Winter 'Wellcome News' out now

20 December 2011

The latest issue is out now, bursting with stories about the people and the research that we support. Communication is a central theme - from celebrating the winners of our science writing competition to finding out how footwear was used to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and investigating how neurons convey nerve signals.

The winter issue of 'Wellcome News' brings so-called neglected tropical diseases into the spotlight. These debilitating infections affect the world's poorest countries and, despite funding from the Trust and other bodies, the fruits of research have not always reached those most in need. In a special in-depth feature, researchers talk about the science and the campaign that's bringing these diseases back onto the wider global agenda.

We meet the winners of this year's Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, in association with the 'Guardian' and the 'Observer', and present their successful entries. Tess Shellard tells us how the Hawaiian bobtail squid relies on luminescent bacteria for camouflage, and Penny Sarchet considers whether the nocebo effect can lead to 'death by hypochondria'.

Dr Liz Carpenter from the Structural Genomics Consortium in Oxford shares the toil and triumph behind using X-ray crystallography to obtain the first structure of a human integral membrane protein. Prof. Carol Robinson, also based at the University of Oxford and working on challenging membrane proteins, tells us about her latest work to understand ATPase, "a fascinating rotary machine".

Broadcaster and journalist Quentin Cooper warns that labels such as 'science' or 'art' shouldn't get in the way of telling a good story, while Dr Alex Bateman of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute argues that if you want to help the public to understand your research, "the only way is Wikipedia".

We delve into the Wellcome Library archives a find a pair of 'Red or Dead' sandals designed to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, and, in 'Nuts and bolts', we explore how neurons are able to transmit nerve signals at speeds of 100 metres per second.

There's also the latest Wellcome Trust funding and research news, as well as information about upcoming happenings at Wellcome Collection.

You can download the new issue or subscribe to receive future issues for free. As always, we'd love to hear your comments, ideas or suggestions for this or future issues: email us and let us know.