Topic description and stories

The climate crisis and biodiversity losses are affecting the planet at an alarming pace. Cambridge researchers are helping the response to these threats, building resilience, supporting the transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon future, and enabling us to act sustainably to protect the planet's precious resources and reduce waste.

The climate crisis: towards zero carbon

26 February 2020

Sir David Attenborough, Dr Jane Goodall DBE and leading Cambridge University researchers talk about the urgency of climate crisis – and some of the solutions that will take us towards zero carbon.

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Solar Panels

Sustainable energy – without the hot air

13 Mar 2009

How easy is it to kick our fossil fuel habit? Could Britain live on its own renewables? Professor David Mackay, from the Department of Physics, will...

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Twin Peaks Line, West Portal Station Muni Facilities Building Foundation and Floor Plans (1976)

Prototype green home unveiled

18 Feb 2009

A zero-carbon home which could become a template for larger-scale production in the UK has been unveiled.

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LED

‘Magic’ lights to slash household electricity use

28 Jan 2009

A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% in five years time, thanks to research at Cambridge University.

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BP pedestrian Bridge

BP and University of Cambridge sign agreement on collaboration

27 Jan 2009

A formal agreement has been signed between energy giant BP and the University of Cambridge marking their intention to expand their long-standing...

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Nerve cell

New hopes for the nervous system: Parkinson's disease

01 Jan 2009

The way a common virus hijacks the cell it infects could hold the clue to combating Parkinson's disease.

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Descendant of the apple tree

Economic and Social Research Council

01 Jan 2009

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) supports research from across the social sciences, from sociology to anthropology, through to...

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Vinegarroon, Thelyphonida, uropygids, insect 19 Sept 2010

Like an arrow: jumping insects use archery techniques

01 Oct 2008

Froghoppers, the champion jumpers of the insect world, can leap 100 times their body length by using a structure similar to an archer's bow.

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The Large Hadron Collider/ATLAS at CERN

World’s largest experiment starts today

08 Sep 2008

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being switched on today, marking one of the most important events in modern science.

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Fire

Lean machines: environmentally friendly engines

01 Sep 2008

An industrial-grade aerospace gas turbine combustion simulator – the first of its kind in the UK and one of only a dozen worldwide – is ready for ‘...

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Engine

‘Super’ superalloys: hotter, stronger, for even longer

01 Sep 2008

Only a single class of engineering materials can withstand the extreme conditions deep within a jet aeroplane engine – the nickel-base superalloys...

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CAPE

Enhancing CAPE-abilities in photonics and electronics

01 Sep 2008

A unique model of industrial-academic partnership is demonstrating how UK R&D can stay ahead of the game in a rapidly moving electronics market...

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Morning

Land of the (early) rising sun

20 Aug 2008

They say that early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise; but in Japan, it may also be feeding a nationalist revival not seen...

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