“I am delighted to have Rob - one of the country’s leading political scientists - on the team for what promises to be an exciting new phase in the life of UK in a Changing Europe,” said Anand Menon, Director of UKICE and Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London.

New findings about a fatal form of blood cancer could aid the development of new drugs with significantly less harmful side effects than existing chemotherapy.

The discovery could lead to novel treatments that efficiently eliminate blood cancer cells in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), without harming healthy blood cells.

Researchers have discovered how a protein in the body plays a key role in AML – an aggressive cancer of white blood cells with very poor survival rates.

The study showed that the protein, known as YTHDF2, is needed to trigger and sustain the disease, but is not needed for healthy cells to function. This identifies YTHDF2 as a promising drug target for leukaemia.

A team of researchers led by the University of Edinburgh and Queen Mary University of London carried out a series of experiments to understand the role of YTHDF2 in blood cancer.

The study, carried out in collaboration with The University of Manchester, Harvard Medical School and the Université de Tours, was published in Cell Stem Cell. It was supported by Cancer Research UK and Wellcome.

Tests in blood samples donated by leukaemia patients showed that the protein is abundant in cancer cells, while experiments in mice found that the protein is required to initiate and maintain the disease.

Further tests enabled scientists to determine the biological pathway by which interfering with the function of YTHDF2 selectively kills blood cancer cells.

Importantly, they also showed that the protein is not needed to support the function of healthy blood stem cells, which are responsible for the production of all normal blood cells. In fact, blood stem cells were even more active in the absence of YTHDF2.

Professor Dónal O’Carroll, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, who co-led the research, said: “The study shows the promise of a novel class of drugs as the basis for cancer and regenerative medicine treatments.”

Professor Kamil Kranc, of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, who jointly led the study, said: “Our work sets the stage for therapeutic targeting of cancer stem cells in leukaemia while enhancing the regenerative capacity of normal blood stem cells. We hope this will establish a new paradigm in cancer treatment”.

 is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater 91ֱ��, has attended an event to mark the end of a major project which has researched the experiences of marginalised young people in ten countries across the EU.

Young people are often at the forefront of social, cultural and political change, driven by their energy and creativity, but also by their frustration at the challenges and barriers they face. The PROMISE project, led by Dr Jo Deakin of The University of Manchester, investigated young people’s responses to these challenges, focusing particularly on those who encounter conflicts with authority.

These young people are seen to be problematic to engage with, often triggering negative responses from authority, which marginalises them even more. The negative effect of this reduces opportunities for young people, and much of their creativity, innovation and energy is directed away from positive social change.

The researchers believe that youth ‘in conflict’ present significant opportunities for change - and should therefore be a main focus for policy makers and practitioners.

This project explored differences in youth attitudes and behaviour across Europe, as well as looking closely at youth engagement and innovation – it found that no two countries were the same, but that there were similarities in young people’s experiences.

The researchers found that young people in Spain responded to the 2008 financial crash – and resulting property market collapse – by doing maintenance work instead of paying rent, living communally, and even building their own homes. Meanwhile, LGBT youth in Russia facing state-led discrimination were motivated to develop activists’ associations and youth-led social initiatives, and in Italy, disadvantaged young street artists worked towards transforming their marginalisation into something positive.

“Greater 91ֱ�� is a city-region based on an energy of collectivism. We are in a place that has proven it is possible to make change when people group together to fight for it. Greater 91ֱ��’s history links it to what the Horizon 2020 PROMISE project has been researching, and what you are talking about today at this great university. This project is so important, and I wanted to be here to give my support.”

Dr Deakin and her team now intend to develop guides for teachers and youth workers, as well as feed into government policy in each partner country. “My message to policymakers is that they should focus on four key issues: recognising the diverse life paths of young people, enhancing the recognition and support of youth-led initiatives, promoting effective support structures for young people and creating safe spaces for young people in towns and cities,” she added.

New research charts the history of the  and its impact on global sea levels throughout history to present day.

Scientists from The University of Manchester, , and the  have used extensive reflection seismic surveys to image the structure of the Earth beneath the seafloor off the coast of northwest Greenland.

Writing in the journal  the study provides the first insight into millions of years of geological history of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. This is the first study of its kind and provides an unprecedented insight into the dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet over the last 2.7 million years. By understanding the structure beneath the seafloor scientists are able to reconstruct what the Greenland Ice Sheet was doing and how it impacted the ocean environments around it.

This work shows that on at least 11 occasions during this time the Greenland Ice Sheet became so large that it extended over 120 km beyond its present-day margin during peak glaciation. During intervening warmer periods the ice sheet melted back to near the present-day coastline, resulting in significant global and regional sea-level rise. These findings are important to help how the Ice Sheet might evolve in the future in response to ongoing and future climate warming.

Dr Andrew Newton, jointly affiliated with both The University of Manchester and Queen’s University Belfast said: “This is an important result because it shows that over the last 2.7 million years the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has been highly dynamic, even when temperatures outside the ice ages were not as warm as today. This means that we can expect the ice sheet to directly respond to rising temperatures across the Arctic, which it is already doing.”

Professor Mads Huuse, The University of Manchester said: “By understanding how it changed in the past we may be able to get a better idea of how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets might change in the future. The information generated from this work can also be used to test the accuracy of numerical models that are used to project how climate might evolve in the future as it warms.

“The better these models are at recreating our observations of the past, the more confidence we can have in what they project for the future. Better climate models are essential for future planning and mitigation of the consequences of climate change, in particular the contribution to sea level rise of melting ice sheets.”

The Greenland Ice Sheet was also a topic in the recent David Attenborough-narrated docu-series Our Planet, by Netflix. The team captured jaw dropping footage, showing the scale and impact of millions of tonnes of ice collapsing into the sea.

An international team of geographers has found indications that the climate we have in Europe today began 5000 years ago, hidden in the shells of mussel shrimps.

Although the earth has been in a warm period – known as the Holocene – for almost 12000 years, the beginning of the current climate conditions in Europe seems to have come much later than that.

The experts, including Dr William Fletcher from The University of Manchester, identified a striking change in hydroclimatic conditions about five millennia ago, which corresponds with the establishment of climate mechanisms comparable to today’s North Atlantic Oscillation.

The North Atlantic Oscillation is the name given to the differences in atmospheric pressure between the Icelandic Low to the north and the Azores High to the south. These are accompanied by changes in rainfall, especially in the western Mediterranean and northern Europe.

Dr Fletcher and other geographers and geoscientists from the Universities of Leipzig, Marrakesh and Iceland examined the shells of tiny freshwater crustaceans called mussel shrimps from Lake Sidi Ali in Morocco. Based on oxygen isotope levels measured in the shells, the team were able to reconstruct Holocene rain anomalies for the western Mediterranean. They established a link between these anomalies and ancient weather change events in the North Atlantic.

“These phases are similar to current activity observed today in the North Atlantic Oscillation, which has a major influence on weather and climate events throughout Europe. The striking change 5000 years ago can thus be seen as the birth of our current climate in Europe,” adds Professor Christoph Zielhofer of the University of Leipzig, who directed the project.

“We assume that the abrupt shift in hydroclimate 5000 years before present was a threshold mechanism response of the European climate to a gradual change in long-term insolation,” remarks Steffen Mischke of the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, who was also involved in the research.

The results of this research have been published in the journal Climate of the Past.

An academic from The University of Manchester has won a 2019 Guardian University Award - which recognise the inspiring and groundbreaking projects that UK universities have worked on in the past year - for her website exploring the untold stories of the migrants who have shaped Britain.

Launched in 2016 and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Our Migration Story website is the culmination of over a decade of partnership between Claire Alexander, Professor of Sociology at The University of Manchester, in partnership with Professor Joya Chatterji from The University of Cambridge and race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust.

They have worked with schools, teachers and young people to explore ways of creating a diverse history curriculum to inspire a new generation of young historians from all ethnic backgrounds, and to support teachers in delivering this work in the classroom.

The site was set up to meet demand from pupils for more diverse histories, and to support new GCSEs on migration to Britain developed by the OCR and AQA exam boards. Teachers and organisations including Teach First and the Institute of Education have helped to refine the site and raise its profile, responding to demands from young people seeking to ‘decolonise’ the curriculum.

Drawing on work from more than 80 academics, museums and archives, the website is divided into four time periods, from AD43 and the Roman invasion of Britain, to Polish migration after 2004. In each section, images, quotations, videos, reports, poems and extracts from novels and newspapers, as well as academic commentary, tell the stories of individuals and groups who have come to Britain as migrants and explain their influence on the country.

Most case studies include questions and classroom activities for teachers to use, as well as booklists and links to other websites and organisations. A separate part of the site is dedicated to teaching resources, with advice on how to teach migration, suggested lesson plans and further links.

Since its launch in September 2016, it has had more than 112,000 users from across the world, including the United States, India, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the Philippines. In January 2018 it was awarded the Royal Historical Society’s online resources public history prize.

The site builds on The University of Manchester’s strong commitment to social responsibility, and in particular their Research Beacon goal of addressing global inequalities. The School of Social Science, which has supported this work, is home to the leading research centre on racial and ethnic inequality, the , where Claire is co-director.

“We hope this award will encourage schools, teachers and young people to build this into their curriculum, as well as changing the public understanding of British identity as inseparable from two thousand years of migration and settlement," Claire added.

The University of Manchester ranks as the best higher education institution (HEI) in Europe – and in the top three globally – for its social and environmental impact across its full range of functions.

The prestigious new ranking comes in the inaugural Times Higher Education (THE) . 91ֱ�� was competing against more than 500 universities from around the world.

The ranking is based on the “societal impact” of the University’s research using the as a framework.

The seventeen SDGs came into effect in 2016 and have the support of 193 Member States of the United Nations. They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. They include challenges such as; climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities.

Dr Julian Skyrme, Director of Social Responsibility at The University of Manchester, said: “The SDGs are our world’s call to action on the most important challenges facing our people and planet. Being recognised as Europe’s highest ranking University in this new index – and third in the world overall – is a brilliant reflection of the work of our researchers, teachers, students, professional services and cultural institution staff, enhancing our global reputation as a leader on social responsibility and impact.”

Social responsibility is one of the University’s three core strategic goals and solving Global Inequalities is one of the University’s priority Research Beacons.

Dr Skyrme added: “Staff, students, alumni and external partners should take enormous pride in this success since it covers a wide variety of our societal and environmental impacts – our research impact, cultural institutions, civic and global outreach, professional services policies and processes, inclusion programmes, and contributions to economic wellbeing.”

A team including researchers from The University of Manchester has created the world’s first ever rating system for working conditions in the digital economy.

There are now more than sixty million platform workers around the world, doing work that is controlled via apps. Lacking the ability to collectively bargain, these workers have little ability to negotiate wages and working conditions with their employers.

The Fairwork Foundation project - a partnership between the Universities of Manchester, Oxford, Cape Town and the Western Cape - looks at how platforms like Uber and Taxify perform against five standards - fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation. These include whether a company pays the minimum wage and ensures the health and safety of its workers.It collaborates with workers, trade unions, platforms and policy makers to develop core principles of fair work, and then undertakes research to evaluate whether platforms meet those standards.

The project seeks to work closely with platforms that have an interest in certification - and through dialogue and shared expertise, it aims to significantly contribute to the welfare and job quality of platform workers and bring a fairer world of platform work into being.

“Digital platforms offer new employment opportunities for workers in developing countries, but those opportunities too often fall short of decent work standards,” said Professor Richard Heeks, Professor of Development Informatics at The University of Manchester. “The Fairwork rating system highlights those shortfalls, as well as good practices.”

The project has already led to positive impacts in South Africa, where the rating system has been piloted. After collaborating with Fairwork, the South African platform Bottles committed to support the emergence of fair worker representation on its platform, free from company interference.

In discussion with Fairwork, the NoSweat platform has introduced significant changes in all five areas of fairness. It now has a formal policy to pay over the South African minimum wage after workers’ costs are taken into account, it has a clear process to ensure clients on the platform agree to protect workers’ health and safety and for workers to lodge grievances about conditions.

Fairwork’s research is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s Global Challenges Research Fund as part of its New Models of Sustainable Development programme, with additional support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

For more information, visit .

Scientists at The University of Manchester have joined forces with a major US Museum and European partners to explore an extraordinary Jurassic dinosaur site in the badlands of Wyoming, USA.

Scientists from The University of Manchester will be the academic leaders on the newly announced $27.5 million (£20m) project to explore, research and eventually exhibit fossils from a recently discovered palaeontological site known as the ‘Jurassic Mile’.

will serve as the Mission Jurassic leader, with The University of Manchester’s Prof. Phil Manning and Dr. Victoria Egerton as the lead scientists in the project. The team are partnering with in London and the in Leiden, Netherlands. As a result, more than 100 scientists from three countries will join forces to work in the Morrison Formation of Wyoming to reveal new secrets from this enigmatic period of time.

Prof Manning, Dr. Egerton and the team are calling the fossil-rich, mile-square plot of land, “The Jurassic Mile.” There are four main quarries within the multi-level, 640-acre site that offer a diverse assemblage of Morrison Formation articulated and semi-articulated dinosaurs that has also yielded associated animals, fossil plants in addition to rarely associated dinosaur trackways of the Late Jurassic Period 150 million years ago.

“It is splendid that such an important site has been discovered at just the right time, as the science of paleontology is adapting existing and new imaging techniques to unpick the fossil remains of extinct life.” said Prof Manning, “The imaging work that we undertake at 91ֱ�� is already world-leading and this is a great opportunity to develop this research with other world-class institutions.”

Nearly 600 specimens, weighing more than six tons, have already been collected from this site over the past two years despite the fact that only a fraction of the site has been explored. Included in that are the bones of an 80-foot-long Brachiosaur and 90-foot-long , which have been discovered at the Jurassic Mile. A 6’6” sauropod (Brachiosaur) scapula (shoulder bone) and several jackets containing articulated bones are among the material collected during the 2018 field season. A 5’1” (1.5 metre) femur was revealed at the announcement in Indianapolis on March 25, 2019.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, President and CEO of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis stated, “We are bringing together an extraordinary international team for the first time that will critically analyze portions of the Morrison Formation in new ways.” Patchen went on to say, “This project reflects a natural synergy between three world-renowned museums, their research scientists and highly-respected research universities, each providing unique elements to complete one of the most interesting chapters in the evolution of Earth.”

Dr. Egerton from the Department of Earth and Environmental Science explained that, “The preservation quality and sheer amount of plants at the Jurassic Mile is extraordinary. During this period, there were no flowering plants and this site provides significant insight to what these giant animals ate and how they may have grown to be so large.”

’ is the world’s largest children’s museum. Its current exhibit has captivated more than 15 million visitors since it opened in 2004 and inspired new generations of explorers and scientists. There, visitors are introduced to some of the finest examples of past life including a rare mummified dinosaur named Leonardo. The first T. rex ever discovered with a wish bone (furcula) and a with a brain tumor (currently being studied by Prof. Manning and Dr. Egerton) are among other amazing fossils found there. A working Paleo Prep Lab at the museum allows visitors to touch real fossils while paleontologists work on real bones and learn the stories behind them.

 palaeontologist Sir Richard Owen first coined the term ‘dinosaur’ meaning ‘terrible lizard. The Natural History Museum Acting Director of Science Richard Herrington says: “The reports from the first excavations reveal it is an exceptional area for further scientific exploration - from the fossils already exposed, the quality of the discoveries so far and the existence of rarely-associated dinosaur trackways.”

Prof. Anne Schulp from The Naturalis Biodiversity Center stated, "Typical dinosaurs of the Jurassic include well known creatures such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus. It would be marvelous if we could bring one of those impressive beasts to Naturalis,”

The Jurassic Mile project is already utilising cutting-edge science from the international team. The University of Manchester scientist will use the Stanford Synchrotron particle accelerator along with some of the most powerful computers on the planet, to help resurrect the Jurassic and unearth the lost world and forgotten lives of the Jurassic.

The University of Manchester has presented a unique opportunity to become its partner in delivering a new, world-class innovation district in the heart of Manchester, the £1.5 billion ID 91ֱ��.

The presentation, which took place at the 91ֱ�� Pavilion at , was attended by over 150 property professionals from all over the world, revealed The University of Manchester expects its joint partner to match its bold ambition to create a new neighbourhood which will nurture the next generation of game-changing businesses and bring huge economic benefits to 91ֱ��.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “I have seen how transformative other innovation districts in cities across the globe can be. I truly believe we can make ID 91ֱ�� the innovation capital of Europe, providing the perfect conditions for organisations of all sizes and from different sectors, to share knowledge and work together turning incredible ideas into reality.”

The University has strong track record in developing long-lasting, commercial relationships with leading global organisations such as Rolls Royce, the BBC, Siemens UK, Colgate Palmolive, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Since 2004 the University has contributed £746million to the economy through nurturing and developing businesses spinning-out of its research and development facilities, and it is on these foundations it seeks to build ID 91ֱ��.

Diana Hampson, Director of Estates, The University of Manchester said: “The ID 91ֱ�� partnership has the makings of a formidable team. We will be looking for a world leading partner who has the experience and track-record to help us deliver this outstanding development.

Also speaking at the presentation this morning, Colin Thomasson Executive Director, CBRE, the property advisor to The University of Manchester said: “To create a successful innovation district you need a highly connected dynamic urban location. The city of Manchester has all the attributes required with its strong knowledge based economy, a young talented workforce and world leading university.”

“ID 91ֱ�� is the last major development opportunity in a city centre which is seeing exceptional growth, and perfectly positioned to reap the benefit from the city’s next wave of economic growth.

Joanne Roney, Chief Executive, 91ֱ�� City Council said: “The University and the city have long been closely aligned. We have grown up together and share a spirit of innovation, revolution and entrepreneurship. ID 91ֱ�� will build upon this proud shared history.”

It is expected an OJEU notice will be released in summer to signal the start of the competitive process to identify a partner, with a view to having an appointment made by mid-2020.

More about ID 91ֱ��

The University of Manchester’s vision is that the 26 acre (10.5 hectare) ID 91ֱ�� will be a dynamic, world-class community with innovation, collaboration and enterprise at its heart, with the potential to create over 6000 new jobs.

ID 91ֱ�� benefits from an adopted Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF). Current development parameters, which align with the University’s current vision, could comprise a circa 3.5 million sq ft of mixed use space including three acres of high quality public realm.

Any revision to the existing SRF should be brought forward in close collaboration with 91ֱ�� City Council.

The site benefits from existing green space and the unique feature of the 650,000 sq ft Grade II Listed Sackville Street Building, which offers a fantastic opportunity for re-purposing.

The University occupies the recently opened £60 million Masdar Building, home to the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, and the 91ֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology at the south end of the site and is looking for a partner to develop the remaining c.16.4 acres (6.64 hectares) of the site.

ID 91ֱ�� is adjacent to 91ֱ��’s main public transport hub Piccadilly Railway Station and future HS2 station, and is a 20 minute train journey to the international airport.

ID 91ֱ�� is another piece in the jigsaw of the major regeneration taking place in that area of the city including Mayfield, London Road Fire Station, Kampus, Circle Square and the £1 billion investment already being made into its main Oxford Road campus by The University of Manchester.

ID 91ֱ�� is set in a truly international city region that has a GVA of £60 billion with up to 40% lower operational costs than London.

Today 91ֱ�� is the UK’s fastest growing city and is seeing major growth in demand for workspace, residential and hotels. 91ֱ�� City Council’s State of the City Report shows that over 527,000 people call the city centre their home and it is on target to hit over 600,000 residents within the next decade.

The University of Manchester has featured extensively in a new report which looks at some of the innovative ways universities in Europe are working closely with companies, governmental agencies and other public organisations.

Produced by the European University Association, The Role of Universities in Regional Innovation Ecosystems, examines nine regions in Europe, including 91ֱ��. The report aims to find out how universities work with partners in their regions to address social, environmental, and economic challenges.

The University and the city of Manchester feature throughout the report, in particular in sections relating to research, social responsibility and skills:

• “Representatives of large global companies (in Barcelona, Braga, Eindhoven, Espoo/Helsinki, 91ֱ��, and Munich) interviewed for the study pointed to the need for excellence in research quality as a key condition for their companies’ strategic investment in a location.”
• “In the health sector, The University of Manchester has driven the formation of a major strategic cluster initiative, namely . It brings together the health and data science research strengths of the University with the opportunities of the devolved health and social care budget, offering new research opportunities and mobilising major external funding. The cluster also hosts , as the commercialisation end of the health science sector.”
• “A beacon of the University, advanced materials, is also positioned by the University as a research hub with a strong business innovation role. Institutional and academic leadership made use of the outstanding global visibility of materials research, particularly graphene by developing successful bids for major investments into research and innovation programmes and infrastructures.”
• “The promotion of leadership skills and social responsibility among its students was an important institutional concern at the Universities of Manchester, Warsaw and Sorbonne. The most systematic realisation of this concern could be found at The University of Manchester.” The report particularly highlights 91ֱ��’s emphasis on social responsibility and the programme.

The full report can be downloaded from .

To find out more about innovation at The University of Manchester, visit our Business Engagement website.

A large spider which resembles a black widow is spreading rapidly across the world – including the UK – threatening native wildlife species, warn German and British scientists.

The Noble False Widow, Steatoda nobilis, native to Madeira and the Canary Islands, has been present in the South of England for more than a hundred years.

But after a long period of stasis, it has recently started to appear in the North of England, as well as in new locations in countries around the globe.

The spread to Britain and Ireland has caused panic when false widows have been found in large numbers in schools and other public spaces.

“Although its bite can be very painful, comparable to a severe bee or wasp sting, there are no confirmed cases of serious medical consequences from a Noble False Widow bite,” said biologist Professor Rainer Breitling from The University of Manchester.

“However, the intense public interest created by sometimes rather exaggerated press coverage is now helping our research.

“Members of the public have been contributing their observations to a large dataset of False Widow records for the British Arachnological Society’s Spider Recording Scheme.”

Researchers from The University of Manchester, German State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe and Trier University scientists published their findings in in the journal NeoBiota.

In the paper, they describe how they used use computer modelling to predict favourable habitats for future false widow invasions, based on present occurrence patterns.

The model successfully predicted that the species would be found in Normandy, France, which was confirmed after a field trip to the area.

Mediterranean islands, southern Australia, large parts of New Zealand and South Africa also seem to be likely targets for future expansion.

“These are areas that are home to a wide range of vulnerable native species, so the potential introduction of Steatoda nobilis, which can overcome prey much larger than its own size, is quite worrying”, explained Professor Breitling.

Professor Breitling added: “We think that it’s likely that these animals get about by hitching a lift on of ornamental plant trade or tourism, rather than banana imports as has been previously thought.

“So more careful monitoring of plant imports could be useful to control the spread of this species and other invasive spiders.

“The University of Manchester has long been a hotspot of spider research in the UK; it houses one of the most diverse spider collections at the 91ֱ�� Museum.

“Our researchers at the university are working on topics ranging from fossil spiders in amber to the mating dances of jumping spiders to the use of bacteria-produced spider silk for biotechnology.”

The UK needs to demonstrate its added value to the United Nations and adopt a principled and values-driven foreign policy if it is to maintain its current influence after it leaves the EU, according to a report released by the United Nations Association.

The report is the outcome of a research project by academics from the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Southampton on behalf of the United Nations Association, funded by the British Academy.

The researchers interviewed 29 participants, including UN diplomats, UK officials and individuals from non-governmental organisations. They found that the UK faces considerable challenges in maintaining its current level of influence once it has exited the EU.

The UK’s current record in the UN is mixed - it takes a strong role in drafting resolutions and agenda-setting and is generally seen as a skilled negotiator in the UN Security Council, but we have very little influence on the General Assembly.

Crucially, the report found that Brexit will cause British diplomats to lose political capital, because they are less able to align their campaigns in the Security Council and the General Assembly with the influence of their colleagues in Brussels.

Interviewees said that if it were not for the UK’s continued commitment to spending 0.7% of its Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance, its reputation would be ‘free fall territory’. Nevertheless, they said that the decline in UK influence is palpable.

The report suggests that the impact of Brexit can be offset and the UK’s influence maintained if the UK invests in multilateralism and provides clear principled, values-driven leadership. Its recommendations include:

- Specific policy ideas and resources from London, demonstrating the value of the UK in international forums
- Addressing gaps in diplomatic capacity at the General Assembly, which will develop as the UK is no longer able to rely on EU for burden sharing and support
- Maintaining resolutely the UK’s 0.7% commitment to foreign aid – a major source of soft power and influence

“Our project shows that the impacts of Brexit go beyond the UK and the EU to the UN, where the UK’s reputation is tarnished and its capacity for influence is weakened,” said lead author Dr Jess Gifkins from The University of Manchester.

“This report provides an evidence base for what we have long argued,” said Angie Pankhania, Deputy Director of United Nations Association UK. “It is absolutely possible for the UK to be an influential player in international forums such as the United Nations, but it requires a principled and consistent approach. The UK cannot cherry-pick its favourite bits of multilateralism - it must invest in the health of the system as a whole.”

University of Manchester scientists are at the forefront of the fight to protect cold water fish from the effects of crude oil spills from offshore oil rigs.

Dr Holly Shiels and PhD student Martins Ainerua are working off the coast of Norway with Dr Elin Sørhus of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research to understand how the oil impacts on hearts of cod and halibut.

As the heart is the first organ to develop in fish larvae its good heath is crucial for survival of the animals into adulthood, say the team.

Two projects – known as ‘Eggtox’ - and ‘PW(produced water)exposed’, could provide vital information for oil companies who want to construct rigs in parts of the North Sea which are known to be key spawning grounds for these important fisheries.

The team also hope to understand the mechanisms of crude oil toxicity on the electrical and contractile properties of the fish heart.

They have been working in the electrophysiology lab at Austevoll station on the South West coast of Norway, investigating how various oil components affect the electrical activity of the juvenile cod and halibut hearts.

Dr Shiels said: “We know from disastrous crude oil spills like DeepWater Horizon, that components of oil negatively affects hearts of larval and juvenile fish.

"But it is possible the Produced Water used in oil drilling – which is released even in the absence of a spill - may impact fish stocks.

“And this is especially a worry in areas where drilling occurs in spawning grounds as the eggs and tiny larvae are unprotected.

“That is why are studying the impact of a single component of crude oil on the heart, and two of its metabolic derivatives.

“This is important work. A thorough understanding of cardiotoxicity will improve ecological risk assessments and environmental health monitoring.”

Scientists are a step closer to understanding what controls fine particulate matter in the Earth’s atmosphere after identifying new linkages between natural contaminants and with manmade pollutants.

Fine particulate matter is an air pollutant that can negatively impact human health when levels in air are too high and can also influence climate.

The breakthrough could lead to stronger, more accurate climate-related legislation and cleaner air say the researchers. The international team, led by and Forschungszentrum Jülichhung in Germany, were investigating the impact of Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) in our air.

SOA comprise of extremely small particles and are made in the atmosphere from natural and man-made emissions. They are produced through complex interactions between sunlight and volatile organic compounds from trees, plants, cars or industrial emissions.

These tiny particles seriously affect people’s physical and mental health and are the major contributing factor to the premature deaths of an estimated 5.5 million people around the world, every year. The influence of these particles on climate is also responsible for the largest contributory uncertainty to manmade effects on the radiation balance affecting climate change.

The international team studied the formation of fine SOA particles from different vapours emitted from natural plants and from mixtures of manmade and natural vapours reacting in the lab. In all cases, they found that a lower mass of particles was made when the same amount of vapour was reacted in a mixture than when it was reacted on its own.

Lead author, Professor Gordon McFiggans, from 91ֱ��’s , explains: “It has long been recognised that we need to consider the full mixture of vapours when predicting the amount of secondary pollutants such as ozone.

“Our findings now show that we also need to know what manmade and natural trace compounds are present in the real atmosphere in order to quantify particulate pollution.”

The study is the first study of its kind to look at the influence of these complex mixtures of vapours on the atmospheric particle mass concentration.

Professor Thomas Mentel, co-author from FZJ, added: “By carefully designing the experiment, we managed to understand two different ways that the amount of particles formed are reduced in mixtures. We have found that the trace compounds not only compete for the reactant, but also the products of these reactions can themselves react to prevent efficient particle formation.

“By including this experimentally observed effect in a global air quality model, we have shown that the fine particle mass can be substantially affected under real atmospheric conditions, not just those in the lab.”

This observational quantification of the interaction between vapours that can form particles provides the first glimpse of how pollutants will interact in the complex mixtures found in the real atmosphere.

Professor McFiggans concluded: “Our work provides a roadmap towards understanding the future contribution of particulate matter to air quality and climate. By including these results and those from further experiments into numerical models, we will be able to provide the right advice to policymakers.”

 is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

A research study of newborn babies has revealed that humans are born with the innate skills needed to pick out words from language.

The international team of researchers discovered two mechanisms in 3-day-old infants, which give them the skills to pick out words in a stream of sounds.

The discovery provides a key insight into a first step to learning language.

The study, published in , is a collaboration between scientists at SISSA in Italy, the Neurospin Centre in France, the University of Liverpool and The University of Manchester. It was funded by the European Research Council.

One of the mechanisms discovered by the team is known as prosody- the melody of language, which allow us to recognise when a word starts and stops.

And another they call the statistics of language, which describes how we compute the frequency of when sounds in a word come together.

from The University of Manchester said: “We think this study highlights how sentient newborn babies really are and how much information they are absorbing.

”That’s quite important for new parents and gives them some insight into how their baby is listening to them.”

Dr Ana Flò of Neurospin said: “Language in incredibly complicated and this study is about understanding how infants try to make sense of it when they first hear it.

“We often think of language as being made up of words, but words often blur together when we talk. So one of the first steps to learn language is to pick out the words.

“Our study shows that at just 3 days old, without understanding what it means, they are able pick out individual words from speech.

“And we have identified two important tools that we are almost certainly born with, that gives them the ability to do this.”

The researchers played the infants a 3 and a half minute audio clip in which four meaningless words, were buried in a stream of syllables.

Using a painless technique called Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, which shines light into the brain, they were able to measure how much was absorbed, telling them which parts of the brain were active.

Dr Perrine Brusini of the University of Liverpool noted: “We then had the infants listen to individual words and found that their brains responded differently to the words that they heard than to slightly different words.

“This showed that even from birth infants can pick out individual words from language.

Scientists from The University of Manchester have found a way to trick the eye into thinking the world is brighter than it actually is.

Using a chemical compound, the team activated a small group of retinal neurons in dim light, which unexpectedly made almost the whole retina more active.

Though more research is needed, the study provides new insight into how the retina communicates with the brain when animals respond to different situations.

The retina is a thin layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye which receives light focused by the lens, and convert it into neural signals which are sent to the brain.

The manipulation, carried out in mice, effectively increased the “bandwidth” of communication from the retina to the brain.

The research was funded by Medical Research Council, European Research Council and the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animal Research (NC3Rs). It is published in published in PNAS.

The discovery led by Professor Rob Lucas from The University of Manchester, uncovers an important principle underlying the way in which different areas of the nervous system communicate with each other.

Retinal neurons convey visual information to the brain a sequence of electrical pulses

Using the analogy of a digital communication channel, neural communication uses up a lot of energy so its bandwidth must be optimised according to changes in demand.

Since the 1990s, scientists have shown that on average brain activity is limited to between 1 to 5 electrical pulses per second per neuron.

However at any given time, some parts of the brain may demand many more pulses to perform optimally.

Dr Riccardo Storchi, who was on the team said: “This discovery provides some important insight into a simple mechanism by which flexible allocation of energy resources is regulated by the retina.

“This effect is mediated by specialist neurons known as ‘intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells’ (ipRGCs) which act like a light-meter, regulating communication between retina and the brain.

“We have known for a while that neuron pulses are energetically expensive, but until now we didn’t understand what regulates their frequency. This is a first step which we hope will tackle this important question.”

The paper Photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells control the information rate of the optic nerve is available 

Scientists have designed and built a prototype that aims to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding rare cosmic rays that enter Earth’s atmosphere from deep space.

Cosmic rays are made up of highly energetic atomic nuclei and other particles, travelling through space at almost the speed of light. The most powerful of these rays contain approximately ten million times more energy than the particles being accelerated in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

But whilst physicists and astronomers have known about the existence of cosmic rays for over a hundred years, very little is known about where they come from or about the particles they’re made of. The challenge for astronomers trying to detect and analyse these rays is that they're very rare, with an observatory seeing only one or two of the more energetic ones per hour.

The Jodrell Bank Observatory itself was originally founded to help astronomers study cosmic rays with radio antennas. Now, as part of an international team of collaborators, Dr Justin Bray and Prof. Em. Ralph Spencer, who are based at , have designed and built a new particle detector that will work with the next generation of radio telescopes, such as the . The prototype is first being deployed and tested at the telescope in Western Australia, which will also be the site of the low frequency antennas of the SKA.

Dr Bray's team is the SKA High Energy Cosmic Particles group headed by himself and Dr Clancy James from 2016. This group includes international researchers from Curtin University and CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science, both in Australia, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.

The combination of the new particle detector and the dense configuration of radio antennas at the SKA telescope mean scientists will be able to take extensive measurements of the radio emissions from interacting cosmic rays. This in turn will make it easier to understand the properties of the cosmic rays themselves.

Dr Bray says: “The key attribute of cosmic rays that we'd like to measure is what types of particles they are. We know that they're atomic nuclei, stripped of all their electrons, with a mixture of elements ranging from hydrogen up to iron.

“But the exact mix of what they’re made of is difficult to discern. If we can find that out it will provide key information about how they're produced and how they get to us.”

How they get to Earth and how far they travel is something that has baffled scientists since cosmic rays were discovered in 1912. It is generally thought that the most energetic ones come from outside the galaxy and less energetic ones from inside the galaxy, possibly from supernova remnants, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Dr Bray added: “How far they've come to get to Earth is one of the big unanswered scientific questions. If we could help answer that it would be amazing.”

The detector works by analysing the particles that reach ground level after a cosmic ray smashes into our atmosphere, generating “exotic particles” you wouldn’t usually find on Earth.

Dr Bray explains: “When a cosmic ray hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, it smashes into a nitrogen or oxygen nucleus, generating a cascade of exotic particles including pions and tau leptons. By the time they reach ground level, the surviving particles are mostly muons, electrons, positrons, gamma rays and neutrinos.

“The particle detector we're building will detect the muons, electrons and positrons in the cascade that reach ground level. So, when it goes off, it tells us that there was a cosmic ray interacting in the upper atmosphere, above the detector, a few microseconds ago.”

Scientists say more should be done to tackle the growing environmental impact of takeaway food containers.

A new study estimates there are 2025 million takeaway containers per year being used in the European Union (EU) alone. It also says finding a way to recycle disposable takeaway containers could help reduce equivalent greenhouse gas emissions generated annually by 55,000 cars.

The researchers, from the University's , have carried out the first ever comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of disposable takeaway-food containers. They looked at aluminium, polystyrene (styrofoam) and polypropylene (clear plastic) containers. These were compared to reusable plastic containers, such as “Tupperware”.

For example, the study found that whilst Styrofoam containers have the lowest carbon footprint – 50% lower than aluminium containers and three times lower than their plastic counterparts – they cannot be considered a sustainable packaging as they are not recycled at a mass level and often end up in landfill.

The global takeaway food market is growing fast, with a projected value of over £80 billion in 2020. The sector uses a vast amount of disposable takeaway containers, estimated in this study at 2025 million units per year in the European Union (EU) alone.

Despite this, the scale of the impacts on the environment of takeaway-food containers used in this growing sector was not measured until now.

The study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the impacts of containers, taking into account their manufacture, use and end-of-life waste management. Altogether, the research team investigated 12 different environmental impacts, including climate change, depletion of natural resources and marine ecotoxicity.

The study found that the styrofoam container was the best option among the disposable containers across all the impacts considered, including the carbon footprint. For example, the styrofoam container had 50% lower carbon footprint than aluminium and three times lower than the plastic. This is because of the lower amount of materials and energy used in the production of styrofoam compared to the other two types of container.

However, styrofoam containers are currently not recycled and cannot be considered a sustainable packaging option. The study estimates that recycling half of the containers currently in use, as envisaged by the EU recycling policy for the year 2025, would reduce their carbon footprint by a third. This would save 61,700 t CO₂ eq. per year at the EU level, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions generated annually by 55,000 cars. Most other impacts would be reduced by more than 20%.

Dr Alejandro Gallego-Schmid, the lead author, explains: ‘Achieving this level of recycling of styrofoam containers is going to be challenging. Although technically possible and practiced at small scale in some countries, the main difficulties are related to collecting the used containers and the associated costs.’

Dr Joan Fernandez Mendoza, one of the study authors, added: ‘Because they are so light, the styrofoam containers can easily be blown away, contributing to urban and marine litter. So, despite their lower life cycle environmental impacts relative to the other containers, styrofoam containers cannot be considered a sustainable packaging option unless they can be recycled at a large scale.’

The study also found that reusable Tupperware containers had a lower carbon footprint than disposable styrofoam when they were reused more than 18 times. This is despite the energy and water used for their cleaning. Disposable clear-plastic containers needed to be reused even fewer times – only five – to become better for the carbon footprint than the styrofoam.

, the project leader, commented: ‘As consumers, we can play a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of food packaging by reusing food containers as long as possible. Our study shows clearly that the longer we reuse them, the lower their impacts become over their extended lifetimes.’

The research is published in Journal of Cleaner Production and is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618336230#appsec1

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A study has linked babies conceived through a type of IVF to lower birth weight followed by increased growth after birth.

The University of Manchester led study of 5,200 IVF children found that singleton babies conceived from fresh embryo transfers - used in two thirds of all IVF - are associated with lower birth weights, head circumference and length, but then grow more quickly, catching up to naturally conceived children by school age.

The team are also monitoring birth weight in IVF babies over a 25-year period, and initial results show that weight seems to be increasing. It may be that recent improvements in IVF technology are responsible, though it’s too early to know for sure, say the team.

Babies conceived from frozen embryo transfers – used in about one third of IVF- have greater weight, head circumference and length at birth and show similar growth to naturally conceived children.

“Though the effects are small, they do justify considering using the safest form of IVF treatment where possible, and continuing to monitor the long-term health of these children,” said reproductive biologist Professor Daniel Brison who led the study.

“Overall IVF babies are just as likely to be born healthy as any other, and the lifestyle choices they make in later life will far outweigh any small effect of low birthweight and altered growth,” explained Professor Brison.

Using Scottish data, it is the first large-scale study of early growth in IVF children from birth to school age anywhere in the world, and only the second study of health in UK IVF children using the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority register of IVF treatments.

The European Union funded study, which involved researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Southampton, is published today in BMC Medicine.

Among the headline findings are:

• The birthweight of babies born from fresh embryo transfer cycles is on average 93·7g less than naturally conceived babies.
• Babies born from frozen embryo transfers are on average 57·5g heavier.
• Fresh embryo babies grew faster from birth by on average 7·2g/week but remained lighter by 171g, at 6-8 weeks, than normally conceived babies and 133g smaller than frozen embryo transfer babies; who were similar to normally conceived babies.
• By school entry (4-7 years), weight, length and BMI in boys and girls conceived by fresh and frozen embryo transfer were similar to those in naturally conceived children.

Professor Brison said: “We don’t yet know why fetal and child growth for children conceived through this form of fertility treatment is affected.

“Babies born from IVF appear largely healthy, though the oldest of them, Louise Brown, is still only 40 so we feel there is a duty to monitor this cohort of children for diseases which show up only in later life.

“The impact of fresh embryos transfer on birth weight is after all nearly as great as that of maternal smoking in pregnancy. One possible explanation, say the team, is that fetal growth is restricted with fresh embryo transfer because of impaired placental function associated with dysregulated maternal hormones. Freezing embryos, they argue, may also help to preserve them to establish pregnancy later on when the mother’s body has recovered from IVF.

“But IVF children need not be alarmed: the greatest risk from IVF is multiple pregnancy, and the IVF field and government regulator (HFEA) have worked together to improve this greatly over the last 5-10 years.”

“” is published in BMC Medicine.

The world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer designed and built to work in the same way a human brain does has been fitted with its landmark one-millionth processor core and is being switched on for the first time.

The newly formed million-processor-core ‘Spiking Neural Network Architecture’ or ‘’ machine is capable of completing more than 200 million million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100 million transistors.

To reach this point it has taken £15million in funding, 20 years in conception and over 10 years in construction, with the initial build starting way back in 2006. The project was initially funded by the and is now supported by the . It is being switched on for the first time on .

The SpiNNaker machine, which was designed and built in The University of Manchester’s , can model more biological neurons in real time than any other machine on the planet.

Biological neurons are basic brain cells present in the nervous system that communicate primarily by emitting ‘spikes’ of pure electro-chemical energy. Neuromorphic computing uses large scale computer systems containing electronic circuits to mimic these spikes in a machine.

SpiNNaker is unique because, unlike traditional computers, it doesn’t communicate by sending large amounts of information from point A to B via a standard network. Instead it mimics the massively parallel communication architecture of the brain, sending billions of small amounts of information simultaneously to thousands of different destinations.

, who conceived the initial idea for such a computer, said: “SpiNNaker completely re-thinks the way conventional computers work. We’ve essentially created a machine that works more like a brain than a traditional computer, which is extremely exciting.

“The ultimate objective for the project has always been a million cores in a single computer for real time brain modelling applications, and we have now achieved it, which is fantastic.”

The computer’s creators eventually aim to model up to a billion biological neurons in real time and are now a step closer. To give an idea of scale, a mouse brain consists of around 100 million neurons and the human brain is 1000 times bigger than that.

One billion neurons is 1% of the scale of the human brain, which consists of just under 100 billion brain cells, or neurons, which are all highly interconnected via approximately 1 quadrillion (that’s 1 with 15 zeros) synapses.

So, what is a million-core processor computer that mimics the way a brain works used for? One of its fundamental uses is to help neuroscientists better understand how our own brain works. It does this by running extremely large scale real-time simulations which simply aren’t possible on other machines.

For example, SpiNNaker has been used to simulate high-level real-time processing in a range of isolated brain networks. This includes an 80,000 neuron model of a segment of the cortex, the outer layer of the brain that receives and processes information from the senses.

It also has simulated a region of the brain called the Basal Ganglia - an area affected in Parkinson’s disease, meaning it has massive potential for neurological breakthroughs in science such as pharmaceutical testing.

The power of SpiNNaker has even recently been harnessed to control a robot, . This robot uses the SpiNNaker system to interpret real-time visual information and navigate towards certain objects while ignoring others.

Prof Furber added: “neuroscientists can now use SpiNNaker to help unlock some of the secrets of how the human brain works by running unprecedentedly large scale simulations. It also works as real-time neural simulator that allows roboticists to design large scale neural networks into mobile robots so they can walk, talk and move with flexibility and low power.” 

A systematic review of research has revealed that the toxic effects on the lung of drugs commonly taken to treat a range of common conditions is much more widespread than thought.

Though the 27 drugs treating a range of conditions including arthritis, cancer and the heart are successful for most patients, doctors, say the team, need to be more aware of the potential risks to their respiratory systems.

The research was carried out by academics at the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield as well as clinicians at NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).

The study, which looked at 6,200 patients’ data from 156 papers is published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

The team are part of a €24 million project funded by the European Union and the European pharmaceutical industry’s Innovative Medicine Initiative which is developing imaging techniques for the management of drug-induced interstitial lung disease (DIILD). It is co-led by EORTC and Bioxydyn Ltd, a University of Manchester spin-out company.

Though DIILD can cause difficulty breathing, inflammation and fibrosis, the risk sometimes only becomes apparent after the drugs have been in use for some years.

Though the team say clinicians are hindered because most of the papers they reviewed were of low or very low quality. Between 4.1 and 12.4 cases of DIILD per million per year were reported worldwide accord to the review.

And the review also found that DIILD accounted for around 3–5% of all interstitial lung disease cases.

In some of the studies, mortality rates of over 50% were reported and overall, 25% of all the patients studied died as a result of respiratory symptoms.

Steroids were the most common drug used to treat DIILD, but no studies examined their effect on outcome.

John Waterton, a Professor of Translational Imaging from The University of Manchester, was on the research team. He said: “Though this area is not well researched, we can say that the side effects of drugs on the lung are much more widespread than previously thought.

“We do know it affects a considerable number of people, which is why we want to develop better imaging tests to pick up any lung problems before they become serious.

“It’s important to stress that patients can safely continue to take their medication - but it’s also important that doctors monitor and assess them closely for side effects in the lung.”

On the team is also Dr Nazia Chaudhuri honorary senior lecturer at The University of Manchester and a consultant physician at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, who has a specialist interest in interstitial lung disease.

She said: “ Doctors need to be aware and vigilant to the possible lung toxicities and harm that can be caused by some drugs. With newer drugs coming on the market this is an increasing yet under recognised problem and we need better ways of detecting these side effects before they cause harm.”

The paper ‘Drug-Induced Interstitial Lung Disease: A Systematic Review’ is published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine and is available .

The common drugs with DIILD liability in the review are: Bleomycin, Gemcitabine, Erlotinib, Gefitinib, Panitumumab, Cetuximab, Everolimus, Temsirolimus, Sirolimus, Ipilimumab, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, Atezolizumab, Avelumab, Durvalumab, Irinotecan, Pemetrexed, Methotrexate, Infliximab, Etanercept, Adalimumab, Golimumab, Leflunomide, Amiodarone, Nitrofurantoin, Distamycin and Carbamazepine.

 ‘This research was funded by Innovative Medicines Initiatives 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No. 116106. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.’

The largest liquid-argon neutrino detector in the world has recorded its first particle tracks, signalling the start of a new chapter in the story of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).

DUNE’s scientific mission is dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of neutrinos, the most abundant (and most mysterious) matter particles in the universe. Neutrinos are all around us, but we know very little about them. Scientists on the DUNE collaboration think that neutrinos may help answer one of the most pressing questions in physics: why we live in a universe dominated by matter. In other words, why we are here at all. 

The University is playing a leading role in a £65million flagship global science project. Professor Stefan Soldner-Rembold,  in at  and DUNE co-spokesperson, said: “Seeing the first particle tracks is a major success for the entire DUNE collaboration. It is the largest collaboration of scientists working on neutrino research in the world, with the intention of creating a cutting-edge experiment that could change the way we see the universe.”

The enormous ProtoDUNE detector – the size of a three-story house and the shape of a gigantic cube – was built at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, as the first of two prototypes for what will be a much, much larger detector for the DUNE project, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States. When the first DUNE detector modules record data in 2026, they will each be 20 times larger than these prototypes.

It is the first time CERN is investing in infrastructure and detector development for a particle physics project in the United States. The first ProtoDUNE detector took two years to build and eight weeks to fill with 800 tons of liquid argon, which needs to be kept at temperatures below -184 degrees Celsius (-300 degrees Fahrenheit).

The detector records traces of particles in that argon, from both cosmic rays and a beam created at CERN’s accelerator complex. Now that the first tracks have been seen, scientists will operate the detector over the next several months to test the technology in depth.

“Only two years ago we completed the new building at CERN to house two large-scale prototype detectors that form the building blocks for DUNE,” said Marzio Nessi, head of the Neutrino Platform at CERN. “Now we have the first detector taking beautiful data, and the second detector, which uses a different approach to liquid-argon technology, will be online in a few months.”

The technology of the first ProtoDUNE detector will be the same to be used for the first of the DUNE detector modules in the United States, which will be built a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. More than 1,000 scientists and engineers from 32 countries spanning five continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America – are working on the development, design and construction of the DUNE detectors.

When neutrinos enter the detectors and smash into the argon nuclei, they produce charged particles. Those particles leave ionization traces in the liquid, which can be seen by sophisticated tracking systems able to create three-dimensional pictures of otherwise invisible subatomic processes. 

DUNE will not only study neutrinos, but their antimatter counterparts as well. Scientists will look for differences in behavior between neutrinos and antineutrinos, which could give us clues as to why the visible universe is dominated by matter. DUNE will also watch for neutrinos produced when a star explodes, which could reveal the formation of neutron stars and black holes, and will investigate whether protons live forever or eventually decay. Observing proton decay would bring us closer to fulfilling Einstein’s dream of a grand unified theory.

“DUNE is the future of neutrino research,” said Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer. “Fermilab is excited to host an international experiment with such vast potential for new discoveries, and to continue our long partnership with CERN, both on the DUNE project and on the Large Hadron Collider.”

The University of Manchester will be part of a new £6 million cybersecurity scheme launching today (Monday 3 September)

The initiative, which will be known as the GM Cyber Foundry, is in collaboration with 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University (MMU), Lancaster University and the University of Salford. The scheme will protect Greater 91ֱ��’s small and medium-sized companies against malicious computer attacks.

Cyberattacks pose a £860m risk to the region’s businesses each year according to estimates by the Lloyds City Risk Register. To combat these threats some of the region’s leading universities are combining expertise and research in cybersecurity to create new products and services for SMEs.

The Foundry will match the research strengths of each university to the business needs of the local community; projects therefore can be developed in a targeted and streamlined way through business development intervention. It will also enable cybersecurity research capability, which is in great demand in the region, to be managed efficiently.

, Academic Coordinator for Cyber Security in at The University of Manchester says: “We'll jointly run targeted business engagement sessions, to supply specialised cybersecurity support and guidance, and also identify projects that can harness research and innovation expertise from the four partner universities. The goal is to see the development novel cybersecurity products and services.”

91ֱ��’s vibrant digital and creative sector generates more than £3bn in economic output each year the city is growing as a centre for digital excellence, as seen with the opening of a Government Communications Agency site (GCHQ) in the city next year.

Mayor of Greater 91ֱ��, Andy Burnham, says: “Through the work of the Cyber Foundry, our world-leading universities are giving start-ups and SMEs the freedom they need to create and innovate, but within digital environments that are safe and secure from cyber criminals.

“With over £25m being invested in fibre broadband connectivity, a planned £5m Cyber Innovation Centre, and the new GCHQ site, Greater 91ֱ�� is both a major hub for digital development and research, and a trusted place to do business.

“Greater 91ֱ�� is a rapidly expanding software and technology hotbed, and we’re perfectly positioned to become one of the top-five digital city-regions in Europe.”

The GM Cyber Foundry has been approved by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which allocated £3m of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding to the scheme.

added: “I'm thrilled to be working with SMEs again on pragmatic, applied cybersecurity research to make working in GMCA's business ecosystem that bit safer.

“Direct innovation with them is the next logical step after my part in a Technology Strategy Board supported project that created the only information security benchmark designed with SMEs in mind.”

A comprehensive report on Brexit and public opinion has revealed that the UK is a country deeply divided by class, place and age, and a values divide is emerging which could dramatically impact on politics in the years to come.

Nineteen months on from the EU referendum, University of Manchester Professors Rob Ford and Maria Sobolewska have co-authored the report by The UK in a Changing Europe, which underlines the divisions in UK society:

• The emergence of a values divide around differing attitudes to diversity
• Brexit has created new political identities: Leavers and Remainers view the world through prisms which shape their receptiveness to evidence based arguments
• The generations are divided: 73% of 18-24 year olds voted Remain; 60% of over 65s voted Leave. This division has grown even more stark following the general election and is turning into a political cleavage
• Brexit exposed the growing distinction between public attitudes in towns and cities, which relates to their contrasting economic trajectories: areas that experienced the most decline in recent decades voted Leave; whereas areas of relative growth were more likely to vote Remain
• Divisions exist between the individual nations of the UK over fundamental constitutional questions
• Divisions are also apparent between .

The report highlights a potentially emergent divide. Those who thought equal opportunities for ethnic minorities have gone too far voted heavily for Leave, and those who felt equal opportunities have not gone far enough were much more likely to have voted Remain.

The report warns that the robust link between views about ethnic equality and votes in the EU referendum could be a sign of an emergent values divide in the UK.

“There’s little evidence to support the prime minister’s statement that ‘the country has come together after Brexit’. Instead she is presiding over a divided and polarised nation," he continued.

The report is written by 27 academics, and is the most comprehensive and authoritative analysis of Brexit and public opinion to date. It analyses the referendum, last year’s general election, emerging Brexit identities and the public’s views of the Brexit negotiations.

The authors make several arguments as to why it is highly unlikely people will change their minds about the UK leaving the EU:

1. people’s preferences about EU membership are tied up with values, which are entrenched and unlikely to shift
2. ‘confirmation bias’ leads Remainers and Leavers to discount information that does not correspond with their values
3. for many Leavers, the attraction of Brexit was about identity politics more than economic calculus

Most of the academics who contributed to the report are part of The UK in a Changing Europe, including John Curtice, Matthew Goodwin, Sara Hobolt, Rob Ford, Anand Menon and Maria Sobolewska.

To read the full report, .

Tornadoes are an underestimated threat across Europe with the UK, Germany, and northern Italy at the greatest risk as tornado season fast approaches.

That’s according to new research by meteorologists at the University of Manchester’s Centre for Atmospheric Science in its School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the European Severe Storms Laboratory in Germany.

Their research, which is being published in the journal , is the first ever threat calculation of tornadoes across the European continent.

The team analysed tornado reports from the European Severe Weather Database between 1950 and 2015, looking at the social and economic impact of tornadoes on the continent.

From the 66 years of meteorological, atmospheric and weather related data analysed they found that tornadoes in Europe have caused nearly one billion euros worth of damage, over 300 deaths, and over 4400 injuries.

Between 1950 and 2015, 5478 tornadoes were reported in 42 European countries. The tornado season for Europe is from May to August, with its peak in July.

Such is the scale of the problem, and with European tornado season just weeks away, the team says they want to raise awareness of the issue.

Dr Bogdan Antonescu, from Centre for Atmospheric Science, led the research. He said: “Currently the threat of tornadoes in Europe is not widely recognized. Few European meteorological services have developed and maintained tornado databases and even fewer have issued tornado warnings.

“Therefore, we are raising awareness of the threat of European tornadoes, which is perhaps unappreciated by the public, emergency responders, and governments across the continent.

“Despite what is often assumed by the general public and even by meteorologists and researchers, tornadoes do occur in Europe and they have caused thousands of injuries, hundreds of deaths and huge amounts of damage.”

Although the tornado threat seems to be less in Europe compared to the United States, the research says the true magnitude is unknown due to a huge lack of data collection. This is due to decades of neglect in monitoring tornadoes by official government and European agencies.

But this wasn’t always the case. There was a time when tornado research in Europe was more active than in the US. Before the Second World War, European scientists and meteorologists were actively researching tornadoes.

But the interest declined after 1950, with the majority of the efforts of collecting tornado reports occurring outside the national meteorological services. This lack of national databases has now resulted in an underestimation of the tornado threat to Europe. According to the team, it is a situation that persists today despite resurgence in European tornado research in recent years.

Professor David Schultz, Professor of Synoptic Meteorology from the University of Manchester, added: “The research summarizes all our current understanding of the tornado threat to Europe by showing the changes in tornado injuries and fatalities since the 1950s. It also, for the first time, estimates the damages associated with European tornadoes. No other study has systematically analysed the damages associated with tornadoes in Europe.”

The research also found that whilst UK, Germany, and northern Italy were at the highest risks of tornadoes, it is eastern and southern Europe where tornadoes have the highest societal impact. This means the number of injuries is twice as high and the number of fatalities three times higher in eastern and southern Europe than over western and northern Europe.

The University of Manchester is part of a new consortium which will develop new CT and MRI scan techniques and biomarkers to look at the accumulation of compounds in the body caused by drugs and the harm they may cause – potentially improving patients’ safety and the development of new treatments.

The TRISTAN project, (Translational Imaging in Drug Safety Assessment) is a public-private partnership supported by involving organisations across Europe. The University of Manchester is a major part of this, receiving funding to develop scanning techniques for so-called imaging biomarkers for drug-induced liver and lung disease.

The researchers believe that by refining these techniques to adapt scans for specific compounds they can spot the early signs of disease, tailor individual treatments and identify problems with new drugs early in their development – potentially saving time and money.

One part of the package will be to develop a trial in rheumatology and patients who have drug induced lung toxicity. By scanning them, the researchers hope to refine techniques to spot this early on and identify which patients are most susceptible.

, a National Institute for Health Research Clinical Lecturer in Rheumatology, who is leading this part of the research in 91ֱ��, said: "Some drugs can cause inflammation and damage in the lungs. We hope to develop scans that can identify early lung changes so that quick action can be taken to minimise harm to the patient. The scans may also help identify drugs which are at high risk of causing lung problems so they are not developed further.”

Another part of the project will investigate drug interactions and drug-induced liver disease. Specifically the researchers will look for the presence of imaging biomarker gadoxetate in liver cells. This will enable them to develop predictive models to help with the development of new drugs with less safety concerns.

, principal investigator and Reader in the School of Health Sciences/ Pharmacy, is leading this section of the project. She said: “Quite often drugs are far down the line of development before potential harmful side-effects are discovered. Use of imaging biomarkers and predictive models could help identify a drug that is not a good candidate much earlier, saving a lot of money and research time.”

Overall the five-year, European-wide project is budgeted at €24m. TRISTAN is led by Bayer and coordinated by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). The University of Manchester will receive around £1.1m. Partners in this part of the work will be the University of Leeds, University of Sheffield/Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

It will also involve The University of Manchester spin-out company Bioxydyn, a specialist provider of ground-breaking MRI applications and imaging services.

, a co-investigator and Director of (BRC) said: “Researchers across Greater 91ֱ�� are working towards a more personalised approach that matches individuals to the treatment most likely to work for them. This grant from the European Commission will complement the funding for our new BRC and support research into the use of advanced imaging biomarkers to better predict targeting of treatment and reduce the risk of side effects.”

Cancer

 is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Researchers from The University of Manchester have won a major award in Europe’s biggest space technology innovation competition. 

Dr Gail Millin-Chalabi, Dr Ioanna Tantanasi and Dr Stefania Amici from the University’s School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED) won the Copernicus Masters Sustainable Living Challenge in the The European Satellite Navigation Competition. Their invention, EnviroSAR, is a UK wildfire monitoring service which uses satellite Earth Observation data.

Fire and Rescue Services spend around £55 million every year fighting UK wildfires that damage unique habitats such as the UK’s moorlands and heathlands, and discolour drinking water supplies creating clean-up costs estimated at around £80 million nationally every 5 years for water companies alone.

The EnviroSAR service will help to understand patterns of UK wildfires, target land management, peat restoration, reseeding and reduce water discolouration and its associated costs.The monitoring and detection tool is based on a new analysis technique developed by the researchers to interpret Synthetic Aperture Radar and optical data, which will use the Copernicus Sentinel Earth Observation satellites to deliver ‘burnt-area’ imagery.

“We are extremely motivated and focused to grow EnviroSAR over the coming months, using the excellent platform that winning this challenge has provided.”

Other winning ideas from the UK included a low-cost early detection system for UAVs, a smartphone sleeve to enable access to the Galileo Public Regulatory Service (an encrypted navigation service for governmental authorised users), and a smart navigation device for cyclists.

"We rock at innovation here in the UK, and all of the winners demonstrate the fantastic potential for innovators to take advantage of the opportunities presented by satellite technology.” said Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Growth at the UK Space Agency."

“The competition itself helps to showcase and ultimately grow their ideas as businesses. The UK is proud to have such innovators and hope that they inspire others to realise what they stand to gain by having a go.”

The University of Manchester has been ranked second in Western Europe and 18th in the world in a new table of research quality growth, produced by the publishers of one of the world’s most highly rated scientific journals.

supplement identifies the countries and institutions showing the most significant growth in high-quality research publications, using the Nature Index, which tracks the research of more than 8,000 global institutions.

91ֱ��, despite having a high quality research base already, dramatically increased its score last year, propelling it to second in Western Europe, behind only Oxford. This also placed it 18th in the world - alongside eight other UK institutions.

The top 100 most improved institutions in the index between 2012 and 2015 are ranked by the increase in their contribution to 68 high-quality journals.

91ֱ�� has among current and former staff and students, including three currently working at the University. Discoveries such as – which earned its discoverers the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 complement including: cancer, industrial biotechnology, energy, global inequalities and advanced materials.

, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at The University of Manchester, said: “This news is testament to the talented staff and students who work on research at 91ֱ�� and are consistently successful in getting their results published in the world’s leading journals.

“The University strives to give these gifted researchers the best environment and opportunities to carry out their work and deliver results that have a significant impact on our understanding of the world around us.”

First launched in November 2014, the Nature Index database tracks the author affiliations of research articles published in a group of 68 high-quality natural science journals, which have been selected by independent panels of active scientists.

Responses from over 2,800 individuals to a large scale survey were used to validate the selections. Springer Nature estimates that these 68 journals account for nearly 30% of total citations to natural science journals.

David Swinbanks, Founder of the Nature Index, said: “With four years of data already behind it, the Nature Index is an increasingly powerful tool to assess research performance. By identifying these rising stars, we’re given an insight into which new emerging institutions are likely to play a role in addressing some of the globe’s most pressing challenges. Providing researchers and institutions with this data, through the index’s freely accessible website, is another example of how Nature Research is working to meet the scientific community’s needs.”

More information about the Nature Index is available at

Metrolink customers will be transported to another world on their journey during this week’s City of Science Festival (22-29 July), thanks to a collaboration with The University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy.

Customers travelling on specially branded ‘Astrotrams’ can take a tour of the universe and gaze up at the night sky and our expansive universe.

Astrotram ceilings will be filled with astronomy facts and interactive triggers and customers who download the free SciMan app can play augmented reality videos, bringing science to life.

Passengers on Metrolink stops will also be treated to intergalactic facts from Professor Brian Cox.

It’s all thanks to collaboration between Transport for Greater 91ֱ�� (TfGM), at The University of Manchester, the University of Salford, and the European City of Science programme.

On Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 July, passengers on the two specially branded Astrotrams and at city centre tram stops will also be treated to live experiments by science buskers.

Join in the interactive fun by downloading the SciMan app, and by following on Twitter and using #ASTROTRAM.

Peter Cushing, Metrolink Director for Transport for Greater 91ֱ�� (TfGM), said: “We’re delighted to bring these Astrotrams on board the network to help bring science to life for our customers during the exciting City of Science Festival.

“With free WiFi onboard all trams, people can download the SciMan app for free and learn about science on their journey, while passengers on Metrolink stops will be treated to intergalactic facts from none other than Professor Brian Cox.

“Anyone can join in by following #ASTROTRAM on social media. I look forward to seeing people’s videos of science buskers on trams and at city centre stops.”

, Lecturer in astrophysics at the University of Manchester said: “91ֱ�� has a rich heritage of physics and astronomy discoveries ranging from Rutherford first splitting the atom, to Lovell pioneering radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank, to Geim and Novoselov isolating the properties of grapheme.

“We still continue this tradition of cutting-edge science and want to show 91ֱ�� that they are a part of it. There is nothing like a tram commute to daydream… about our Universe.”

Dr Annie Keane, Director of the European City of Science Programme said: “The partnership between the universities and Transport for Greater 91ֱ�� gives a unique addition to the Science in the City festival programme.

“We hope people taking a tram will be entertained and educated as they travel on a journey through the Milky Way, unlocking the secrets of the Universe on this very special app.”

The festival runs alongside the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), marking 91ֱ��’s designation as European City of Science, and is designed to engage and inspire everyone, from the next generation of scientists to anyone of any age with an interest in the world we live in.

More news about ESOF can be found and by following #ESOF16

The EuroScience Open Forum is here in 91ֱ�� and 4,500 people from all over the world are in the city this week for the latest in cutting-edge science that impacts almost every area of our daily lives.

From the keynote speakers such as Professor Brian Cox and Professor Sir Andre Geim, to sessions on medicine, climate change and the business of science, The University of Manchester is heavily involved in all aspects of ESOF - showing how we do things differently here.

And outside of the conference we’re running a huge number of events – to the public and getting out and about with a series of .

The ESOF champion is the University’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell who says: “It’s my great pleasure to welcome delegates, including science enthusiasts of all kinds to ESOF 2016 for what I’m certain will be a week of inspiring, engaging and challenging events. As champion of the Forum and a scientist myself, it was my goal to create a programme that I would personally want to attend, and I believe we’ve achieved that.

“With its theme of ‘science as revolution’ what better place to hold ESOF 2016 than 91ֱ�� – the birthplace of the world’s first industrial revolution.”

You can get all the latest on ESOF at or take part by following on Twitter. The full programme is available on .

Almost 2,500 pregnant women and new mothers have participated in research on their diet and lifestyle behaviours

The first results of '', an EU-funded pilot project involving The University of Manchester, to promote healthy diets and lifestyles to pregnant women and new mothers, show that nearly 40% of pregnant women are neglecting their greens - eating less than one portion of vegetables per day.

This is only one result of a survey carried out among pregnant and breastfeeding women in six European cities: 91ֱ��, United Kingdom; Murcia, Spain; Odense and Kolding, Denmark; Prague, Czech Republic; and Varna, Bulgaria. It gathered key insights that the cities will use to decide which activities are most needed to support the women in improving their lifestyles.

Community involvement and the participation of pregnant and breastfeeding women in health-promoting activities on offer are key to the project's success.

The project particularly wants to reach vulnerable women (with low education level, low income, very young mothers, or women with linguistic barriers). Each city made special efforts to reach this target group and to include their answers in the findings.

Highlights from the survey of 2,500 women:

One out of five pregnant women feel stressed during the pregnancy, but 95% have the help and support of their partners who are emotionally supportive and concerned about their health and that of the unborn child. However, only 50% of men take part in prenatal classes.

Three out of four women are willing to do everything they can to safeguard their babies’ health – both during pregnancy and the breastfeeding period. They start eating and drinking more healthily, quit bad habits and 84% of pregnant women start taking vitamin supplements. 50% of women who smoke quit during their pregnancy, and 40% cut back on cigarettes (on average from 10 a day to 5 a day).

Over 80% of pregnant women get into drinking water, having a glass more than three times a day. Many are even willing to have a glass in place of coffee, with 50% of women drinking a lot less or giving it up altogether.

As far as diet and exercise goes, intentions are good - the majority of pregnant women intend to eat more vegetables and fruit, and keep up or increase regular physical activity.

However, only about 60% of pregnant women eat at least one portion of vegetables a day. Fruit is more popular, with 3 out of 4 women eating at least one portion a day. While 50% of women confess to snacking more between meals, it is mainly on fruit.

There is room for improvement when it comes to exercise, and most pregnant women end up lowering or stopping their normal exercise routines.

Eighty-four percent intend to breastfeed their baby and the most common reasons to consider using formula is because women are not confident that breast milk will meet their babies’ needs or that they will have trouble breastfeeding.

Keep up-to-date through the 'Together' website, and check out all the key findings of the zero-measurement .

91ֱ�� at a glance…

While pregnancy can be a stressful time, 89% of Manchester women say they are able to cope ‘very well’.

A new baby is likely to inspire women in 91ֱ�� to bring healthier habits to the whole family. 70% believe that the whole family needs to maintain healthy diet and lifestyle habits in order to ensure the health of their babies.

While eating enough vegetables is a problem for many women, it is less so in 91ֱ��. 31% eat at least two portions per day.

“These findings from across Europe support academic findings from the USA and UK that pregnancy is a time in which women are more motivated to make lifestyle changes and health professionals should see this as an ideal opportunity to make healthy changes for the whole family,” said Dr Debbie Smith, Clinical Health psychologist, The University of Manchester.

Reanimating organs in a library, an inflatable museum and cancer as art – The University of Manchester is playing a major part in Science in the City this month, where thousands of people are expected to visit public spaces to take part in fun and cutting-edge science.

The full programme of more than 40 events accompanying conference can be found , but below are a few highlights from The University of Manchester’s involvement.

And if you want to see where our cutting edge science takes place, don’t forget to check out our , happening at the same time.

22-29 July

Visit the Allotment of the Future to explore how we could make the most of our urban spaces to grow food in the future and what kind of menus we might be choosing from in years to come.

Ever wondered what it might be like to have bugs for breakfast, algae for lunch, or grow crops from used coffee grounds? Find out how technology might change domestic growing and discover what’s so important about soil.

23-29 July

Sit down in conversation with an incredible array of talent from across the scientific, literary and arts communities in the Petri Parlour – the place where ideas grow. Click on the links below for more information and booking.

23 July

On 23rd July 2016, 12 female scientists will take to their soapboxes in Piccadilly Gardens, 91ֱ�� city centre to demonstrate and discuss their research. Come and be inspired by cool science from across the North West. There will be something for everyone; from clouds to cancer, protons to parasites, neuropsychology to nanoscience.  Think you won’t understand it? Think again. Come and find out how scientific research informs everyday life. Don’t miss it!

23-29 July

To celebrate 91ֱ��’s year as European City of Science, we’re bringing Cancer Research UK’s research to life like never before. Designers from The University of Manchester and 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University have worked with researchers from and patient volunteers to create unique artworks that showcase our latest scientific advances and tell the personal journeys of people affected by cancer.

25 July

brand new Inflatable Museum will be popping up in 91ֱ�� Cathedral for a day of interactive, exploratory activities for under-5s and their families.

25 July

What is it like to give birth stateless and in transition and what is the impact on the women and children involved?

One of the most pressing issues of our time is one of the questions driving B!RTH, a festival of work which will explore global health inequality through the lens of childbirth at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Join The University of Manchester’s Professor of Global Health and Humanitarian Affairs, Mukesh Kapila CBE, and award-winning Syrian playwright Liwaa Yazji with other panellists to explore the realities, the struggle and the hope of new life and what can be done to prevent a generation being forever lost.

26 July

In this celebration of Science and Poetry, we have paired together some of Manchester’s finest young poets with researchers from across the ESOF programme. Following the ESOF Science Meets Poetry daytime event, these poets will perform their collaborative pieces in the setting of . Biology battles balladry, physics pairs with pentameter, and chemistry confronts cadence in a celebration of the creative similarities between science and the performing arts.

26 July

Join us for an evening where women debate important questions, celebrate the careers of female scientists, innovators and educators, and inspire women to become leaders in their field. Featuring a series of informal social events, the evening will encourage new dialogue between women from across Greater 91ֱ�� as well as those visiting for the EuroScience Open Forum.

Featuring: , astrophysicist, University of Manchester

27 July

Climate change is happening all around us, and this isn’t the time to ignore it, it’s the time to get really, really, creative. Join scientists and artists for an evening of creativity exploring a zero carbon future.

29 July

When a vital organ, such as the heart, lungs, or kidneys stops working, our lives are in great danger. But advances in medical science have made it possible for us to receive replacements, transplanted from deceased or living donors. At Reanimate, visitors can see a kidney working and a heart beating outside of the body, and explore the possibilities of organs returning to life.

Drop in and learn more about reconditioning donor organs for transplantation from and his team from the 91ֱ�� Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research at The University of Manchester.

Cancer experts from around Europe will converge on 91ֱ�� this weekend (July 9-12) to share expertise with the city’s world-leading scientists at a special Congress.

Organisers say 91ֱ�� was chosen to host the European Association for Cancer Research because it is a global centre of excellence for cancer research.

The Congress, which forms part of Manchester City of Science, will see experts share work spanning from basic research to precision medicine – where treatments can be tailored towards individual patients’ differing tumours.

Scientists from Cancer Research UK 91ֱ�� Institute and The University of Manchester will be amongst those showcasing their work.

President Professor Richard Marais, who is also Director of , based at The University of Manchester, said the Congress was an important event for the city.

Professor Marais said: “91ֱ�� is a city of medical and healthcare pioneers and today provides an environment where innovation can grow and prosper.

“It is a hub for top global pharmaceutical, medtech and biotech companies – there are 250 life sciences companies in the region, as well as four universities with a strong track record of working with industry.

“This Congress features an exciting scientific programme, with world-class speakers covering all of the most innovative current research topics from basic research into the biology and understanding of cancer right through to precision medicine.

“This is an emerging important concept in cancer research and treatment today and one of the key focuses of ,- a partnership between Cancer Research UK, The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

“Researchers here in 91ֱ�� and from all over Europe will be able to share their latest work and make new contacts and collaborations that will support important cancer research work in the future.”

The Congress will open with a speech from Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive who suggests the best way to predict the future is to invent it.

91ֱ�� has been chosen as – testament to its important scientific heritage. The Congress will take place at 91ֱ�� Central on 9-12 July.

is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet.

To coincide with the EuroScience Open Forum (), held in 91ֱ�� this month, The University of Manchester is throwing open its doors to give people a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes in labs where the next big discoveries are being made by our researchers.

Over two days (26 and 27 July) visitors will be able to see behind the scenes of the National Graphene Institute where two of our Nobel Prize winners work on the latest uses of this wonder material, take part in experiments including whole body scanning and flying robots, and see the reptiles and amphibians held in the 91ֱ�� Museum’s vivarium up close.

The OpenLabs programme includes more than 30 events accessible to a range of ages and levels of scientific knowledge and most are full of hands-on fun.

Plan your visit at and keep up with all the action using as 91ֱ�� celebrates being this year’s European City of Science.

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The combined impact of dementia, age-related hearing and vision impairment is to be investigated by a new multi-million European research consortium led by The University of Manchester.

Seven in ten Europeans over the age of 65 suffer from either sight or hearing problems and over two thirds suffer from depression or dementia. When combined together the cumulative impact of these dual or triple impairments is far greater than the individual conditions. The scale of combined sensory and cognitive problems is substantial but poorly understood.

The five year project, led by The University of Manchester, has been funded with €6.5m from the European Commission’s research programme. The project aims to investigate this combined impact and develop new tools that could improve quality of life and optimise health and social care budgets across Europe.

, an academic psychiatrist from The University of Manchester, who is the lead researcher on the project, said: “In combination these problems have a much greater effect than each one individually. Imagine if you have dementia which affects your memory or interferes with your recognition of familiar people. When you add visual impairment to that, you can understand why those affected may experience even greater cognitive difficulty or even experience altered behaviour such as agitation or hallucinations.

“The burden on carers – often family members – is also increased as they are required to do much more on a daily basis and we see a greater number of these suffering from burn-out.”

The project seeks to define the scale of the challenges so that authorities across the continent can allocate resources more optimally. At the same time, researchers will also develop online tests, guides and multi-lingual training manuals to help medical professionals diagnose and treat the combined problems more effectively.

Minority groups are particularly disadvantaged with respect to diagnosis and treatment of mental and sensory problems, so researchers will be seeking out people from these groups to participate in the research.

The programme will also trial an intervention of at-home support for people with dual- and triple-impairments. This will be supported by specialist sensory therapists based at and will focus around pragmatic solutions to support both the affected person and their carer.

, a University of Manchester audiologist and co-lead of the SENSE-Cog project said: “Millions of people in the UK and wider EU are affected by this combination of problems and it’s only going to get more prevalent as the population ages. That’s why we have to understand the scale of the problem and then equip the public, carers and health care workers with the tools they need to deal with it. If we could reduce disability due to hearing and vision impairment, there is huge potential to improve mental well-being and even delay the deterioration of dementia.”