Habitable planets could exist around pulsars
19 December 2017It is theoretically possible that habitable planets exist around pulsars - spinning neutron stars that emit short, quick pulses of radiation. According to new research,...
Mindfulness training reduces stress during exam time
18 December 2017Mindfulness training can help support students at risk of mental health problems, concludes a randomised controlled trial carried out by researchers at the University of...
Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours
18 December 2017A new study of TV-watching great tits reveals how they learn through observation. Social interactions within a predator species can have “evolutionary consequences” for potential...
Calf’s foot jelly and a tankard of ale? Welcome to the 18th century Starbucks
18 December 2017Researchers have published details of the largest collection of artefacts from an early English coffeehouse ever discovered. Described as an 18th century equivalent of Starbucks,...
Ancient faeces reveal parasites described in earliest Greek medical texts
15 December 2017Earliest archaeological evidence of intestinal parasitic worms infecting the ancient inhabitants of Greece confirms descriptions found in writings associated with Hippocrates, the early physician and...
Mistletoe and (a large) wine: seven-fold increase in wine glass size over 300 years
14 December 2017Our Georgian and Victorian ancestors probably celebrated Christmas with more modest wine consumption than we do today – if the size of their wine glasses...
Presenting facts as ‘consensus’ bridges conservative-liberal divide over climate change
11 December 2017New evidence shows that a ‘social fact’ highlighting expert consensus shifts perceptions across US political spectrum – particularly among highly educated conservatives. Facts that encourage...
Industrial Revolution: damaging psychological ‘imprint’ persists in today’s populations
10 December 2017Study finds people in areas historically reliant on coal-based industries have more ‘negative’ personality traits. Psychologists suggest this cognitive die may well have been cast...
The Billingford Hutch and the moonwort fern – a medieval mystery solved
10 December 2017A heavy oak chest in the Parker Library (Corpus Christi College) was used to store objects left as collateral for loans of money. Its...
“All this cancer talk is new to me, but I do know there isn’t a stage five”
08 December 2017Kate Gross was just 36 years old when she died of cancer. Researchers at Cambridge – including her husband – are trying to ensure that...