What went right this week: understanding depression, plus more

A new brain scanning technique has offered fresh insights into depression, which could lead to novel treatments for the condition and even help to predict who might be at risk of developing it. 

In a trial involving 178 participants, the approach – known as precision functional mapping – revealed that those with clinical depression had a significantly larger salience network than those without. 

The salience network describes brain regions in the frontal cortex and striatum, which are thought to be involved in reward processing and determining which stimuli are most worthy of attention.

“Having a larger salience network appears to increase the risk for depression – the effect is an order of magnitude larger than what we usually see,” said the study’s co-author Dr Conor Liston, professor of neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, US.

Liston’s team said that an expanded brain network appeared to be a risk factor for developing depression, rather than a consequence of the condition. It’s unclear, however, whether an enlarged salience network is a result of genetics or experiences. The team now hopes to study the effects of various depression treatments on brain networks. 

Read more: The best advice for boosting your mental health 

Image: Gus Moretta

Green social prescribing schemes in England have led to significant improvements in wellbeing among participants, a report published this week has found. 

Some 8,400 people have been prescribed activities such as nature walks, community gardening and tree planting as part of the £5.7m scheme.

Prior to being prescribed nature-based activities, participants reported happiness, anxiety and life satisfaction levels were worse than national averages, the report found. However, after taking part in such schemes, they were consistent with national averages. 

With an average cost of £507 per participant, researchers found that green social prescribing is significantly cheaper than other mental health interventions.

“This project has the potential to reduce a range of prescribing and treatment costs for the National Health Service … [while] lowering the risk of several diseases, from diabetes to depression,” said Marion Steiner, a GP who has been involved in the scheme. 

“This is just the beginning,” added Prof Ruth Garside of the University of Exeter, which led the research. “Further government investment is now supporting the leadership and systems change that we know green social prescribing needs to be successful.” 

Image: Vince Fleming

A campaign to inoculate more than 640,000 Gazan children against polio is a “rare bright spot” in almost 11 months of war, the United Nations children’s agency said this week.   

Unicef reported that the first phase of the campaign had reached more than 189,000 children, surpassing its initial target. It said that Israel and Hamas have so far observed pauses in fighting to allow the vaccination programme to progress. The campaign was launched after Gaza recorded its first case of polio in nearly 25 years. 

“After almost a year of families experiencing horrors no man, woman or child should ever have to endure, this week we saw what can be achieved with, simply, will,” said Unicef regional director Adele Khodr. “The risk of polio spreading within Gaza and even beyond, especially to neighbouring countries, remains high. This week we began to address it.”  

Image: Unicef/El Baba

A record number of green energy projects have secured funding in the UK’s latest renewable energy auction.  

What’s set to be Europe’s largest wind farm is among the projects supported by the £1.5bn auction, which sees energy providers compete for contracts to generate clean power for the lowest price. 

The auction is expected to bring forward a record-breaking amount of renewable energy – enough to power around 11m homes – at below the cost of gas-fired power. 

The last auction in September, led by the previous government, failed to attract a single bid for offshore wind. “The success of today’s auction sends a clear signal that the UK is back in the global race for clean energy investment,” said Dan McGrail, chief executive of RenewableUK. 

However, while the success of the latest auction is good news, he said that “a big step up” was required from the government to meet its clean energy targets. By 2030 it wants 95% of electricity to come from renewables. 

Image: Jesse de Meulenaere

Plans are afoot to revive a ‘lost’ rainforest on the barren slopes of an English mountain.

A rare opportunity to purchase Skiddaw mountain (pictured) in the Lake District has presented itself to Cumbria Wildlife Trust, which hopes to transform its bare flanks into a biodiverse temperate rainforest.

The group has raised £5m through a partnership with the insurance firm Aviva. Now it’s calling on the public to help it raise the final £1.25m needed to complete the purchase. If successful, the trust will bring trees – including oak, birch and hazel – back to the lower slopes of Skiddaw, once home to a temperate rainforest. 

“This is a unique and exciting opportunity to create England’s highest nature reserve,” said Stephen Trotter, CEO of Cumbria Wildlife Trust. “Skiddaw … offers a unique opportunity for wildlife and climate resilience at a major scale in the Lake District national park.”

Image: Joe Murphy

While profits from the big energy firms line the pockets of shareholders, a community wind farm in Scotland is ploughing its returns into reforesting the Outer Hebrides.

The Croft Woodland Project has so far planted around a quarter of a million trees on barren sites across the islands, it was reported this week. Three tree nurseries, where native species are grown, have also been created. 

“We’re restoring a landscape which existed a thousand years ago,” Jon Macleod, an arts curator from Lewis, who is involved in the project, told the Guardian. 

Rather than reforesting vast areas of land, the project aims to create a mosaic of woodland habitats across the islands. Funding come from the UK’s largest community owned windfarm, a 3MW facility near Stornoway that makes a reported £900,000 a year in profit. 

The Croft Woodland Project aims to plant 1m trees by 2030. “I would love to use the green energy revolution to get a lot more long-term benefits for our communities,” said Calum Macdonald, the former MP leading the project. 

Image: Croft Woodlands Project

More children in London are walking and cycling to school since the city’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) came into force.  

That’s according to new research, which examined the travel habits of 2,000 children over two years. It found that four in 10 children who were previously driven to school switched to walking, cycling or public transport after the Ulez was introduced. In Luton, where there is no Ulez, just two in 10 children made the switch over the same period.  

The research was led by the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University. It comes amid a growing obesity crisis in the UK, where 23% of 10 to 11-year-olds are classed as obese. 

“This is evidence that clean air zone intervention programmes aimed at reducing air pollution have the potential to also improve overall public health,” said Prof Chris Griffiths of Queen Mary University.

The Ulez launched in 2019 and was expanded to outer boroughs last year. Drivers of older, more polluting vehicles must pay £12.50 to drive in it. A scrappage scheme, which pays motorists to get rid of non-compliant cars, is available. 

Image: Alena Kravchenko/iStock

New legislation has been put forward to tackle the ongoing sewage scandal in England. 

Proposed changes to the law could see water bosses banned from receiving bonuses and even jailed for failing to act on pollution. 

Shareholders in some of the UK’s largest water companies have taken out tens of billions of pounds in profits while failing to invest adequately in infrastructure, leading to sewage being discharged in lakes, rivers and the sea. 

The UK’s environment secretary Steve Reed said the new Water (Special Measures) Bill would “end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses”. But some campaigners are disappointed. They say that water bosses can already be held to account under existing laws, but that the Environment Agency and water regulator, Ofwat, have failed to do so.

A ‘march for clean water’ is due to take place in central London on 26 October. 

Image: Rob Wicks

While the French government pilots a smartphone ban in schools from this week, a bistro in Alsace is one step ahead. Petits Plats de Mamama in Rothau barred diners from using smartphones last year amid concerns that it was ruining the dining experience. A year on, its owners say the ban has “worked brilliantly”. 

Sandra and Olivier Holtzmann, who run the bisto, told The Times that they were selling more desserts because diners are hanging around to finish conversations they were previously too distracted to have.

Smartphones bans are in vogue amid research linking them to poor mental health. The Dutch government banned them from secondary schools in January and has since reported an increase in socialising and a decrease in bullying. 

Image: Roshan Mohammed

Literature lovers in the UK are benefitting from a new buy-back scheme for used books, billed as a ‘sustainable alternative to Amazon’. 

Bookloop allows readers to trade unwanted copies for other pre-loved novels or online credit, which they can use to buy new titles. Customers upload their books to an online valuation system, then drop them off at a designated collection point or have them picked up from their home. 

“Getting pre-owned books to new readers while benefiting both bookshops and authors feels extremely positive,” said Amber Harrison of FOLDE bookshop in Dorset, England. Read the full story here.

Image: Bookbag
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