Search

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 church has been uncovered on Cabo Verde’s Santiago Island, off the West African coast, which dates back to late 15th century, when Portugal colonised the islands that were later to play a highly strategic role in the global trade in African slaves. Archaeological excavations are helping Cabo Verdeans gain new insight into their remarkable and long-obscured history. Find out more here:

New digital techniques have allowed researchers to predict structural evolution of the skull in the lineage of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, in an effort to fill in blanks in the fossil record, and provide the first 3D rendering of their last common ancestor. Here, lead researcher Dr. Aurélien Mounier from Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies describes part of the

New research across thousands of years of human evolution shows that our skeletons have become much lighter and more fragile since the invention of agriculture - a result of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles as we shifted from foraging to farming. This video shows the CT scanning used in this research. To find out more, visit:

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

In this video, Gates Cambridge Alumna Dr Molly Fox discusses her research which suggests that people living in industrialised countries may be more likely to develop Alzheimer's. This points to what's known as the 'hygiene hypothesis', the theory that the greatly reduced contact with bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms in the developed world can lead to a weaker immune system and increased

In a new paper published in Nature, researchers at the Cavendish Lab used the quantum technique of electron 'spin' to enhance the power of organic solar cells, a much cheaper and more flexible alternative to the current commercial silicon-based solar cells. Find out more here: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/electron-spin-key-to-solar-cell-breakthrough-0 To do it, they used lasers - and lots

Stephen Hawking helps to launch Centre for the Future of Intelligence Artificial intelligence has the power to eradicate poverty and disease or hasten the end of human civilisation as we know it – according to a speech delivered by Professor Stephen Hawking this evening. For more information and a transcript of Professor Hawking's speech, click here:

New three-dimensional reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals on Earth developed, and provide some answers as to why they went extinct. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/how-some-of-the-first-animals-lived-and-died A bizarre group of uniquely-shaped organisms known as rangeomorphs may have been some of the earliest animals to appear on Earth, uniquely suited to ocean conditions 575

An unassuming brown pebble, found more than a decade ago by a fossil hunter in Sussex, has been confirmed as the first example of fossilised brain tissue from a dinosaur. The fossil, most likely from a species closely related to Iguanodon, displays distinct similarities to the brains of modern-day crocodiles and birds. Learn more here:

"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

Sander van der Linden has a nickname: Cambridge’s professor of “defence against the dark arts”. His team works with governments and organisations such as Google to find ways to fight against misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories. Watch Sander explain his radical idea: that people can be “inoculated” against falling for fake news. Want to be involved in the research?

Dr Iris Möller of the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit at the Department of Geography of the University of Cambridge explains how an understanding of natural processes and landforms can help us develop win-win solutions for reducing flood risk. Her international collaborative research team has been able to prove that coastal salt marsh protects sea defences during storm. When submerged in up to 2

Thomas Robert Malthus, who was born 250 years ago, became notorious for his ‘principle of population’. He argued that, because poverty was inevitable, some people would not find a seat at ‘nature’s table’ and would perish. In a new book, historians at Cambridge and Harvard set the life and work of this contentious thinker within a wider context – and look in particular at his

Skeletal remains of a group of foragers massacred around 10,000 years ago on the shores of a lagoon is unique evidence of a violent encounter between clashing groups of ancient hunter-gatherers, and suggests the “presence of warfare” in late Stone Age foraging societies. Listen to researchers from Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies discuss the findings, and what they

A computer network closely modelled on part of the human brain is enabling new insights into the way our brains process moving images - and explains some perplexing optical illusions. Find out more here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/artificial-brain-reveals-why-we-cant-always-believe-our-eyes This research was supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Isaac Newton Trust. Reference Rideaux,

New research shows that chimpanzees search for the right tools from a key plant species when preparing to ‘ant dip’ - a crafty technique enabling them to feast on army ants without getting bitten. In the first clip, a female chimpanzee is shown 'ant-dipping' using the ideal tool made from the shrub Alchornea hirtella as a male chimpanzee looks on with envy. The second clip captures a

COVID-19 is caused by a virus that jumped from animals to humans - and then spread rapidly. The risk of this happening again, causing another pandemic, is very real. Cambridge researchers have looked at all the major ways this might happen, to work out what might be done to reduce the risk. Read more here:

Researchers in Cambridge and Exeter have discovered that jackdaws use their eyes to communicate with each other -- the first time this has been shown in non-primates. While what humans do with their eyes has been well studied, we know almost nothing about whether birds communicate with members of the same species with their eyes. The new study, published today in Biology Letters, shows that

In 2010, Dr Stephen Leonard embarked on a year-long trip to live with the Inugguit of north-west Greenland, the northernmost settled people on Earth. His aim was to record the language, stories and songs of these communities. The traditional life of the community and its future is potentially threatened by a number of factors, one of which is climate change. Dr Leonard lived as a member of those