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The common cuckoo is known for its deceitful nesting behaviour – by laying eggs in the nests of other bird species, it fools host parents into rearing cuckoo chicks alongside their own. While cuckoos mimic their host’s eggs, new research by Dr Gabriel Jamie has revealed that a group of parasitic finch species in Africa have evolved to mimic their host’s chicks - and with astonishing accuracy

Cambridge Festival of Ideas explores new and original thinking on some of the most pressing issues of the day. The aim of the Festival is to fuel people’s interest in arts, humanities and social sciences through a series of events ranging from talks, debates and film screenings to exhibitions and comedy nights. Of the over 250 events at the Festival, most are free. www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Sophie studying Natural Sciences. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about the things she loves about being a student at Cambridge

A new MPhil programme at the University of Cambridge will deliver postgraduate training in the search for life’s origins on Earth and its discovery on planets beyond Earth. The course will explore the requirements for life’s beginnings: from its astrophysical origins to the emergence of biospheres, providing the essential knowledge for research in planetary science and life in the Universe.

Cambridge scientists and PhD students are at the forefront of monitoring the activity of the Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland. The research group, led by Professor Bob White of the Department of Earth Sciences, is monitoring the ongoing massive volcanic intrusion through its array of seismic instrumentation - never before has such an intrusion been so well documented. The data they gather is

A dazzling journey through the decorative arts: from the hand-crafted luxuries of the Renaissance to the first stirrings of mass commerce in the Enlightenment. Each of the 300 beautiful and engaging objects was once a treasured possession, revealing the personal tastes and aspirations of its owner, and preserving precious memories. Witness the impact of global trade on European tastes: the lust

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/think-big-think-seahorse/ Dr Amanda Vincent -- one of the world's leading experts on seahorses and their relatives -- is spending a year at Cambridge's Department of Geography on a sabbatical from the University of British Columbia. She is introducing some new ideas into conservation discussion groups at Cambridge.

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

To learn more, and find out if you're eligible, click here: http://bit.ly/CambridgeFoundationYear The Cambridge Foundation Year is free to students, who will come from a range of backgrounds, including: care-leavers, those estranged from their families, and those who have missed significant periods of learning because of health issues. Others will be people who have been unable to access suitable

Cambridge University has produced a series of films about five of this year’s Pilkington Prize winners. These films go behind the scenes to show Cambridge teaching in action as well as inviting winners to explain their passion for teaching and reveal some of their trade secrets. Dr Matthew Mason:University Physiologist. Matthew’s citation describes him as persistently striving to refine his

Cambridge research that will enable scientists to grow and study embryos in the lab for almost two weeks has been named as the People’s Choice for Science magazine’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year 2016’. Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience has developed a new technique that allows embryos to develop in vitro, in the absence of

This film looks at the impact of the innovations and ideas that have come out of Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory over the past 140 years, and the work and legacy of sound engineer Ray Dolby, who did his PhD at the Cavendish and whose pioneering research changed the way the world listens. The Dolby family have donated £85 million to Cambridge to help reimagine the possibilities of

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Jono is in his final year at Cambridge studying History. In his 60 Second Impression, he talks about the academic support he has

Trials of a new needle-free coronavirus vaccine have begun in Cambridge, the city where it was developed by Professor Jonathan Heeney. The DIOS-CoVax vaccine is administered through a blast of air. It’s the first step towards a 'variant proof' coronavirus vaccine, which aims to protect against the virus that causes COVID-19 and future coronaviruses that threaten pandemics. Volunteers are being

Dr Kathy Liddell, who leads the Cambridge Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences, explains why it’s important to understand how the law can help advance – and help control – new biomedical technologies. One area of interest to the Centre is gene editing – the use of ‘molecular scissors’ that snip out and replace faulty DNA. Read more about how Cambridge researchers are working

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

James Wilsdon, Professor of Science and Democracy at the University of Sussex, talks about the launch of "Future directions of scientific advice in Whitehall" - a collection of essays marking the appointment of the UK Government's new Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport. To download the collection, visit: http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/events/future-directions-scientific-advice-whitehall/

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. James is from North Yorkshire, and is studying Computer Science. In his 60 Second Impression, he talks about the unpretentious

Archaeologists have unearthed a Neanderthal skeleton in the famous Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. They say the new discovery offers a unique opportunity to use modern technology to try and understand Neanderthal “ways of death”. Did Neanderthals dig graves? Over the next few years, Cambridge researchers will be trying to find out. Read more here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/shanidarz

Alison is studying Natural Sciences. In this film, she talks about the things she loves about studying at Cambridge, her diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, the support she has received, and choosing her College. This film was produced as part of the Disability Resource Centre's Asperger Syndrome Student Project, http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/disability/asperger/. For more students talking about

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Katharine is from Cumbria, and is studying Philosophy. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about taking part in drama productions,

Researchers have developed a jelly-like material that can withstand the equivalent of an elephant standing on it, and completely recover to its original shape, even though it’s 80% water. The soft-yet-strong material, developed by a team at the University of Cambridge, looks and feels like a squishy jelly, but acts like an ultra-hard, shatterproof glass when compressed, despite its high water

Update: We've closed www.becambridge.com now. Do visit our new website https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/ ----------------- Cambridge students come from a wide range of backgrounds and from all over the UK (and beyond) - watch our film to meet some disabled students studying at Cambridge. Information and guidance for disabled students thinking about applying to Cambridge can be found on our

Climate changes from millions of years ago are recorded at daily rate in ancient sea shells, new research shows. A huge X-ray microscope has revealed growth bands in plankton shells that show how shell chemistry records the sea temperature. The results could allow scientists to chart short timescale changes in ocean temperatures hundreds of millions of years ago. This video shows computerised

The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport, speaking with CSaP's Founding Director Dr David Cleevely at the CSaP's annual conference (18th April 2013). Sir Mark delivered the keynote address at the conference, his first major speech since taking office. For more, visit: http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/news/article-sir-mark-walport-set-out-his-priorities/

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Richard is from Birmingham, and is studying Education. In his 60 Second Impression, he talks about the advantages of being at a

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Hannah is from Leeds, and is studying Law. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about how she chose her College, the different

Technology has advanced to the point where the condition of bridges, tunnels and buildings can be monitored in unprecedented detail. Now a new Centre at Cambridge has been formed to kick-start the smart infrastructure revolution. London Bridge, so far as we know, is not falling down. Whether we would be able to tell if it was about to, however, is a different question. And, if it was, we would

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Leila is from Watford, and is studying Economics. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about how pastoral care is facilitated by the

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

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Zahra is from Boston in Lincolnshire, and is studying Architecture. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about the academic support

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Alexander is a mature student from Berlin, who is studying History of Art. In his 60 Second Impression, he talks about taking part in

So, now what? is a new podcast from Gates Cambridge, a leading scholarship programme for outstanding international postgraduates at the University of Cambridge. Our guests are the scholars themselves - big thinkers from a range of different backgrounds and disciplines - who are out there finding solutions to some of our most wicked problems from the global economy and the environment, to

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Rosalyn is from Edinburgh, and is studying Land Economy (Environment, Law and Economics). In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students . These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Ekbal is from Birmingham, and is studying Natural Sciences. In his 60 Second Impression, he talks about making friends at Cambridge,

So, now what? is a new podcast from Gates Cambridge (https://GatesCambridge) , a leading scholarship programme for outstanding international postgraduates at the University of Cambridge. Our guests are the scholars themselves - big thinkers from a range of different backgrounds and disciplines - who are out there finding solutions to some of our most wicked problems from the global economy and

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Emily is from North London, and is studying Engineering. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about what Cambridge is like as a city,

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 '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Josie is from Doncaster, and is studying Linguistics. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about the supportive atmosphere in her

The Gaia satellite has produced the richest star catalogue to date, including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars and revealing previously unseen details of our home Galaxy. The first data release from Gaia, based on just over one year of observations, was published in 2016; it contained distances and motions of two million stars. The new data release, which covers the 22

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

The '60 Second Impressions' are a series of one-minute films featuring current Cambridge undergraduate students. These students talk about what it's really like to study at Cambridge, live in a College, and take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Tara is from Guildford, and is studying Geography. In her 60 Second Impression, she talks about how she was allocated a place at her

Cambridge Festival of Ideas explores new and original thinking on some of the most pressing issues of the day. The aim of the Festival is to fuel people’s interest in arts, humanities and social sciences through a series of events ranging from talks, debates and film screenings to exhibitions and comedy nights. Of the over 250 events at the Festival, most are free. www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/

If you're a student content creator at the University of Cambridge, we'd like to work with you! We're looking for up to 10 undergraduate and postgraduate students to join our new Cambridge Content Creators' programme. You'll be paid to create up to three videos per year for us on a mix of topics about life as a Cambridge student. We're proud to pay the Cambridge Living Wage of £10.90 an hour,

Learn more here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/third-thumb How easily could you get to grips with a third thumb? The Plasticity Lab at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (@MRCCBU) tested Dani Clode's robotic Third Thumb device @royalsociety Summer Exhibition and showed that the public found it surprisingly easy. Testing technology on a diverse range of people is essential for ensuring new

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:

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

Professor Bill Sutherland wrote The Conservation Handbook and the snappily titled From Individual Behaviour to Population Biology. He is interested in finding means of providing free conservation books to developing countries and enabling practicing conservationists to learn from each other. In September he came to Cambridge from the University of East Anglia to become the new Miriam Rothschild

Folic acid deficiency can cause severe health problems in offspring, including spina bifida, heart defects and placental abnormalities. A study out today reveals that a mutation in a gene necessary for the metabolism of folic acid not only impacts the immediate offspring but can also have detrimental health effects on the next several generations. The new research, which also sheds light on the