24 Feb 2017

Nature trail worms its way to Mills Observatory

A new nature trail highlighting the use of a tiny worm in ground-breaking scientific research will go on display this weekend around Mills Observatory in Dundee. Designed by Caitlyn Vesey, a third-year Fine Art student from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee, the trail features rhyming clues which snake around Balgay Hill and in to the Observatory. Caitlyn will be helping launch The Giant Worm Nature Trail at 1pm this Sunday, 26th  February. The launch features a family event led by researchers from the University’s Centre for Gene Regu...

23 Feb 2017

Doris packs a punch – satellite images show the power of Storm Doris

Images captured by the University of Dundee Satellite Receiving Station yesterday and today starkly illustrate the power and size of the most recent ‘weather bomb’ to hit the UK. While Monday 20th February saw London’s warmest day of the winter so far, Thursday 23rd saw torrential rain, wind and even snow come to many parts of the British Isles. The three images (captured by the NPP satellite at 13:07 GMT on 22/07/17, 09:00 GMT on 23/02/2017 from Meteosat-10 (SEVIRI sensor) and 12:48 GMT on 23/02/17 respectively) demonstrate how things changed in 24 hours, with Storm Doris com...

23 Feb 2017

Study reveals children’s favourite books and authors – and literacy challenges

A study of UK children’s reading habits led by the University of Dundee’s Professor Keith Topping has identified a nationwide literacy challenge in the education system. The 2017 What Kids Are Reading Report, compiled by education assessment provider Renaissance UK, analysed the reading habits of 848,219 young people across almost 4,000 schools. It found that Roald Dahl’s classic ‘The Twits’ is the most frequently read book by primary school pupils while Jeff Kinney’s ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School’ is most read in secondary school, closely followed by Da...

23 Feb 2017

Smoke alarm research may help to save children’s lives

Study shows children respond to different smoke alarm tones and frequencies than adults Boys and girls appear to be woken by different combinations of sounds Families being asked to take part in trial of a new smoke alarm sound Researchers from the University of Dundee are seeking hundreds of families to help them trial a new smoke alarm sound aimed specifically at waking children. The number of lives lost as a result of fires has fallen by half since home usage of smoke alarms became widespread. However, there is evidence to suggest that some children do not wake to commonly used smoke alarms. ...

22 Feb 2017

Research suggests new model of chronic disease

Genes play a key role in determining whether someone experiences multiple chronic diseases, according to new research led by the University of Dundee. Chronic pain, depression and heart disease are three of the commonest causes of disability, and are becoming more prevalent. People are also increasingly likely to suffer from more than one chronic disease, resulting in greater disability.  While age, gender, social circumstances and lifestyle are known to increase susceptibility to multiple causes of disability the exact reason why some people suffer from several chronic diseases and others don&rsquo...