University College London UCL
University College London UCL is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
A river is pushing up Mount Everest’s peak
Mount Everest is about 15 to 50 metres taller than it would otherwise be because of uplift caused by a nearby eroding river gorge, and continues to grow because of it, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Geoscience, found that erosion from a river network about 75 kilometres from Mount […]
Study charts how north Africa’s climate changed 5,000 years ago
Climate tipping points can either result from a slow but linear development, or can “flicker" between two stable climatic states that alternate before a final, permanent transition occurs, finds a new study featuring a UCL researcher.
China’s oldest water pipes were a communal effort
A system of ancient ceramic water pipes, the oldest ever unearthed in China, shows that neolithic people were capable of complex engineering feats without the need for a centralised state authority, finds a new study by UCL researchers. In a study published in Nature Water, the archaeological team describe a network of ceramic water pipes and […]
Rising global temperatures will impact major worldwide river basins differently
Rising global temperatures will impact major river basins differently around the world, with rivers in South America, southern Africa and Australia among those most at risk of extreme ecological changes, a new study led by UCL has found.
Satellite monitoring of Greenland ice melting highlights global flood risk
Global warming has caused extreme ice melting events in Greenland to become more frequent and intense over the past 40 years, raising sea levels and flood risk worldwide, finds new research involving UCL academics.
Restoring farmland ponds can help save our declining pollinators
Pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies, hoverflies and wasps, interact more with plants at well-managed farmland ponds than those that are severely overgrown by trees, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
Climate change could cause sudden biodiversity losses worldwide
A warming global climate could cause sudden, potentially catastrophic losses of biodiversity in regions across the globe throughout the 21st century, finds a new UCL-led study. The findings, published in Nature, predict when and where there could be severe ecological disruption in the coming decades, and suggests that the first waves could already be happening. The study’s […]
First water detected on potentially ‘habitable’ planet
Water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures by UCL researchers in a world first.
Antibiotic-resistant genes found in London’s canals and ponds
Central London's freshwater sources contain high levels of antibiotic resistant genes, with the River Thames having the highest amount, according to research by UCL. The Regent's Canal, Regent's Park Pond and the Serpentine all contained the genes but at lower levels than the Thames, which contained genes providing resistance for bacteria to common antibiotics such as penicillin, […]