University of Cambridge

The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Department of Archaeology and University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations are pleased to announce that the Arcadia charitable foundation has awarded grants totalling £10.3 million to continue the work of the Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments (MAEASaM) project and the Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) project.Archaeological sites and monuments around the world are increasingly threatened by human activities and…

Researchers have identified a drug already used for cancer patients, that, when applied to current gene therapy protocols can improve blood stem cell function threefold.One trillion blood cells are produced every day in humans, and blood stem cells are the only cell types in our body capable of producing all blood cell types over our lifespan, giving them immense regenerative potential. Blood stem cell gene therapy is a ground-breaking treatment…

Severe brain injury can leave individuals unable to respond to commands physically, but in some cases they are still able to activate areas of the brain that would ordinarily play a role in movement. This phenomenon is known as ‘cognitive motor dissociation’.To determine what proportion of patients in so-called ‘disorders of consciousness’ experience this phenomenon – and help inform clinical practice – researchers across Europe and North America recruited a…

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey tracked fire activity over the past 150 years by measuring carbon monoxide trapped in Antarctic ice. This gas is released, along with smoke and particulates, by wildfires, cooking and communal fires.The findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal that biomass burning has been more variable since the 1800s than had been thought. The new…

Around one in 200 people in Europe every year will suffer concussion. In the UK, more than 1 million people attend Emergency Departments annually with a recent head injury. It is the most common form of brain injury worldwide.When a patient in the UK presents at an Emergency Department with head injury, they are assessed according to the NICE head injury guidelines. Depending on their symptoms, they may be referred…

Writing in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, the team from Cambridge Public Health argue that substantial challenges including the risk-benefit ratio, limited eligibility and high cost of roll-out will limit any benefits of these treatments.Alzheimer’s disease is often quoted as causing 70% of the 55 million cases of dementia worldwide, though the definition of what constitutes the disease is hotly debated. One characteristic of Alzheimer’s is…

A group of conservationists from Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, the US and the UK say that current conservation and development efforts will never sustain or scale without systemic changes in how economies are designed.Despite extensive destruction of the Amazon in the name of economic development, Amazonian communities have seen little improvement in income, life expectancy, and education. The researchers have proposed a new model and associated policy changes that could…

The discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from these flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable.“Few stars have been thought to generate enough UV radiation through flares to impact planet habitability. Our findings show that many more stars may have this capability,” said first author Vera Berger, who led the research while based at the University of Hawai’i and who is now based…

Analysing the past sheds light on the present resurgence of research on human development. That’s the lesson of a new study by Professor Nick Hopwood, from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, that is published in the Journal of the History of Biology. The paper discusses the flourishing of human embryology a century ago, its drop in popularity after World War II, and especially its revival since the…

Scientists from the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University and Jagiellonian University, Poland made the discovery while undertaking an evolutionary survey of the microscopic structure of wood from some of the world’s most iconic trees and shrubs. They found that Tulip Trees, which are related to magnolias and can grow over 100 feet tall, have a unique type of wood. This discovery may explain why the trees, which diverged from magnolias when earth's atmospheric CO2 concentrations were relatively low, grow so…

The study, published today in Nature Communications, showed that the incidence of arterial thromboses, such as heart attacks and strokes, was up to 10% lower in the 13 to 24 weeks after the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Following a second dose, the incidence was up to 27% lower after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine and up to 20% lower after the Pfizer/Biotech vaccine.The incidence of common venous thrombotic events…

The hub, called Q-BIOMED, is one of five quantum research hubs announced today by Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, supported by £160 million in funding.The hub will exploit advances in quantum sensors capable of detecting cells and molecules, potentially orders of magnitude more sensitively than traditional diagnostic tests. This includes developing quantum-enhanced blood tests to diagnose infectious diseases and cancer quickly and cheaply…

The SAS Advanced Analytics Hub will embed SAS experts and its AI platform capabilities into the University, enabling targeted collaboration with leading researchers and early-stage entrepreneurs.Based on the Cambridge West campus, the Hub will have capacity to recruit and support several high-quality, high-impact academic research projects and promising early-stage startups in the health-tech space, providing their innovative ideas with extra momentum. The partners have already demonstrated the effectiveness of the…

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a group of inherited diseases that causes progressive degeneration of the light sensitive cells at the back of the eye. Dogs with PRA have normal sight at birth, but by the age of four or five they will be totally blind. There is no treatment.Now a team led by the University of Cambridge has identified the genetic mutation that causes PRA in English Shepherd Dogs,…

They are among 86 distinguished scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of their work in fields ranging from medieval history to international relations.The Cambridge academics made Fellows of the Academy this year are: Professor Elisabeth van Houts (History Faculty; Emmanuel College) Professor Tim Harper (History Faculty; Magdalene College) Professor Rosalind Love (Department of ASNC; Robinson College) Professor James Montgomery (FAMES; Trinity Hall) Professor Ayşe Zarakol (POLIS; Emmanuel…

The team say that while these experiences can be very positive, that is not always the case. Mindfulness teachers and students need to be aware that they can be a side-effect of training, and students should feel empowered to share their experiences with their teacher or doctor if they have any concerns.Mindfulness-based programmes have become very popular in recent years. According to recent surveys, 15% of adults in the UK…

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, took their inspiration from electric eels, which stun their prey with modified muscle cells called electrocytes.Like electrocytes, the jelly-like materials developed by the Cambridge researchers have a layered structure, like sticky Lego, that makes them capable of delivering an electric current.   The self-healing jelly batteries can stretch to over ten times their original length without affecting their conductivity – the first time…

The findings highlight the urgent need for monitoring and support for the mental health of young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.According to the charity JDRF, there are 8.7 million people living with type 1 diabetes around the world, including over 400,000 people in the UK. It is a chronic, life-threatening condition, usually diagnosed in childhood, that has a life-long impact. Currently, people with type 1 diabetes rely on a…

The study found that UPF consumption was highest among adolescents from deprived backgrounds, those of white ethnicity, and younger adolescents.UPFs are food items that are manufactured from industrial substances and contain additives such as preservatives, sweeteners, colourings, flavourings, and emulsifiers. UPFs vary greatly, but tend to indicate poor dietary quality, with higher levels of added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, as well as decreased fibre, protein, and micronutrient content. They…

When not designed with children’s needs in mind, Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have an “empathy gap” that puts young users at particular risk of distress or harm, according to a study.The research, by a University of Cambridge academic, Dr Nomisha Kurian, urges developers and policy actors to make “child-safe AI” an urgent priority. It provides evidence that children are particularly susceptible to treating AI chatbots as lifelike, quasi-human confidantes, and…

The team say this new approach could reduce the need for invasive and costly diagnostic tests while improving treatment outcomes early when interventions such as lifestyle changes or new medicines may have a chance to work best.Dementia poses a significant global healthcare challenge, affecting over 55 million people worldwide at an estimated annual cost of $820 billion. The number of cases is expected to almost treble over the next 50…

Sex before marriage was unusual in the past – Myth! In some periods, over half of all brides were already pregnant when they got married.The rich have always outlived the poor –Myth! Before the 20th century the evidence for a survival advantage of wealth is mixed. In England, babies of agricultural labourers (the poorest workers) had a better chance of reaching their first birthday than infants in wealthy families, and life expectancy…

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing global health issue that means many infections are becoming difficult to treat, with fewer treatment options available. It even raises the spectre of some infections becoming untreatable in the near future.One of the challenges facing healthcare workers is the ability to distinguish rapidly between organisms that can be treated with first-line drugs and those that are resistant to treatment. Conventional testing can take several days,…

P. aeruginosa is responsible for over 500,000 deaths per year around the world, of which over 300,000 are associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). People with conditions such as COPD (smoking-related lung damage), cystic fibrosis (CF), and non-CF bronchiectasis, are particularly susceptible.How P. aeruginosa evolved from an environmental organism into a specialised human pathogen was not previously known. To investigate this, an international team led by scientists at the University of…

Obesity and postnatal depression are significant global health problems. Postnatal depression affects more than one in 10 women within a year of giving birth and is linked to an increased risk of suicide, which accounts for as many as one in five maternal deaths in high income countries. Meanwhile, obesity has more than doubled in adults since 1990 and quadrupled in adolescents, according to the World Health Organization.While investigating two…

The study, published today in Nature Medicine, is the first time that the impact of using whole genome sequencing in current NHS practice has been assessed. It was led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Wellcome Sanger Institute and Great Ormond Street Hospital.The team analysed the use of routine genome sequencing, through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, at Cambridge University Hospitals, where such tests…

In addition to ultra-fast charging times, the batteries developed by Nyobolt – which was spun out of Professor Dame Clare Grey’s lab in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry in 2019 – do not suffer from the degradation issues associated with lithium-ion batteries.Tests of the first running Nyobolt EV prototype will be used to validate the company’s battery performance in a high-performance environment. Cambridge-based Nyobolt has used its patented carbon…

In the largest study of its kind to date, an international team led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, studied the DNA of around 800,000 women from Europe, North America, China, Japan, and Korea.Published today in Nature Genetics, the researchers found more than 1,000 variants – small changes in DNA – that influence the age of first menstrual period. Around 600 of these…

From 2024, the UK’s Environment Act requires planning applications to demonstrate an overall biodiversity net gain of at least 10% as calculated using a new statutory biodiversity metric.The researchers trialled the metric by using it to calculate the biodiversity value of 24 sites across England. These sites have all been monitored over the long-term, allowing the team to compare biodiversity species data with results from the metric. Plant biodiversity at…

Sir Simon Baron-Cohen is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College. He is Director of the Autism Research Centre, which he set up in 1997. He has published over 750 peer reviewed scientific articles and has made contributions to many aspects of autism research. In 2021, he received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours list for his…

Echion, a Cambridge University spinout headquartered just outside the city, has invented and patented a niobium-based anode material, XNO®, for use with re-chargeable lithium-ion batteries. The material enables the lithium-ion batteries to safely charge in less than ten minutes, last for more than 10,000 cycles and not lose power in extreme cold or hot temperatures.  By improving the power density and thermal stability of lithium-ion batteries, XNO® extends their lifespan.…

This overturns the traditional thinking that regulatory T cells exist as multiple specialist populations that are restricted to specific parts of the body. The finding has implications for the treatment of many different diseases – because almost all diseases and injuries trigger the body’s immune system.Current anti-inflammatory drugs treat the whole body, rather than just the part needing treatment. The researchers say their findings mean it could be possible to…

When Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010, it ejected roughly 250 million tonnes of volcanic ash into the atmosphere: much of which was blown over Europe and into flight paths. With planes grounded, millions of air passengers were left stranded.Forecasts of how ash will spread in the aftermath of an explosive eruption can help reduce impacts to aviation by informing decisions to shut down areas of airspace. But these forecasts require knowledge…

In pausing to think before making an important decision, we may imagine the potential outcomes of different choices we could make. While this ‘mental simulation’ is central to how we plan and make decisions in everyday life, how the brain works to accomplish this is not well understood. An international team of scientists has now uncovered neural mechanisms used in planning. Their results, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, suggest that…

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge observed a very young galaxy in the early universe and found that it contained surprising amounts of carbon, one of the seeds of life as we know it.In astronomy, elements heavier than hydrogen or helium are classed as metals. The very early universe was almost entirely made up of hydrogen, the simplest…

Researchers from the University of Cambridge used a method similar to charging a battery to instead charge activated charcoal, which is often used in household water filters.By charging the charcoal ‘sponge’ with ions that form reversible bonds with CO2, the researchers found the charged material could successfully capture CO2 directly from the air. The charged charcoal sponge is also potentially more energy efficient than current carbon capture approaches, since it…

Restless leg syndrome can cause an unpleasant crawling sensation in the legs and an overwhelming urge to move them. Some people experience the symptoms only occasionally, while others get symptoms every day. Symptoms are usually worse in the evening or at night-time and can severely impair sleep.Despite the condition being relatively common – up to one in 10 older adults experience symptoms, while 2-3% are severely affected and seek medical…

Previous studies in both humans and animal models have shown that the offspring of mothers living with obesity have a higher risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes themselves when they grow up. While this relationship is likely to be the result of a complex relationship between genetics and environment, emerging evidence has implicated that maternal obesity in pregnancy can disrupt the baby’s hypothalamus—the region of the brain responsible…

The theory of coevolution says that when closely interacting species drive evolutionary changes in each other this can lead to speciation - the evolution of new species. But until now, real-world evidence for this has been scarce.Now a team of researchers has found evidence that coevolution is linked to speciation by studying the evolutionary arms race between cuckoos and the host birds they exploit. Bronze-cuckoos lay their eggs in the…

Found in a region near the Hubble Ultra Deep Field by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) team, these galaxies mark a major milestone in the study of the early Universe.“These galaxies join a small but growing population of galaxies from the first half billion years of cosmic history where we can really probe the stellar populations and the distinctive patterns of chemical elements within them,” said Dr Francesco…