Sex differences in brain structure present at birth

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…

Loneliness linked to higher risk of heart disease and stroke and susceptibility to infection

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…

System to auto-detect new variants will inform better response to future infectious disease outbreaks

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…

Early warning tool will help control huge locust swarms

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…

Cambridge to trial cutting-edge semiconductor technologies for wider use in major European project

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…

Wrong trees in the wrong place can make cities hotter at night, study reveals

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 Duncan Richards appointed as Head of Department of Medicine

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…

Imaging technique allows rapid assessment of ovarian cancer subtypes and their response to treatment

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…

Cambridge researchers develop urine test for early detection of lung cancer

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…

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore visits Cambridge overseas research centre

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…

Professor Joya Chatterji awarded Wolfson History Prize 2024

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…

New datasets will train AI models to think like scientists

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…

Scientists warn of ‘invisible threat’ of microplastics as global treaty nears completion

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,…

Professor Lord Colin Renfrew – 1937-2024

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…

Wildlife monitoring technologies used to intimidate and spy on women, study finds

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…

Award-winning broadcaster Hannah Fry joins Cambridge as Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics

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…

‘Manifest’ is Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year

“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…

Northerners, Scots and Irish excel at detecting fake accents to guard against outsiders, study suggests

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…

A peek inside the box that could help solve a quantum mystery

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…

Study uncovers earliest evidence of humans using fire to shape the landscape of Tasmania

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…

Gender inequality ingrained in global climate negotiations, say researchers

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,…

Planting trees in the Arctic could make global warming worse, not better, say scientists

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…

AI algorithm accurately detects heart disease in dogs

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…

Magnetic field applied to both sides of brain shows rapid improvement for depression

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…

Airbnb rentals linked to increased crime rates in London neighbourhoods

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…

‘Palaeo-robots’ to help scientists understand how fish started to walk on land

Writing in the journal Science Robotics, the research team, led by the University of Cambridge, outline how ‘palaeo-inspired robotics’ could provide a valuable experimental approach to studying how the pectoral and pelvic fins of ancient fish evolved to support weight on land.“Since fossil evidence is limited, we have an incomplete…

Cambridge and GSK announce new five-year collaboration aiming for improved outcomes for patients with hard-to-treat kidney and respiratory diseases

The Cambridge-GSK Translational Immunology Collaboration (CG-TIC) combines University and GSK expertise in the science of the immune system, AI and clinical development with access to patients and their data provided by Cambridge University Hospitals. GSK is investing more than £50 million in CG-TIC, further strengthening Cambridge’s position as Europe’s leading…

Cancer Research UK makes unprecedented £173m investment in University of Cambridge

The significant funding commitment will enable world-class discovery science, unlocking new insights into how cancers develop, grow and spread, as well as examining how the immune system can be harnessed to combat the disease.  Research at the CRUK Cambridge Institute focuses on understanding every stage of the cancer life cycle –…

How did the building blocks of life arrive on Earth?

Volatiles are elements or compounds that change into vapour at relatively low temperatures. They include the six most common elements found in living organisms, as well as water. The zinc found in meteorites has a unique composition, which can be used to identify the sources of Earth’s volatiles.The researchers, from…

‘Inside-out’ galaxy growth observed in the early universe

This galaxy is one hundred times smaller than the Milky Way, but is surprisingly mature for so early in the universe. Like a large city, this galaxy has a dense collection of stars at its core but becomes less dense in the galactic ‘suburbs’. And like a large city, this…

Cambridge joins forces with ARIA to build new micro-machines that could revolutionise brain health

The collaboration, which includes researchers from the University of Cambridge, aims to accelerate progress on new neuro-technologies, including miniaturised brain implants designed to treat depression, dementia, chronic pain, epilepsy and injuries to the nervous system.Neurological and mental health disorders will affect four in every five people in their lifetimes, and…

Cambridge joins forces with ARIA to fast-track radical new technologies to revolutionise brain health

The collaboration, which includes researchers from the University of Cambridge, aims to accelerate progress on new neuro-technologies, including miniaturised brain implants designed to treat depression, dementia, chronic pain, epilepsy and injuries to the nervous system.Neurological and mental health disorders will affect four in every five people in their lifetimes, and…

University of Cambridge alumni awarded 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In 2020, Hassabis and Jumper of Google DeepMind presented an AI model called AlphaFold2. With its help, they have been able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified.Since their breakthrough, AlphaFold2 has been used by more than two million people from 190…