Latest University of Cambridge Stories

The death and extinction of many large, prehistoric animals may be due largely in part to man’s actions as well as climate change. The University of Cambridge has conducted new research to determine if humankind played a significant role in the destruction of these prehistoric megafauna. The findings were posted on March 5, 2012 in the journal PNAS. The research team examined extinctions during the late Quaternary period (700,000 years ago to present day) but focused much of their...

Patient information reveals women, young people, ethnic minorities and people with less common cancers have the highest number of pre-referral consultations More than three quarters (77%) of cancer patients who first present to their family doctors (GPs) with suspicious symptoms are referred to hospital after only one or two consultations, a new study has found. However, the new research also shows a wide variation in the number of times a cancer patient sees their general practitioner...

Scientists now able to view critical aspects of mammalian embryonic development using new technique A novel approach in the study of the development of mammalian embryos was today (14 February) reported in the journal Nature Communications. The research, from the laboratory of Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge, enables scientists to view critical aspects of embryonic development which was previously unobservable. For several decades it has been possible...

Researchers at the University of Cambridge report that they created cerebral cortex cells from a small sample of human skin. The new development could pave the way for techniques to explore a wide range of diseases such as autism and Alzheimer's. The findings could also enable scientists to study how the human cerebral cortex develops -- and how it "wires up" and how that can go wrong. "This approach gives us the ability to study human brain development and disease in ways that were...

British scientists reported Friday they have cracked the mathematical conundrum behind the shape of hair that has perplexed humanity since Leonardo da Vinci first pondered it some 500 years ago. The “Rapunzel Number,” a mathematical equation devised by scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick, has helped quantify the curliness of human hair and can be used to predict the shape of any ponytail. Cambridge Professor Raymond Goldstein and colleagues took...

Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials becoming increasingly expensive, scientists are exploring viable alternatives. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have now discovered that the sulphide material iron pyrite,...

New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge. Scientists from the Cavendish Laboratory, the University's Department of Physics, have developed a novel type of solar cell which could harvest energy from the sun much more efficiently than traditional designs. The research, published Feb 8 in the journal Nano Letters, could dramatically improve the amount of useful energy created by solar panels....

'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists say Scientists have traced the origin of the 'speed gene' in Thoroughbred racehorses back to a single British mare that lived in the United Kingdom around 300 years ago, according to findings published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The origin of the 'speed gene' (C type myostatin gene variant) was revealed by analyzing DNA from hundreds of horses, including DNA extracted from the...

Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers have located the most distant grouping of still-developing galaxies ever witnessed in the early universe, NASA announced on Tuesday. According to the U.S. space agency, Hubble found a cluster of five tiny galaxies located 13.1 billion light years away during a random sky survey conducted in near-infrared light. The galaxies in the developing cluster, or protocluster, are said to be among the brightest at that epoch and were...

New Caledonian crows have, in the past, distinguished themselves with their advanced tool using abilities. A team of researchers from the University of Auckland and the University of Cambridge have now shown these crows can learn to use new types of tools. When confronted with the Aesop's fable paradigm, which requires stones to be dropped into a water-filled tube to bring floating food within reach, the crows quickly learned to use stones as tools. They then preferred to drop into the...