Behind the Headlines

Latest news

• Rise in number of unpaid carers and young carers

  Fri, 17 May 2013 11:01:00 GMT

  "Children are picking up the caring roles the state has abandoned," The Guardian says, while The Independent says that 180,000 children work as unpaid carers.

  These new figures come from the Office for National Statistics, which has pulled together data on unpaid care in England and Wales from the 2011 census.

• Time-lapse technique may boost success rate of IVF

  Fri, 17 May 2013 10:15:00 GMT

  “IVF advance triples couples' chances of having a baby”, The Daily Telegraph reports.

  The innovation in question is actually based on an old imaging technique called time-lapse photography, where a camera is set to record a series of images at regular intervals. This technology is now available for monitoring the development of IVF embryos before they are transferred into the womb.

• Absent fathers linked to depression risk in girls

  Thu, 16 May 2013 10:59:00 GMT

  “Study shows girls with absent fathers more likely to develop depression," the Mail Online has revealed.

  It reports on a large UK study that found that girls whose biological fathers were absent during the first five years of their childhood had an increased risk of symptoms of depression. No increase in risk was found for girls whose fathers were absent later in childhood, and no increase in risk was found for boys with absent fathers.

• Human embryo stem cells cloning breakthrough

  Thu, 16 May 2013 10:06:00 GMT

  "Human embryonic stem cells created from adult tissue for first time," The Guardian reports, while the Daily Mail's front page leads with the somewhat fanciful warning that new research raises the "spectre of cloned babies".

  These headlines are based on newly published research into the use of a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) as part of embryonic stem cell research. It should be noted that no babies were born as a result of this research, and the researchers had no intention of producing a live cloned human being.

• Drug combination offers hope for osteoporosis

  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:55:00 GMT

  “Double drug hope for brittle bone sufferers”, reports the Daily Mail.

  This headline follows a small but well-designed trial of treatments for postmenopausal osteoporosis. As women go through the menopause, levels of the hormone oestrogen begin to fall. This drop in oestrogen can lead to a thinning and weakening of the bones, increasing the risk of broken bones (fractures).

• 'Broken' body clock may be linked to depression

  Wed, 15 May 2013 12:16:00 GMT

  "Depressed people are out of sync with the rest of the world because their body clocks are broken," reports the Mail Online website, while The Independent claims that depressed people live in a "different time zone".

  The story comes from a study that looked at the activity of genes thought to be involved in regulating the body's internal clock – the innate sense that most people have of the changes over a 24-hour day to night cycle (circadian rhythms).

• Is the rise in neurological deaths due to modern life?

  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:48:00 GMT

  'Technology, food additives and air pollution are causing people to develop dementia earlier than ever,' reports the Mail Online website. But this is a claim with little to no evidence to support it.

  The study the Mail reports on looked at death rates in 10 developed countries, including the UK and the US. The researchers specifically focused on what they termed "neurological deaths". These are deaths arising from conditions that affect the brain and nervous system, such as motor neurone disease and dementia.

• Angelina Jolie's surgery to 'reduce breast cancer risk'

  Tue, 14 May 2013 14:10:00 GMT

  Writing in the New York Times, actress Angelina Jolie has announced that she has recently undergone a double mastectomy (where both breasts are surgically removed) followed by breast reconstruction surgery.

  She writes that this is because genetic testing revealed she had a 87% chance of developing breast cancer in later life, as well as a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. This means she took a decision to have ‘preventative surgery’.

• Could a good mood make you eat more food?

  Tue, 14 May 2013 10:10:00 GMT

  ‘Research has found emotional eaters tend to eat more when happy’, reports the Mail Online website.

  The news is based on a small study looking at whether experimentally altering mood has an effect on the amount of calories a person eats.

• Novel coronavirus 'limited' spread between people

  Mon, 13 May 2013 10:52:00 GMT

  "WHO warns that a deadly novel coronavirus could be passed from person to person," The Independent reports.

  The news – featured in much of the media – is based on the latest ‘state of play’ advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the novel coronavirus (nCV). However, public health officials in the UK have stated that there is no evidence of 'sustained' transmission (ie. no-one who has been infected by another person, has gone one to infect more people).