The polar explorer using Grime to break the ice
29 Jan 2020It’s not often someone compares the voices of seals to the sounds of space set to a Grime beat. But when he’s not monitoring seals from space, Fitzwilliam College PhD student Prem Gill, is using ‘Seal Grime’ as one way to encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds to take up polar science...
Global dissatisfaction with democracy at a record high
29 Jan 2020A new report, the first from the University's new Centre for the Future of Democracy, finds that 2019 had the "the highest level of democratic discontent" since 1995.
The "stop doing stupid stuff" approach to sustainable manufacturing
22 Jan 2020Around 90% of the resources we process to create goods are not reaching the person for whom they are made. How can we make manufacturing more sustainable?
The 'P' word
16 Jan 2020How do we shift our 'take, make, throw-away' plastic world towards 'recycle, recover, re-use'? It's time for blue-sky thinking plus practical measures in the battle to reduce plastic waste.
Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland
06 Jan 2020Medieval Greenlanders may have chased dwindling walrus herds ever farther north in an effort to maintain their economy, when the value of walrus ivory tanked after the introduction of elephant tusks into European markets in the 1200s.
Women in STEM: Angela Harper
02 Jan 2020Angela Harper is a PhD candidate at the Cavendish Laboratory, a member of Churchill College, and a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Here, she tells us about her work in renewable energy, setting up a Girls in STEM programme while she was an undergraduate in North Carolina, and the importance of role models when pursuing a career in STEM.
The cellist whose Christmas starts in summer
18 Dec 2019When he’s not running college choirs and keeping the piano tuned as Director of Music for Magdalene and Director of St John’s Voices, Graham Walker sometimes marvels at the wonderful purposelessness of music – and the absolute joy of creating something beautiful, even for a fraction of a second...
Suction cups that don't fall off
17 Dec 2019The aquatic larvae of the net-winged midge have the unique ability to move around at ease on rocks in torrential rivers using super-strong suction organs. Powerful modern imaging techniques have now revealed the structure of these organs in intricate detail, providing an insight into how they...
