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Statistical analysis unveils the hidden patterns in Eurovision voting

By Guest PostMay 2, 2014Media, Sciencechristoph grosse steffen, conflicting, discrimination, imperial college London, ireland, kirsten bibbins domingo, kosmischer strahlung, mark defrancesco, peptide nanotubes, realist, revolutionist, Scandinavia, screening guidelines, southern europe, soviet bloc, statistical analysis, turkey, turkish, ucl, uk, us notenbank, zentrum der milchstrasse

Voting for the Eurovision Song Contest has been scrutinised by statistics experts at UCL and Imperial College London, who have found that musical talent is unlikely to be the only element that wins scores – but that the contest is not ‘stitched up’ at the UK’s expense.

The analysis of voting patterns over the past two decades suggests that widespread support for certain countries’ acts is, however, not driven by prejudice, as the media periodically suggests, but by positive loyalties based on culture, geography, history and migration. But these effects are relatively small – and the team found no evidence to support Sir Terry Wogan’s criticism that the contest is marred by blatant bias and discrimination. (more…)

Germany’s economic resurgence due to decentralised wage bargaining rather than Hartz reforms: new research

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2014Economy, Politicsalexandra spitz oener, autonomy, bernd fitzenberger, cezary piwowarski, christian dustmann, decentralization, Europe, france, german economy, german system, government policy, hartz reforms, humboldt university, industrial relations, italy, labour market, resurgent economy, sick man, southern europe, ucl, university of freiburg, uta schoenberg, wage rate

The astonishing transformation of the German economy from the ‘sick man of Europe’ to a lean and highly competitive economy is predominantly due to the decentralisation of wage bargaining rather than government labour market reforms, according to new research led by UCL.

The resurgence of the German economy has often been attributed to government policy, notably the so-called ‘Hartz reforms’ implemented in 2003. But research, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, suggests that it is instead down to the inherent flexibility of the German system of industrial relations – most specifically, the autonomy of labour market institutions to set wage rates – that has led to a dramatic increase in the competitiveness of the German economy. (more…)

Tingling sensation caused by Asian spice could help patients with chronic pain

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2013Healthasian cooking, asian spice, brain, chilli, chronic pain, chronic pain patients, fibres, light touch fibres, measurable frequency, menthol, mustard oil, nobuhiro hagura, pain fibres, patient, sanshool, skin, szechuan pepper, thermal, tingling sensation, ucl

The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers at UCL.

The study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, helps shed light on the complex interactions between the senses of taste and touch, and could lead to a greater understanding of the causes of the tingling sensations experienced by many chronic pain patients.

Widely used in Asian cooking, the Szechuan pepper was found to mimic the sense of touch in the brain. It chemically activates light-touch fibres on the lips and tongue and sends the equivalent of 50 light taps to the brain per second. (more…)

Lesbian and gay young people twice as likely to smoke and drink alcohol

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2013Healthalcohol drinking patterns, bisexual, bmj open, depression, drink alcohol, frequent intoxication, gareth hagger johnson, gay, hazardous alcohol drinking, heterosexism, heterosexual peers, homophobia, lesbian, london metropolitan university, longitudinal study, minority stress, public health england, research, smoke, social change, symptoms of anxiety, ucl, university of cambridge, young people

Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are twice as likely to have smoked than their heterosexual peers, according to new research published in BMJ Open. Lesbian and gay young people were also more likely to drink alcohol frequently and more hazardously.

The interdisciplinary research team comprised researchers from five UK Universities (UCL, University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University, De Montfort University Leicester and Brunel University), a doctor working in General Practice and a consultant from Public Health England. (more…)

Evolution of monogamy in humans the result of infanticide risk

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2013Nature, Sciencebayesian methods, big brain, evolution, evolution of monogamy, females, hypotheses, infanticide risk, kit opie, monogamy in humans, monogamy in primates, offspring, rival males, susanne shultz, ucl, ucl anthropology, university of auckland, university of manchester, university of oxford

The threat of infants being killed by unrelated males is the key driver of monogamy in humans and other primates.

The study by academics from UCL, University of Manchester, University of Oxford and University of Auckland, is the first to reveal this evolutionary pathway for the emergence of pair living.

The team also found that following the emergence of monogamy males are more likely to care for their offspring. Where fathers care for young, not only can they protect infants from other males, but they can also share the burden of childcare. (more…)

Grassroots women’s groups could halve maternal death rate

By Guest PostMay 29, 2013General, Healthadult learning techniques, anthony costello, audrey prost, Bangladesh, child death rates, cost effective, grassroots womens groups, India, local women, malawi, maternal death rate, money, nepal, newborn deaths, participatory games, pregnancy, problem in pregnancy, related health problems, role play, story telling, sustainable, the lancet, ucl

Women’s groups can dramatically reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths in some of the world’s poorest communities, according to a new meta-analysis published in The Lancet.

The research incorporated seven trials in Bangladesh, India, Malawi and Nepal and looked at 119,428 births.

It assessed whether groups facilitated by local women, who received a short training course of around 7 – 11 days, but were not health workers, affected rates of maternal and newborn mortality. The groups use a range of methods – including discussion, voting and role-playing – to identify common pregnancy-related health problems and work out locally appropriate ways to address them. (more…)

Mobile health technologies to rapidly test and track infectious diseases

By Guest PostMay 14, 2013Health, Technologyadvances in nanotechnology, big data analysis, bing, biomarker discovery, calum mcneil, cepheid, david willetts, deadly diseases, deenan pillay, early warning, epsrc irc, Facebook, flu epidemics, genomics, geographically linked information, google trends, gp surgeries, hiv, internet, irc, Microsoft, mobile health technologies, mobile phone, mrsa, new british technologies, next generation solutions, o2 health, oj bio, outbreaks, pathogen specific fingerprints, prototype test, rachel mckendry, search engine queries, sensor systems, serious infectious diseases, Social networking sites, strains of influenza, symptoms of infection, temperature stable biomimetic, tracking systems, Twitter, ucl, xfab, zurich instruments

Early-warning sensor systems that can test and track serious infectious diseases – such as major flu epidemics, MRSA and HIV – using mobile phones and the internet are being developed by a major new Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) led by UCL.

The new £11 million IRC, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (total investment £16 million), will develop mobile health technologies that allow doctors to diagnose and track diseases much earlier than ever before. (more…)

Behaviour of seabirds during migration revealed

By Guest PostMay 6, 2013Natureanimal behavior, anthropogenic pressure, behaviour of seabirds, behavioural states, centre for mathematics, complex data series, computational analyses, conservation concern, environmental, environmental conditions, ethoinformatics, flight, geolocators, gps tracking, lightweight gps loggers, manx shearwater, migration, migration data, new method, patterns of foraging, puffinus puffinus, rest, robin freeman, royal society, small seabird, south america, south eastern brazil, species, tracking technologies, ucl, uk birds, university of oxford, western atlantic

The behaviour of seabirds during migration – including patterns of foraging, rest and flight – has been revealed in new detail using novel computational analyses and tracking technologies.

Using a new method called ‘ethoinformatics’, described as the application of computational methods in the investigation of animal behaviour, scientists have been able to analyse three years of migration data gathered from miniature tracking devices attached to the small seabird the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus). (more…)

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