Topic description and stories

The task of ensuring affordable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all is one of the major challenges of the 21st century.

Rice sacks

Give and take: the changing landscape of world aid

05 Oct 2012

A book by Cambridge University geographer Dr Emma Mawdsley provides a major analysis of the ways in which the ‘rising powers’ of the BRICS and others...

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Initial ISI-MIP simulation showing the effects on vegetation productivity at the highest emissions scenario (reduction: red to yellow; increase: green to blue)

Modelling impacts of a warming world

03 Oct 2012

A community-driven modelling effort aims to quantify one of the gravest of global uncertainties: the impact of global warming on the world’s food...

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Crops Growing

Unlocking the agricultural economics of the 19th century

03 Oct 2012

The Corn Returns – market data from the 19th century and beyond – represent a valuable resource for economic historians looking at the emergence of...

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Meat

Reducing consumption of red and processed meat could make a major contribution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions

18 Sep 2012

Research quantifies the reduction in greenhouse gases, as well the effect it would have on health, if UK cut amount of red and processed meat eaten...

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Green and pleasant land: A farm near East Meon in Hampshire.

Farming loved but misunderstood, survey shows

23 Aug 2012

A YouGov Cambridge poll has revealed widespread affection for agriculture, even though there is a surprising level of ignorance about the sector and...

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Tomato

Prize tomato

30 May 2012

A group of students on the University of Cambridge’s MPhil course in Engineering for Sustainable Development has devised a project that will help...

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Bumblebee foraging from a Hebe inflorescence

Blowing in the wind: how hidden flower features are crucial for bees

29 May 2012

New research reveals that velcro-like cells on plant petals play a crucial role in helping bees grip flowers.

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Glass of wine

Nudging consumers towards better health

25 May 2012

It seems at once the simplest and most complex of health problems: by eating healthily, not smoking, being more active and cutting down on alcohol...

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Seahorse

Seahorses and the "onion world"

24 May 2012

Dr Amanda Vincent – one of the world’s leading experts on seahorses and their relatives – is spending a year at Cambridge’s Department of Geography...

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Trees

Research, policy, practice: conservation in the round

07 Feb 2012

Conservation scientists working in partnership with practitioners and policy makers are building practical tools for real-world conservation.

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Gola Forest credit Jeremy Lindsell

Canopy commerce: forest conservation and poverty alleviation

03 Feb 2012

Innovative approaches for protecting the future of Sierra Leone’s Gola Forest – globally important for its biodiversity and its carbon reserves – are...

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Bees are important pollinators of daisies and many other flowers

Flower power: how to get ahead in advertising

02 Feb 2012

Some plants go to extraordinary lengths to attract pollinators. A unique collaboration between plant scientists and physicists is revealing the full...

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