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Scientists Have New Tool To Estimate How Much Water Might Be Hidden Beneath A Planet’s Surface

In the search for life elsewhere in the Universe, scientists have traditionally looked for planets with liquid water at their surface. But, rather than flowing as oceans and rivers, much of a planet’s water can be locked in rocks deep within its interior.

Remarkable Squirting Mussels Captured On Film

Cambridge researchers have observed a highly unusual behaviour in the endangered freshwater mussel, Unio crassus.

New Form Of Ice Is Like A Snapshot Of Liquid Water

A collaboration between scientists at Cambridge and UCL has led to the discovery of a new form of ice that more closely resembles liquid water than any other and may hold the key to understanding this most famous of liquids.

Roadmap Sets Out New Global Strategy For Development Of More Effective Coronavirus Vaccines

Plan will accelerate a new approach to coronavirus vaccines research and development, to protect against COVID-19 variants and future pandemic threats from new coronaviruses

‘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.

First Wiring Map Of Insect Brain Complete

Researchers have built the first ever map showing every single neuron and how they’re wired together in the brain of the fruit fly larva.

Researchers Devise A New Path Toward ‘Quantum Light’

Researchers have theorised a new mechanism to generate high-energy ‘quantum light’, which could be used to investigate new properties of matter at the atomic scale.

Astronomers Observe Light Bending Around An Isolated White Dwarf

Astronomers have directly measured the mass of a dead star using an effect known as gravitational microlensing, first predicted by Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity, and first observed by two Cambridge astronomers 100 years ago.

Astronomers Use ‘Little Hurricanes’ To Weigh And Date Planets Around Young Stars

Little ‘hurricanes’ that form in the discs of gas and dust around young stars can be used to study certain aspects of planet formation, even for smaller planets which orbit their star at large distances and are out of reach for most telescopes.

Drought Encouraged Attila’s Huns To Attack The Roman Empire, Tree Rings Suggest

Hunnic peoples migrated westward across Eurasia, switched between farming and herding, and became violent raiders in response to severe drought in the Danube frontier provinces of the Roman empire, a new study argues.

Non-Detection Of Key Signal Allows Astronomers To Determine What The First Galaxies Were – And Weren’t – Like

Researchers have been able to make some key determinations about the first galaxies to exist, in one of the first astrophysical studies of the period in the early Universe when the first stars and galaxies formed, known as the cosmic dawn.

Can Cosmic Inflation Be Ruled Out?

Astrophysicists say that cosmic inflation – a point in the Universe’s infancy when space-time expanded exponentially, and what physicists really refer to when they talk about the ‘Big Bang’ – can in principle be ruled out in an assumption-free way.

Study Of ‘Polluted’ White Dwarfs Finds That Stars And Planets Grow Together

A team of astronomers have found that planet formation in our young Solar System started much earlier than previously thought, with the building blocks of planets growing at the same time as their parent star.

Watching Lithium In Real Time Could Improve Performance Of EV Battery Materials

Researchers have found that the irregular movement of lithium ions in next-generation battery materials could be reducing their capacity and hindering their performance.

Just Like Humans, More Intelligent Jays Have Greater Self-Control

A study has found that Eurasian jays can pass a version of the ‘marshmallow test’ – and those with the greatest self-control also score the highest on intelligence tests.

New Approach To ‘Cosmic Magnet’ Manufacturing Could Reduce Reliance On Rare Earths In Low-Carbon Technologies

Researchers have discovered a potential new method for making the high-performance magnets used in wind turbines and electric cars without the need for rare earth elements, which are almost exclusively sourced in China.

Developmental Dyslexia Essential To Human Adaptive Success, Study Argues

Researchers say people with Developmental Dyslexia have specific strengths relating to exploring the unknown that have contributed to the successful adaptation and survival of our species.

Highly Antibiotic-Resistant Strain Of MRSA That Arose In Pigs Can Jump To Humans

A new study has found that a highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the superbug MRSA – methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus – has emerged in livestock in the last 50 years, probably due to widespread antibiotic use in pig farming.

Male Dogs Four Times More Likely To Develop Contagious Cancer On Nose Or Mouth Than Females

Sniffing or licking other dogs’ genitalia – the common site of Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour – can spread this unusual cancer to the nose and mouth.

Slow Spin Of Early Galaxy Observed For The First Time

One of the most distant known galaxies, observed in the very earliest years of the Universe, appears to be rotating at less than a quarter of the speed of the Milky Way today, according to a new study involving University of Cambridge researchers.