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They are 40cm tall, made of white plastic, and don’t look like your average students, but robot avatars have taken their place in the classroom at Cambridge University – to help two mothers with new-born babies continue their Masters degrees in Genomic Medicine. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/meet-the-robot-avatars-helping-cambridge-students-combine-education-and-motherhood

Meet Zoe: a digital talking head which can express human emotions on demand with "unprecedented realism" and could herald a new era of human-computer interaction. The system, called "Zoe", is the result of a collaboration between researchers at Toshiba's Cambridge Research Lab and the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge are leading an international project to develop 3D versions of breast tumours, which can be studied using virtual reality, thanks to a £20 million award from Cancer Research UK. This will allow scientists and doctors to study every cell and aspect of a tumour in unprecedented detail and could change how the disease is diagnosed, treated and managed. http:

A transformational new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) - the result of over three decades of research in Cambridge -- has now been approved by the EU agency responsible for regulating new drugs. In recognition of the highly effective new treatment, the University of Cambridge has produced this video which explores the history of the drug, showing the many challenges as well as successes

"It is often said that the lift on a wing is generated because the flow moving over the top surface has a longer distance to travel and therefore needs to go faster. This common explanation is actually wrong." Here, aerodynamics expert Professor Holger Babinsky from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering debunks a popular, yet misleading, explanation of how wings lift. For more

Dr Amy Milton from Cambridge’s Department of Psychology relates how Requiem for a Dream, Hubert Selby’s bleak portrayal of drug addiction, motivated her to dedicate her academic career to finding treatments for addiction. Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated

Dr Juliet Foster’s ongoing fascination with the portrayal of mental illness in literature was triggered by reading The Madness of a Seduced Woman by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. Today she carries out research in Cambridge’s Department of Psychology. Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge

Having decided to become a doctor at the age of 10, Professor Carol Brayne’s love of the novels of Charles Dickens and George Eliot fired up her determination to tackle social inequalities in healthcare. Today she is Director of the Cambridge Institute of Public Health. Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of

As a child, Dr Paul Coxon from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, was fascinated by the madcap inventions of the boy hero in Jan Wahl’s SOS Bobomobile (illustrated by Fernando Krahn) – and he still likes to tinker with his own inventions in the lab today. Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading

As a mineral scientist, Professor Simon Redfern from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences travels widely, and likes his visits to be about more than just the rocks. A recent trip to Kazakhstan was enlivened by reading Jamila by Chinghiz Aitmatov, a novella set in post-war Soviet Kyrgyzstan, on the borders of Kazakhstan. Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’,