UCL in the media
President Joe Biden’s UK visit not about policy
“There would be lot of downside in Biden making this visit about policy, because this is supposed to be about the queen… The trip will be extremely risk-averse. There’s no upside to rocking the boat,” said Dr Brian Klaas (UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society).
The monarchy is unionist
“Almost by default, or by necessity, the monarchy is unionist. It’s the one issue on which it is really hard to be neutral,” said Professor Robert Hazell (UCL Political Science).
Black and South Asian Britons die younger from dementia
“Overall, our findings show black and south Asian patients are diagnosed with dementia at a younger age and die at a younger age with dementia than white patients, losing more years of life,” said Dr Naaheed Mukadam (UCL Psychiatry).
High BMI, rather than high blood sugar, associated with higher Covid-19 risk
“Our early findings support the idea that obesity-related mechanisms may be responsible for the excess risks of COVID-19 associated with diabetes, rather than high blood sugar per se," said Dr Anika Knüppel (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health).
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Cyclists raise money for Kora refugee charity in Athens
“They serve thousands of meals a week and continued serving populations during Covid by delivering meals by bicycle. That’s how a huge proportion of the community stayed fed during the pandemic,” said student Jessie Sullivan (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society).
How bright blue lights affect your eyes
“You have more mitochondria in your retina than any part of the human body. These are like batteries, providing energy to the cell, but they absorb blue light which can cause them to shut down,” said Professor Glen Jeffery (UCL Ophthalmology).
Despite setbacks, optimism that Alzheimer’s cure will eventually be discovered
“If you just look at the history of medicine, it doesn’t move forward in a steady way; sometimes we make discoveries by accident. We will find something. We just have to keep on looking,” said Professor Rob Howard (UCL Psychiatry).
When HIV was inadvertently transmitted through blood transfusions
Professor Edward Tuddenham (UCL Cancer Institute) said that looking back at decisions in the 1970s and ‘80s around blood transfusions, risk assessments may have been overly optimistic around the likelihood of transmitting pathogens.
Climate change will cause more weather disasters
“The immense tragedy in Pakistan is also an immense injustice, but the really scary thing is that this tragedy and injustice will be exceeded, again and again, in the years to come,” said Professor Simon Lewis (UCL Geography).
Reacting to then news of the Queen’s passing with shock and sadness
“It’s something I had long been prepared for because I am an expert on the monarchy, I knew all the preparations that had been made… [But] despite all that preparation, when it actually happens, it is a terrible shock,” said Professor Robert Hazell (UCL Political Science).