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Want More Students To Learn Languages? Win Over The Parents, Research Suggests

Parents influence children’s attitudes to languages far more than their teachers or friends, research finds. This implies that efforts to reverse the national decline in language-learning need to target families as well as schools, researchers say.

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.

Co-Offenders Likely To Violently Turn On One Another, UK Crime Gang Study Shows

Researchers use over a decade of data from Thames Valley Police to reveal 'mechanisms' that generate and sustain violence within networks of organised crime.

Phone-Based Measurements Provide Fast, Accurate Information About The Health Of Forests

Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses computer vision techniques to accurately measure trees almost five times faster than traditional, manual methods.

Robots Can Help Improve Mental Wellbeing At Work – As Long As They Look Right

Robots can be useful as mental wellbeing coaches in the workplace – but perception of their effectiveness depends in large part on what the robot looks like.

Researchers Unravel The Complex Reaction Pathways In Zero-Carbon Fuel Synthesis

Researchers have used isotopes of carbon to trace how carbon dioxide emissions could be converted into low-carbon fuels and chemicals. The result could help the chemical industry, which is the third largest subsector in terms of direct CO2 emissions, recycle its own waste using current manufacturing processes.

Fitness Levels Accurately Predicted Using Wearable Devices – No Exercise Required

Cambridge researchers have developed a method for measuring overall fitness accurately on wearable devices – and more robustly than current consumer smartwatches and fitness monitors – without the wearer needing to exercise.

Artificial Intelligence Powers Record-Breaking All-In-One Miniature Spectrometers

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace optical and mechanical components, researchers have designed a tiny spectrometer that breaks all current resolution records.

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

Claims AI Can Boost Workplace Diversity Are ‘Spurious And Dangerous’, Researchers Argue

Research highlights growing market in AI-powered recruitment tools that claim to bypass human bias to remove discrimination from hiring.

Competition With China A ‘Driving Force’ For Clean Energy Funding In The 21st Century

Analysis of energy RD&D investment in major economies also found that commitments at COP21 yielded some positives. Ultimately, however, trends over this century are not consistent with the ‘cleantech’ funding levels needed to meet climate goals, say researchers.

Robots Can Be Used To Assess Children’s Mental Wellbeing, Study Suggests

Robots can be better at detecting mental wellbeing issues in children than parent-reported or self-reported testing, a new study suggests.

Machine Learning Algorithm Predicts How To Get The Most Out Of Electric Vehicle Batteries

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that could help reduce charging times and prolong battery life in electric vehicles by predicting how different driving patterns affect battery performance, improving safety and reliability.

Taste Of The Future: Robot Chef Learns To ‘Taste As You Go’

A robot ‘chef’ has been trained to taste food at different stages of the chewing process to assess whether it’s sufficiently seasoned.

Algae-Powered Computing: Scientists Create Reliable And Renewable Biological Photovoltaic Cell

Researchers have used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year – and counting – using nothing but ambient light and water. Their system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power small devices.

New Approach Topples Major Barrier To Commercialisation Of Organic Flow Batteries

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Harvard University have developed a method to dramatically extend the lifetime of organic aqueous flow batteries, improving the commercial viability of a technology that has the potential to safely and cheaply store energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Astronomers Develop Novel Way To ‘See’ First Stars Through Fog Of Early Universe

A team of astronomers has developed a method that will allow them to ‘see’ through the fog of the early Universe and detect light from the first stars and galaxies.

Smart Lighting System Based On Quantum Dots More Accurately Reproduces Daylight

Researchers have designed smart, colour-controllable white light devices from quantum dots – tiny semiconductors just a few billionths of a metre in size – which are more efficient and have better colour saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.

Algorithm Learns To Correct 3D Printing Errors For Different Parts, Materials And Systems

Engineers have created intelligent 3D printers that can quickly detect and correct errors, even in previously unseen designs, or unfamiliar materials like ketchup and mayonnaise, by learning from the experiences of other machines.

Mathematical Paradox Demonstrates The Limits Of AI

Humans are usually pretty good at recognising when they get things wrong, but artificial intelligence systems are not. According to a new study, AI generally suffers from inherent limitations due to a century-old mathematical paradox.