles, videos, self-assessment quizzes and tools.

It supports people to live well with T2D by providing information and advice about eating well, becoming more active, living with diabetes, and emotional wellbeing.

Published today in PLOS One, the study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The research team analysed data from people with T2D who activated a Healthy Living account and found they experienced better health outcomes at one year than those who did not take part.

They examined who was most likely to use the programme (uptake) and how engagement related to changes in HbA1c – a blood test used to measure average blood sugar levels - blood pressure, body mass index, insulin use, and completion of essential diabetes care processes.

The findings show, uptake of the programme was highest among women, people from least deprived areas (vs. most deprived areas), and people of White ethnicity, and current smokers (vs. never smokers).

To assess clinical outcomes, the study compared 4,940 Healthy Living users with 24,685 similar individuals who did not register for the programme. After a year, Healthy Living users saw an average HbA1c drop of 1.3 mmol/mol, alongside small but steady dips in BMI and blood pressure, all pointing to better day‑to‑day control of their diabetes.

They were also 1.6 times more likely to complete the routine yearly MOT that helps spot problems early, keeping on top of the vital checks that protect the eyes, feet, heart and kidneys in the long run.

However, the study highlights that even small average improvements can translate into meaningful reductions in T2D‑related complications when applied across large populations.

It also underscores the need to address inequalities in uptake, with notably lower participation among Asian and Black communities despite higher T2D prevalence.

Lead author Dr said: “What this study shows, in the plainest possible terms, is that a free, nationally available NHS educational programme can help people with T2D make measurable improvements to their health, even when used in the complex reality of everyday life.

“It’s not a silver bullet, but it is a practical tool that works – and the challenge now is ensuring that everyone who could benefit has the opportunity to do so.”

“We feel Healthy Living offers a scalable, accessible option for supporting type 2 diabetes self‑management, particularly for people who face barriers to attending in‑person diabetes education programmes.

“Improving uptake among underserved groups will be essential to ensuring the programme reduces existing health inequalities.”

Co-author , Principal Investigator and an Honorary Reader at The University of 91ɬ�� said: “People’s outcomes were better for those who attended more of the Healthy Living programme, so it would be worthwhile for the NHS to find ways to encourage people to attend for longer, such as improved signposting and motivational messages”

• The paper Examining the uptake, retention, and effectiveness of a national online type 2 2 diabetes self-management intervention in England (Healthy Living): a retrospective 3 cohort study is available DOI

“More young people are reporting good wellbeing, loneliness is falling and emotional difficulties are reducing – which are encouraging findings – but the picture is not the same for everyone. Significant inequalities remain, particularly for LGBTQ+ young people and those with special educational needs, and that remains a major challenge.”

Report details

The latest #BeeWell findings report can be found .

Measuring around a metre in length and armed with pincers over 16 centimetres long, Praearcturus gigas would have been a formidable predator stalking floodplains around 415 million years ago. Remarkably, the fossils used to identify Praearcturus have been held in the Museum’s collection for more than 150 years.

The study, published in the journal, used modern analytical techniques and comparisons with newly described fossil species to suggest that Praearcturus is a scorpion, and a distinct species.

Dr Richard J. Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum, London, and lead author of the study, said: “When we think of giant arthropods, people often picture Carboniferous rainforests with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects from later in Earth’s history. But Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was only just getting started.

“Confirming that this animal is a scorpion fundamentally changes our understanding of how and when these creatures evolved to such extraordinary sizes.”

, Palaeontologist at The University of 91ɬ��, added: “Praearcturus has puzzled us palaeontologists for more than a century. By bringing together material from several collections and using cutting edge imaging techniques , we've been able to build a clearer picture of the animal than was previously possible, which is really exciting.

“What makes Praearcturus so interesting is that it became enormous at a time when life on land was otherwise very small. But it was a world  that could somehow support a giant predator. To try and better understand this ancient world we compared the size of fossil scorpions with other animals alive at the time. To reach such extraordinary sizes, and conclude that perhaps it lived in water, where life was bigger.”

Praearcturus gigas lived during the Early Devonian. Small plants and fungi had only recently begun to spread across the landscape, and complex terrestrial ecosystems like forests had yet to evolve. This means that, unlike later giant arthropods, Praearcturus did not benefit from the high atmospheric oxygen levels associated with the rise of forests. Instead, its enormous size may reflect a world with relatively little competition from other large predators. This suggests that Praearcturus might have grown so big simply because there weren’t many other large animals around meaning it could dominate its environment in a way that wouldn’t be possible later on.

The fossils also hint that this giant scorpion may have led a partly aquatic lifestyle. Some specimens show flap-like structures on the abdomen similar to those found in modern crustaceans such as lobsters, suggesting it may have been capable of moving between water and land. Quantification of the wider arachnid fossil record, led by Dr Garwood and the team, shows that scorpions are unusually abundant in rocks of this age compared with other arachnids, supporting the idea that some early forms may have lived in freshwater environments where they are more likely to survive as fossils. This places Praearcturus at a pivotal moment in Earth’s history when animals were first experimenting with life outside the oceans.

 This places Praearcturus at a pivotal moment in Earth’s history when animals were first experimenting with life outside the oceans.

Dr Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Musuem, London, and co-author of the study said: “The boundary between land and sea was much less defined at this time. Praearcturus gives us a fascinating glimpse into how early animals adapted to these changing environments.

“It may even represent a lineage that returned to the water after earlier ancestors had already begun living on land.”

First described in 1871, Praearcturus gigas was originally thought to be a giant crustacean, similar to a woodlouse. The known fossils fragmentary nature lacked key features such as a tail making it difficult to classify with confidence for more than a century.

The breakthrough came through comparison with better preserved fossils discovered in recent years, which revealed key anatomical features unique to scorpions. The discovery highlights the continuing scientific importance of museum collections.

Dr Howard added: “Specimens collected over a century ago can still hold entirely new insights. By revisiting them with modern techniques, we can uncover discoveries that reshape our understanding of life on Earth.”

The discovery of such a large scorpion so early in the history of life on land challenges assumptions about why prehistoric arthropods reached gigantic sizes. Rather than being driven solely by environmental factors such as oxygen levels, the findings suggest that ecological opportunity such as a lack of competition may have played a crucial role.

The findings show that virtual wards can provide a safe alternative to hospital care for some patients, allowing people to recover at home while still receiving clinical oversight. However, patients and carers often take on more practical and emotional responsibility than may be recognised as they assume duties that would normally be carried out by clinicians in hospital settings. This includes monitoring symptoms, managing equipment and responding to signs of deterioration, especially overnight or outside normal working hours.

The study, published in the journal and led by researchers at The University of 91ɬ��, is funded by the NIHR Greater 91ɬ�� Patient Safety Research Collaboration (GM PSRC) and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater 91ɬ�� (ARC-GM).

Using qualitative methods, including observation work and interviews with patients and carers, the researchers evaluated virtual wards services across four sites in North-West England. Their findings show that safety in virtual wards does not rely on technology alone, but is strongly shaped by the relational and emotional support provided to patients, carers and clinicians.

Dr Kelly Howells, Research Fellow at The University of 91ɬ�� and the NIHR GM PSRC, said: “Virtual wards can help people receive acute care safely at home, but our study shows safe care depends on more than technology.

“Patients, carers and clinicians all play a role in managing risk, with patients and carers often taking on important practical and emotional responsibilities, particularly outside normal working hours. Health services need to recognise and better support this work.”

The researchers suggest that hospital at home services that combine technology with in‑person home visits could help make care safer, more flexible, and accessible for a wider range of patients. Recognising and supporting the work undertaken by patients and carers is essential to ensure virtual wards are safely delivered.

As virtual wards expand as a key component of NHS policy to shift acute care from hospital to community settings, practice must ensure there is space for relational and training support for clinicians, patients, and carers so that remote acute care can be safely implemented across health systems.

The paper Shifting boundaries of risk-work in virtual wards in North-West England: a multisite qualitative evaluation is available . DOI  

This study builds on earlier work by the NIHR GM PSRC and ARC-GM exploring virtual wards through the perspectives of patients, carers and staff, helping to deepen understanding of how virtual ward services operate in practice.

Read more in

• The image was created with AI 

Colgate-Palmolive, a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet, will continue to fund the renowned Dental Health Unit (DHU) at the University.

Selling its health and hygiene products in more than 200 countries and territories, Colgate-Palmolive is the global leader in toothpaste and manual toothbrushes. With historic links to 91ɬ��, the company’s former Colgate-Palmolive factory in Salford Quays, built in 1938, was redeveloped in 2005 into the famous landmark now known as Soapworks.

The global leader in oral health has been working with The University of 91ɬ�� since 1968, amounting to the University’s longest ever business partnership. The DHU has been a leading centre for oral health research for almost 60 years.

Initially carrying out clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of Colgate products in collaboration with Colgate’s Research & Development team, the DHU has quickly evolved into a public health-focused program working collaboratively to mentor PhD candidates and to develop leaders in dentistry throughout the UK and beyond.

The extension of the funding will support high-quality clinical and behavioural research to generate real-world evidence for policy and practice. It will also allow the DHU to run a Fellowship Program – training the next generation of oral health researchers. The first awards to train future leaders have been announced with funding available for early career researchers in Europe and North America.

Anne-Marie Glenny, Professor of Health Sciences and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at the School of Medical Sciences, said: “For over 50 years, the Dental Health Unit and our proud, historic association with Colgate Palmolive has reaped real health impacts, carrying out world -leading oral health research and supporting the development of research and policy leaders.

“The next chapter for the Dental Health Unit aims to enhance our impact in areas such as dental public health, behavioural science and clinical study management by building a robust network of collaborations with leading academic institutions.

"We will strategically expand our PhD program across renowned universities throughout the UK, Europe and North America.

"By fostering alliances with leading researchers, we are committed to advancing innovation and shaping thought leadership in oral health and behavioural insights.”

Professor Jan Clarkson, Academic Director at the DHU said: “This collaboration between the University and Colgate-Palmolive aims to establish the DHU as a strategic hub for advancing oral health behaviour change, leveraging behavioural insights, and innovative oral health research to deliver impactful, scalable outcomes that improve public health policies and oral health globally.

“This long standing private-public collaboration endeavours to advance global oral health research and education, leveraging industry and academic expertise to drive international excellence in scientific innovation, improve patient outcomes, and shape public health policies.”

Maria Ryan, DDS, PhD, Executive Vice President Chief Clinical Officer, Colgate Palmolive, said: “Colgate-Palmolive’s purpose is to reimagine a healthier future for all. We are proud of the accomplishments of our longstanding partnership with the University of 91ɬ�� through this Dental Health Unit. The pioneer DHU at the University of 91ɬ�� has advanced oral health through innovative, multidisciplinary research streams for more than half a century, breaking down silos between academia, clinicians, industry, policy makers and the communities that we all serve. And our collaboration has served as a model for others globally, with our more recent DHUs based in Latin America and India.”

The study was carried out by University of 91ɬ�� and 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust  researchers.

The discovery was made when researchers looked at early data from volunteers in the ongoing community-based EARLY-HF study in Greater 91ɬ��. When heart scans were offered to the 550 volunteers aged over 50 with cardiometabolic issues, researchers discovered that nearly one in 10 people (nine per cent) had already suffered a heart attack without realising it.

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) had undetected or poorly managed heart or circulatory problems which required medical attention.

To take part in the study, people had to have at least two health issues from a list of seven which affect millions of people in the UK. These included high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, the lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the heart rhythm problem atrial fibrillation, obesity and chronic kidney disease.

The most common issues for study participants were pre-existing high blood pressure, which had already been diagnosed in 88 per cent of the study group, and obesity, which affected 70 per cent. Meanwhile 42 per cent of the volunteers had diabetes.

Led by Consultant Cardiologist at 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at The University of 91ɬ��, researchers wanted to understand the rate of hidden illness which had been unrecognised and untreated in this group.

They discovered almost two-thirds (60 per cent) had high blood pressure which was not under proper control or being effectively managed, raising their potential risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Among the study volunteers, 34 per cent were classified as living in an area that is among the top 20 per cent most deprived in England,¹ while 28 per cent lived in an area among the 20 per cent least deprived. There were more men than women in the study, with males making up 59 per cent of volunteers.

The researchers suggest the rates of undetected health problems found in Greater 91ɬ�� are likely to be reflected in communities across the UK.

British Heart Foundation Research Fellow at 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust and The University of 91ɬ��, helped to run the study and presented the findings at the BCS conference in 91ɬ��. He said:

“My colleagues and I were shocked by just how much unrecognised disease we found. While our study involves people who would be considered at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, finding so many people who had experienced a heart attack and didn’t know it was not something we ever anticipated going into this study.”

The Detecting EARLY Heart Failure in Greater 91ɬ�� (EARLY-HF) study aims to detect people at risk of developing heart failure earlier, within socioeconomically and ethnically diverse communities who may have reduced access to healthcare.

Heart attacks and other heart and circulatory issues, like those discovered in the study so far, can lead to heart failure – a condition which affects more than a million people in the UK and means the heart cannot pump blood properly, which can cause severe breathlessness and fatigue.

Most study participants (81 per cent) were recruited via their GP surgery, with another 12 per cent signing up after seeing a social media advert, and others recruited through community events or signposted to the project by family and friends.

Everyone involved in the study had blood tests, an ECG and a cardiac MRI scan, and answered questions about their health and medical history. These tests revealed that 125 people out of 550 (23 per cent) had a heart or circulatory issue that required medical attention.

On cardiac MRI scans, signs of scarring suggested that 46 people (nine per cent) had previously had a suspected heart attack. These diagnoses were confirmed by a consultant cardiologist, who looked over every scan. Letters were sent to people’s GPs, and they were then referred on for further tests and treatment.

Researchers found that 331 people in the study (60 per cent) had a blood pressure reading of 140/90mmHg or higher – the usual threshold for a diagnosis of high blood pressure (hypertension).

While 27 of these were undetected cases of high blood pressure, 304 people (92 per cent of them) were known to have it when they joined the study, with 224 already taking blood pressure-lowering medication. The researchers say this suggests their treatment plan was inadequate, as it had not brought their blood pressure down to a normal level.

Blood tests revealed 162 people (30 per cent) had elevated levels of the protein NT pro-BNP - a sign that their heart was under strain.

The study continues to recruit people in Greater 91ɬ�� with at least two cardiometabolic conditions – related to the heart, blood vessels or metabolism.

Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said:

"These shocking findings should ring alarm bells for our healthcare leaders. They show that our current approach to prevention isn’t fit for purpose, and too many people are slipping through the gaps as a result.

“All too often we see patients too late, when years of living with treatable risk factors like high blood pressure or high cholesterol have built up leading to heart attacks or heart failure. We have made huge strides in our ability to treat cardiovascular disease over the past 65 years, but right now we’re missing opportunities to prevent it in the first place. The picture this study paints won’t improve without a radical shift in how we identify and treat people at risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Professor Chris Miller, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist at The University of 91ɬ�� and 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust, who leads the EARLY-HF study said: “These findings underscore the need to address disparities in cardiovascular disease detection, healthcare access, and outcomes, including by engaging people through non-traditional channels such as text messaging and social media.”  

• Theis supported by Innovate UK Greater 91ɬ�� Innovation Accelerator, AstraZeneca, and British Heart Foundation. The sponsor of the study is 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust.

Lead researchers and will trial the new course which has been shown to improve the way carers and people with dementia communicate with each other across England.

Difficulties communicating can result in a person with dementia losing confidence, withdrawing during interactions, or feeling disconnected from and devalued by the other person.

However, University of 91ɬ�� led research has shown that interventions focusing on communication can improve the person with dementia’s communication and behavioural symptoms.

Carers reported positive experiences of using the method called , a detailed study of the experience of 15 carers published in the journal showed.

And a second NIHR-funded study, published in found it was possible to measure participants psychological health, quality of life and service use when trialling the course.

Now the research team are able to progress to a multi-centre trial of the method across three proposed sites in England, thanks to the NIHR funding. The course will be offered across Greater 91ɬ�� with Greater 91ɬ�� Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as the lead site.

The course, pioneered by 91ɬ��’s Dr Lydia Morris and Professor Warren Mansell brings a glimmer of hope to the 700,000 people supporting a family member, partner, or friend with dementia.

Empowered Conversations uses evidence based psychological and communication theories to support carers to improve relationships and reduce stress.

For example, it uses Mentalisation Theory, which is about understanding our own thoughts and feelings while recognising that others have their own minds with different perspectives.

Professor Berry from The University of 91ɬ�� is also Mental Health Co-Theme Lead at the NIHR 91ɬ�� Biomedical Research Centre and Co-Director of the Complex Trauma and Resilience Research Unit at Greater 91ɬ�� Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

She said: “In dementia care, relationships often change dramatically, for example, a child may become the carer of a parent, or a spouse may shift from partner to caregiver.  Carers often face a painful conflict between remembering the person as they used to be and coping with who they have become.

“Seeing someone who looks the same physically but has changed in memory, personality, and communication can feel confusing, distressing and bring a sense of loss and grief.

“Stress associated with these changes in close relationships can make it harder to understand and interpret another person’s thoughts and feelings.  While some carers adapt by adjusting their expectations and priorities, this kind of coping does not happen easily or automatically. This is where learning skills in mentalisation can help.”

Among the positives, carers said the course resulted in changes to themselves, their relationships, and their communication skills.

Participants also described letting go of their expectations of what the person should be able to do and replacing that with more realistic goals.

Dr Morris, who is a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Clinical Psychologist at the University, added: “In a landscape where provision of post-diagnostic dementia support is variable or limited, it appears that Empowered Conversations can offer carers an intervention that is appreciated and accessible.

“Communication difficulties are associated with increased carer stress and burden and can contribute to the breakdown of the interpersonal relationship between the carer and person with dementia.

“Training does exist, but it focuses on practical communication skills without addressing the emotional and relational contexts of care and communication.

“However, the carers we worked with reported positive experiences of participating in Empowered Conversations and valued meeting people who, despite sometimes different circumstances, shared their understanding of supporting someone with dementia.

“The course supported participants to rethink communication and have a greater appreciation of the other person’s perspective during everyday interactions.”

• Image is AI generated

Bangladesh has just approved one of the largest river engineering projects its history: the Padma Barrage, a vast river-control project intended to restore water in the country’s drought-prone southwest.

It comes at a dangerous moment for South Asia’s rivers. China is building the upstream on the Brahmaputra, India is accelerating its own , and the treaty governing Ganges water-sharing between India and Bangladesh expires in December 2026.

Rather than easing regional water insecurity, the Padma Barrage risks adding to a cycle of unilateral river engineering across the subcontinent. South Asia is entering a regional dam-building race – without the institutions needed to share its rivers.

Bangladesh’s water crisis

Supporters say the barrage is a pragmatic response to chronic water insecurity in Bangladesh. The country sits at the end of the vast Ganges-Brahmaputra river system, where rivers that originate in the Himalayas spread into thousands of channels before they reach the sea. Despite all this water, the main river channels are and some smaller rivers are disappearing rapidly.

The Farakka Barrage in India, and the proposed Padma Barrage downstream. 

Bangladesh did not create this problem alone. Since the 1970s, the Farakka Barrage, built across the Ganges upstream in India, has diverted water towards the huge city of Kolkata to flush sediment away from its port.

The consequences for Bangladesh are well documented. Its rivers have dried up and become less navigable. They have also become saltier, groundwater levels have declined, and severe riverbank erosion has occurred.

Farming has become more difficult and fish stocks have declined. These environmental pressures have forced many people to migrate out of the country.

Most critically, the reduced flow of freshwater has harmed — the world’s largest mangrove forest, shared between Bangladesh and India. There, elevated salinity has caused widespread among mangrove trees and significant biodiversity loss.

The promise – and risks – of Padma Barrage

When complete, the centrepiece of the Padma Barrage will be a huge dam more than two kilometres long. It is designed to store water during the monsoon season and release it in the drier months, helping reduce salinity intrusion by maintaining freshwater flows and pushing saline water further downstream during the dry season.

In theory, the barrage will revive a host of smaller rivers in western Bangladesh. The it will support irrigation across much of the country, while increasing rice and fish production.

The proposed Padma Barrage will span the Ganges river system’s largest channel in Bangladesh.

Yet the project raises a series of that deserve serious scrutiny.

The most immediate relates to silt, because the Ganges is an exceptionally sediment-heavy river. A dam or barrage causes the river water to lose speed and the energy required to carry sediment, which is dumped upstream.

This is already a severe problem . More than a million people have been displaced from over the past three decades, as banks have been eroded and floods have become more intense.

Constructing a second major barrier downstream – the Padma Barrage – risks compounding these effects, potentially trapping additional sediment loads between the two structures and intensifying flooding pressure.

The consequences downstream could be equally serious. The diversion of water into southwestern river channels — the stated objective of the project — implies reduced flows in the main river systems. If these flows aren’t strong enough to push back salty tidal waters, then parts of coastal Bangladesh, rather than benefiting from improved water security, could face accelerating salinisation.

There is a deeper irony here. Bangladesh is responding to the damage caused by India’s Farakka Barrage with a major barrage of its own.

Farakka was built to solve an economic problem upstream, but imposed major environmental costs downstream in Bangladesh. Those economic problems are still unsolved – Kolkata port still suffers from silt and needs constant dredging.

Critics fear the Padma Barrage could reproduce the same pattern: large environmental disruption without the promised benefits. In other words, the same engineering approach that damaged Bangladesh may soon be reproduced within that country.

A regional struggle over rivers

The project also depends on sufficient water continuing to flow into Bangladesh. But China – alongside planned hydropower projects across India, including plans to – could significantly reduce the volume of water entering Bangladesh in future. If that happens, the Padma Barrage may not have enough water to work as intended.

The timing also matters. The between India and Bangladesh expires in December 2026, and governs the same flows the Padma Barrage is designed to manage. Rather than strengthening Bangladesh’s position ahead of treaty talks, the project could weaken its case for demanding more water from India by signalling that it can cope with reduced flows.

Several rivers that the barrage aims to revive flow through both India and Bangladesh, meaning restoration will require cooperation between the two countries, rather than infrastructure alone.

That makes Bangladesh’s 2025 accession to the particularly significant. As the first South Asian country to join the treaty, Bangladesh now has a stronger legal basis to push for more equitable water-sharing, particularly as the Ganges treaty negotiations approach.

Dams cannot replace diplomacy

The Padma Barrage is not an inherently misconceived project. Bangladesh’s water crisis is real, and the political pressure to respond is genuine.

But without renewed water-sharing agreements and stronger cooperation with neighbouring countries, this new barrage risks repeating the pattern of unilateral river engineering that has already destabilised South Asia’s waterways.

Infrastructure that outpaces diplomacy is a familiar reason for failure in the region. The challenge for Bangladesh is to ensure the barrage becomes part of a strong legal and diplomatic framework for river cooperation – not another step in an escalating cycle of hydropolitical competition.

, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Geography, and , Associate Professor in Risk and Disaster Science,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

A new study led by researchers at The University of 91ɬ�� has carried out the first full environmental life‑cycle cost analysis of using abandoned onshore oil and gas wells to generate geothermal electricity.

Published in Applied Thermal Engineering, the research assesses not only the financial costs of repurposing old wells, but also the often overlooked environmental and human health impacts, such as air pollution and climate damage.

The findings show that while repurposed geothermal systems currently produce electricity at a higher cost than conventional geothermal power, they deliver substantially lower environmental and health costs, particularly by avoiding new drilling and reducing pollution linked to fossil fuel infrastructure.

Turning legacy fossil assets into clean energy

Across Europe and globally, hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells are approaching the end of their productive life. Safely sealing and monitoring these wells is costly, and poorly managed sites can pose long‑term environmental risks.

The 91ɬ�� team explored whether these existing wells could instead be given a second life as geothermal energy sources, using underground heat to generate electricity.

“Existing oil and gas wells already reach deep underground areas where heat from the Earth can potentially be used for geothermal energy” said , Research Associate at The University of 91ɬ��. “Our research asks whether we can turn this legacy infrastructure into part of the climate solution, rather than treating it solely as a liability.”

The study analysed three repurposing approaches:

• using two fully abandoned wells
• converting a single abandoned well
• turning late-life wells that increasingly produce water rather than oil and gas

These were compared with a conventional, purpose‑drilled geothermal power plant.

Cleaner, but not yet cheaper

The analysis found that repurposed well systems can have dramatically lower environmental impacts, particularly for air pollutants that affect human health. In some cases, environmental damage costs were reduced by more than 80% compared with a standard geothermal plant.

However, because the assessed repurposed systems are typically small and generate relatively little electricity, their cost per unit of power remains high. Electricity generated from repurposed wells currently costs more than from large‑scale geothermal, wind, solar or nuclear power.

, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Chemical Engineering at The University of 91ɬ�� said “The challenge is not that repurposed geothermal is dirty or inefficient – it’s that it’s operating at pilot scale. When costs are spread over very small electricity output, the price per kilowatt‑hour inevitably looks high.”

Why environmental costs matter

A key innovation of the study is that it places environmental damage and human health impacts into monetary terms, allowing these costs to be compared directly with financial ones.

When these external costs are included, repurposed geothermal systems perform particularly well compared to fossil fuels. The study shows that coal and gas power impose environmental costs over 100 times higher than repurposed geothermal options.

What needs to change

The study stresses that repurposing oil and gas wells is not a silver bullet, but could play an important role in a diversified, low‑carbon energy system, especially if supported by the right policies.

Key recommendations include:

• Targeted incentives for early‑stage geothermal projects using existing wells
• Scaling up projects by clustering multiple wells together
• Clear rules on long‑term responsibility and well integrity
• Better integration of environmental and health costs into energy policy decisions

Crucially, the research suggests repurposing could help regions historically dependent on fossil fuels transition skills and infrastructure into clean energy, supporting a fairer, more inclusive energy transition.

A highly experienced consultant and chartered psychologist, Dame Robina Shah DBE has spent over 30 years working across healthcare, medical education, patient safety, public service, social justice, and inclusion.

She is currently Professor of Psychosocial Medicine and Medical Education at the University of 91ɬ�� Medical School and Director of the Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience.

Dame Robina’s contribution to patient care was recognised through her appointment as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, following her earlier MBE for services to academic research in learning disabilities.

Through her roles in a wide range of sports organisations, including the FA Council, FA Women’s Football Board, 91ɬ�� County FA, and Oldham Athletic Football Club, Dame Robina has also made a significant contribution to football governance, player welfare, disability football, women’s football, and widening opportunity through sport.

Dame Robina has been nominated for the Freedom by the City of London Corporation’s Deputy Policy Chair, James Thomson, and City Corporation Lead Member for Sport, Edward Lord.

Speaking after her Freedom ceremony, Dame Robina Shah said: “I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the Freedom of the City of London. This unexpected recognition has touched me greatly.

“I thank my nominators, James Thomson and Edward Lord, and accept the Freedom with humility and appreciation, mindful of the many people who have guided, supported, and encouraged me throughout my life.

“The City of London has long held a special significance for me. Although 91ɬ�� is my home and the place where I was born, I have had the privilege, through my civic and public roles, of attending many events in the City and seeing first-hand its unique history, traditions and contribution to public life.

“This recognition of my contribution to the NHS, sport, particularly football, and governance is especially meaningful, because these areas have shaped much of my life’s work and public service. I wish to thank the many colleagues, patients, volunteers, community partners and organisations that I have had the privilege of working alongside over the years. Much of what I have been able to contribute has only been possible through collective effort, shared purpose and the generosity, trust and support of others.

“At this time, I also think warmly of my parents, whose values, kindness and humanity shaped the lens through which I have tried to serve others. They taught me to notice people, especially those who may otherwise go unseen, and nurtured in me a curiosity about people’s stories, lives and experiences, grounded in compassion, dignity and respect.

“I also want to acknowledge my family, Tariq, Zainab, Raabiyah and Sulaymaan, whose love, support and patience have been central to all my achievements.”

City of London Corporation Policy Chairman, Chris Hayward, said: “Dame Robina Shah’s Freedom of the City of London recognises her distinguished career and expertise in a wide range of fields, including healthcare, medical education, patient care, inclusion, and football governance.

“A very deserving recipient of the Freedom, I hope that Dame Robina and her guests will have very fond memories of her ceremony at Guildhall for many years to come.”

Deputy City of London Corporation Policy Chairman, James Thomson, said: "I am honoured to have nominated Dame Robina for the Freedom of the City of London.

“Robina's public service has been extraordinary, especially, in giving young people opportunity through education and skills, tackling inequality and hate crime, and supporting the most vulnerable in society and giving them a voice.

“Robina is an inspirational role model to so many and has a personal warmth that is infectious."

City of London Corporation Lead Member for Sport, Edward Lord OBE, said: "Dame Robina has made a demonstrable contribution to public life in Greater 91ɬ��, and to the nation.

“In particular, her involvement in providing independent governance expertise to the Football Association and now, on the board of Oldham Athletic Football Club, marks her out as someone worthy of recognition.

“As a fellow Lancastrian, it was a genuine pleasure to support her nomination for the City Freedom."

The City Corporation’s  aims to make the Square Mile a global sports destination, by offering attractive and valued sport facilities, venues, activations, and events for residents, workers, and visitors.

One of the City of London’s ancient traditions, the Freedom is believed to have begun in 1237 and enabled recipients to carry out their trade.

As well as being nominated for, or applying for, the Freedom, it is also offered by the City of London Corporation to individuals as a way of paying tribute to their outstanding contribution to London or public life, or to celebrate a very significant achievement.  

Recent notable recipients include broadcaster and breast cancer charity ambassador, Gloria Hunniford; two-time Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian, Cate Blanchett; novelist, Ken Follett; actor, Ray Winstone; and City of London Police Special Constable and TV presenter, Penny Lancaster.

Professor Chris Parkes, an experimental particle physicist at the University, and Professor Jeff Forshaw, a theoretical particle physicist, join over 90 other pioneers and leaders across a range of scientific fields, from astronomy and cancer research to mathematics and biotechnology.

In their election, they join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.

Professor Parkes is Head of the Physics & Astronomy Department at The University of 91ɬ�� and is internationally recognised for his leadership in particle physics. He previously led the LHCb experiment at CERN - one of the world’s largest scientific collaborations. His research focuses on the search for new physics through studies of matter–antimatter asymmetries and the development of radiation-hard silicon detectors.

Professor Parkes has played a central role in the development of the next generation of LHCb experiments, serving as Principal Investigator and Project Manager for the UK’s contribution to the LHCb Upgrade, installed in 2023, and leading the design of the future LHCb Upgrade II programme. Last year, the LHCb collaboration was honoured by sharing the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Parkes was also awarded the Institute of Physics High Energy Physics Group Prize in 2010.

Professor Forshaw is a theoretical particle physicist best known for his work on quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong force. His work has uncovered unexpected features of perturbative QCD and has contributed to the theoretical frameworks used to interpret high-energy particle collisions, with important applications at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and other major international experiments. 

Jeff is also a prominent communicator of science. Together with Brian Cox he has written a series of bestselling popular science books that have introduced a wide readership to the mathematical ideas underpinning modern physics. Through his books, lectures and broader public engagement he has brought the substance, and the joy, of fundamental physics to a wide audience. 

Jeff's research has been recognised by the Maxwell Medal of the Institute of Physics for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, and his public engagement work by the Institute's Kelvin Medal for outstanding and sustained contributions to the public understanding of physics. 

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said: “I am delighted to welcome this newest group of exceptional scientists to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. 

“Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavour. Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry. 

“Our Fellowship is strengthened not only by individual distinction, but by the diversity of perspectives and experiences its members bring. This incoming cohort highlights the truly international character of contemporary science and underscores the vital role that plays in achieving breakthroughs that benefit us all.”

The full list of newly elected Fellows can be found on the

The study, published in , used a combination of high-resolution imaging, flow measurements, and mathematical modelling to examine fluid flows around corals that are driven by cilia – densely packed tiny hairs on the coral’s surface. The collective beating of the cilia contributes to the movement of fluid around the surface of the coral, regulating the animal’s immediate environment through the transport of particles such as oxygen.

The researchers found that heterogeneity in ciliary orientation—small variations in the direction individual cilia beat—can significantly boost transport efficiency. For substances that diffuse slowly through the fluid, this natural variability increased particle transport by more than 50% compared to perfectly aligned cilia. This contrasts with other biological systems, highlighting how coral cilia are uniquely adapted to their environment.

However, the study also found that strong external flows, such as ocean currents, can reduce the coral’s ability to exchange materials efficiently near the surface.

Researchers believe that the mathematical modelling used in understanding the behaviour and effectiveness of these coral-based cilia structures could be applied to ciliated tissues in humans, such as those found in the respiratory system and fallopian tubes.

Dr Draga Pihler-Puzovic, Reader at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of 91ɬ��, said of the study, “This work provides a powerful framework for understanding how coral surfaces operate across a wide range of environmental conditions. It also opens the possibility of applying the same mathematical models to human biology, offering new ways to investigate how cilia function in the body and how their dysfunction may contribute to disease.”

This paper was published in the journal:

DOI: 10.1103/fhfw-f1nv

The research, published in Biological Conservation, found that more than 493,000 square kilometres of land - an area larger than Spain - has been damaged by deforestation and fires in the vital transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savanna in Brazil.

The team - led by Dr Chuanze Li from The University of 91ɬ�� - say the findings reveal a major conservation crisis in a region that helps protect the wider Amazon, stores huge amounts of carbon and supports exceptional biodiversity but has very little formal protection.

Key findings

• Researchers mapped more than 35 years of environmental damage using AI and satellite imagery

• At least 493,000 km² of land has been affected by deforestation or fire

• Large areas damaged by fire still had not recovered even after a decade

• Only around 2% of the study region currently has formal protection

• Repeated human-caused fires may be permanently changing ecosystems

What did the study find?

The research focused on the Cerrado-Amazon transition (CAT) zone in Brazil, a vast area where rainforest and savanna meet.

Using decades of Landsat satellite images combined with artificial intelligence, researchers tracked how forests and vegetation changed between 1986 and 2020.

They found widespread damage caused by both large-scale forest clearing and repeated fires linked to farming expansion and cattle ranching.

Why this region matters

This area is one of the world’s most important ecological frontiers, and acts as a buffer protecting the Amazon while supporting unique wildlife and storing carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change if released.

But despite its importance, the region has received far less attention and protection than the Amazon rainforest itself.

Fires leave long-lasting scars

One of the study’s most striking findings was how slowly vegetation recovered after fire. Researchers found that even ten years later, many affected areas had still not returned to their previous condition.

The damage was particularly severe in parts of the Cerrado, where repeated human-driven burning appears to be weakening the ecosystem’s natural ability to recover.

A hidden protection gap

The study also exposed a major lack of protected areas across the region. While around 28% of the Amazon biome overall is protected, only around 2% of the Cerrado–Amazon transition area studied falls within protected zones.

Researchers warn that large areas facing repeated destruction currently have little or no legal safeguard.

How AI helped uncover the damage

The team combined satellite imagery with advanced artificial intelligence tools capable of detecting different types of environmental disturbance over time.

This allowed researchers to distinguish between forest clearing and fire damage across an enormous area spanning more than one million square kilometres.

What the 91ɬ�� researchers said

“The tools we used enabled us to produce the first wall-to-wall, multi-decade picture of what has actually happened to vegetation across this entire area,” said lead author Dr Chuanze Li.

“We were particularly struck by the recovery data,” said Dr Angela Harris. “The conventional view is that Cerrado vegetation bounces back after fire. What this study shows - at a regional scale and across 35 years - is that it often does not, at least not within a decade.”

"Repeated fires are eroding the very resilience these ecosystems evolved to have - this is a warning that we cannot ignore."

"This study gives policymakers something they have not had before: a precise, long-term map of where the CAT has been damaged, how badly, and how well, or how poorly, it is recovering,” added Dr Polyanna da Conceição Bispo. “This is the empirical foundation that conservation planning in this region has been missing. The protection gap we document is not acceptable, and the tools now exist to close it."

Why it matters

Researchers say the maps created by the study could help governments and conservation groups identify areas most urgently in need of protection, fire prevention and restoration.

They also warn that continued destruction in the transition zone could have consequences far beyond Brazil, affecting biodiversity, climate stability and the future health of the Amazon rainforest itself.

Publication details

The study was conducted by researchers at The University of 91ɬ�� (UK),  Professor Beatriz Marimon and Professor Ben Hur Marimon at UNEMAT – Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (Brazil), and Dr. Ricardo da Silva at CTREES (USA). Field data from the Plant Ecology Laboratory at UNEMAT, a reference network spanning the CAT since 1994, underpinned the classification and validation of satellite-derived disturbance maps.

The paper was published in the Biological Conservation journal.

DOI:

The three‑year project, REMOVE‑UM: REcovering MOlecular ValuE from Unrecycled Multi‑materials, funded by EPSRC and Defra will develop new technologies to tackle some of the most challenging waste products. 

Recycling has the potential to recover significant value from materials at the end of their life, playing a crucial role in building a more sustainable future. However, while current systems are effective for simple, single materials that can be easily sorted and cleaned, they struggle to deal with complex, multi-material products. 

Michael Shaver, Project Lead and Professor of Polymer Science at The University of 91ɬ��, explains: “Recycling to recover value from materials at end-of-life is a tantalising component of a sustainable future. However, multi-material products – vapes, cars, batteries, furniture – comingle a host of plastics, metals, glass, ceramics and other materials designed to meet ever-increasing consumer demand for low-cost, high-performance, lightweight, aesthetically pleasing consumer goods. These staggeringly complex multi-materials are reaching their end-of-life with no strategy to facilitate the (re)integration of their components, materials or molecules into a circular economy.  

“Developing an economically viable and environmentally advantageous end of-life for multi-materials is vital. However, to achieve this in a just manner, it is essential we understand economic, societal, and environmental outcomes, coupling systemic approaches to ambitious fundamental research.” 

The REMOVE‑UM project will take a fundamentally new approach, developing methods to break down these materials at a molecular level and recover valuable components that can be reused. 

The work will combine expertise from across The University of 91ɬ��, bringing together specialists in chemical recycling, catalysis, sustainability assessment and materials science.  

The project will focus on four key areas: 

• Analysing waste streams to understand their composition and potential value 

• Developing chemical processes to selectively break down complex materials into valuable products 

• Separating recovered molecules efficiently while minimising environmental impact 

• Working closely with industry partners to translate discoveries into real‑world applications and accelerate their commercial application. 

By targeting materials that current infrastructure cannot process, the team aims to complement existing recycling systems, rather than replace them.  

A core aim of the project is to ensure new recycling approaches are technically feasible, economically viable and environmentally sustainable. Life cycle assessment and economic analysis will be integrated throughout to guide decisions and deliver real benefits for society. The project also aims to cut reliance on fossil fuels by recovering reusable chemicals, while generating insights into how waste systems operate to reduce investment risk and support future recycling infrastructure. 

Dr Kedar Pandya, Executive Director for Strategy at EPSRC said: “This investment reflects our commitment to building a cleaner, more sustainable UK economy. By funding ambitious, collaborative and impactful research into recycling technologies, we are helping to tackle some of the most complex challenges in our waste system from collection through to currently hard-to-recycle material recovery. The research being undertaken, which is jointly funded by EPSRC and Defra, will support the long-term transition to a circular economy and creates the conditions for genuine economic and environmental benefit for the UK.” 

The project will be co-led by Dr Ciaran Lahive, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in the Department of Materials; Dr , Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering;  , Chair in Engineering Biology; , Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Dr , Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow.  

It builds on sustained work in this area by these researchers, including:  

• Chemical Recycling of Polycarbonate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Blends via Organocatalyzed Acetolysis, ChemSusChem, 
• Recyclable Epoxy Composites Built with a Biobased Hardener, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 
• Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Supercritical CO₂ in Gel-spun UHMWPE Fibre Production, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 
• Defining quality by quantifying degradation in the mechanical recycling of polyethylene, Nature Communications, 
• Untangling the chemical complexity of plastics to improve life cycle outcomes, Nature Materials Reviews,   

The breakthrough could help explain why millions of people develop sight‑threatening conditions such as age‑related macular degeneration (AMD), as well as rarer inherited eye diseases.

The research is published in today.

Epidemiological research predicts that AMD, a leading cause of visual impairment in adults , will affect 288 million people worldwide by 2040.

And rarer inherited  eye disorders  which  interfere with cells in the retina that sense light and send visual signals to the brain include  Stargardt disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and cone‑rod dystrophy.

The researchers analysed whole‑genome sequencing data alongside RNA profiles from 201 donated human eyes.

That allowed them to study two key tissues involved in vision: the neurosensory retina, which captures light, and the retinal pigment epithelium, which supports and nourishes it.

By comparing DNA differences with gene activity in these tissues, the researchers found over 1.4 million genetic signals that influence how genes are turned on or off, known as expression quantitative trait loci, or eQTLs.

The signals influence how nearly 10,000 genes behave in the retina and almost 4,000 genes in the retinal pigment epithelium.

Many of the genetic effects were found in regions of the genome that act as regulatory switches, helping to turn genes on or off.

The study also identified hundreds of individuals whose retinal gene activity was unusually high or low compared with typical patterns.

Among these “expression outliers,” the researchers pinpointed nearly 300 rare genetic variants that could plausibly explain the unusual gene activity.

These variants included rare changes in parts of DNA that don’t code for proteins, as well as bigger structural shifts and differences in how many copies of certain DNA segments a person has.

Together, they accounted for around 28% of the outliers, offering new leads for understanding how rare mutations contribute to eye disease.

The findings provide an unprecedented resource for scientists studying the genetic roots of vision disorders, and are available to other researchers for

They also offer a roadmap for future research into personalised treatments and earlier diagnosis.

Author , from The University of 91ɬ��,  said: “Our study marks a major step toward decoding the complex genetic architecture of the human eye.

“And it opens the door to new strategies for protecting and restoring vision in the future.

“It reveals how both common and rare genetic differences shape the way they are expressed in the human retina.

“By understanding these patterns, we move closer to uncovering the biological mechanisms that drive heritable vision loss and to developing more targeted therapies.”

PhD Student at The University of 91ɬ��, Jacob Sampson, who performed the extensive computational analysis reported in the study, added: “We hope this dataset will accelerate discoveries across ophthalmology, genetics, and precision medicine.

“And we hope it will support efforts to identify individuals at risk of sight‑threatening disease before symptoms appear.

Prof Simon J. Clark from the  University of Tübingen in Germany, said: “These sorts of fundamental discoveries are only possible by using very well characterised human donor material.

“We are incredibly lucky to have access to one of Europe’s largest human eye donor repositories, founded originally in 91ɬ�� back in 2015.

“We remain forever grateful for the generosity of all those donors and their families who contributed over the years.”

The team included scientists from The University of 91ɬ��, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, University of Tübingen, University of Southampton, Universitas Riau, 91ɬ�� University NHS Foundation Trust, and the European Bioinformatics Institute.

• The research was supported by the Macular Society, Fight For Sight, the Medical Research Council and the NIHR 91ɬ�� Biomedical Research Centre.
• The paper Paired DNA and RNA sequencing uncovers common 1 and rare genomic variants regulating gene 2 expression in the human retina is published in nature Communications and available . DOI https://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72979-4 

The report, was partly based on research evidence submitted by  the University of 91ɬ��’s  .

Cited in the report, Professor of Primary Care and Community Health  at the University of 91ɬ�� told the Committee: “Evidence-based exercise programmes, particularly resistance training, could both prevent frailty from developing and reverse it. Exercise programmes to prevent frailty could decrease the risk factors linked to developing conditions associated with ageing, including dementia.”

Boosting resilience to illness, frailty and falls through physical activity will be key to keeping the country’s ageing population healthy and living independently for longer., the MPs said.

This change will be fundamental to the Government’s objective of switching the NHS’s focus from treating illness to preventing it 

The report follows the cross-party Committee’s and recommends:

• Advice and social prescribing of physical activity should become a core, routine offering to older people from their GPs and other clinicians.
• Stronger links between local NHS services with leisure providers and community groups to make exercise more accessible.
• The Care Quality Commission should be charged with checking that exercise programmes are being provided to residents in care homes. 

The Committee also called for a national conversation and a cultural shift in the way that ageing is perceived and talked about in society. Negative stereotypes can leave older people feeling resigned to becoming inactive, at the point in their lives when a sedentary lifestyle can have serious consequences, including increasing risk of falls.

Health and Social Care Committee Chair, Layla Moran MP, said: “Healthcare experts and the Government are all agreed that staying physically active can help older people to live not just longer, but healthier, happier, more sociable lives.

“Promoting active lifestyles among older people would also tackle two policy objectives at once – shifting the NHS’s focus to prevention, and bringing services closer to home, not the nearest hospital. Experts told us that exercise can be more effective than medication, and these changes would also cut the NHS’s vast expenditure on drugs. It’s a win-win, and this report sets out how the Government can make it happen.

Key facts

• Being physically active cuts the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions, and some cancers.
• By 2035, 68% of people aged over 65 are expected to have two more serious health conditions, up from 54% in 2015. This causes lower quality of life, increases the chance of hospital admission and creates more complex care needs.
• In 2022, there were around 12.7 million people in the UK aged 65 or over, approximately 19% of the population. This is expected to rise to 22.1 million people (27% of the population) by 2072.
• The ONS and Health Foundation have shown that the average healthy life expectancy of children born in the most deprived areas of England is around 18 years lower than those born in the most affluent.
• In the UK, physical inactivity is associated with one in six deaths and is estimated to cost £7.4 billion annually.

Led by The University of 91ɬ�� and The University of Huddersfield, they combined traditional EEG brain‑wave analysis with cutting‑edge machine‑learning tools to probe how people with a history of alcohol dependence learn from rewards and punishments.

The researchers used a reward-learning game – which they asked 20 abstinent alcohol-dependent and 26 healthy volunteers to complete while their brain activity was recorded.

The team found that both groups performed the task just as well as each other, however their brain signals told a different story.

A key brain response called feedback‑related negativity (FRN)- which reflects how we react to mistakes or bad outcomes - was reduced in people with a history of alcohol dependence.

This blunted signal appeared after both good and bad outcomes and did not vary with how long someone had been abstaining from alcohol.

The scientists say this could be a stable trait of alcohol dependence, reflecting underlying reward processing differences in people who are at risk of alcohol problems.

The study also looked at another signal, the feedback‑P3, which shows how strongly your mind reacts when you get important feedback and starts updating what you’ve learned.

Overall, it did not differ between the groups, but for people recovering from alcohol dependence, this signal was largest in the early stages of abstinence, and after many years appeared more similar to that of healthy people.

Researchers say this may reflect a brain change linked to abstinence itself.

To dig deeper, the team used a machine learning method called tensor decomposition to uncover hidden patterns in the EEG signals.

In the people with alcohol dependence, this revealed unusually early and strong activity in centro‑frontal brain regions near the top and front of the head.

This early surge was most pronounced in those in the earlier stages of recovery and could reflect, the scientists say, heightened sensitivity to feedback or a compensatory mechanism helping people maintain performance despite alcohol‑related brain changes.

They also found that healthy volunteers showed a different pattern, with a later burst of activity in the brain’s parietal lobe, linked to processing sensory information before evaluating reward value.

The researchers used unsupervised machine learning - a method that finds patterns without being told what to look for - to break down the large amounts of EEG data.

This helped discover overlapping brain signals would have been difficult to spot using traditional methods alone.

Lead author from The University of 91ɬ��, who is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ɬ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) as part of its , said: “Alcohol dependency is a complex and challenging health condition, and many people have difficulties maintaining recovery despite treatment and support.

“We believe our findings offer fresh insight into how alcohol dependence can influence the brain systems involved in learning and reward.

“Larger, long‑term studies are now needed to understand if the EEG markers we identified here could one day help track recovery or identify those people who might need extra support.

Researchers conducting the study are funded by the is UKRI Future Leaders Fund, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and the National Institute for health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ɬ�� Biomedical Research Centre. It is published in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology.

• The paper Altered EEG markers of reward learning during abstinence in alcohol dependence: a probabilistic reversal learning study is available hereDOI