Databases and other information resources are frequently updated, often daily. You can sign up to a current contents service of an information provider and it will alert you to new information that has been recently added.
These will often deliver information directly to your desktop. The following will help you keep up-to-date with current research and introduce you to useful subject information.
Many journals will allow you to sign up for free email alerts of their latest table of contents. Choose only one or two of the main journals in your area to avoid being swamped by lots of emails. An example is Nature
Alerting services work away in the background and alert you each time an article which matches certain keywords is added or will send you the table of contents of specified journals. They use either email or RSS feeds.
Conferences discuss the latest developments in their subject area. Look at the Conferences UK web site.
These are email forums which allow peer group discussion of the latest issues in your subject area. An example of this is Jiscmail. Jiscmail hosts hundreds of UK academic mailing lists, you will need to register for these lists using your universtiy email address.
This is the end of our section on keeping up to date.