Stephen Hawking endorses new £50 million centre
Gifts totalling more than £32 million, together with government funds of over £17 million, have enabled the launch of a highly innovative Centre in Cambridge that is pioneering new approaches to understand and treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia.
The social enterprise greenhouse that helps businesses bloom
When it comes to starting social enterprises, Paul Tracey and Neil Stott would love "to see a thousand flowers bloom". But doing good for society isn’t as straightforward as it sounds and even the best ideas can fail. Their research aims to understand the elements that are needed to help social ventures thrive.
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships announced
Two prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships have been awarded to a researcher and an alumnus of Cambridge University's Department of Engineering.
Cambridge Festival of Ideas prepares for a second packed weekend
Cambridge Festival of Ideas - the annual two-week celebration of arts, humanities and social sciences - draws to a close this weekend, following a packed programme of many sell-out events investigating the theme of truth.
Scientists write ‘traps’ for light with tiny ink droplets
A microscopic ‘pen’ that is able to write structures small enough to trap and harness light using a commercially available printing technique could be used for sensing, biotechnology, lasers, and studying the interaction between light and matter.
Step inside the mind of the young Stephen Hawking as his PhD thesis goes online
Stephen Hawking’s PhD thesis, ‘Properties of expanding universes’, has been made freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world, after being made accessible via the University of Cambridge’s Open Access repository, Apollo.
Machine learning used to predict earthquakes in a lab setting
A group of researchers from the UK and the US have used machine learning techniques to successfully predict earthquakes. Although their work was performed in a laboratory setting, the experiment closely mimics real-life conditions, and the results could be used to predict the timing of a real earthquake.
Celebrate all things apple on Apple Day
This Sunday (October 22nd) is Apple Day at Cambridge University Botanic Garden - a family favourite and a chance to celebrate all things apple!
International Garden Photographer of the Year returns to Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Cambridge University Botanic Garden is delighted to host the prestigious International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) exhibition. A collection of winning images from its 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition will be on display in the Autumn Garden.
Living in a material world: why 'things' matter
Things structure our lives. They enrich us, embellish us and express our hopes and fears. Here, four academics from different disciplines explain why understanding how we interact with our material world can reveal unparalleled insights into what it is to be human.
Cambridge Festival of Ideas prepares for a bumper first weekend
A packed programme of events focusing on the theme of ‘truth’ form part of the annual two-week celebration of arts, humanities and social sciences at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas this weekend.
New research reveals petals produce a ‘blue halo’ that helps bees to find flowers
Latest research using plants from Cambridge University Botanic Garden’s plant collection has found that several common flower species have nanoscale ridges on the surface of their petals that meddle with light when viewed from certain angles.
First detection of gravitational waves and light produced by colliding neutron stars
In a galaxy far away, two dead stars begin a final spiral into a massive collision. The resulting explosion unleashes a huge burst of energy, sending ripples across the very fabric of space. In the nuclear cauldron of the collision, atoms are ripped apart to form entirely new elements and scattered outward across the Universe.
Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2017 begins
The Cambridge Festival of Ideas launches this week with 234 events taking place over the next fortnight, most of them free.
Separating truth from fiction: Cambridge Festival of Ideas explores the rise of fake news
Fake news has emerged as one of the buzzwords of our age. What is behind its rise? How has social media helped to spread it and have we been here before?
Could we build a Blade Runner-style ‘replicant’?
Could replicants ever be a reality? In an article from The Conversation, Dr Fumiya Iida, Cambridge University Lecturer in Mechatronics, discusses what it would take to make a truly life-like robot.
Synthetic organs, nanobots and DNA ‘scissors’: the future of medicine
Nanobots that patrol our bodies, killer immune cells hunting and destroying cancer cells, biological scissors that cut out defective genes: these are just some of technologies that Cambridge researchers are developing which are set to revolutionise medicine in the future.
Winton Symposium tackles the challenge of energy storage and distribution
The sixth annual Winton Symposium will be held on 9 November at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory on the theme of Energy Storage and Distribution.
Cambridge Festival of Ideas on the frontline of the technological revolution
Can machines think? Is an artificial friend a substitute for a real one? Are digital technologies making politics impossible? Can politics keep up with technology?
Pirates, reindeer, magic & games: Cambridge Festival of Ideas events for children/families
Children, young people and families are invited to be a part of this year’s 10th annual Cambridge Festival of Ideas (16-29 October) with a packed series of talks, story-telling, games, exhibitions and interactive fun.
Milner Therapeutics Institute announces Global Therapeutic Alliance of 65 organisations
From 6 organisations in 2015 to 65 organisations in 2017, the alliance enables partnerships between pharma, biotech, service providers and academia
$10m endowment will secure the future of world leading environment conservation initiative
Thanks to a $10 million endowment from Arcadia, the charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, a world-leading initiative in Cambridge is now developing unique new approaches to some of the biggest challenges facing the planet today.
World's botanic gardens contain a third of all known plant species
The most in-depth species survey to date finds an “astonishing array” of plant diversity in the global botanic garden network, including 41% of all endangered species. However, researchers find a significant imbalance between tropical and temperate plants, and say even more capacity should be given to conservation, as there is “no technical reason for plant species to become extinct”.
New type of supercomputer could be based on ‘magic dust’ combination of light and matter
A team of researchers from the UK and Russia have successfully demonstrated that a type of ‘magic dust’ which combines light and matter can be used to solve complex problems and could eventually surpass the capabilities of even the most powerful supercomputers.
Cambridge’s postdoctoral community benefits from new centre
The University of Cambridge has opened a new centre for its postdoctoral community.