Cambridge AI expert to speak at Hay Festival 2019
What are the implications of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for society? This is just one of the many topics up for discussion at Hay Festival 2019 next month.
Cambridge engineer supports next steps in lunar exploration
Cambridge engineer and Canadian astronaut Dr Jenni Sidey-Gibbons will join colleagues at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in a project that will see humans return to the Moon.
The uncertain unicycle that taught itself and how it’s helping AI make good decisions
Cambridge researchers are pioneering a form of machine learning that starts with only a little prior knowledge and continually learns from the world around it.
‘Fingerprint database’ could help scientists to identify new cancer culprits
Scientists in Cambridge and London have developed a catalogue of DNA mutation ‘fingerprints’ that could help doctors pinpoint the environmental culprit responsible for a patient’s tumour – including showing some of the fingerprints left in lung tumours by specific chemicals found in tobacco smoke.
Variations in the ‘fogginess’ of the universe identify a milestone in cosmic history
Large differences in the ‘fogginess’ of the early universe were caused by islands of cold gas left behind when the universe heated up after the big bang, according to an international team of astronomers.
Knife crime: assault data can help forecast fatal stabbings
Knife crime data from a 12-month period could be used to help forecast the London neighbourhoods most likely to suffer a fatal stabbing the following year, according to latest research.
Fellowship awarded for electron devices research
Dr Chen Jiang has been awarded a PhD Student Fellowship from the IEEE Electron Devices Society.
‘Mindreading’ neurons simulate decisions of social partners
Scientists have identified special types of brain cells that may allow us to simulate the decision-making processes of others, thereby reconstructing their state of mind and predicting their intentions. Dysfunction in these ‘simulation neurons’ may help explain difficulties with social interactions in conditions such as autism and social anxiety.
MedTech start-up wins entrepreneurial competition
Congenita, a start-up tackling heart defects in newborn babies, has won the Medical Technology (MedTech) Venture Competition developed by the Cambridge Judge Entrepreneurship Centre.
Quantum leap towards cybersecurity
Cambridge researchers are devising new methods to keep sensitive information out of the hands of hackers. They launched the UK’s first ‘unhackable’ network – made safe by the “laws of physics” – in 2018.
Check out the local wildlife at BioBlitz 2019 - Cambridge University Botanic Garden
BioBlitz 2019, a weekend of wildlife workshops, talks and walks, takes place in the beautiful surroundings of Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April.
Conservationists share ‘core aims’ but clash over ways forward, study finds
Research reveals rifts within global movement – from economic approaches to protected areas – while confirming support for aims underpinning it.
Programme helps people living on the edge
Some of the most deprived areas in England are located in the eastern region. A bleak future can face those who are unemployed, in debt and left behind by the digital world. A programme called New Horizons has been helping people to get back on track.
Smoking and pre-eclampsia may cause fertility problems for offspring, study suggests
Low levels of oxygen in the womb – which can be caused by smoking or conditions such as pre-eclampsia – may cause problems with fertility later in life, a study carried out in rats suggests.
Future-proofing a forest
Faced with shifting demands on landscapes and a changing climate, how do you plan for a forest’s future?
Cambridge researchers win European Research Council funding
Five researchers at the University of Cambridge have won Advanced Grants from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premier research funding body.
Fake news, black holes and AI: Cambridge academics to speak at Hay Festival
Nineteen academics from a wide range of disciplines will take part in this year’s Cambridge Series of talks at the Hay Festival, one of the most prestigious literary festivals in the world.
A new spin on organic semiconductors
Researchers have found that certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, a phenomenon which could eventually power faster, more energy-efficient computers.
Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, releases 100th recording
The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge is set to release its latest album, Locus Iste, on 26 April this year, marking its 100th recording release as well as the 150th anniversary of the completion of St John’s College Chapel.
Sea change
The coast is an intrinsic part of British identity – and perhaps nowhere is it more at risk than in the East of England. Cambridge researchers are working with communities and organisations across the region to manage the coast for the future, by working with nature rather than against it.
Research at the chalk face: connecting academia and schools
Researchers in Cambridge’s Faculty of Education are working with teachers to improve the experience of learning in the East of England – and boost pupils’ life chances.
Levels of autism in China similar to the West, joint Chinese-UK study shows
The first large-scale study of autism in China has revealed that around one in a hundred people in China has an autism spectrum condition – the same figure as found in the West.
Ben Goldacre talks about the use and misuse of 'randomised trials'
Ben Goldacre, bestselling author of Bad Science, is to give a talk at Churchill College next month at an event organised by the University of Cambridge Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Cambridge Science Festival prepares for another busy weekend
Is the Milky Way special? Can smartphone apps help change people’s behaviour? What’s in our genes and what isn’t? These questions and more are set to be debated at the Cambridge Science Festival this weekend.
The £2 billion vegetable and the agricultural future of the East
From crop science to robotics, supply chains to economics, researchers are working with farmers and industry across the East of England to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and profitability.