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It was thought that no bronzes by Michelangelo had survived - now experts believe they have found not one, but two - with a tiny detail in a 500-year-old drawing providing vital evidence. - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/michelangelo-bronzes-discovered They are naked, beautiful, muscular and ride triumphantly on two ferocious panthers. And now the secret of who created these

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/whale-tale-a-dutch-seascape-and-its-lost-leviathan Earlier this year a conservator at the Hamilton Kerr Institute made a surprising discovery while working on a painting owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum. As Shan Kuang removed the old varnish from the surface, she revealed the whale that had been the intended focus of the scene. In 1873 the Fitzwilliam Museum,

Footage of African greater honeyguide killing newly hatched foster sibling. For more info visit: www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/natural-born-killers

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. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/face-of-the-future-rears-its-head

An international team of astronomers has found a pulsating, dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns. This is the brightest pulsar – a dense stellar remnant left over from a supernova explosion – ever recorded. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-discover-the-mighty-mouse-of-stellar-remnants

A female cricket mounted on a trackball walks towards the sound made by a male cricket. More information at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/neural-circuit-in-the-cricket-brain-detects-the-rhythm-of-the-right-mating-call

Playful naked mole-rats contribute to research into devastating medical conditions by Dr Ewan St. John Smith, Department of Pharmacology, who has been studying them for the past ten years. Find out more: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/n-is-for-naked-mole-rat

The winning photos from this year's Department of Engineering photo competition, sponsored by ZEISS. See many more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bullet-holes-and-graphene-caves-picturing-engineering Image credits: Rachel Garsed, Andrew Payne, Dilek Ozgit and Andrea De Luca, Kenichi Nakanishi, Alex Kendall.

© Phlesch Bubble A major fossil discovery in Canada sheds new light on the development of the earliest vertebrates, including the origin of jaws, the first time this feature has been seen so early in the fossil record http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/new-fossil-find-pinpoints-the-origin-of-jaws-in-vertebrates

Artist's impression of 55 Cancri e orbiting its parent star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The most detailed map of a small, rocky ‘super Earth’ to date reveals a planet almost completely covered by lava, with a molten ‘hot’ side and solid ‘cool’ side. Read more: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/map-of-rocky-exoplanet-reveals-a-lava-world

Built by undergraduates working for their exams, with funds raised by the students themselves, Cambridge's solar car is the only British entry into the World Solar Challenge. Despite the odds, however, its radical design could still secure victory. - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/resolution-ready-to-shine-down-under#sthash.J5JFhIVd.dpuf

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered a novel genetic cause of severe obesity which, although relatively rare, demonstrates for the first time that genes can reduce basal metabolic rate -- how the body burns calories. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/novel-genetic-mutations-cause-low-metabolic-rate-and-obesity

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

Researchers have captured the first 3D video of a living algal embryo turning itself inside out, from a sphere to a mushroom shape and back again. The results could help unravel the mechanical processes at work during a similar process in animals, which has been called the “most important time in your life.” Read more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/upside-down-and-inside-out

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.

Why does one of the world's great research libraries have ectoplasm, a spirit trumpet and beard hair posted to Charles Darwin? The answers lie within 'Curious Objects' at Cambridge University Library, which runs until March 2017 and is open free to the public. For more information about Curious Objects, click here:

A photoreceptor molecule in plant cells has been found to moonlight as a thermometer after dark – allowing plants to read seasonal temperature changes. Scientists say the discovery could help breed crops that are more resilient to the temperatures expected to result from climate change. Find out more here:

By performing a famous magic trick, the French Drop, for three species of monkey with differing hand structures, scientists have discovered that – in order to deceive – a conjuror needs the same anatomy as their audience. Read more here- https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/sleight-of-hand-magic-trick-only-fools-monkeys-with-opposable-thumbs

Like other social animals, baboons learn from each other about which foods are best to eat. Now, researchers at Cambridge have found that how well they learn from others depends on their personality, bold or anxious baboons learning more than those who are shy or laid back. - See more at:

In a unique collaboration between the University's Veterinary School and MRC's Regenerative Medicine Centre, scientists used a unique type of cell to regenerate the damaged part of the dogs' spines. The researchers are cautiously optimistic that the work could have a future role in the treatment of human patients with similar injuries if used alongside other treatments. For more information, go

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

Previously believed to be only man-made, a natural example of a functioning gear mechanism has been discovered in a common insect - the plant-hopper Issus - showing that evolution developed interlocking cogs long before we did. Professor Malcolm Burrows talks about finding the bugs that led to the science, and working with artists Elizabeth Hobbs and Emily Tracy and members of the community in

April 2016 saw the first performance of reconstructed 11th-Century ‘lost songs’ that hadn’t been heard in over 1,000 years - a performance made possible by the research of one of our lecturers (http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-performance-in-1000-years-lost-songs-from-the-middle-ages-are-brought-back-to-life-0) Two years on, a CD of this repertoire has just been released, and we are

Billions of words, millions of books, 600 years of Curious Objects. Cambridge University Library is celebrating its 600th anniversary with an exhibition of the weird and wonderful objects in its collections. This rather curious object comes from 18th century England and features a splendid rendering of the man who brought us Hamlet, Macbeth …and invented the word puke! Yes, it’s the Bard

Professor Tim Clutton-Brock has been studying the same meerkat groups for over twenty years. He said: "Meerkats are intensely social and all group members engage in bouts of wrestling, chasing and play fighting, though juveniles and adolescents play more than adults. Since they live together in such close proximity and interact many times each day, it is unsurprising that individual meerkats are

According to Pythagoras, ‘consonance’ – a pleasant-sounding combination of notes – is produced by special relationships between simple numbers such as 3 and 4. More recently, scholars have tried to find psychological explanations, but these ‘integer ratios’ are still credited with making a chord sound beautiful, and deviation from them is thought to make music ‘dissonant’,

Why does one of the world's great research libraries have ectoplasm, a spirit trumpet and beard hair posted to Charles Darwin? The answers lie within 'Curious Objects' at Cambridge University Library, which runs until March 2017 and is open free to the public. This Curious Object broadcasts voices from the beyond using the medium of…mediums. Apparently, the ‘Two Worlds’ spirit trumpet would

April 2016 saw the first performance of reconstructed 11th-Century ‘lost songs’ that hadn’t been heard in over 1,000 years - a performance made possible by the research of one of our lecturers (http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-performance-in-1000-years-lost-songs-from-the-middle-ages-are-brought-back-to-life-0) Two years on, a CD of this repertoire has just been released, and we are

The Cambridge University Spaceflight Society are loading screams onto a smartphone that will be blasted into outer space later this year. The public are invited to submit their screams, which will be emitted while in orbit at the same time as the phone records - to test if it's possible to capture the sound of screaming in space. Members of the University's Office of External Affairs and

“These Curious Objects are Ganjifa - playing cards and card games from India, Iran and the Arab world, and are thought to date from the early 18th century. Made of tortoiseshell and finely decorated, they must have belonged to someone absolutely minted. Introduced into India by the Mughals, the game of chance played with these cards was popular from the 16th to the 18th century. Play your cards

April 2016 saw the first performance of reconstructed 11th-Century ‘lost songs’ that hadn’t been heard in over 1,000 years - a performance made possible by the research of one of our lecturers (http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-performance-in-1000-years-lost-songs-from-the-middle-ages-are-brought-back-to-life-0) Two years on, a CD of this repertoire has just been released, and we are