Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have discovered how certain cancers hijack the immune system for their benefit -- tricking it into helping rather than harming them.

The study, which was led by a team from The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York, found that in 2010, about 2.7 million preterm births globally – or 18% of all pre-term births – were associated with outdoor exposure to fine particulate matter.

A novel air quality model will help air quality forecasters predict surface ozone levels up to 48-hours in advance and with fewer resources, according to a team of meteorologists.

The method, called regression in self-organizing map (REGiS), weighs and combines statistical air quality models by pairing them with predicted weather patterns to create probabilistic ozone forecasts. Unlike current chemical transport models, REGiS can predict ozone levels up to 48 hours in advance without requiring significant computational power.

A promising combination of immunotherapies delivers a one-two punch to brain cancer tumours with high cure rates in mice, scientific evidence published in Nature Communications today says.

Synthetic fleece is something of a modern miracle. It keeps us warm and cozy, is easily cleaned and doesn’t even require we harm any animals to make it. Perfect, right? Well, every miracle comes with a price.

It turns out that every time we wash one fleece pullover or jacket, we’re sending about two grams of plastic microfibers out into our environment. Where those fibers end up from there is a bit concerning, because you’re probably eating them.

Fresh insights into how immune cells are regulated could signal a new approach to tackling infections.

A tiny, transparent device that can fit into a contact lens has a bright future, potentially helping a range of scientific endeavors from biomedicine to geology.

People with hemophilia require regular infusions of clotting factor to prevent them from experiencing uncontrolled bleeding. But a significant fraction develop antibodies against the clotting factor, essentially experiencing an allergic reaction to the very treatment that can prolong their lives.

Research from York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, has found a new set of algorithms that can help determine the 3D structure of proteins to one day find new treatments for a range of diseases including Alzheimer’s, HIV and cancer. The research, published in the current edition of the journal Nature Methods, shows that these new algorithms rapidly generate 3-D structures of viruses, which could revolutionize the development of new drug therapies.

Pregnancy in the UK has never been safer, say scientists from King's College London writing in the latest edition of The Lancet.