UCL in the media
Labour to delay VAT on private school fees until 2025
It makes “no sense” for Labour to try to implement the VAT change immediately because it would need to be fully worked through, argues Professor John Jerrim (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society).
UK at risk of new Covid summer wave as hospitalisations jump
A new wave of COVID-19 infections this summer was likely driven by "a combination of waning immunity and the growth of the KP.2 coronavirus variant," says Professor Christina Pagel (UCL Mathematics).
Poll reveals Americans' fears about AI
Commenting on a new poll that suggests almost half of Americans fear Artificial Intelligence could attack humanity one day, Professor Mutlu Cukurova (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society) says he disagrees with the notion that computers are more intelligent than people.
Gene therapy may cure rare diseases but drugmakers have few incentives
"This is a massive challenge and I'm not entirely sure we're going to be able to overcome it, but we have to give it a go because we've spent decades making these transformative treatments," outlines Professor Claire Booth (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health).
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Study claims homosexual behaviour amongst wild animals is underreported by biologists
Professor Volker Sommer's (UCL Anthropology) book titled: 'Homosexual Behaviour in Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective' is quoted in a Daily Mail article describing a study that suggests homosexual behaviour occurs "more frequently than what is available in published record".
Parents face confusion under Labour’s Ofsted plan
“Different schools have been judged on different frameworks. There are graded and ungraded inspections. Although at face value they seem to be comparable, they’re not really," explains Professor John Jerrim (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society).
Has backing for Brexit in the Red Wall faded?
“Deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide, are far higher in the North than the South," comments Professor John Tomaney (UCL Bartlett School of Planning) in relation to a sense of abandonment felt in the North East that some believe led to a heavy backing of Brexit in 2016.
Sharp rise in vapers using high-strength nicotine in England
The proportion of vapers using high-strength nicotine has increased sharply in England since 2021, when disposable e-cigarettes first became popular, according to a new study led by Dr Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care).
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Regenerative treatment may offer a cure for incontinence patients
"The new technology takes muscle cells collected from the patient via biopsy and anchors them to small, dissolvable polymer microspheres; each about the size of a grain of salt," explains Professor Richard Day (UCL Medicine).
Study sheds light on why some people do not get Covid-19
“These findings shed new light on the crucial early events that either allow the virus to take hold or rapidly clear it before symptoms develop,” says Dr Marko Nikolic (UCL Medicine).
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