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New Animal Welfare Scoring System Could Enable Better-Informed Food And Farming Choices

Cambridge University scientists have come up with a system of measuring animal welfare that enables reliable comparison across different types of pig farming.

Social Media Posts Around Solar Geoengineering ‘Spill Over’ Into Conspiracy Theories

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have analysed more than 800,000 tweets and found that negative emotions expressed about geoengineering – the idea that the climate can be altered using technology – can easily fall into conspiracy.

Study Reveals Why Highly Infectious Cholera Variant Mysteriously Died Out

Scientists say continuous monitoring of the cholera bug genome is key to preventing outbreaks of new variants.

Voluntary UK Initiatives To Phase Out Toxic Lead Shot For Pheasant Hunting Have Had Little Impact

Three years into a five-year pledge to completely phase out lead shot in UK game hunting, a Cambridge study finds that 94% of pheasants on sale for human consumption were killed using lead.

Cambridge-Led Consortium Receives $35m To Boost Crop Production Sustainably In Sub-Saharan Africa

A Cambridge-led consortium has received US$35m (£28m) over five years to develop sustainable solutions to increasing the yields of small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, without the need for costly and polluting inorganic fertilisers.

‘Antisocial’ Damselfish Are Scaring Off Cleaner Fish Customers – And This Could Contribute To Coral Reef Breakdown

Damselfish have been discovered to disrupt ‘cleaning services’ vital to the health of reefs. And climate change may mean this is only likely to get worse.

Small-Scale Octopus Fisheries Can Provide Sustainable Source Of Vital Nutrients For Tropical Coastal Communities

Undernourished coastal communities in the tropics - where children’s growth can be stunted by a lack of micronutrients – can get the vitamins and minerals they need from sustainable small-scale octopus fisheries, say researchers.

Carbon Emissions From Fertilisers Could Be Reduced By As Much As 80% By 2050

Researchers have calculated the carbon footprint for the full life cycle of fertilisers, which are responsible for approximately five percent of total greenhouse gas emissions – the first time this has been accurately quantified – and found that carbon emissions could be reduced to one-fifth of current levels by 2050.

Paying Farmers To Create Woodland And Wetland Is The Most Cost-Effective Way To Hit UK Environment Targets

Study of farmer preferences shows that turning whole areas of farmland into habitats comes with half the price tag of integrating nature into productive farmland, if biodiversity and carbon targets are to be met.

Runaway West Antarctic Ice Retreat Can Be Slowed By Climate-Driven Changes In Ocean Temperature

New research finds that ice-sheet-wide collapse in West Antarctica isn’t inevitable: the pace of ice loss varies according to regional differences in atmosphere and ocean circulation.

Insulation Only Provides Short-Term Reduction In Household Gas Consumption

First study to look at long-term effect of home insulation in England and Wales finds fall in gas consumption per household was small and only lasts a few years.

Set Up Reserve Lab Capacity Now For Faster Response To Next Pandemic, Say Researchers

Researchers say a ‘human bottleneck’, due to historical cuts in public health funding, delayed the UK’s scale-up of COVID-19 testing in the early stages of the country’s pandemic response.

Mussel Survey Reveals Alarming Degradation Of River Thames Ecosystem Since The 1960s

Scientists replicated a 1964 River Thames survey and found that mussel numbers have declined by almost 95%, with one species – the depressed river mussel – completely gone.

Companies’ ‘Deforestation-Free’ Supply Chain Pledges Have Barely Impacted Forest Clearance In The Amazon

More companies must make and implement zero-deforestation supply chain commitments in order to significantly reduce deforestation and protect diverse ecosystems, say researchers.

COP Must Reverse Rising Pessimism Over Building Sector Decarbonisation

Social media engagement with climate policy events is vital to reducing building emissions and ensuring environmental justice, research led by Cambridge suggests

Toads Surprise Scientists By Climbing Trees In UK Woodlands

Volunteers surveying dormice and bats in trees have made the unexpected discovery of over 50 common toads in nest boxes and tree cavities at least 1.5 metres high.

Extreme Weather And Climate Events Likely To Drive Increase In Gender-Based Violence

As the climate crisis leads to more intense and more frequent extreme weather and climate-related events, this in turn risks increasing the amount of gender-based violence experienced by women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities, say researchers.

Intensive Farming May Actually Reduce Risk Of Pandemics, Experts Argue

Scientists evaluate the evidence that intensive livestock farming is causing pandemics, and find that intensive farming could actually reduce the risk of future pandemics compared to 'free-range' farming.

Scientists 'See' Puzzling Features Deep In Earth’s Interior

New research led by the University of Cambridge is the first to obtain a detailed 'image' of an unusual pocket of rock at the boundary layer with Earth’s core, some three thousand kilometres beneath the surface.

Satellite Images Reveal Dramatic Loss Of Global Wetlands Over Past Two Decades

An analysis of over a million satellite images has revealed that 4,000 square kilometres of tidal wetlands have been lost globally over twenty years.