Topic description and stories

From microscopic cells to massive galaxies, imaging is a core tool for many research fields today, and it’s also the basis of a surge in recent technical developments – some of which are being pioneered in Cambridge.

A Surprising New Path to Tumor Development

New microscopic imaging technology reveals origins of leukaemia

19 Oct 2015

Scientists at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular...

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The central object is a very distant galaxy, labelled BDF 3299. The bright red cloud just to the lower left is the ALMA detection of a vast cloud of material that is in the process of assembling the very young galaxy

Astronomers witness assembly of galaxies in the early Universe for the first time

22 Jul 2015

An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge have detected the most distant clouds of star-forming gas yet found in normal...

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Imaging atherosclerotic calcification or ‘hardening of the arteries’ using positron emission tomography

New research allows doctors to image dangerous ‘hardening’ of the arteries

10 Jul 2015

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, have shown how a radioactive agent developed in the...

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DNA representation

Expanding the DNA alphabet: ‘extra’ DNA base found to be stable in mammals

22 Jun 2015

A rare DNA base, previously thought to be a temporary modification, has been shown to be stable in mammalian DNA, suggesting that it plays a key role...

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Left: Image of HD 115600 showing a bright debris ring viewed nearly edge-on and located just beyond a Pluto-like distance to the star. Right: A model of the HD 115600 debris ring on the same scale.

Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a ‘toddler’

27 May 2015

Astronomers have discovered a disc of planetary debris surrounding a young sun-like star that shares remarkable similarities with the Kuiper Belt...

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Killer T-Cell

Body’s ‘serial killers’ captured on film destroying cancer cells

19 May 2015

A dramatic video has captured the behaviour of cytotoxic T cells – the body’s ‘serial killers’ – as they hunt down and eliminate cancer cells before...

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Artist’s impression of super-Earth 55 Cancri e, showing a hot partially-molten surface of the planet before and after possible volcanic activity on the day side.

Astronomers find first evidence of changing conditions on a super Earth

05 May 2015

Astronomers have detected wildly changing temperatures on a super Earth – the first time any atmospheric variability has been observed on a rocky...

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Adult Volvox spheroid containing multiple embryos

Upside down and inside out

27 Apr 2015

Researchers have captured the first 3D video of a living algal embryo turning itself inside out, from a sphere to a mushroom shape and back again...

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The ghostly faces under UV light

Ghosts from the past brought back to life

01 Apr 2015

One of the UK’s most important medieval manuscripts is revealing ghosts from the past after new research and imaging work discovered eerie faces and...

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Brain areas with rich blood supply lower their vascular reactivity with ageing

Your brain might not be as ‘old’ as you think

09 Mar 2015

Our standard way of measuring brain activity could be giving us a misleading picture of how our brains age, argues Dr Kamen Tsvetanov from the...

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The super-resolution revolution

27 Feb 2015

Cambridge scientists are part of a resolution revolution. Building powerful instruments that shatter the physical limits of optical microscopy, they...

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An abdominal tumour (outlined in white) 'feeding on' carbon-13-labelled glucose (orange) provides a means of testing when cancer drugs are effective enough to affect the health of the tumour

Watching the death throes of tumours

25 Feb 2015

A clinical trial due to begin later this year will see scientists observing close up, in real time – and in patients – how tumours respond to new...

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