source: www.cam.ac.uk

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, has been to the North East of England to visit schools in Tyneside as part of a mission to connect with areas of the UK where there are perceived or actual barriers to progression into universities like Cambridge and Oxford. During her trip she learned about the experiences of students from Year 10 through to Year 13 in terms of their engagement with the University and the Colleges.

I have learnt a lot from visiting schools hereProfessor Deborah Prentice

Following the visit Professor Prentice said:

“It was great to meet such inspiring students and dedicated staff, and to see such potential for Cambridge as well as the enormous pride that people understandably have in their region. I have learnt a lot from visiting schools here, and hope that we will see some of this region’s talented students in Cambridge soon.”

The visit was organised by Cambridge’s Student Admissions and Access Department and Corpus Christi College. Director of Recruitment, Admissions and Participation, Mike Nicholson, and Elaine Effard, Access and Outreach Co-ordinator at Corpus Christi College (and who is based in South Tyneside), also participated in the discussions.

Among the schools visited were Benfield School in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle Sixth-Form College, Emmanuel College in Gateshead and Whitley Bay High School in North Tyneside. Phoebe Dickinson, Early Entry Coordinator at Whitley Bay said:

“It’s been an absolute privilege to host the Vice-Chancellor. We are passionate about every student succeeding, whether that is an apprenticeship or obtaining a place at Cambridge. We are thrilled that Cambridge is so passionate in helping us to help every student succeed.”

In the latest academic cycle for which full statistics are available (2024 – 25) there were 304 applications to Cambridge from the North East. Only Northern Ireland as a nation/region of the UK had a lower number. 68 of these students met the terms of their offer equating to 2.4% of the total UK undergraduate body.

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During the visit, students attended workshop style discussions on the application process and were given practice sessions in good interviewing techniques by teachers from local schools and colleges. One student, Cindy, said:

“This has been a great opportunity to provide an insight into our school experience and represent students from the North East.”

Another, Robert, added:

“It was really interesting to meet the group and to chat with staff about the process in general.”

As part of the trip, the delegation from Cambridge also met with alumni from the North East many of whom have returned to the region. Around 60 former students attended this event. Participants included family members of Ian Mason, a former Cambridge student who passed away unexpectedly. Ian’s family and colleagues established a Foundation in his memory which currently provides financial support to two students annually on Cambridge’s Foundation Year in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Preference for the funding is given to students from the North East of England.

The visit follows others to the North West and South West of England, where the Vice-Chancellor also heard the perspectives of students, teachers and alumni about Cambridge, and their views on higher education more generally.

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source: www.cam.ac.uk

Researchers have achieved the most detailed view yet of how DNA folds and functions inside living cells, revealing the physical structures that control when and how genes are switched on.

Using a new technique called MCC ultra, the team, including researchers from the University of Cambridge, mapped the human genome down to a single base pair, unlocking how genes are controlled, or, how the body decides which genes to turn on or off at the right time, in the right cells.

This gives scientists a new way to understand how genetic differences lead to disease and opens up fresh routes for drug discovery. The results are reported in the journal Cell.

“For the first time, we can see how the genome’s control switches are physically arranged inside cells,” said lead author Professor James Davies from the University of Oxford. “This changes our understanding of how genes work and how things go wrong in disease. We can now see how changes in the intricate structure of DNA leads to conditions like heart disease, autoimmune disorders and cancer.”

For more than two decades, scientists have known the full sequence of the human genome – the three billion ‘letters’ of DNA that make up our genetic code. But exactly how that code folds and functions inside the cell has remained largely hidden.

Each cell’s DNA, about two metres long, is tightly packed into a microscopic space one-hundredth of a millimetre across. Within this space, the DNA constantly bends and loops, bringing distant sections into contact. These 3D structures are crucial because they determine which genes are active or silent, much like how a circuit board determines which switches are connected and which are not.

Until now, researchers could only view these interactions at relatively low resolution. The new method captures them down to a single base pair – the smallest unit of DNA – offering a truly molecular view of gene control.

This level of detail matters because over 90% of genetic changes linked to common diseases lie not within genes themselves, but in the ‘switch’ regions that regulate them. The ability to see how these switches are organised gives scientists a new framework for identifying where gene regulation goes wrong and how it might be corrected.

The Oxford researchers worked with Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, from Cambridge’s Department of Genetics and Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, whose computer simulations confirmed that the folding patterns observed arise naturally from the physical properties of DNA and its packaging proteins.

“The MCC ultra technique gives us the most detailed view yet of DNA organisation inside living cells – an order of magnitude higher than the current state of the art,” said Collepardo-Guevara. “Our simulation work also showed that it’s possible to predict the complex 3D structure of the genome in a computer model, which could help us understand in fine detail what goes wrong in disease, and how to fix it.”

Together, the scientists propose a new model of gene regulation in which cells use electromagnetic forces to bring DNA control sequences to the surface, where they cluster into “islands” of gene activity. These structures, which were previously invisible, appear to be a fundamental mechanism for how cells read their genetic instructions.

The research represents a major advance in molecular genetics, providing a foundation for future studies into how changes in genome structure cause disease.

The work was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Lister Institute, with support for translation into new therapies from Wellcome and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. Rosana Collepardo-Guevara is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. The Cambridge simulations were performed by Dr Jan Huertas and Dr Julia Maristany, postdoctoral researchers in Collepardo-Guevara’s group.   

Reference:
Hangpeng Li et al. ‘Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions.’ Cell (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.10.013

Adapted from a University of Oxford media release.

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An AI tool that can analyse abnormalities in the shape and form of blood cells, and with greater accuracy and reliability than human experts, could change the way conditions such as leukaemia are diagnosed.

Researchers have created a system called CytoDiffusion that uses generative AI – the same type of technology behind image generators such as DALL-E – to study the shape and structure of blood cells.

Unlike many AI models, which are trained to simply recognise patterns, CytoDiffusion – developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, University College London and Queen Mary University of London – could accurately identify a wide range of normal blood cell appearances and spot unusual or rare cells that may indicate disease. The results are reported in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

Spotting subtle differences in blood cell size, shape and appearance is a cornerstone of diagnosing many blood disorders. But the task requires years of training, and even then, different doctors can disagree on difficult cases.

“We’ve all got many different types of blood cells that have different properties and different roles within our body,” said Simon Deltadahl from Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, the study’s first author. “White blood cells specialise in fighting infection, for example. Knowing what an unusual or diseased blood cell looks like under a microscope is an important part of diagnosing many diseases.”

However, a typical blood ‘smear’ contains thousands of cells – far more than any human could analyse. “Humans can’t look at all the cells in a smear – it’s just not possible,” said Deltadahl. “Our model can automate that process, triage the routine cases, and highlight anything unusual for human review.”

“The clinical challenge I faced as a junior haematology doctor was that after a day of work, I would have a lot of blood films to analyse,” said co-senior author Dr Suthesh Sivapalaratnam from Queen Mary University of London. “As I was analysing them in the late hours, I became convinced AI would do a better job than me.”

To develop CytoDiffusion, the researchers trained the system on over half a million images of blood smears collected at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The dataset – the largest of its kind – included both common blood cell types and rarer examples, as well as elements that can confuse automated systems.

By modelling the full distribution of cell appearances rather than just learning to separate categories, the AI became more robust to differences between hospitals, microscopes and staining methods, and better able to recognise rare or abnormal cells.

In tests, CytoDiffusion could detect abnormal cells linked to leukaemia with far greater sensitivity than existing systems. It also matched or surpassed current state-of-the-art models, even when given far fewer training examples, and quantified its own uncertainty.

“When we tested its accuracy, the system was slightly better than humans,” said Deltadahl. “But where it really stood out was in knowing when it was uncertain. Our model would never say it was certain and then be wrong, but that is something that humans sometimes do.”

“We evaluated our method against many of the challenges seen in real-world AI, such as never-before-seen images, images captured by different machines and the degree of uncertainty in the labels,” said co-senior author Professor Michael Roberts, also from Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. “This framework gives a multi-faceted view of model performance, which we believe will be beneficial to researchers.”

The team also showed that CytoDiffusion could generate synthetic blood cell images indistinguishable from real ones. In a ‘Turing test’ with ten experienced haematologists, the human experts were no better than chance at telling real from AI-generated images.

“That really surprised me,” said Deltadahl. “These are people who stare at blood cells all day, and even they couldn’t tell.”

As part of the project, the researchers are releasing what they say is the world’s largest publicly available dataset of peripheral blood smear images: more than half a million in total.

“By making this resource open, we hope to empower researchers worldwide to build and test new AI models, democratise access to high-quality medical data, and ultimately contribute to better patient care,” said Deltadahl.

While the results are promising, the researchers say that CytoDiffusion is not a replacement for trained clinicians. Instead, it is designed to support them by rapidly flagging abnormal cases for review and handling more routine ones automatically.

“The true value of healthcare AI lies not in approximating human expertise at lower cost, but in enabling greater diagnostic, prognostic, and prescriptive power than either experts or simple statistical models can achieve,” said co-senior author Professor Parashkev Nachev from UCL. “Our work suggests that generative AI will be central to this mission, transforming not only the fidelity of clinical support systems but their insight into the limits of their own knowledge. This ‘metacognitive’ awareness – knowing what one does not know – is critical to clinical decision-making, and here we show machines may be better at it than we are.”

The researchers say further work is needed to make the system faster and to test it across diverse patient populations to ensure fairness and accuracy.

The research was supported in part by the Trinity Challenge, Wellcome, the British Heart Foundation, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, and NHS Blood and Transplant. The research was conducted by the Imaging working group of the BloodCounts! consortium, which aims to use AI to improve blood diagnostics globally. Simon Deltadahl is a Member of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Reference:
Simon Deltadahl et al. ‘Deep generative classification of blood cell morphology.’ Nature Machine Intelligence (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-025-01122-7

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Complex digital images of tissue samples that can take an experienced pathologist up to 20 minutes to annotate could be analysed in just one minute using a new AI tool developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

This could one day help doctors tailor treatments more effectively, moving to a more nuanced understanding of each patient’s cancerZeyu Gao

SMMILe, a machine learning algorithm, is able not only to correctly detect the presence of cancer cells on slides taken from biopsies and surgical sections, but it can predict where the tumour lesions are located and even the proportion of regions with different levels of aggressiveness.

The tool could be used in the future to guide a patient’s treatment, as well as helping scientists better understand how cancer develops and identify new biological signatures to improve detection.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools offer incredible promise towards helping pathologists examine tissue samples from patients with suspected or confirmed cancer, producing ‘spatial maps’ that allow them to understand where the cancer cells are and how they are spreading. But training these tools has until now required a large number of high-quality, detailed reference slides annotated by trained pathologists.

In research published today in Nature Cancer, scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed an AI tool that can be trained using slides that have been given simple, patient-level diagnostic labels, such as cancer type or grade. Importantly, these slides did not need to include detailed region-by-region annotations from pathologists, which are time-consuming to produce.

Despite learning from such scant information, the algorithm – SMMILe (Superpatch-based Measurable Multiple Instance Learning) – was able to provide detailed information about each slide, including mapping the locations of tumour lesions, and estimating the proportions and spatial distribution of lesions with different subtypes and grades.

Dr Zeyu Gao from the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge, who developed the algorithm, said: “Cancer isn’t always uniform. A single tumour can contain different subtypes, some that are more aggressive than others. Our model doesn’t just say ‘yes, there’s cancer’, it maps out these subtypes and their proportions within the tissue. This could one day help doctors tailor treatments more effectively, moving to a more nuanced understanding of each patient’s cancer.”

The team tested the algorithm on eight datasets comprising 3,850 whole-slide images covering six cancer types: lung, kidney, ovarian, breast, stomach, and prostate cancer. When benchmarked against nine other state-of-the-art whole-slide image classification analysis AI tools, SMMILe’s performance matched – and in several cases exceeded – these tools at slide-level classification, while significantly outperforming them when it came to estimating the proportions and spatial distribution of lesions.

Dr Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar, Co-Lead of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre Integrated Cancer Medicine Virtual Institute and the study’s joint senior author, said: “What we’ve developed is akin to a ‘sonar’ for images that essentially allows us to see in the dark. Often, we have information about a tumour, but we don’t know how it’s distributed in the tissue. There are technologies that allow you to get this information, but they are very costly.

“With our new AI method, we can accurately map the tumour samples – and the beauty is that it is trained on cheap, widely-available datasets that only contain bulk, non-spatial information.”

Although SMMILe is currently focused on classifying tissue slides, the researchers plan to use the tool to predict biomarkers – biological signatures – that reveal how a tumour behaves at a molecular level. This will help further understanding of how cancers develop and spread as well as potentially opening the door to personalised treatment decisions for each patient, guided by both what the tumour looks like and what its biology reveals.

Dr Gao added: “By allowing pathologists to make faster, more accurate diagnoses, we can make sure patients receive the best treatment even sooner, improving our chances of successfully treating their cancer. AI could have a huge impact on the lives of our patients.”

The research was funded mainly by Cancer Research UK and GE HealthCare.

Research Information Manager at Cancer Research UK, Dr Dani Skirrow, said: “We’re living in a golden age of cancer research, with new tools and technologies offering better, faster ways to diagnose cancer and personalise treatments.

“This study suggests SMMILe could help doctors quickly get detailed information about a person’s cancer so that they can give each individual the best treatment option for them. Further studies are needed to check how well SMMILe works in the clinic, but these promising early-stage findings show how artificial intelligence tools have the potential to help people receive personalised care sooner.”

The University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) are fundraising for a new hospital that will transform how we diagnose and treat cancer. Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, set to be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, will bring together clinical excellence from Addenbrooke’s Hospital and world-leading researchers at the University of Cambridge. The research that takes place there promises to change the lives of cancer patients across the UK and beyond. Find out more here.

Reference

Gao, Z et al. SMMILE enables accurate spatial quantification in digital pathology using multiple instance learning. Nature Cancer; 19 Nov 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s43018-025-01060-8

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source: www.cam.ac.uk

Deep brain stimulation – implants in the brain that act as a kind of ‘pacemaker’ – has led to clinical improvements in half of the participants with treatment-resistant severe depression in an ‘open label’ trial.

Our study hasn’t just highlighted this promise, it’s given us a potential and much-needed objective marker to say which patients will respond bestValerie Voon

Significantly, the study, led by researchers in the UK and China, identified a telltale signature of brain activity that predicted how well individual patients responded to the treatment. This could be used in future to target the treatment at those patients most likely to benefit.

Major depressive disorder is one of the most common disabling mental health problems worldwide. While antidepressants and cognitive therapies help many patients, there are high rates of treatment resistance. Treatments will fail for between three and five in 10 patients with depression.

Over the past few decades, a technique known as deep brain stimulation (DBS) has begun to be used to treat a range of conditions, most successfully for patients with Parkinson’s disease. The technique involves the insertion of thin electrodes deep into the brain that transmit mild electrical stimulation to correct errant brain activity.

Open label trial of deep brain stimulation

In a study published today in Nature Communications, researchers trialled DBS in 26 patients recruited from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in China, all of whom had treatment-resistant depression. The trial was open label, which means that both researchers and the patients were aware that DBS was being administered.

The team applied stimulation to two areas of the brain. The first was the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an extension of the amygdala that is involved in regulating stress, anxiety, fear and social behaviours, particularly in response to long-term stresses and fears. The second area was the nucleus accumbens, which is involved in how the brain processes rewards, and is a key area for motivation, pleasure, and reinforcement.

What the researchers found

Half of the patients (13 out of 26) saw significant improvements, as measured on different scores for depression- and anxiety-related symptoms along with clinically relevant quality of life and disability scores. Nine of these patients (35% of the study cohort) achieved remission, meaning a near-complete elimination of their symptoms.

The researchers recorded brain electrical activity from the DBS electrodes in the BNST and scalp EEG (electroencephalogram) and found brain activity at a specific frequency range (4–8 Hz), known as theta activity, to be clinically important.

Theta activity in the BNST correlated with how severe a patient’s depression was and how anxious they felt on a daily basis – those patients with higher levels of theta activity experienced worse symptoms.

People with lower levels of theta activity in this brain region before surgery tended to improve more and report greater improvements in quality of life at three, six and 12 months, though only in relation to depression and anxiety, not to loss of pleasure (known as anhedonia).

Similarly, those patients with greater ‘coherence’ between the BNST and the prefrontal cortex in theta frequences – in other words, those patients where these two regions were most closely synchronised – were also likely to have better outcomes. The prefrontal cortex is involved in emotional regulation, and greater coherence implies better communication between these two regions.

Technique shows ‘real promise’

Professor Valerie Voon from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and Fudan University, China, said: “Deep brain stimulation shows real promise at tackling treatment-resistant depression, which can have a huge impact on people’s lives. But our study hasn’t just highlighted this promise, it’s given us a potential and much-needed objective marker to say which patients will respond best.”

Dr Linbin Wang from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge added: “We found that brain activity at a particular frequency – theta brainwaves – could tell us which patients would have the best response to DBS treatment in the BNST brain region. This could help us personalise treatment for individual patients in future.”

During the trial, DBS reduced BNST theta activity, and this reduction matched improvements in symptoms of depression and anxiety. This opens up the possibility of using a ‘closed-loop system’ that uses real-time feedback to adjust the electrical stimulation, say the researchers.

Professor Valerie Voon added: “Because theta activity tracks anxiety states in real time, it means that if activity is high, we can say ‘OK, this person is an anxious state, we need to turn up stimulation’. Likewise, if theta activity is low, we can turn down the stimulation.”

Professor Bomin Sun, the neurosurgeon who led the study at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said “This is the largest study to show that deep brain stimulation of the BNST and nucleus accumbens can treat depression. Depression is a major public health problem in China and globally. This study not only tells us how the brain is impaired in depression, it also highlights potential of DBS for depression.”

The team also found psychological measures that indicated how well a patient would respond to treatment. Participants were shown a series of images, some pleasant (such as puppies), some neutral (such as furniture), and some negative (such as accidents). Patients with the strongest reaction to the negative images were least likely to see benefits from DBS.

The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality. Professor Voon and her team were also funded by the UK Medical Research Council.

Alongside this study, the researchers carried out a double-blinded, randomised controlled trial of DBS for treatment-resistant depression. Such trials are considered the ‘gold standard’, as neither researchers nor patients are aware which treatment is being administered, removing the possibility of a placebo effect. The results of this trial will be published shortly.

Reference

Wang, L & Zhang, Y et al. Prefrontal–Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Physiological and Neuropsychological Biomarkers Predict Therapeutic Outcomes in Depression. Nat Comms; 18 Nov 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65179-z

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Why people form parasocial relationships – Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2025

source: www.cam.ac.uk

Cambridge Dictionary has named ‘parasocial’ as the Word of the Year for 2025.

The word is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc, or an artificial intelligence’.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the publisher of the Cambridge Dictionary, says that the year was marked by interest in the one-sided parasocial relationships that people form with celebrities, influencers and AI chatbots.

‘Parasocial’ is one of several AI-related words that were added or updated in the Cambridge Dictionary this year, including ‘slop’, meaning ‘content on the internet that is of very low quality, especially when it is created by AI’.

Simone Schnall, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge, said: “Parasocial is the perfect Word of the Year.

“The rise of parasocial relationships has redefined fandom, celebrity and, with AI, how ordinary people interact online.

“We’ve entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers. This leads to a sense that people ‘know’ those they form parasocial bonds with, can trust them and even to extreme forms of loyalty. Yet it’s completely one sided.”

The term dates back to 1956, when University of Chicago sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl observed television viewers engaged in ‘para-social’ relationships with on-screen personalities, resembling those they formed with ‘real’ family and friends. They noted how the rapidly expanding medium of television brought the faces of actors directly into viewers’ homes, making them fixtures in people’s lives.

Colin McIntosh of the Cambridge Dictionary said: “Parasocial captures the 2025 zeitgeist. It’s a great example of how language changes.

“What was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream. Millions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise.

“The data reflects that, with the Cambridge Dictionary website seeing spikes in lookups for ‘parasocial’.”

Adapted from the Cambridge University Press & Assessment website.

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The earliest evidence of an internal ‘GPS’ system in an animal has been identified by researchers, which could help explain how some modern birds and fish evolved the ability to use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate long distances.

The tiny magnetic fossils – dating from 97 million years ago – were buried in ancient seafloor sediments, left behind by a mysterious, unidentified organism.

Shaped like spearheads, spindles, bullets and needles, and no larger than a bacterial cell, scientists believe these ‘magnetofossils’ are biological in origin, but they don’t know what creature made them, or why.

Now, researchers have now solved part of the mystery and found that these fossils may have served as an animal GPS, enabling organisms to read Earth’s magnetic field like a map.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, captured the first 3D images of the fossils’ magnetic structure, and revealed features optimised to detect both the direction and strength of Earth’s magnetic field, which would have aided navigation.

“Whatever creature made these magnetofossils, we now know it was most likely capable of accurate navigation,” said Professor Rich Harrison from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, who co-led the research.

The discovery provides the first direct evidence that animals have been navigating using the Earth’s magnetic field for at least 97 million years. It may also offer insights into how animals evolved this ability, known as ‘magnetoreception’. The results are reported in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Life has evolved a range of extraordinary senses, and magnetoreception is one of the least understood. Birds, fish, and insects use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate vast distances, but how they do this is still unclear. One theory is that tiny magnetite crystals within the body align with the Earth’s magnetic field, acting like microscopic compass needles.

Certain bacteria found in lakes and other bodies of water possess a primitive form of magnetoreception. Chains of tiny magnetic particles inside the bacteria allow them to line up with the magnetic field, helping them swim to their preferred depth in the water column.

“At just 50–100 nanometres wide, these particles are the perfect compass needles,” said Harrison. “If you want to create the most efficient magnetic sense, smaller is better.”

But the magnetofossils the team studied for the current study are 10 to 20 times larger than the magnetic particles used by bacteria, and were retrieved from a site in the North Atlantic Ocean. Previously, some researchers had argued that ‘giant’ magnetofossils may have served as protective spines.

However, model simulations have suggested that they might also possess advanced magnetic properties, something Harrison wanted to explore further. “It looks like this creature was carefully controlling the shape and structure of these fossils, and we wanted to know why,” he said.

The researchers applied a new technique to visualise the fossil’s internal structure, revealing how magnetic moments (tiny magnetic fields generated by spinning electrons) are arranged inside the magnetofossil.

Until now, scientists had been unable to capture 3D magnetic images of larger particles, such as giant magnetofossils, because X-rays couldn’t penetrate them.

The research was made possible using a technique developed by co-author Claire Donnelly at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and carried out at the Diamond X-ray facility in Oxford.

“That we were able to map the internal magnetic structure with magnetic tomography was already a great result, but the fact that the results provide insight into the navigation of creatures millions of years ago is really exciting,” said Donnelly.

Their images revealed an intricate magnetic configuration, with magnetic moments swirling around a central line running through the fossil’s interior, forming a tornado-like vortex pattern.

This vortex magnetism provides ideal properties for navigation, said Harrison, generating a ‘wobble’ in response to tiny changes in the strength of the magnetic field that translate into detailed map information. “This magnetic particle not only detects latitude by sensing the tilt of Earth’s magnetic field but also measures its strength, which can change with longitude,” he said.

The geometry of this vortex structure is highly stable, meaning it can resist small environmental disturbances that may otherwise disrupt navigation. “If nature developed a GPS, a particle that can be relied upon to navigate thousands of kilometres across the ocean, then it would be something like this,” he said.

In solving the enduring mystery over the fossils’ function, the work also helps narrow the search for the animal that made them. “The next question is what made these fossils,” said Harrison. “This tells us we need to look for a migratory animal that was common enough in the oceans to leave abundant fossil remains.”

Harrison suggests that eels could be a potential candidate, since they evolved around 100 million years ago and remain one of the least understood and elusive animals. European and American eels travel thousands of kilometres from freshwater rivers to spawn in the Sargasso Sea. Though they can sense Earth’s magnetic field, how they do so is unclear. Magnetite particles have been detected in eels but not yet imaged directly in their cells and tissues, partly because of their tiny size and the fact they could be hidden anywhere in the body.

Harrison worked closely with Sergio Valencia from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in designing the research. “This was a truly international collaboration involving experts from different fields, all working together to shed light on the possible functionality of these magnetofossils,” said Valencia.

Despite their as-yet-unknown host, “giant magnetofossils mark a key step in tracing how animals evolved basic bacterial magnetoreception into highly-specialised, GPS-like navigation systems,” Harrison said.

The research was supported in part by the European Union, the European Research Council and the Royal Society. Rich Harrison is a Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

Reference:
Richard J Harrison et al. ‘Magnetic vector tomography reveals giant magnetofossils are optimised for magnetointensity reception.’ Communications Earth & Environment (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02721-3

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source: www.cam.ac.uk

A minimally-invasive treatment for severe intervertebral disc disease in small dog breeds is now available at the University of Cambridge’s Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital – the only place in the UK currently providing the procedure.

Our aim is to give owners more choice, particularly where surgery may be difficult, and ultimately to help more dogs get back on their feet.Paul Freeman

Dogs with severe intervertebral disc disease can now be treated with a new enzyme injection at the Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital (QVSH), part of the University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine, offering a safe, less invasive, and significantly more affordable alternative to spinal surgery for suitable cases.

Severe intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) is a serious and debilitating disease that affects many of the most popular breeds of dog in the UK. It occurs when a disc ruptures causing damage to the spinal cord. It can cause sudden paralysis and the inability to stand or walk, severe pain, and the loss of bladder or bowel control.

IVDD affects around 25% of dachshunds and is also common in other short-legged dog breeds like French bulldogs in the UK.

The new treatment, called percutaneous intra-discal chondroitinase injection, involves delivering an enzyme directly into damaged intervertebral discs. This dissolves the central part of the spinal disc, potentially relieving pressure on the spinal cord without the need for expensive open surgery.

Since early 2025, 24 dogs have been successfully treated in Cambridge – all regaining their mobility within days of the injection. The QVSH is currently the only place in the UK where this treatment is available.

The treatment was co-developed by Professor Paul Freeman at the University of Cambridge Veterinary School, in collaboration with colleagues at Texas A&M University in the United States. Earlier this year they published the results of a clinical trial involving 54 dogs who had lost the ability to walk due to IVDD. The trial found that dogs receiving the injections recovered the ability to walk at a similar rate to those who underwent other forms of treatment. The results were published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The procedure is now recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as routine veterinary practice, allowing it to be offered outside the original trial conditions.

The QVSH is also continuing to accept eligible dogs into the ongoing clinical trial.

Professor Paul Freeman, European Specialist in Veterinary Neurology at the QVSH and lead investigator on the trial, said: “This is not a miracle cure, but it is an exciting new option for some dogs with severe spinal cord injury caused by a herniated disc. The injections are much less invasive than surgery and can offer similar outcomes for the right patients. Our aim is to give owners more choice, particularly where surgery may be difficult, and ultimately to help more dogs get back on their feet.”

A success story

The clinical potential of this non-invasive approach is already being seen. Milo, a dachshund whose owner was searching for an alternative to invasive surgery, received chondroitinase injections at the QVSH and showed rapid improvement.

Milo’s owner, Lani, said: “A massive thank you to Paul and his team. The fruits of your research have given Milo a new chapter full of hope. Every day there is something new and he’s steadier. He started walking without falling one week post-injections. Now, just a few days later, it is really hard to keep him still!”

Milo’s owner was signposted to the treatment by Charlotte Baldwin, Founder of the UK charity Dedicated to Dachshunds, who said: “We’re thrilled to see the improvement in dogs like Milo following this new enzyme treatment. Being able to refer owners to a less invasive and more affordable option at Cambridge is hugely encouraging. This gives owners real choice in how they manage IVDD and offers many dogs the chance to regain their mobility.”

The treatment and study in the UK have been made possible thanks to funding and long-standing support from dachshund welfare charities including Dachshund Health UK and Dachshund Rescue UK.

Lynn Hall, Chair of Dachshund Rescue UK, said: “We’re so proud to have played a part in supporting the ongoing IVDD research at Cambridge. IVDD impacts so many dogs and the families who care deeply for them, and progress like this wouldn’t be possible without collaboration. It’s wonderful to see a non-surgical, affordable solution emerging – especially when so many dogs are sadly euthanised because their owners can’t afford surgery.”

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Cambridge Photon Technology (CPT), a deep-tech spinout from the University of Cambridge, has raised £1.6 million to commercialise a technology that enables existing silicon solar panels to generate more power by converting wasted sunlight into usable light.

The global demand for solar energy is increasing and the most widely used solar technology – silicon-based photovoltaics – is nearing its theoretical efficiency ceiling. New solutions that can increase power output without having to redesign and replace existing solar panels are urgently needed. 

By converting each high-energy photon, normally lost as heat, into two infrared photons that can be absorbed by silicon, CPT’s innovation can boost energy output by up to 15% while remaining fully compatible with existing solar infrastructure. It represents the first demonstration of this photon-multiplication effect at scale.

The spinout has attracted international investment, with backing from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Spectrum Impact, Tybourne Capital, Providence Investment Company and SourceSquared. CPT has also been awarded a Clean Energy and Climate Technologies grant from the UKRI Innovate UK Investor Partnerships.

Chief Executive Officer, Dr Claudio Marinelli, said: “This investment demonstrates strong private-sector confidence in CPT’s technology and vision. Attracting backing from leading investors across the UK, India and Asia underlines the global relevance of our approach and its potential to transform solar efficiency at scale. The Innovate UK programme provides a powerful layer of support, helping us bridge early-stage development and commercial readiness. Together, this funding positions CPT to accelerate product readiness and bring a breakthrough British innovation to the global clean-energy market.”

CPT will use this funding to expand its R&D operation in Cambridge, accelerate material testing with global industry partners, and prepare for a larger investment round ahead of pilot deployment. The company aims to bring its first product to market by 2028.

Chris Gibbs, Investment Director at Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, said: “Cambridge Photon Technology exemplifies the kind of transformative innovation needed to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy and address climate challenges. We are proud to have supported the company from the beginning and now in this next exciting phase of its journey.”

Adapted from a Cambridge Enterprise news story

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Seven researchers at the University of Cambridge have been awarded Synergy Grants from the European Research Council to lead five new collaborative projects that will tackle some of science’s toughest puzzles.

Teams of researchers will join forces to address the most complex scientific problems together – this time, they are more international than ever.Maria Leptin

ERC Synergy Grants bring together research expertise, skills and resources across institutions to tackle ambitious research problems that no single group could address alone.

These highly competitive grants foster collaboration between outstanding researchers, enabling them to push forward the boundaries of scientific discovery.

The funding is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. In total the ERC has awarded €684 million to sixty-six research teams, bringing together 239 scientists. The projects cover diverse topics across many disciplines.

The Cambridge recipients of 2025 ERC Synergy Grants are:

Professor Jeremy Baumberg, Department of Physics for ‘DNA for Reconfigurable Nano-Opto-Mechanical Systems’ (DNA4RENOMS), in collaboration with the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich. Using the ability to knit strands of DNA into rigid structures, and combining these with polymer ‘muscles’ that can be triggered by light, the team aims to construct nanomachinery with a wide range of applications including sensors and low energy computing.

Professor Ewa Paluch, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, and Professor Daniel St Johnston, Gurdon Institute and Department of Genetics for ‘Robustness and plasticity of epithelial architectures’ (EpiRaP), in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster. Every human cell has a distinctive shape tightly linked to its function, and cells often become misshapen in disease. This project investigates how cells build, maintain, and remodel their shapes, focusing on epithelia – the protective layers lining our organs, aiming to reveal how biology and physics come together to shape cells and tissues.

Professor Enrico Crema, Department of Archaeology for ‘Investigating alternative trajectories for human demographic growth in temperate northern Holocene societies’ (FORAGER), in collaboration with the Universities of York, Montana, USA and Lund, Sweden. The team aims to find out why and how some prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies experienced population growth comparable to that of early farming societies, and the consequences of these population booms. They will compare archaeological evidence from Japan, the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Atlantic Northeast Coast in North America, and the Baltic region in Europe.

Professor Richard Durbin and Dr Felipe Karam Teixeira, Department of Genetics for ‘GENomes Evolve in a Landscape of TEs’ (GENELT), in collaboration with the Gregor Mendel Institute, Vienna. This team will study transposable elements (TEs) – pieces of DNA that can copy themselves around the genome – to advance understanding of how the genomes of multicellular eukaryotes and their transposable elements co-evolve.

Professor Sadaf Farooqi, Institute of Metabolic Science for ‘The biology of innate behaviour’ (INSTINCT), in collaboration with the University of South Florida and University College London. The team’s study of this fundamental research question has significant potential to impact conditions that harm human health, such as obesity and anxiety.

Only about one in ten proposals were selected for funding by the ERC, with the successful projects receiving on average €10.3 million each. The projects will be carried out at universities and research centres in 26 countries across Europe and beyond – with 24 grantees based in the United Kingdom.

Professor Sir John Aston, Cambridge’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, said: “Many congratulations to our Cambridge colleagues on these prestigious ERC funding awards, which will enable them to collaborate with outstanding researchers at other institutions to address complex scientific problems. We’re fortunate at Cambridge to have so many world-leading researchers across a range of disciplines, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of their work.”

Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said: “Europe’s frontier research has never been so international. This global collaboration strengthens European science, gives our researchers access to world-class expertise and infrastructure, and brings leading scientists from around the world closer to Europe.”

President of the European Research Council, Professor Maria Leptin, said: “Collaboration is at the heart of the ERC Synergy Grants. In our latest round, teams of researchers will join forces to address the most complex scientific problems together – this time, they are more international than ever. The competition was fierce, with many outstanding proposals left unfunded. With more funds, the ERC could fully capitalise on this wealth of first-class science. Such scientific endeavours are what Europe needs to be at the real forefront.”

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Cambridge researchers have discovered why living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood may be linked to an increase in an individual’s risk of dementia.

Where you live clearly plays an important role in your brain health and risk of dementia, putting people living in deprived neighbourhoods at a serious disadvantageJohn O’Brien

In research published today, they show how it is associated with damage to brain vessels – which can affect cognition – and with poorer management of lifestyle factors known to increase the chances of developing dementia.

Dementia disproportionately affects people who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Individuals living in such areas show greater cognitive decline throughout their lives and higher dementia risk, regardless of their own socioeconomic status. Recent studies have also found that neighbourhood deprivation is linked to differences in brain structure and greater signs of damage to brain tissue.

To explore this link further, researchers examined data from 585 healthy adults aged 40–59 living in the UK and Ireland who had been recruited to the PREVENT-Dementia programme. Details of the study are published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Among the data collected and examined were: neighbourhood deprivation according to postcodes; cognitive performance assessed through a series of tests; modifiable lifestyle risk factors; and MRI brain scans to look for signs of damage to the brain’s small blood vessels, which are crucial for delivering oxygen and nutrients to brain tissue.

The team found a strong link between living in a deprived neighbourhood and poorer management of lifestyle factors known to increase the chances of developing dementia. In particular, people living in areas of high unemployment, low income and/or poor education and training opportunities were more likely to experience poor sleep, obesity and high blood pressure, and do less physical activity.

However, people living in deprived neighbourhoods tended to consume less alcohol than those in less disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Alcohol consumption is another known risk factor for dementia.

The researchers also found a significant link between cognition and neighbourhood deprivation – particularly poorer housing and environment and higher levels of crime. This had the greatest impact on an individual’s ability to process information quickly, their spatial awareness and attention.

One possible explanation for this comes from the team’s finding that living in a deprived neighbourhood was associated with damage to the brain’s small blood vessels, which in turn affects thinking skills. Modifiable lifestyle habits are known to contribute to this damage, suggesting that the effect of deprivation on brain function – and hence performance in cognitive tests – may be down to lifestyle and vascular health.

First author Dr Audrey Low, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, said: “Where someone lives can affect their brain health as early as midlife. It doesn’t do this directly, but by making it more difficult for them to engage in positive lifestyle behaviours.

“This means that people living in these areas may face more challenges in getting quality sleep and exercise, and in managing blood pressure and obesity. This can then have a knock-on effect on the health of blood vessels in the brain, leading to poorer cognition.

“These lifestyle factors are no doubt influenced by both individual circumstances and the external environment in which they live. But importantly, the links we found were independent of educational attainment. So, even a person who has gone on to further or higher education and has a reasonably paid job may be better or worse at managing their lifestyle depending on where they live, perhaps due to better access to affordable healthy food options and safer recreational spaces.”

The researchers say their findings highlight the fact that dementia risk is influenced by environmental factors rather than just individual behaviours, and so reducing dementia risk will mean addressing the wider social determinants of brain health.

Senior author Professor John O’Brien, also from the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge, said: “Where you live clearly plays an important role in your brain health and risk of dementia, putting people living in deprived neighbourhoods at a serious disadvantage. This risk is preventable, but our works shows it’s not enough to assume it’s down to the individual. If we’re serious about reducing health inequalities, it will require support from local and national policymakers.”

The study highlights how different areas face their own challenges and hence will need different approaches, say the researchers. In wealthier areas, strategies could focus on reducing alcohol consumption, for example. Lower-income neighbourhoods, on the other hand, may benefit from targeted campaigns promoting healthy lifestyles for dementia prevention. This will require policymakers and community leaders to tackle systemic barriers that are impeding individuals’ abilities to adopt healthy lifestyle changes. This could include improving access to affordable healthcare and healthy food options, reducing crime, and providing safe recreational areas for exercise.

While these findings hold true for the UK and Ireland, the researchers say that more research is needed into whether they apply in other cultures. There is some previous evidence that the opposite is true in certain Asian cultures, for example.

The research was supported by the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Wellcome Trust, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference

Low, A et al. Neighbourhood deprivation and midlife cognition: evidence of a modifiable vascular pathway involving health behaviours and SVD. Alz & Dem; 5 Nov 2025; DOI: 10.1002/alz.70756

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Cambridge researcher Dr Miles Cranmer is one of 28 researchers worldwide to receive an AI2050 fellowship from Schmidt Sciences, awarded to researchers studying how to fulfil AI’s potential to benefit humankind.

The fellows will pursue efforts to solve challenging problems in AI by building AI scientists, designing safer and more trustworthy AI models, and improving the ability of AI to pursue biological and medical research.

The AI2050 programme funds researchers to pursue projects to help AI create immense benefits for humanity by 2050. Twenty-one early-career fellows and seven senior fellows will receive $18 million in funding over the next three years. This marks the fourth cohort of the programme, which now has 99 fellows across eight countries and 42 institutions.

Cranmer is Assistant Professor of Data Intensive Science at Cambridge, jointly appointed between the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and the Institute of Astronomy.

His research attempts to solve a puzzle: AI models trained on physics data sometimes make better predictions than our best theories, but scientists can’t see how the AI arrives at its answers. Cranmer and his group develop techniques to distil this knowledge into interpretable theories.

As part of his early career AI2050 fellowship, Cranmer will push these methods to large-scale, general models – ones similar in spirit to large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini – but trained on scientific data rather than text. His goal is to discover new mathematical concepts and physical laws that explain how these AI models achieve their superior predictions.

“AI models trained on physics are finding patterns our theories miss,” said Cranmer. “We can see that these models work, but it’s not always clear what they’re learning. What’s more, the larger AI models get, the better they seem to do this! This funding from Schmidt Sciences will help us figure out what they’ve learned that science is missing.”

“AI is underhyped, especially when it comes to its potential to benefit humanity,” said Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences with his wife Wendy. “The AI2050 fellowship was established to turn that potential into reality – by supporting the people and ideas shaping a healthier, more resilient, and more secure world.”

“In four years, the AI2050 fellows have created a deep sense of community that we are grateful to be able to grow each year,” said Mark Greaves, executive director of AI2050.“We trust that the network they’ve created will remain a source of inspiration and support throughout their careers as they advance AI for the benefit of all.”

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A Cambridge-led coalition of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has selected asset manager Amundi Investment Solutions to create a cash fund that excludes companies contributing to fossil fuel expansion globally.

This is the first cash fund we know of that will avoid providing liquidity to financial institutions who continue to finance companies that are building new infrastructureAnthony Odgers

The nearly £500 million fund will make it possible for the 79 UK colleges, universities and other institutions involved in the coalition – formed by the Banking Engagement Forum based in the Dept of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge – to make short-term cash-like investments without contributing to fossil fuel expansion within capital debt markets.

“This is the first cash fund we know of that will avoid providing liquidity to financial institutions who continue to finance companies that are building new infrastructure, such as coal- and gas-fired power plants, which will lock in fossil fuel combustion for decades,” University of Cambridge Chief Financial Officer Anthony Odgers said.

The new ‘quasi-money market fund’ is part of a broader movement towards climate-conscious investing, appealing to a diverse range of investors including universities, local authorities, pension funds, insurers, and others with substantial cash to invest and committed to doing so responsibly.

The fund will filter out fossil fuel companies, utilities, banks, insurers, and other companies that contribute to fossil fuel expansion. Companies that are excluded from the list can be readmitted if they stop engaging in or facilitating fossil fuel expansion.

The HEI coalition has indicated they collectively expect to invest in the first instance close to £500 million in the product. The fund is expected to launch towards the end of 2025, with more seed investors also expected to join prior to launch.

Coalition members include the University of Oxford, London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh, University College London and 75 other leading UK institutions.

“This initiative offers a practical and credible path for aligning our financial decisions with our climate commitments and institutional values. This provides a solution to institutions that is wider than the higher education sector and which will hopefully act as a catalyst to concrete change,” Oxford Group Treasurer Sean Anderson said.

Amundi is a leading European asset manager, which manages more than €2.2 trillion of assets.

“At Amundi we are committed to the view that delivering strong stewardship as well as expert responsible investment solutions will facilitate the transition to an inclusive, low carbon economy while delivering stable, long term sustainable value for clients. This product, developed for the UK’s leading universities and higher education institutions, reflects a growing recognition among UK investors of the importance of these efforts in supporting long-term social, environmental and economic benefits,” said Jean-Jacques Barbéris Head of Institutional & Corporate Clients Division and ESG at Amundi.

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Research on a ‘portfolio approach’ to carbon removal enables firms to mix expensive tech-based solutions that inject carbon deep underground with lower-cost and currently more available nature-based options, such as forests and biochar. 

Removing more carbon now can effectively cover carbon storage risk for centuriesConor Hickey

A team of researchers, led by Cambridge University, has now formulated a method to assess whether carbon removal portfolios can help limit global warming over centuries.

The approach also distinguishes between buying credits to offset risk versus claiming net-negative emissions.

The study paves the way for nature-based carbon removal projects – such as planting new forests or restoring existing ones – to become effective climate change solutions when balanced with a portfolio of other removal techniques, according to researchers.

They say the findings, published in the journal Joule, show how nature-based and technology-based carbon storage solutions can work together through the transition to net zero, challenging the notion that only permanent tech-based “geological storage” can effectively tackle climate change.

The study’s authors point out that some carbon removal portfolios, such as California’s forest carbon offsets programme, may be severely underfunded for risks beyond the next few decades.

They call for a “buffer” of around two tonnes of stored carbon for every tonne offset in portfolios containing nature-based solutions, noting that this is “sufficient in most cases” to manage long-term risks.

However, researchers say the most high-risk portfolios that rely heavily on nature-based offsetting might need extreme buffers of nine tonnes of carbon removed for every tonne emitted. The authors caution against the use of such portfolios given the costs and uncertainties involved.

“Tech giants like Microsoft and Meta are collectively spending billions on carbon removal portfolios to offset their growing carbon footprints,” said lead author Dr Conor Hickey, Assistant Professor in Energy and Climate at Cambridge University’s Department of Land Economy.

“While companies and countries agree that increased investment in carbon removal is essential to reach net zero targets, they also want to understand whether carbon removal schemes can help stabilise global temperatures over the long term.”

“Our risk management approach offers one of the first reliable measures for portfolio managers targeting long-term temperature stabilisation,” said Hickey. “It shows that nature-based carbon storage such as tree planting has a bigger role to play than critics assume when used as part of a diversified carbon removal portfolio.”

“Durable net zero means geological net zero,” said Professor Myles Allen, a co-author on the paper and Professor of Geosystem Science at the University of Oxford. “To stabilise climate in line with Paris Agreement goals, anyone still relying on offsets must plan to shift entirely to carbon dioxide removal with geological storage by the middle of the century.”

Current market incentives favour cheaper and more available ‘biological’ projects to pull carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and store it, such as forestry, which locks carbon in trees, or biochar, where plant materials are heated to create a charcoal-like substance that traps carbon when incorporated into soil.

However, these methods carry a higher risk of carbon re-release, such as when land use changes or wildfires increase. They are often considered only a temporary solution – the carbon is not locked away for long enough to stem rising global temperatures.

Alternative tech-based solutions like Direct Air Capture (DAC) are proving hard to grow at scale when costs remain high and the process energy-intensive. Yet the permanence of the carbon storage means this emerging technology is less vulnerable to reversal, such as through leakage. DAC can be combined with deep underground storage to lock the CO₂ away.

For the latest study, the research team have developed a new “risk management framework” to accurately calculate the additional CO₂ removal needed to keep temperatures stable over centuries for various storage portfolios.

Their analysis shows that in some cases, such as a high-risk portfolio dominated by forestry projects, the extra amount of CO₂ removal needed to make up for this risk doesn’t change much – whether the timescale is 300 or even 1,000 years.

“Removing more carbon now can effectively cover carbon storage risk for centuries, and this can be done with a mix of nature and tech, as long as the right buffers are built in,” said Hickey. 

“Portfolios can combine expensive permanent solutions like DAC with lower-cost nature-based options like planting trees – matching society’s willingness to pay while still contributing to temperature stabilisation goals.”

“Our approach enables strategic carbon storage choices based on current availability, while targeting long-term temperature stabilisation. It provides buyer flexibility while valuing lower-risk storage options, something today’s market lacks,” said Hickey.

By 2050, the UK aims to achieve net zero, with geological storage expected to play a major role in storing any ongoing CO₂ emissions. Incoming UK and EU guidance states that projects must be subject to a minimum 200-year permanence requirement. 

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Scientists make human blood in the lab — here’s how

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Researchers have found a new way to produce human blood cells in the lab that mimics the process in natural embryos. Their discovery holds potential to simulate blood disorders like leukaemia, and to produce long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants.

It was an exciting moment when the blood red colour appeared in the dish – it was visible even to the naked eye.Jitesh Neupane

University of Cambridge scientists have used human stem cells to create three-dimensional embryo-like structures that replicate certain aspects of very early human development – including the production of blood stem cells.

Human blood stem cells, also known as hematopoietic stem cells, are immature cells that can develop into any type of blood cell, including red blood cells that carry oxygen and various types of white blood cells crucial to the immune system.

The embryo-like structures, which the scientists have named ‘hematoids’, are self-organising and start producing blood after around two weeks of development in the lab – mimicking the development process in human embryos.

The structures differ from real human embryos in many ways, and cannot develop into them because they lack several embryonic tissues, as well as the supporting yolk sac and placenta needed for further development.

Hematoids hold exciting potential for a better understanding of blood formation during early human development, simulating blood disorders like leukaemia, and for producing long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants.

The human stem cells used to derive hematoids can be created from any cell in the body. This means the approach also holds great potential for personalised medicine in the future, by allowing the production of blood that is fully compatible with a patient’s own body.

Although other methods exist for generating human blood stem cells in the laboratory, these require a cocktail of extra proteins to support the stem cells’ growth and development. The new method mimics the natural developmental process, based on a self-organising human embryo-like model, where the cells’ intrinsic support environment drives the formation of blood cells and beating heart cells within the same system.

The findings are published today in the journal Cell Reports.

Dr Jitesh Neupane, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute and first author of the study, said: “It was an exciting moment when the blood red colour appeared in the dish – it was visible even to the naked eye.”

He added, “Our new model mimics human foetal blood development in the lab. This sheds light on how blood cells naturally form during human embryogenesis, offering potential medical advances to screen drugs, study early blood and immune development, and model blood disorders like leukaemia.”

Professor Azim Surani at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, senior author of the paper, said: “This model offers a powerful new way to study blood development in the early human embryo. Although it is still in the early stages, the ability to produce human blood cells in the lab marks a significant step towards future regenerative therapies – which use a patient’s own cells to repair and regenerate damaged tissues.”

Dr Geraldine Jowett at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, a co-first author of the study, said: “Hematoids capture the second wave of blood development that can give rise to specialised immune cells or adaptive lymphoid cells, like T cells opening up exciting avenues for their use in modelling healthy and cancerous blood development.”

Self-organising structures

The new human embryo-like model simulates the cell changes that occur during the very early stages of human development, when our organs and blood system first begin to form.

The team observed the emergence of the three-dimensional hematoids under a microscope in the lab. By the second day, these had self-organised into three germ layers – called the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm – the foundations of the human body plan that are crucial for shaping every organ and tissue, including blood.

By day eight, beating heart cells had formed. These cells eventually give rise to the heart in a developing human embryo.

By day thirteen, the team saw red patches of blood appearing in the hematoids. They also developed a method which demonstrated that blood stem cells in hematoids can differentiate into various blood cell types, including specialised immune cells, such as T-cells.

Shining a light on early human development

Stem cell-derived embryo models are crucial for advancing our knowledge of early human development.

The blood cells in hematoids develop to a stage that roughly corresponds to week four to five of human embryonic development. This very early stage of life cannot be directly observed in a real human embryo because it has implanted in the mother’s womb by this time.

There are clear regulations governing stem cell-based models of human embryos, and all research modelling human embryo development must be approved by ethics committees before proceeding. This study received the necessary approvals, and the resulting paper has been peer reviewed.

The scientists have patented this work through Cambridge Enterprise, the innovation arm of the University of Cambridge, which helps researchers translate their work into a globally leading economic and social impact.

The research was funded primarily by Wellcome.

Reference: Neupane, J. et al: ‘A post-implantation model of human embryo development includes a definitive hematopoietic niche.’ Cell Reports, October 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116373

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Plans will deliver thousands of new homes, green spaces, and community facilities for Cambridge.

Eddington is already a place where people live, learn, and connect, and with the future phases it will continue to grow into one of the most sustainable and vibrant neighbourhoods in Cambridge.Matt Johnson, Head of Development for North West Cambridge

The University of Cambridge has submitted its planning application for a revised masterplan for the future phases of the Eddington development, with delivery targeted to begin in 2026.

The outline planning application – a purposeful extension of Eddington’s first phase which began work in 2013 – marks a major step forward in realising the vision for North West Cambridge, and delivering more much-needed homes for the city. The proposals build on years of planning and three rounds of public consultation over the past 12 months. Feedback from local communities, residents, and stakeholders has been integral in shaping the vision for the future phases of Eddington.

The masterplan sets out how around 3,800 additional homes will be delivered, alongside new green spaces, community facilities, and active travel routes. Combined with the 1,850 homes already built or under construction in the first phase, Eddington will provide around 5,650 homes in total. Up to 50% of these will be affordable homes for University key workers with the rest on the open market – all of which help address the city’s critical shortage of housing.

Other key features of the submitted masterplan include:

• Around 50 hectares of open space, including parks, play areas, and community gardens.
• A diverse mix of homes, ranging from townhouses and maisonettes to apartments, designed with varied roofscapes and heights that complement the existing neighbourhood.
• Enhanced community facilities, including new sports pitches, growing plots, and spaces for recreation such as running routes and BMX tracks.
• Continued prioritisation of active and sustainable travel, building on Eddington’s current record of 79% of trips made by walking, cycling, or public transport.
• Commercial and social spaces designed to foster a thriving, inclusive neighbourhood.

The revised masterplan also reflects the University’s commitment to creating an ambitious, enduring, and sustainable community that supports both the academic mission of the University and the wider needs of Cambridge. The first phase of the development has already delivered community hub Storey’s Field Centre, the University of Cambridge Primary School and a central square with shops, restaurants and more.

Matt Johnson, Head of Development for North West Cambridge at the University of Cambridge, said: “This is an important milestone for Eddington. Submitting the masterplan reflects years of engagement with the community, and we’re proud of the balanced and ambitious proposals we have put forward. Eddington is already a place where people live, learn, and connect, and with the future phases it will continue to grow into one of the most sustainable and vibrant neighbourhoods in Cambridge.”

Eddington represents one of the most significant development projects in the region, offering solutions to Cambridge’s acute housing challenges while creating a neighbourhood with global ambitions. By providing high-quality and affordable homes for University staff and postgraduate students, the masterplan will help the University continue to attract and retain world-leading researchers, academics, and innovators. This is vital to sustain Cambridge’s position as a global centre of excellence.

Indeed, a survey conducted by the University found that 89% of all respondents said it was either difficult or impossible to find a suitable home when they moved to Cambridge.

Beyond supporting the University’s mission, the plans will also strengthen the wider Cambridge ecosystem by enabling innovation, investment, and job creation to flourish, while ensuring the city remains a magnet for talent from around the world.

The updated masterplan builds on the original 2013 consent, refreshing and refining the vision to reflect the University’s current needs, community feedback, and the city’s increased demand for housing.

The outline planning application will now be considered by the Joint Development Management Committee which comprises members appointed by the City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. We look forward to working towards a positive outcome with local planning authorities and hope to move into delivering the future phases by the end of 2026.

A programme of public information sessions explaining the details of the planning application will be confirmed shortly.

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The UK Government’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes can lead to local resilience, social cohesion and wellbeing but only if the planning process embraces faith and belief communities as full partners

Treating faith and belief as partners in planning can accelerate social cohesion from day oneIona Hine

Researchers from the Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum and Goldsmiths University of London have issued an urgent call to rethink how faith and belief are understood and mobilised in planning new towns and settlements.

Their report, ‘Housing with values: faith and belief perspectives on housing and community planning’, presents the findings from a Faith & Belief Policy Collective study, produced in light of the UK Government’s ambitious pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.

The researchers’ analysis is based on interviews with practitioners and professionals including architects, housing developers, journalists, lawyers, activists, ordained ministers, policy makers and researchers, social historians, and scholars of religion. The report offers guiding principles for inclusive planning and proposes fuller civil–public collaboration to establish and disseminate good practice.

It follows the publication of the New Towns Taskforce (NTT)’s own recommendations to government in September 2025 which advised that plans for social infrastructure should include “faith-based spaces to enrich communities and open up opportunities for personal development” and that faith organisations should be involved in “community engagement strategy”.

The new report’s authors welcome this but warn that current planning systems in Britain have not yet embraced faith and belief communities as full partners in building thriving communities.

Co-author Dr Iona Hine from Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity, said: “Developers, agencies, and other planning professionals recognise the effort required to form healthy communities and ensure everyone lives well. Our hope is they’re open to thinking about that challenge in dialogue with people of all flavours of faith and belief.”

The report warns that flourishing communities are undermined by a wide range of factors including: short-term developer models that prioritise profit over social infrastructure; tokenistic consultation; segregated housing patterns that entrench inequality and risk alienation; secular bias and low faith literacy among planners and developers; and intergenerational imbalance in new towns.

The report’s key recommendation is for a ‘New Towns Faith Taskforce’ to be established to advance the conversation about how best to harness the vision, resources, and overall contribution of faith and belief communities to the delivery of New Towns.

Its authors call for the early provision of schools, health centres, cultural, sporting and faith-based facilities; long-term, co-design consultation that builds trust and ownership; and integration with natural landscapes and local heritage, deepening attachment to place, among a range of other practical recommendations.

The report argues that faith and belief communities offer trusted networks, convening power, insider knowledge, volunteer capacity, inter-generational reach, as well as financial and spiritual capital, and cultural contributions.

Dr Hine and her colleagues point to modern international examples such as Singapore’s proactive planning for religious diversity, but also to model communities in Britain such as Bournville and Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement (Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City, Wythenshawe, etc), that paved the way, in their design and ethos, for the 32 postwar New Towns which are currently home to 2.8 million people across the UK.

Lead author Christopher Baker, Professor of Religion, Belief and Public Life at Goldsmiths, University of London said: “As we embark on this next chapter of New Town building in England, it is vital to understand the contribution that faith and belief bring to the sustaining of new communities, through their vision, experience, resources and local leadership.”

Dr Hine said: “This is pivotal moment for housing supply and community formation in Britain. Treating faith and belief as partners in planning can accelerate social cohesion from day one, reduce loneliness and social isolation, and provide governance and voluntary capacity that complements statutory services. Ignoring these dimensions risks creating settlements that are physically complete but socially fragile.”

Dr Iona Hine manages the Cambridge Interfaith Programme and cross-sector Knowledge Hub. She is a member of the Faith & Belief Policy Collective and convenor of Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum.

‘Housing with values’ is available from the Cambridge Interfaith Programme website from Tuesday 14th October 2025 and the Religion Media Centre is hosting an online briefing for journalists at midday.

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Scientists have identified an unusual type of brain cell that may play a vital role in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), likely contributing to the persistent inflammation characteristic of the disease.

Progressive MS is a truly devastating condition, and effective treatments remain elusiveStefano Pluchino

The discovery, reported today in Neuron, is a significant step towards understanding the complex mechanisms that drive the disease and provides a promising new avenue for research into more effective therapies for this debilitating condition.

MS is a chronic disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the brain and spinal cord, disrupting communication between the brain and the body. While many individuals initially experience relapses and remissions, a significant proportion transition to progressive MS, a phase marked by a steady decline in neurological function with limited treatment options.

To model what is happening in the disease, researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, and National Institute on Aging, US, took skin cells from patients with progressive MS and reprogrammed them into induced neural stem cells (iNSCs), an immature type of cell capable of dividing and differentiating into various types of brain cells.

Using this ‘disease in a dish’ approach, the team observed that a subset of the cultured brain cells was somehow reverting to an earlier developmental stage, transforming into an unusual cell type known as radial glia-like (RG-like) cells. Notably, these cells were highly specific and appeared approximately six times more frequently in iNSC lines derived from individuals with progressive MS compared to controls. As a result, they were designated as disease-associated RG-like cells (DARGs).

These DARGs exhibit characteristic features of radial glia—specialized cells that serve as scaffolding during brain development and possess the capacity to differentiate into various neural cell types. Essentially, they function both as structural support and as fundamental building blocks, making them critical for proper brain development. Unexpectedly, DARGs not only revert to an ‘infant’ state but also display hallmark features of premature aging, or senescence.

These newly identified DARGs possess a distinctive epigenetic profile—patterns of chemical modifications that regulate gene activity—although the factors influencing this epigenetic landscape remain unclear. These modifications contribute to an exaggerated response to interferons, the immune system’s ‘alarm signals,’ which may help explain the high levels of inflammation observed in MS.

Professor Stefano Pluchino from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, joint senior author, said: “Progressive MS is a truly devastating condition, and effective treatments remain elusive. Our research has revealed a previously unappreciated cellular mechanism that appears central to the chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration driving the progressive phase of the disease.

“Essentially, what we’ve discovered are glial cells that don’t just malfunction – they actively spread damage. They release inflammatory signals that push nearby brain cells to age prematurely, fuelling a toxic environment that accelerates neurodegeneration.”

The team validated their findings by cross-referencing with human data from individuals with progressive MS. By analysing gene expression patterns at the single-cell level—including new data exploring the spatial context of RNA within post-mortem MS brain tissue—they confirmed that DARGs are specifically localised within chronically active lesions, the regions of the brain that sustain the most significant damage. Importantly, DARGs were found near inflammatory immune cells, supporting their role in orchestrating the damaging inflammatory environment characteristic of progressive MS.

By isolating and studying these disease-driving cells in vitro, the researchers aim to explore their complex interactions with other brain cell types, such as neurons and immune cells. This approach will help to explain the cellular crosstalk that contributes to disease progression in progressive MS, providing deeper insights into underlying pathogenic mechanisms.

Dr Alexandra Nicaise, co-lead author of the study from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge, added: “We’re now working to explore the molecular machinery behind DARGs, and test potential treatments. Our goal is to develop therapies that either correct DARG dysfunction or eliminate them entirely.

“If we’re successful, this could lead to the first truly disease-modifying therapies for progressive MS, offering hope to thousands living with this debilitating condition.”

To date, DARGs have only ever been seen in a handful of diseases, such as glioblastoma and cerebral cavernomas, clusters of abnormal blood vessels. However, this may be because scientists have until now lacked the tools to find them. Professor Pluchino and colleagues believe their approach is likely to reveal that DARGs play an important role in other forms of neurodegeneration.

This work received funding from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the National MS Society, FISM – Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), the National Institute on Aging, the UK Dementia Research Institute, the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the UK MS Society Centre of Excellence, the Bascule Charitable Trust, and the Ferblanc Foundation, with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference

Park, B, Nicaise AM & Tsitsipatis D et al. Integrated Multi-Omics Reveals Disease-Associated Radial Glia-like Cells with Epigenetically Dysregulated Interferon Response in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Neuron; 10 Oct 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.09.022

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Researchers have demonstrated a new and sustainable way to make the chemicals that are the basis of thousands of products – from plastics to cosmetics – we use every day.

Hundreds of thousands of chemicals are manufactured by the chemical industry, which transforms raw materials – usually fossil fuels – into useful end products. Due to its size and its use of fossil fuel feedstocks, the chemical industry is responsible for roughly 6% of global carbon emissions.

But researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, are developing new methods that could one day lead to the ‘de-fossilisation’ of this important sector.

They have developed a hybrid device that combines light-harvesting organic polymers with bacterial enzymes to convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into formate, a fuel that can drive further chemical transformations.

Their ‘semi-artificial leaf’ mimics photosynthesis: the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy, and does not require any external power source. Unlike earlier prototypes, which often relied on toxic or unstable light absorbers, the new biohybrid design avoids toxic semiconductors, lasts longer, and can run without additional chemicals that previously hindered efficiency.

In tests, the researchers used sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into formate and then used it directly in a ‘domino’ chemical reaction to produce an important type of compound used in pharmaceuticals, with high yield and purity.

Their results, reported in the journal Joule, mark the first time that organic semiconductors have been used as the light-harvesting component in this type of biohybrid device, opening the door to a new family of sustainable artificial leaves.

The chemical industry is central to the world economy, producing products from pharmaceuticals and fertilisers, to plastics, paints, electronics, cleaning products, and toiletries.

“If we’re going to build a circular, sustainable economy, the chemical industry is a big, complex problem that we must address,” said Professor Erwin Reisner from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, who led the research. “We’ve got to come up with ways to de-fossilise this important sector, which produces so many important products we all need. It’s a huge opportunity if we can get it right.”

Reisner’s research group specialises in the development of artificial leaves, which turn sunlight into carbon-based fuels and chemicals without relying on fossil fuels. But many of their earlier designs depend on synthetic catalysts or inorganic semiconductors, which either degrade quickly, waste much of the solar spectrum, or contain toxic elements such as lead.

“If we can remove the toxic components and start using organic elements, we end up with a clean chemical reaction and a single end product, without any unwanted side reactions,” said co-first author Dr Celine Yeung, who completed the research as part of her PhD work in Reisner’s lab. “This device combines the best of both worlds – organic semiconductors are tuneable and non-toxic, while biocatalysts are highly selective and efficient.”

The new device integrates organic semiconductors with enzymes from sulphate-reducing bacteria, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen or converting carbon dioxide into formate.

The researchers have also addressed a long-standing challenge: most systems require chemical additives, known as buffers, to keep the enzymes running. These can break down quickly and limit stability. By embedding a helper enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, into a porous titania structure, the researchers enabled the system to work in a simple bicarbonate solution — similar to sparkling water — without unsustainable additives.

“It’s like a big puzzle,” said co-first author Dr Yongpeng Liu, a postdoctoral researcher in Reisner’s lab. “We have all these different components that we’ve been trying to bring together for a single purpose. It took us a long time to figure out how this specific enzyme is immobilised on an electrode, but we’re now starting to see the fruits from these efforts.”

“By really studying how the enzyme works, we were able to precisely design the materials that make up the different layers of our sandwich-like device,” said Yeung. “This design made the parts work together more effectively, from the tiny nanoscale up to the full artificial leaf.”

Tests showed the artificial leaf produced high currents and achieved near-perfect efficiency in directing electrons into fuel-making reactions. The device successfully ran for over 24 hours: more than twice as long as previous designs.

The researchers are hoping to further develop their designs to extend the lifespan of the device and adapt it so it can produce different types of chemical products.

“We’ve shown it’s possible to create solar-powered devices that are not only efficient and durable but also free from toxic or unsustainable components,” said Reisner. “This could be a fundamental platform for producing green fuels and chemicals in future – it’s a real opportunity to do some exciting and important chemistry.”

The research was supported in part by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. Celine Yeung is a Member of Downing College, Cambridge.
 

Reference:
Celine Wing See Yeung et al. ‘Semi-artificial leaf interfacing organic semiconductors and enzymes for solar chemical synthesis.’ Joule (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2025.102165

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Four cutting-edge University of Cambridge research projects are to receive funding from UKRI to grow into market-leading products and services.

A total of 48 projects from across the UK are receiving funding from a new £9 million proof of concept programme to support and accelerate the development of new or improved technologies, products, processes and services. The aim of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fund is to use research to drive growth and create the jobs of tomorrow.

The four Cambridge projects receiving funding exemplify the University’s commitment to translating world-class research into practical solutions that address global challenges in health, sustainability, and inclusion. 

CamBoom: championing inclusion in cricket with engineered bamboo bats

Pioneered by Dr Darshil Shah, Associate Professor in Materials Science and Design in the Department of Architecture, this innovation aims to achieve an inclusive and sustainable future for cricket by developing low-cost bamboo bats, meeting the needs of millions of players in low and middle-income countries. 

AI-based coronary artery analysis

Professor Martin Bennett, British Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences in the Department of Medicine, is using AI to advance medical diagnostics, improving the accuracy and efficiency of coronary artery analysis. 

Pre-clinical development of orally-administered, ultra-stable antibody mimetics

This initiative, led by Professor Mark Howarth and Dr Ana Rossi at the Department of Pharmacology, focuses on new treatments for gastrointestinal conditions, using innovative antibody mimetics that can be administered orally. 

Sustainable film packaging from plant waste

Professors James Elliott, Ruth Cameron and Serena Best from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy have developed a new way of creating sustainable cellulose-based films at scale from waste plant material, with a range of applications from food and personal care packaging to anti-static discharge bags.  

Professor John Aston, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge, said: “Turning Cambridge research into innovations that will change people’s lives is at the heart of our mission. That four Cambridge projects have received UKRI proof of concept funding is a tribute both to the excellence of our researchers and to the support provided by our innovation arm, Cambridge Enterprise, in helping to translate their new ideas into effective solutions to global challenges.”

Dr Jim Glasheen, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, added: “The strength of Cambridge research lies not only in its scientific excellence but in our ability to translate discoveries into real-world impact. These projects are a great example of this strength, and showcase the University’s leadership in research translation and innovation. Funding of this kind is vital for nurturing breakthrough ideas and delivering lasting impact.”

UKRI proof of concept funding

This funding provides critical early-stage support to projects, helping researchers and innovators bridge the gap before attracting private investment, reducing the risks associated with premature market entry.

Of the 48 projects receiving funding, Professor Charlotte Deane, UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Research Commercialisation Executive Champion, said: “These projects are a powerful demonstration of the UK’s talent for turning cutting-edge research into real-world solutions. UKRI’s new proof of concept programme is all about helping researchers take that critical next step toward commercialisation, ensuring that bold ideas are not just published but put into practice where they can deliver tangible impact.”

Adapted from a Cambridge Enterprise news story

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University maths schools are driving mobility and success in mathematics across England, a new report has found.

The University of Cambridge is delighted to continue supporting the School in its mission to help young people from all backgrounds develop a lasting passion and confidence in mathematics.Rajen Shah, Professor of Statistics

Independent analysis by the Observatory for Mathematical Education (OME) found that the specialist sixth forms are not only boosting attainment and progression, but also significantly widening participation in STEM.

Cambridge Maths School was opened in September 2023 by the Eastern Learning Alliance (ELA) – a multi-academy trust with schools across Cambridgeshire and East Anglia – in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. In August this year, it celebrated its first students’ A-level results, with more than half of the grades (53%) awarded at A*.

According to the new OME report – looking at the impact of maths schools across the country, 10 years after the first centres opened – female students, those from under-represented ethnic groups, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds all progress at higher rates to mathematically intensive STEM degrees than comparable peers elsewhere. Maths school students are also more likely to achieve the highest grades in A-level mathematics and further mathematics, and progress to the UK’s most selective STEM universities, including Oxbridge, at significantly higher rates than their matched peers.

The first maths schools launched in 2014 with the principal aim of helping prepare more of the country’s most mathematically able students to succeed in maths disciplines at top universities, and address the UK’s skills shortage in STEM subjects. There are now 11 maths schools in the University Maths School Network. Nine are open, with two more planned – in the North East (Durham University) and East Midlands (University of Nottingham) – both currently awaiting government approval. If confirmed, every region of England will have at least one maths school.

Clare Hargraves, Headteacher at Cambridge Maths School, said: “At Cambridge Maths School, we see every day how transformative a deep mathematical education can be. This report confirms what we witness in our classrooms: that with the right support, young people from all backgrounds can thrive, excel, and shape the future through mathematics.”

Rajen Shah, Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge, and a governor at Cambridge Maths School, said: “A mathematical education can really flourish when curiosity and collaboration are at the heart of learning. The Cambridge Maths School offers exactly that environment, and the exceptional outcomes achieved by its students show what is possible when talent is nurtured in this way. The University of Cambridge is delighted to continue supporting the school in its mission to help young people from all backgrounds develop a lasting passion and confidence in mathematics.”

Lucy Scott, CEO of the Eastern Learning Alliance said: “We are delighted to see such strong evidence that University Maths Schools are delivering on their shared promise: opening up access to mathematics at the highest level for all young people, regardless of their background. It’s particularly encouraging to see the impact for groups traditionally under-represented in the subject. This is what the Cambridge Maths School was created to do, and I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all our staff who work tirelessly every day to ensure that vision becomes a reality.”

Dan Abramson, CEO of the University Maths Schools Network, said: “University Maths Schools give students with a spark for maths the chance to thrive, whatever their background. Ten years on from their establishment, this study proves that the schools are fulfilling their mission to be engines of social mobility and nurture a new generation of mathematical scientists.”

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The University has been selected as the lead delivery partner for the British Academy’s new East of England Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) cluster. Cambridge will work closely with the other delivery partners, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of East Anglia, to support early career researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences across the region.

Early career researchers are the architects of some of the most innovative and dynamic projectsJoanna Page

The Academy is completing the national rollout of its ECRN, a researcher-led network for UK-based researchers in Humanities and Social Sciences, as a new cluster is launched to serve the East of England.

At Cambridge, the ECRN will be based at CRASSH (the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) and also supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Facilitation Team and the Postdoc Academy.

“Early career researchers are the architects of some of the most innovative and dynamic projects, events, and networks we host at CRASSH, and we are delighted to be able to extend our work with them in this way,” said Professor Joanna Page, Director of CRASSH and academic lead for the East of England Cluster.

“The British Academy ECRN will provide a wonderful opportunity for researchers across the region to connect with each other and benefit from a rich programme of research and professional development.”

ECRN members benefit from mentoring schemes, training, networking events, grant-writing retreats, academic book-publishing conferences, travel grants to attend network events and conferences, and seed-funding opportunities.

“The University of Cambridge has a longstanding commitment to supporting early career researchers, and we are honoured to play a part in this excellent initiative,” said Professor John Aston, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge.

“The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network also helps us to achieve our aims to strengthen ties with academic leaders and communities across the East of England region, helping further the exciting research taking place in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.”

Daniela Dora, ECR assembly representative for the University of Cambridge School of Arts and Humanities, said: “It is exciting to see the British Academy ECR Network launch in the East of England. The network offers not only new opportunities to share ideas and experiences across disciplines but also provides a supportive community for researchers. For early career researchers, this comes at a crucial stage where collaboration and connection matter most.”

The launch event for the East of England cluster of the ECRN will take place on 24 November 2025 in Cambridge, and ECRs from across the region will be invited to take part.

Funded by the Wolfson Foundation, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Wellcome, the ECRN launched in 2021 as a pilot programme and has since been extended to 2027 due to its success.

Find out more and sign up to the ECRN with the British Academy.

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The University of Cambridge is supporting a new initiative to raise educational aspirations across the South West. Led by the Colyton Foundation, Your Future Story is a ten-year programme designed to support 1,000 high-attaining pupils from under-resourced backgrounds across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset to remain on the pathway to higher education.

This joined up approach is rare and extremely powerfulTom Levinson

Fewer young people from the South West progress to university than in any other English region – and the region has some of the poorest outcomes for pupils in receipt of free school meals. On 11 September, at the University of Exeter, more than 100 delegates gathered for the inaugural Your Future Story conference. The conference brought together representatives from more than 30 secondary schools, multi-academy trusts, and senior leaders from universities, local authorities, employers and national charities – all of them keen to ensure that background is never a barrier to high attainment or opportunity.

“There was a wonderful energy in the room,” said Nick Wakeling, Director of the Colyton Foundation. “A shared sense of belief and commitment to ensuring that young people in the South West have equitable access to opportunity. That’s how lasting change happens. Now the real work begins.”

In addition to providing funding, the University of Cambridge and Downing College will welcome visits from students in the region and offer online support through colleges with existing links to the South West.

Tom Levinson, Head of Widening Participation, said: “This is a genuine collaboration between schools, trusts, charities, local authorities, universities and employers. This joined-up approach is rare and extremely powerful.”

Earlier in the year, Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, led a delegation to the South West and visited Colyton Grammar School to hear first hand about the barriers preventing students from the area applying to leading universities.

The first cohort of 100 pupils will begin the programme this term. New cohorts will join annually until the programme reaches 1,000 pupils across the region.

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The Artificial Intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, appeared to improvise ideas and make mistakes like a student in a study that rebooted a 2,400-year-old mathematical challenge.

Unlike proofs found in reputable textbooks, students cannot assume that Chat GPT’s proofs are validAndreas Stylianides

The experiment, by two education researchers, asked the chatbot to solve a version of the “doubling the square” problem – a lesson described by Plato in about 385 BCE and, the paper suggests, “perhaps the earliest documented experiment in mathematics education”. The puzzle sparked centuries of debate about whether knowledge is latent within us, waiting to be ‘retrieved’, or something that we ‘generate’ through lived experience and encounters.

The new study explored a similar question about ChatGPT’s mathematical ‘knowledge’ – as that can be perceived by its users. The researchers wanted to know whether it would solve Plato’s problem using knowledge it already ‘held’, or by adaptively developing its own solutions.

Plato describes Socrates teaching an uneducated boy how to double the area of a square. At first, the boy mistakenly suggests doubling the length of each side, but Socrates eventually leads him to understand that the new square’s sides should be the same length as the diagonal of the original.

The researchers put this problem to ChatGPT-4, at first imitating Socrates’ questions, and then deliberately introducing errors, queries and new variants of the problem.

Like other Large Language Models (LLMs), ChatGPT is trained on vast collections of text and generates responses by predicting sequences of words learned during its training. The researchers expected it to handle their Ancient Greek maths challenge by regurgitating its pre-existing ‘knowledge’ of Socrates’ famous solution. Instead, however, it seemed to improvise its approach and, at one point, also made a distinctly human-like error.

The study was conducted by Dr Nadav Marco, a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, and Andreas Stylianides, Professor of Mathematics Education at Cambridge. Marco is permanently based at the Hebrew University and David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem.

While they are cautious about the results, stressing that LLMs do not think like humans or ‘work things out’, Marco did characterise ChatGPT’s behaviour as “learner-like”.

“When we face a new problem, our instinct is often to try things out based on our past experience,” Marco said. “In our experiment, ChatGPT seemed to do something similar. Like a learner or scholar, it appeared to come up with its own hypotheses and solutions.”

Because ChatGPT is trained on text and not diagrams, it tends to be weaker at the sort of geometrical reasoning that Socrates used in the doubling the square problem. Despite this, Plato’s text is so well known that the researchers expected the chatbot to recognise their questions and reproduce Socrates’ solution.

Intriguingly, it failed to do so. Asked to double the square, ChatGPT opted for an algebraic approach that would have been unknown in Plato’s time.

It then resisted attempts to get it to make the boy’s mistake and stubbornly stuck to algebra even when the researchers complained about its answer being an approximation. Only when Marco and Stylianides told it they were disappointed that, for all its training, it could not provide an “elegant and exact” answer, did the Chat produce the geometrical alternative.

Despite this, ChatGPT demonstrated full knowledge of Plato’s work when asked about it. “If it had only been recalling from memory, it would almost certainly have referenced the classical solution of building a new square on the original square’s diagonal straight away,” Stylianides said. “Instead, it seemed to take its own approach.”

The researchers also posed a variant of Plato’s problem, asking ChatGPT to double the area of a rectangle while retaining its proportions. Even though it was now aware of their preference for geometry, the Chat stubbornly stuck to algebra. When pressed, it then mistakenly claimed that, because the diagonal of a rectangle cannot be used to double its size, a geometrical solution was unavailable.

The point about the diagonal is true, but a different geometrical solution does exist. Marco suggested that the chance that this false claim came from the chatbot’s knowledge base was “vanishingly small”. Instead, the Chat appeared to be improvising its responses based on their previous discussion about the square.

Finally, Marco and Stylianides asked it to double the size of a triangle. The Chat reverted to algebra yet again – but after more prompting did come up with a correct geometrical answer.

The researchers stress the importance of not over-interpreting these results, since they could not scientifically observe the Chat’s coding. From the perspective of their digital experience as users, however, what emerged at that surface level was a blend of data retrieval and on-the-fly reasoning.

They liken this behaviour to the educational concept of a “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) – the gap between what a learner already knows, and what they might eventually know with support and guidance. Perhaps, they argue, Generative AI has a metaphorical “Chat’s ZPD”: in some cases, it will not be able to solve problems immediately but could do so with prompting.

The authors suggest that working with the Chat in its ZPD can help turn its limitations into opportunities for learning. By prompting, questioning, and testing its responses, students will not only navigate the Chat’s boundaries but also develop the critical skills of proof evaluation and reasoning that lie at the heart of mathematical thinking.

“Unlike proofs found in reputable textbooks, students cannot assume that Chat GPT’s proofs are valid. Understanding and evaluating AI-generated proofs are emerging as key skills that need to be embedded in the mathematics curriculum,” Stylianides said.

“These are core skills we want students to master, but it means using prompts like, ‘I want us to explore this problem together,’ not, ‘Tell me the answer,’” Marco added.

The research is published in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology.

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source: www.cam.ac.uk

Mortality after emergency abdominal surgery is more than three times higher in the least developed countries compared to the most developed. Yet among those who undergo surgery, injuries tend to be less severe – raising concerns that those most critically injured are not even reaching the operating theatre.

A study published in The Lancet Global Health has revealed stark global inequalities in survival after emergency abdominal surgery for traumatic injuries. The research found that patients in the world’s least developed countries face a substantially higher risk of dying within 30 days of surgery than those in the most developed nations, as ranked by the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI).

Although overall mortality rates appeared similar across settings at 11%, risk-adjusted analysis showed that patients in the lowest-HDI countries faced more than three times the risk of death compared with those in the highest-HDI group, while the risk in middle-HDI countries was nearly double.

The Global Outcomes After Laparotomy for Trauma (GOAL-Trauma) study was led by the University of Cambridge and carried out by a global network of collaborators. It analysed data from 1,769 patients treated in 187 hospitals across 51 countries, ranging from conflict-affected areas such as the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and Sudan to well-resourced trauma centres in Europe and the United States. All patients had undergone a trauma laparotomy — emergency surgery to repair internal abdominal injuries – as a result of incidents such as road traffic accidents, stabbings, or gunshot wounds.

Among patients who underwent surgery, those in low-HDI countries typically had less severe injuries than those in higher-ranked countries. This suggests that the most critically injured may die before reaching hospital, or that some life-threatening injuries are missed on arrival.

“Our findings point to a survival gap that begins before patients even reach the operating theatre,” said lead author Dr Michael Bath from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “This may be because the most seriously injured die before they can access life-saving care, or because limitations in diagnosis mean their injuries go undetected.”

The researchers also found wide disparities in hospital care. For example, access to CT scans before surgery — a critical tool for diagnosing internal injuries — was available in over three-quarters of patients in the more developed settings, but in fewer than one-quarter in the lowest-ranked group.

The researchers say that addressing this survival gap will take more than simply faster transport or greater access to diagnostic tools such as CT scans. They call for coordinated improvements across the entire trauma pathway – from the moment of injury to full recovery – to ensure critically injured patients receive the care they need.

“The GOAL-Trauma study provides for the first time comparable global data on laparotomy for trauma, revealing that similar mortality rates can mask profound inequalities in care pathways,” said co-author Dr Daniel U Baderhabusha of Hôpital de Kyeshero in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “This information will help design more equitable trauma systems that are better adapted to local realities. It paves the way for strategies that can offer every patient, wherever they live, the best chance of survival and recovery.”

“The GOAL-Trauma study is one of the biggest global studies of trauma care yet published,” said senior author Dr Tom Bashford from the Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust. “It represents a huge effort by a team of partners from across the world, some of whom are practising in the most extreme conditions imaginable and yet still recognise the importance of contributing to international research.”

Reference:
Michael F Bath et al. ‘Global variation in patient factors, interventions, and post-operative outcomes for those undergoing trauma laparotomy: an international prospective observational cohort study.’ The Lancet Global Health (2025). DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(25)00303-1

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The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.