The study, led by researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Exeter, identified several drugs already licensed and in use that have the potential to be repurposed to treat dementia.Dementia is a leading cause of death in the UK and can lead to profound distress in the individual and among…
The crystal-clear images show light being emitted from these millimetre-sized pebbles within the belts that orbit 74 nearby stars of a wide variety of ages – from those that are just emerging to those in more mature systems like our own Solar System.The REASONS (REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of…
Research led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, raises serious concerns about bias in the UK criminal justice system due to negative stereotyping of accents.These stereotypes, the researchers argue, can affect all parts of the system from arrest to sentencing, and undermine not only suspects…
The work has been commissioned by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology after a review by the UK Chief Medical Officer in 2019 found the evidence base around the links to children’s mental health were insufficient to provide strong conclusions suitable to inform policy.The project – led…
Launched on 19 December 2013, Gaia’s fuel tank is now approaching empty – it uses about a dozen grams of cold gas per day to keep it spinning with pinpoint precision. But this is far from the end of the mission. Technology tests are scheduled for the weeks ahead before…
The group of bacteria called Enterobacteriaceae, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella, E.coli and others, is present at low levels as part of a healthy human gut microbiome. But at high levels - caused for example by increased inflammation in the body, or by eating contaminated food - these bugs can cause…
The letter highlights the role that the Greater Cambridge region – which generates over £50bn of turnover per year for the UK – can play in driving national economic growth. The signatories set out the ambitions and opportunities which the region offers, and a sense of unity of purpose.Open New…
The size and spin of black holes can reveal important information about how and where they formed, according to new research. The study tests the idea that many of the black holes observed by astronomers have merged multiple times within densely populated environments containing millions of stars.The team, involving researchers…
While male brains tended to be greater in volume than female brains, when adjusted for total brain volume, female infants on average had significantly more grey matter, while male infants on average had significantly more white matter in their brains.Grey matter is made up of neuron cell bodies and dendrites…
Researchers from the UK and China drew this conclusion after studying proteins from blood samples taken from over 42,000 adults recruited to the UK Biobank. Their findings are published today in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.Social relationships play an important role in our wellbeing. Evidence increasingly demonstrates that both social…
The new approach uses samples from infected humans to allow real-time monitoring of pathogens circulating in human populations, and enable vaccine-evading bugs to be quickly and automatically identified. This could inform the development of vaccines that are more effective in preventing disease.The approach can also quickly detect emerging variants with…
The near future could see AI assistants that forecast and influence our decision-making at an early stage, and sell these developing “intentions” in real-time to companies that can meet the need – even before we have made up our minds.This is according to AI ethicists from the University of Cambridge,…
Desert locusts typically lead solitary lives until something - like intense rainfall - triggers them to swarm in vast numbers, often with devastating consequences. This migratory pest can reach plague proportions, and a swarm covering one square kilometre can consume enough food in one day to feed 35,000 people. Such extensive…
Like a bear gorging itself on salmon before hibernating for the winter, or a much-needed nap after Christmas dinner, this black hole has overeaten to the point that it is lying dormant in its host galaxy.An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used the NASA/ESA/CSA James…
Photonic chips transmit and manipulate light instead of electricity, and offer significantly faster performance with lower power consumption than traditional electronic chips. The Cambridge Graphene Centre and Cornerstone Photonics Innovation Centre at the University of Southampton will partner with members from across Europe to host a pilot line, coordinated by the…
Temperatures in cities are rising across the globe and urban heat stress is already a major problem causing illness, death, a surge in energy use to cool buildings down, heat-related social inequality issues and problems with urban infrastructure.Some cities have already started implementing mitigation strategies, with tree planting prominent among…
Professor Richards joins Cambridge from the University of Oxford, where he has been since 2019. His particular research interest is the demonstration of clinical proof of concept of novel therapeutics through the application of experimental medicine techniques, especially human challenge studies.As Climax Professor of Clinical Therapeutics, director of the Oxford…
The technique, called hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging, can increase the detected signal in an MRI scanner by more than 10,000 times. Scientists have found that the technique can distinguish between two different subtypes of ovarian cancer, to reveal their sensitivities to treatment.They used it to look at patient-derived cell models that…
Researchers hope that early detection, through the simple urine test, could enable earlier treatment interventions, significantly improving patient outcomes and prognosis. Around 36,600 lives are saved from lung cancer in the UK every year, according to new analysis from Cancer Research UK.Professor Ljiljana Fruk and Dr Daniel Munoz Espin and…
The Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES) is hosting two projects that aim to aid Singapore’s business transition away from petrochemicals towards a net-zero emissions target by 2050.Under the newly launched CREATE Thematic Programme in Decarbonisation supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the two projects will investigate…
The recent conflict in Lebanon has deepened a national education crisis in which children have already lost up to 60% of school time over the past six years, new research warns.The report, by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the University of Cambridge’s REAL Centre, is the first to assess…
Around a third (32%) of people who grew up in Chicago have carried a concealed firearm on the city streets at least once by the time they turn 40 years old, according to a major study of gun usage taking in a quarter of a century of data.Urban sociologists behind…
This year’s Wolfson History Prize has been awarded to Joya Chatterji, Emeritus Professor of South Asian History and Fellow of Trinity College, for her book Shadows At Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century, first published in 2023.The book charts the story of the subcontinent from the British Raj through independence and…
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, studied the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere and inferred that its interior is too dry today for there ever to have been enough water for oceans to exist at its surface. Instead, the planet has likely been a scorching, inhospitable world for…
The initiative, called Polymathic AI, uses technology like that powering large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. But instead of ingesting text, the project’s models learn using scientific datasets from across astrophysics, biology, acoustics, chemistry, fluid dynamics and more, essentially giving the models cross-disciplinary scientific knowledge.“These datasets…
Even if global production and pollution of new plastic is drastically reduced, scientists, writing in the journal Nature Communications, say that legacy plastics, the billions of tonnes of waste already in the environment, will continue to break down into tiny particles called microplastics for decades or centuries.These fragments contaminate oceans,…
The Department of Archaeology and McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge mourn the death and celebrate the extraordinary life of Professor Colin Renfrew, Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, formerly tenth Disney Professor of Archaeology, the McDonald’s founding Director, and Master of Jesus College.Colin was, and will always…
Remotely operated camera traps, sound recorders and drones are increasingly being used in conservation science to monitor wildlife and natural habitats, and to keep watch on protected natural areas.But Cambridge researchers studying a forest in northern India have found that the technologies are being deliberately misused by local government and…
Fry brings outstanding experience to the role of communicating to diverse audiences, including with people not previously interested in maths. She will follow in the footsteps of giants of public engagement with mathematics, including David Spiegelhalter and the late Stephen Hawking as she joins the Department of Applied Mathematics and…
The first three students to be supported by the Arm donation will begin their studies at the new research centre in the autumn of 2025. They will be followed by another three students each year for the following four years. Arm – the company building the future of computing with…
“Manifest” was looked up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, making it one of the most-viewed words of 2024. The word jumped from use in the self-help community and on social media to being widely used across mainstream media and beyond, as celebrities such as singer Dua Lipa, Olympic sprinter Gabby…
People from Belfast proved most able to detect someone faking their accent, while people from London, Essex and Bristol were least accurate.The study, published today in Evolutionary Human Sciences found that the ability of participants from Scotland, the north-east of England, Ireland and Northern Ireland to tell whether short recordings…
Appearing as ‘bumps’ in the data from high-energy experiments, these signals came to be known as short-lived ‘XYZ states.’ They defy the standard picture of particle behaviour and are a problem in contemporary physics, sparking several attempts to understand their mysterious nature.But theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas…
A team of researchers from the UK and Australia analysed charcoal and pollen contained in ancient mud to determine how Aboriginal Tasmanians shaped their surroundings. This is the earliest record of humans using fire to shape the Tasmanian environment.Early human migrations from Africa to the southern part of the globe…
People in their late teens experience an increased sensitivity to threats after just a few hours left in a room on their own – an effect that endures even if they are interacting online with friends and family.This is according to latest findings from a cognitive neuroscience experiment conducted at…
In an article published today in Lancet Planetary Health, a team of researchers – including several from the University of Cambridge – argue that much more needs to be done to mitigate the impacts of climate change on women, girls and gender-diverse individuals.Focusing specifically on the intersection between climate change,…
But, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, an international group of scientists, including from the University of Cambridge, argue that tree planting at high latitudes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, global warming.As the climate continues to warm, trees can be planted further and further north, and large-scale tree-planting projects in the…
The research team, led by the University of Cambridge, adapted an algorithm originally designed for humans and found it could automatically detect and grade heart murmurs in dogs, based on audio recordings from digital stethoscopes. In tests, the algorithm detected heart murmurs with a sensitivity of 90%, a similar accuracy…
The treatment – known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – involves placing an electromagnetic coil against the scalp to relay a high-frequency magnetic field to the brain.Around one in 20 adults is estimated to suffer from depression. Although treatments exist, such as anti-depressant medication and cognitive behavioural therapy (‘talking…
Latest research has revealed a “positive association” between the number of properties listed as Airbnb rentals and police-reported robberies and violent crimes in thousands of London neighbourhoods between 2015 and 2018.In fact, the study led by the University of Cambridge suggests that a 10% increase in active Airbnb rentals in…
