Researchers have identified a series of genetic variants that affect the severity of Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease – but surprisingly, none of these variants appear to be related to an individual’s risk of developing the condition in the first place.

Over a third of new conservation science documents published annually are in non-English languages, despite assumption of English as scientific ‘lingua franca’. Researchers find examples of important science missed at international level, and practitioners struggling to access new knowledge, as a result of language barriers.

It’s been a very busy year at the University of Cambridge. If you don’t have time to read about all of our discoveries this year, then we've put together just a few of our personal highlights.

DNA sequencing has defined a new genetic disorder that affects movement, enabling patients with dystonia — a disabling condition that affects voluntary movement — to be targeted for treatment that brings remarkable improvements, including restoring independent walking.

Poor access to health care and confusion over post-detention care may have contributed to more than 400 deaths following police custody and prison detention since 2009, a new report has claimed. Here, in an article first published on The Conversation, report authors Loraine Gelsthorpe and Nicola Padfield of Cambridge's Faculty of Law, along with their colleague Jake Phillips from Sheffield Hallam University, discuss their findings. 

Researchers have discovered a way to remove specific fears from the brain, using a combination of artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology. Their technique, published in the inaugural edition of Nature Human Behaviour, could lead to a new way of treating patients with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias.

Healthcare is a complex beast and too often problems arise that can put patients’ health – and in some cases, lives – at risk. A collaboration between the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research and the Department of Engineering hopes to get to the bottom of what’s going wrong – and to offer new ways of solving the problems.

A new suite of laboratories aimed at improving outcomes for patients with brain injuries and brain tumours opens today at the University of Cambridge.

An ambitious seminar series began last week with a discussion of a remarkable documentary. Filmed in a pioneering hospice, The Time to Die addresses a subject that remains taboo for many. Joining the conversation are health professionals, medical students and members of the public, as well as those interested in film and ethics. The series continues on 9 November 2016.

Many of us see our privacy as a basic right. But in the digital world of app-addiction, geolocation tracking and social oversharing, some may have cause to wonder if that right is steadily and sometimes willingly being eroded away.