The chemical composition of gases emitted from volcanoes – which are used to monitor changes in volcanic activity – can change depending on the size of gas bubbles rising to the surface, and relate to the way in which they erupt. The results, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, could be used to improve the forecasting of threats posed by certain volcanoes. 

The severity of drought conditions during the demise of the Maya civilisation about 1,000 years ago has been quantified, representing another piece of evidence that could be used to solve the longstanding mystery of what caused the downfall of one of the ancient world’s great civilisations. 

Scientists have identified a group of planets outside our solar system where the same chemical conditions that may have led to life on Earth exist. 

University of Cambridge mathematician Caucher Birkar has been named one of four recipients of the 2018 Fields medals, the most prestigious awards in mathematics. 

Researchers have identified a group of materials that could be used to make even higher power batteries. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used materials with a complex crystalline structure and found that lithium ions move through them at rates that far exceed those of typical electrode materials, which equates to a much faster-charging battery.

Obesity is often characterised as nothing more than greed and lack of willpower. The truth is far more complex.

Earlier this year a team of 78 women from around the world took part in a three-week expedition to Antarctica, a trip that marked the culmination of the year-long Homeward Bound leadership programme for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM). Read more about their adventure here. 

A unique three-year project to bridge the divide between science and philosophy – which embedded early-career philosophers into some of Cambridge’s ground-breaking scientific research clusters – is the subject of a new film released today.

The first major repository of legal practices for mediators and conflict parties to draw on when negotiating peace has won the top prize in this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Awards at the University of Cambridge.

An international team of astronomers has discovered an ancient and dramatic head-on collision between the Milky Way and a smaller object, dubbed ‘the Sausage galaxy’. The cosmic crash was a defining event in the early history of the Milky Way and reshaped the structure of our galaxy, fashioning both the galaxy’s inner bulge and its outer halo, the astronomers report in a series of new papers.