A charity says it currently has fewer than 50 donors at the University of Leeds.
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More than 500 coronavirus cases at University of Leeds
More than 500 staff and students at the University of Leeds have tested positive for Covid-19. d NHS.
Copyright: GoogleThree staff members make up the 558 people who have contracted the virus since the start of term on 28 September.
The latest figures show that more than half of the cases have been reported since the beginning of October.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Simone Buitendijk said the university was working with the city council and NHS
Watching cute animal videos is good for your mental and physical health
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Video caption: Researchers at the University of Leeds have tested the theory on students to much success! Robots used to clean airport in coronavirus fight
Robots that can clean door handles and seats are being trialed at a Yorkshire airport to see if they can help in the fight against the coronavirus.
Copyright: SELF-REPAIRING CITIESThe University of Leeds has been using the machines at Leeds Bradford Airport and in Leeds city centre where they spray objects with a mist of diluted alcohol.
The robots use artificial intelligence to identify objects that need regular cleaning, like seats, bike stands or doors.
They then work together to avoid crashing into things or people.
The project, which involves the universities of Leeds and Birmingham, and University College London, was set up in May to look at how robots can help slow the spread of the virus.
Dr Mohammed Shaqura, from the University of Leeds, said: “The aim is to have robots that can regularly disinfect those spaces, doing away with the need for people to clean them and the risks they would face in becoming contaminated themselves.
“We are using machine learning techniques to have the robots fully autonomous, so they "know" which objects need cleaning – and will only require high-level supervision from operators.”
By Joe Tidy & Leo Kelion
Technology reporters, BBC News
Paralympian returns to work on NHS front line
A Sheffield Paralympic hopeful is putting down the table tennis paddle to return to work as a junior doctor to help fight the coronavirus outbreak.
Copyright: PA MediaKim Daybell, who also studies at the University of Leeds, has put his Tokyo dreams on hold to return to help the front line of the NHS.
The junior doctor is working 13 hour shifts on a Covid-19 ward in North London.
He said: "What's really scary, I think, is how young a lot of the patients are that we're seeing.
"I'm thinking about my parents and never really seeing them as vulnerable people.
"But now, to be honest, if they came in they are people who we'd be classing as vulnerable."
By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst
Mumps cases hit 10-year high in England
Health officials are urging people to have both parts of the MMR vaccine after cases of mumps in England reached their highest level in a decade.
Copyright: Olly FinchOutbreaks in universities and colleges raised the number of cases of the painful viral illness to 5,042 in 2019 - four times the number in 2018.
Most were in young adults who missed out on the MMR jab.
Public Health England said the full two doses of the vaccination were needed to maximise protection.
The vaccine prevents most cases of mumps - but not all, and so some young people are still getting the illness.
Olly Finch, a student at Leeds University, said: "I went to bed normal, everything fine, and then I woke up, and bang - my face was so puffed out, so swollen.
"I got prescribed morphine - it was that bad."
Leeds University to test amitriptyline as IBS treatment
A medical trial is being held at the University of Leeds to see if a drug developed as an anti-depressant could become a common treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
Copyright: Getty ImagesAmitriptyline has sometimes been prescribed to people with IBS when other treatments have been ineffective.
But experts said they needed to know more about why the drug helps before it can become more widely used.
A group of 500 volunteers is now being recruited from GP surgeries around Bristol, Leeds and Southampton.
According to charity the IBS Network, the condition affects about 12 million people in the UK.
There is no cure and patients can experience abdominal pain, bloating and constipation, among other symptoms.
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Video caption: Inventing sign language for space British sign language is receiving an astronomical update thanks to a unique collaboration between a space scientist and a group of deaf astronomers.
Leeds scientists strike gold with thinnest precious metal
Press Association
Leeds scientists have created the world's thinnest version of gold.
Copyright: PAResearchers at the University of Leeds measured the thickness of the precious metal to be 0.47 nanometres, or just two atoms thick.
The thinnest unsupported gold ever created is one million times thinner than a human fingernail.
Comprising just two layers of atoms sitting on top of one another, the material is regarded as 2D.
Researchers say the material could have wide-scale applications in the medical device and electronics industries - and also as a catalyst to speed up chemical reactions in a range of industrial processes.
