Imperial College

A landmark "self-blinded" trial testing the effect of psychedelic microdosing has found the practice may be an example of a strong placebo effect. The research suggests there is little difference in reported benefits between a microdose and a placebo.

A controversial world-first human challenge trial is set to commence in weeks following approval by a UK ethics committee. The research aims to test vaccine efficacy, but the first step will investigate the lowest dose of virus that leads to COVID-19.

If a drone were to inadvertently end up upside-down while flying, it would be good if the aircraft could automatically flip itself back over again, to avoid crashing. Such may someday be the case, thanks to a recent study on dragonfly flight.

Early findings from a clinical trial suggest severely ill COVID-19 patients do not benefit from a therapy involving infusions of plasma from those recovered from the disease. The trial continues to investigate the therapy in moderately ill patients.

Perovskite solar is gaining much attention in solar cell research, but there are greener alternatives in the works. Scientists have just uncovered a new use for these materials, learning they can harvest energy from indoor lighting with high efficiency.

When conducting environmental studies in hard-to-access locations, scientists will often set up networks of small data-logging sensors. Deploying those sensors can be hard, though, which is why a dart-shooting drone is being developed to do the job.

Researchers are suggesting antibodies produced by the immune system response to SARS-CoV-2 decline in the months following initial infection. Testing hundreds of thousands of subjects over three months, the study raises questions over long-term immunity.

UK researchers are set to undertake controversial human challenge trials to accelerate the testing of COVID-19 vaccines. The trials will begin by infecting healthy volunteers to investigate how low doses of the virus lead to acute disease.

By understanding the upper limits of the wobbling that precariously balanced rocks have endured in the past, researchers can gain a picture of future earthquake risk, and a cutting-edge new technique could improve the accuracy of this modeling.

In a move that could lead to new innovations in antibiotic production, the genome of a freeze-dried sample of Sir Alexander Fleming's original mold that led to his discovery of penicillin has been sequenced for the first time.

As compared to their incandescent counterparts, LED bulbs are already known for producing a lot of light using relatively little electricity. According to a new study, however, a thin layer of nanoparticles could allow them to perform even better.

Hot on the heels of a recently published genomic study correlating blood iron levels with healthy aging, more research is suggesting high systemic iron levels can be linked with reduced life expectancy.