Cambridge student cracks formula for Guinness World Record-breaking fidget spinner

A Cambridge University student and spinning top hobbyist has used physics and precision engineering to design a ‘next-level’ fidget spinner and set a new Guinness World Record for the longest ever spin.

James Goh, 23 – whose fascination with gyroscopes began when he saw the iconic spinning top in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 sci-fi film Inception – spun the device for 30 minutes 34.54 seconds, almost five minutes longer than the previous record for ‘the longest duration spinning a fidget spinner on one finger’, and around 20 times longer than a standard spinner bought in a shop.

He said: “This has been a hobby of mine since I was a kid, so I’m delighted to get the record – although my finger did ache a little bit after holding it in the same position for so long. I suppose in a way I’ve taken the fidget out of fidget spinning!”

As part of their degree, Cambridge engineering students study the physics of gyroscopes, which are critical components used in everything from smart phones to spacecraft navigation systems. And so James has been able to draw on his learning, specifically in aerodynamics, and tribology – the science of friction – to boost his hobby.

The Queens’ College student – who has also engineered spinning tops which spin for almost two hours, and has his sights set on more Guinness World Records – was at school when fidget spinners took the planet by storm in 2017, and when he first challenged himself to create the ultimate spinner.

“Like most kids my age, I loved fidget spinners and was swept up in the craze back then,” he said. “I probably spent more money than I should have buying them, and I always thought, ‘one day I’ll do this myself, but I’ll do it better…’”

James’ passion for fidget spinners – which are designed to spin with little effort, and are marketed as relieving stress – grew out of his original interest in designing spinning tops, which share many of the same scientific principles.

“Inception was a big inspiration – when I saw the spinning top something clicked with me; I started looking into the physics of tops and I never really stopped. The top in the film is visually iconic, but from an engineering perspective it’s actually a bad design!”

His hobby even led him to ask for a metal-working lathe for Christmas, which he kept in his bedroom.

“People do often ask me why I’m so interested in spinning tops and fidget spinners. There’s definitely something hypnotic about them, and their mechanical efficiency is pretty remarkable. I also think it’s got a lot to do with being competitive; it’s a very interesting optimisation problem because the goal keeps shifting. There are always new materials or techniques to use to tweak the design – there are always improvements that can be made.”

James – who is currently studying on the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos, an option for the final two years of a Cambridge Engineering degree – used academic papers to inform his experiments and help figure out the Guinness World Record-breaking formula. He originally devised his formula for spinning tops, but then used it to engineer his ‘Pulsar’ fidget spinner and set the new record. As far as he is aware, the formula did not previously exist.

“It involves a lot of data collection to come up with 3D models, which I then make in the workshop. Differential equations have helped me a lot to refine the formula, although there is no actual analytical solution, because technically it’s unsolvable. There’s no magical, optimal spinning time, but you can get close to it.”

The core of James’s Pulsar spinner is made from lightweight hollow aluminium, while tungsten – an extremely dense metal – is concentrated around the edges to store kinetic energy. It means all the weight is on the outside – creating a ‘high moment of inertia’ – and helping it spin for longer.

He said: “Designing a spinner is basically about three things: maximising the energy you start with, minimising the energy you end with, and transitioning between those two states as slowly as possible, so you’re losing energy as slowly as possible. The tricky thing is that these factors are all in conflict with each other, and in a really complicated way.”

As well as being high performance, James’ tops and fidget spinners – which he promotes on his HiPer Tops platform – are aesthetically striking, with the finished products often resembling objets d’art. However, according to James, this is more of a happy accident.

“I do get a lot of nice comments about how they look, but it’s a by-product of the engineering, really. Polishing them helps with aerodynamics, but I’m much more focused on function than form. Form is a small consideration.”

Words: Stephen Bevan
Images: James Goh
Published: 18th May, 2026

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

source: cam.ac.uk

WHO? Dr Chris Macdonald, a multi-award-winning scientist, serial inventor and Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.

WHAT? Using emerging technology for education and healthcare. He is best known for harnessing AI, VR and neuroscience to create a new treatment for speech anxiety.

WHAT ELSE? Founding the Better Protein Institute to help the world switch to optimal sources of dietary protein.

WHY? “My mission is to do everything in my power to make people’s lives better and the planet a better place for us all to live. Whatever it takes.”

Where does your entrepreneurial spirit come from? Did you have people around you doing enterprising things when you were growing up? Not at all. I’m not a conventional ‘Cambridge person’. I didn’t know anyone who got into Oxbridge. I knew people who ‘got into’ prison.

I grew up in a single-parent, non-working household. I was a state-school-educated, ‘free-school-meals kid’. I remember when I was young, going to primary school in dirty clothes with my shoes falling apart and being called poor by both fellow students and even their parents.    

Home life was tough for various reasons so I would try to stay outside and away from the house as much as possible.

I was significantly injured one summer, and it was harder to stay out. I remember thinking that I needed to turn it into a positive so I decided to bunker in my room and use the time to read every book I could get my hands on.

I ended up giving myself an accelerated education in multiple subjects. I also remember thinking, it would be more efficient if I learned how best to acquire and store information, so I also read various books on neuroscience and memory championships.

I was flying through books and retaining the information. It was definitely a turning point.

I became very passionate about various environmental and social injustices, and I explored ways I could be of service. As a teenager, I created a short documentary using equipment borrowed from my college and it ended up being screened at a local cinema.

I remember thinking how inefficient the various leaflets I had made previously were. By contrast, in the cinema, there was a packed room of people focused on the information. It was an early insight into the power of leveraging technology to achieve impact on a larger scale.

I was determined not to use the fact that I didn’t have certain resources as an excuse not to start. My philosophy was to start however I could, even with a ‘rubbish version’, and then build from there.

I had some difficult early years, but they made me resilient, independent, and committed to making a positive contribution. I didn’t want to just talk about problems. I wanted to build solutions.

Before coming to Cambridge, you were working in tech in London, and then in North America. What was that experience like? I was very eager to get stuck into full-time work and push myself in high stakes situations.

I targeted innovative companies who were attempting complicated world-firsts. I worked every day, and I continued to study hard; I read more than 1,000 books and took more than 100 online courses. I loved the ‘missions’. The ambitious deadlines. The all-nighters. The sleeping on a sofa in the office. The challenge of finding a way forward despite the odds.

I ended up becoming manager of a company in Vancouver. We were doing complex and varied work for a range of high-profile clients, including some pioneering visual effects for Hollywood films.

Working for a company that was genuinely ground-breaking was really exciting. It was a nimble team, able to secure and deliver on massive deals. What I learnt was that everyone needed to be really great at what they did: there was no room for inefficiencies or people being off their game. I loved it.

You were also pursuing your ambition to help people at the same time? I was in a deep personal and professional exploration phase. For example, for one project, on weekends, I would wake up, leave my apartment, and try to help the first person I saw who looked like they could do with some assistance. This resulted in all sorts of adventures.

One day, I left my apartment, and it was pouring with rain. Walking through an underpass, I came across a homeless gentleman with three trolleys of belongings. I asked if there was anything I could do to help.

He yelled at me. I asked him what his name was, and he swore at me. I bought him lunch, and he yelled at me again. This pattern continued for weeks.

One day, he let me sit quite near him without yelling. We were both eating the food I had bought in silence. Rain pouring down again either side of the underpass. We were both staring straight ahead. He didn’t like eye contact.

Finally, he revealed his name: Jimmy. He explained that he didn’t like to share his name as it was given to him by his family and they had been killed. He shared his heartbreaking story with me.

The next day, I said: “Jimmy, I would love to help you. Is there anything I can do?”

After long discussions, he eventually revealed that the thing he most wanted to do is to wash his clothes. However, there was a catch: he said he must come to my apartment to do it.

Unfortunately, my landlord had already banned me from bringing home homeless individuals. And Jimmy had three trolleys with him. Sneaking him in was not an option.

I asked him why he needed to come into my apartment with me. He eventually explained that he only had one set of clothes, and he was wearing them.

Once I understood the situation, I was able to help. I bought him some more clothes, and some credit for the laundrette. Now he had a sustainable solution. He seemed a different person, much more confident and approachable. He was standing tall and smiling.

Jimmy was just one of the people I worked with. Each mini adventure was unique. It was humbling to see that seemingly simple things like having lunch, washing your clothes, or even saying your name, could be challenging.

I learned a lot from helping people like Jimmy. However, it often felt like a drop in the ocean. I started to think about how I could scale my efforts to help more people.

“I learned a lot from helping people like Jimmy. However, it often felt like a drop in the ocean.

I started to think about how I could scale my efforts to help more people.”

Chris Macdonald TED talk, image

You also managed to fit in a PhD? While I was working, alongside other projects, I had been conducting and publishing self-funded primarily behavioural research in the evenings.

Ultimately, I wanted to get better at accelerating positive changes by better understanding the barriers and levers. This ended up evolving into a self-funded PhD, completed in the evenings and weekends.

How did you find your way to Cambridge? Although I was learning a lot working in tech and I loved the problem-solving, I wanted to come back to England and find a way to focus solely on projects that help people and planet.

You very quickly established a multi-award-winning lab? By the time I arrived at the College, I was already using ‘tech for good’. The President at the time, Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, was a big supporter and helped me secure some funding which led to the creation of my lab. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength.

I am now very fortunate that the lab has lots of advocates within and beyond the broader University community.

How would you describe what you do? Currently there are two main areas: ‘tech for good’ and ‘better protein’. The innovation that has gained the most traction is my treatment for speech anxiety; it has appeared in hundreds of news stories and my recent TED Talk has gained millions of views on social media.

How do you choose which problems you want to solve? I target unmet needs, and I calibrate for impact at speed and at scale.

Speech anxiety, for example, is a problem for around 80% of UK university students. It affects academic attainment, career progression, physical and mental health. Ultimately, it limits people’s ability to speak up during difficult moments and their capacity to drive positive change.

The project started with me trying to help one of my nephews. He was really struggling with his education and was on the brink of dropping out. I was determined to help him.

While there were already some solutions out there, they were not accessible. If you are to pursue private treatment, then the financial cost is, to be frank, exclusionary. And in some areas the waiting lists for free treatment are over a year long. Such barriers help to explain the current situation: where most students suffer from some form of speech anxiety and yet very few access treatment. The principal student strategy is avoidance.

To address this, I created an online platform where tailored course material develops core skills and virtual reality training environments build confidence. I made it instantly and freely available to all. No more fees. No more waiting lists.

Although that was a solid start, the treatment wouldn’t truly be free if it relied on people having to buy expensive VR headsets, so I made sure it works on any device including laptops for instant access. I programmed the associated phone app in such a way that it displays in full virtual reality, using the phone’s inbuilt sensors to know where you are looking in 3D space.

In addition to increasing accessibility, I also explored ways to make the treatment more effective. I added the latest advancements from neuroscience, tools that help people slow their heart rate quicker, or quieten activity in the amygdala to help suppress the fear response. I created custom smart features too to provide feedback mechanisms, to analyse scripts, speech, and performances.

I also developed something I call ‘overexposure therapy’ where users can train in hyper extreme scenarios that they are unlikely to encounter within their lifetimes. For example, you can train in a stadium with 10,000 animated spectators. It creates the psychological equivalent of weightlifting, building additional confidence, adaptability and resilience.

The results have been amazing. In the first trial, I found that a single, half-hour session significantly reduces anxiety. In the most recent trial, I found a week-long programme was effective for 100% of students.

“For example, you can train in a stadium with 10,000 animated spectators.

It creates the psychological equivalent of weightlifting, building additional confidence, adaptability and resilience.”

Chris Macdonald TED talk, image

What about your nephew? He loves public speaking now. He stayed in college. In fact, he recently graduated from university. The platform has evolved a lot, and it is now being used in more than 100 countries and it is on track to deliver a million free treatments this year. What started as helping one person is becoming a system that can help millions.

Dietary protein is another area you are focusing on. What prompted your interest in that? As with speech anxiety, it’s the potential scale of the impact and the potential positive ripple effects that excite me.

Some of the most popular sources of protein are incredibly inefficient, especially with regard to land use. Many people are concerned when they see images of, for instance, deforestation in the Amazon. However, few people realise that the vast majority of that is due to inefficient protein production.

To the extent that, if we were to transition to more efficient sources of protein, we could free up an area of land the size of Brazil, the US and Canada combined. Few areas have such untapped potential for positive impact.

I learned a lot more about the subject when writing my last book, Operation Sustainable Human. However, it became apparent that there were many gaps in the research which led me to create the Better Protein Institute to address fundamental questions such as how much protein is required for optimal health outcomes, what are the best sources of protein currently available, how can we increase consumption of them and what future protein sources should we be investing in now?

It’s such a dynamic field. I’m making meaningful breakthroughs almost every month, which makes it incredibly exciting.

What’s next? My current funding expires next year. Therefore, the immediate goal is to secure more funding. With the right mission-aligned philanthropist, we can achieve transformational impact at speed and at scale.

Quick fire

Optimist or pessimist? Definitely an optimist, a proactive optimist. It’s no use just believing things will get better: you have to take action.

People or ideas? People. My ideas are centred around how best to help others.

On time or running late? Ahead of time. I’m a ‘front loader’.

The journey or the destination? The destination. First, I create a vision of a brighter future. Then, I commit to making that a reality. The destination pulls me forward.

Team player or lone wolf? The deep research phase, the coding, the building, the writing, that’s lone-wolf time.

But for scaling, I want a super-specialist, lean team. The ideal is being part of a small pack of mission aligned, high performing wolves.

Novelty or routine? Novelty. It’s vital to challenge norms. But if you are truly disruptive, people won’t understand what you are doing. You’ve got to be prepared to be laughed at and misunderstood if you want transformation over incrementalism.

Risk-taker or risk-averse? Calculated risks with a lot of micro testing up front to find out what isn’t working.

Lots of irons in the fire or all your eggs in one basket? A selection of high-impact irons ready for the fire.

Do you need to be lucky or make your own luck? I don’t ever assume I’m going to be lucky so I put a huge amount of work into everything I do. I set the stage for success and create my own luck as much as possible.

Work, work, work, or work-life balance? I admit to working all the time, but it doesn’t really feel like work. It is such a privilege to be able to make a difference.

Enterprising Minds has been developed with the help of Bruno Cotta, Fellow & Mentor-in-Residence, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Published May 2026

_{All photography: Chris Macdonald}

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source: cam.ac.uk

Researchers have developed a technique to analyse how black holes ‘ring’ when they collide and merge: one of the universe’s most dramatic events.

When black holes merge, the collision produces a new, larger black hole that ‘rings’ like a plucked guitar string or a bell while it settles into its final, stable shape. But instead of sound waves, the new black hole rings with gravitational waves: ripples in spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein.

The new black hole vibrates at a specific set of frequencies, depending on its mass and spin, which helps scientists learn about the object formed in the collision.

These vibrations, known as quasinormal modes, are the fingerprint of a black hole. Detecting them is central to testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the most extreme gravitational environments in the universe.

Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to identify and catalogue these modes with greater accuracy than before. Writing in the journal Physical Review Letters, they outline how they sifted through computer simulations of black hole mergers and identified not just the fundamental ‘note’ the black hole rings at, but also the ‘overtones’, the fainter harmonics that fade away more quickly.

“While the loudest mode is routinely observed in gravitational wave data, many quieter modes are much more difficult to detect, and there has been ongoing debate about which modes are present and when they appear,” said Richard Dyer from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, the study’s first author. “Our method provides a systematic, data-driven way to resolve this uncertainty, and our results provide a reference for both theoretical studies and real observations.”

The researchers based their method on Bayesian analysis, a statistical technique that systematically weighs evidence to determine the most probable explanation for a given dataset.

In addition to the fundamental ‘notes’ and ‘overtones’, the researchers also found unusual ‘nonlinear modes’ in the data: vibrations produced when two or more of the fundamental frequencies interact with one another. These are analogous to the complex tones an electric guitar can produce when played with heavy distortion. Detecting these modes requires high-quality data and careful analysis to distinguish them from noise.

“The ringdown is one of the most direct probes of black holes we have,” said Dyer. “But extracting all the information it contains is hard. We wanted a principled, data-driven way to do that.”

Dyer and his co-author Dr Christopher Moore applied their method to a publicly available catalogue of highly accurate simulations that model gravitational waves to the theoretical boundary where they can be cleanly measured. They recorded which modes were detectable, and when, across a wide range of simulated black hole collisions with different mass ratios and spin configurations.

The researchers say their results will be useful for interpreting data from current gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo, and for next-generation detectors. Knowing which frequencies to search for in a given collision could allow researchers to perform even more precise tests of general relativity: for example, checking that the properties of the final black hole are consistent with what Einstein’s equations predict.

Reference:
Richard Dyer and Christopher J. Moore. ‘Quasinormal mode content of binary black hole ringdowns.’ Physical Review Letters (2026). DOI: 10.1103/ptmd-rz1t

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TV nutrition and health experts will take centre stage alongside astronomers, neuroscientists and AI experts at the annual Pint of Science festival next week, with public talks in the unlikeliest of ‘lecture theatres’ – local Cambridge pubs.

This year’s festival (18-20 May) will see twice as many events taking place across the city as last year and will be the largest edition of the festival since the pandemic.

Included in the festival is a special one-off, sold-out event – A Conversation on Nutrition and Health (7:30pm, 3 June, Cambridge Junction). There, broadcasters Professor Chris van Tulleken (author of Ultra-Processed People) and Professor Giles Yeo (author of Why Calories Don’t Count) join Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed (2017 winner of the BBC’s MasterChef, author of The 20-Minute Gut Health Fix) to talk ultra-processed foods, weight management injections, nutrition and health.

One of the coordinators for this year’s festival is Dr Chris Bannon from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Metabolic Science, which is heavily involved in the three events at Calverley’s Brewery & Taproom. He will be speaking at Gut Feelings (7pm, 19 May, Calverley’s Brewery) – which will include a guest appearance from his life-size knitted gut, which he uses to demonstrate how foods pass through (and out of!) our digestive systems.

Chris said: “Pint of Science is a fantastic event where scientists present their work to the public in creative ways. From Francis Crick and James Watson announcing at The Eagle that they’d discovered ‘the secret of life’ to David Klenerman and Shankar Balasubramanian working out in The Panton Arms how to sequence our DNA faster than ever, pubs have played an important role in Cambridge’s scientific discovery. So, it’s fitting that pubs across the city are hosting Pint of Science, with established and student scientists sharing their findings with the public.

“This year we’ve been very ambitious, with our one-off event at the Junction and a greater number of venues than last year. We’ll be looking at everything from the hunt for life beyond our Solar System to extreme weather events to how to map the brain. Whatever you’re interested in, there’s bound to be something here that will make you think – and possibly even make you laugh.”

Among the highlights this year are:

• All Molecules Great and Small: Life at the Molecular Level (7pm, 18 May, Cambridge Brew House) – An introduction to the tiny molecules that shape our health and wellbeing, help our bodies function, communicate and fight disease.
• What Our Stuff is Made of and Why it Matters (7pm, 18 May, Sir Isaac Newton) – A look at how everyday products shape our health, our environment, and our future.
• Feeding the Future, Fighting Infection (7.15pm, 19 May, Thirsty Cambridge) – From the hidden biology of breastmilk to tools borrowed from dangerous bacteria, this event explores how microscopic interactions shape lifelong health.
• Hidden Histories, Unseen Heroes: Through Time & Science (7pm, 20 May, The Tivoli) – A world of hidden stories and unexpected discoveries, exploring our planet from its deep past to its uncertain future.
• Health and wellbeing! (7pm, 20 May, Sir Isaac Newton) – A look at how scientists are reshaping the future of transplantation, from universal donor blood to improving how hearts are assessed, transported, and ultimately saved.

The talks run from 18-20 May 2026. Tickets are available on the Pint of Science website, but are selling out fast.

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Achieving an international conservation target to protect almost a third of the world’s land and sea in the next four years could directly affect the lives of almost half the people on the planet, finds a new report.

Planning land-use change to achieve national and global conservation targets must consider the impacts on local people.Chris Sandbrook

For better or worse, a huge number of people will be affected by efforts to achieve ‘30×30’ – the internationally-agreed conservation goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030. How many people, and who they are, will depend on which aspects of nature are prioritised for protection – but in all scenarios this human context must be a key consideration if plans are to succeed for both people and nature.

That’s the message of a new report published in the journal Nature Communications, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and involving a diverse international team of researchers and practitioners.

The team considered three approaches to conservation that would enable the world to reach 30×30, with the aim of reversing the decline of nature and boosting our resilience to climate change.

In an approach designed to protect as many different species and ecosystems as possible, they found that 46% of all people worldwide would live inside or within 10 kilometres of a conservation area.

Other approaches would affect fewer people overall, but a higher proportion would be socially vulnerable, showing that implementation choices profoundly shape both the number and social profile of people affected.

Living in or close to conservation areas can have positive, negative or neutral implications for livelihoods and wellbeing. Potential benefits include securing a sustainable supply of clean water or access to cultural sites, whereas costs can include people being prevented from living in an area or using it to collect resources.

The final impacts of new conservation areas will depend on how they are designed and managed. For example, there is a major difference between a strict national park and an Indigenous protected area. Whichever approach is taken, making sure that local people do not lose out will require substantial investment, and processes to give local people a voice in decision-making, says the team.

“If you look at where new conservation sites might be located, these are not empty landscapes – often a lot of people live there, especially in countries like the UK. Planning land-use change to achieve national and global conservation targets must consider the impacts on local people,” said Professor Chris Sandbrook, Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and senior author of the report.

He added: “As an example, recent debates about whether to establish a new National Park in Wales highlight the balance that needs to be struck. While supporters say it could reduce flooding, lock up carbon and improve access to nature, critics fear tourism will overload local infrastructure, loss of farmland, and potential impacts on future housing availability.”

Protected natural spaces, when properly implemented, can benefit local people. For example, forests can prevent flooding, wildflowers can support insects that pollinate crops, wild harvesting can sustain local livelihoods, and access to natural spaces is important for human wellbeing.

“In addition to local benefits, protected natural areas can take carbon out of the atmosphere and help mitigate climate change, which at a grand scale is hugely important for us all. In many cases, however, it’s the people who live closest to conservation areas who tend to experience the downsides,” said Dr Javier Fajardo, a researcher in the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and first author of the report.

He added: “If the global conservation target is achieved in the right way it could be really beneficial for people as well as nature. It’s an ambitious target, and to get there we need an equally ambitious commitment to supporting local people who are central to achieving it.”

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework sets out an ambitious pathway to achieving the vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. The 30×30 goal is part of this Framework. 196 countries, including the UK, made formal commitments to reach this target during the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in 2022.

With only four years left to go and less than 20% of global land and sea protected, the team expects efforts to achieve the 30×30 target will now ramp up significantly. There are ongoing debates about which areas of land and sea should be conserved, and how to ensure successful implementation across the world.

Alternative approaches

The team also considered two other theoretical approaches to achieving 30×30, to explore how different priorities might shape social outcomes. The second focuses on protecting large areas of habitat – mainly in the Amazon and the Congo – that provide natural ‘services’ for people around the world, like nutrient cycling and carbon capture. The third prioritises areas with important conservation value that are governed and managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

While these alternative approaches would affect significantly fewer people than one focused on protecting the most species, a higher proportion of the people impacted would be very poor, and vulnerable in various ways.

The team says there is no ‘socially optimal’ approach to conserving nature – the impact on people will vary wildly depending on the priorities by which land is chosen for protection and how the selected sites are governed and managed.

Reference: Fajardo, J et al: ‘Social implications of the 30×30 global conservation target.’ Nature Communications, May 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71860-8

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University, football club and city leaders unite to celebrate Cambridge’s football heritage with new partnerships and a new brand identity.

This partnership is built around a shared belief in the power of sport to bring people together to benefit the wider city community.Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor

Cambridge University, United Football Club and City Council have come together at the University’s Grange Road sports ground to celebrate Cambridge as the birthplace of modern football and to look ahead to a future of greater community engagement, inclusion and participation in sport across the city.

In 1848 a group of students from Cambridge University wrote down a set of 11 rules for football and nailed these ‘Cambridge Rules’ to the trees surrounding Parker’s Piece. This was the first time that football, as we know it today, had any formalised laws. In 1863 the Football Association of England adopted many of these rules and added three more, helping to shape the modern game. 

Honouring the city’s rich sporting history, the University of Cambridge and Cambridge United Football Club established a strategic partnership in October 2023 aimed at boosting community engagement and sport across Cambridge. In March 2025, Cambridge University Association Football Club (CUAFC) and Cambridge United FC announced a formal partnership. Cambridge United Women have since made CUAFC’s Grange Road ground their home for training and matches.

On Friday 1 May, a celebration marked both this historic legacy and the city’s modern-day partnerships. The event featured a match between the Cambridge University women’s team and Cambridge United Women at Grange Road, followed by a dinner at Selwyn College attended by students and alumni, alongside senior figures from the partner organisations and the wider Cambridge community. Guests included Daniel Zeichner MP, Julie Spence, the Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, and Bridget Smith, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council.

To further celebrate Cambridge’s place in football history, Cambridge University, Cambridge United and Cambridge City Council, have jointly launched a new brand visual identity and logo, recognising the city as the birthplace of modern football. The initiative aims to help raise awareness of, and pride in, Cambridge’s role in shaping the modern game and support future activity celebrating this shared heritage.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge University said: “This event is the latest step in a growing partnership between the University and Cambridge United, built around a shared belief in the power of sport to bring people together to benefit the wider city community. It is especially fitting that this celebration comes at a time when we can also congratulate Cambridge United on their fantastic promotion success.”

Daniel Zeichner MP for Cambridge said: “Cambridge is the city of discovery and one its best is the DNA of the greatest game in the world. We have collectively not done enough to celebrate and mark this extraordinary legacy and I am very pleased that there is a renewed determination to address this, starting this month with a new brand identity and a fantastic celebration. Together with United’s promotion on Saturday it has made it a memorable week for football in the City that is the birthplace of the modern game”

Godric Smith, Director of Cambridge United and Chair of the Foundation said: “We are very pleased that the Club, University and City have all come together to look at how we can do more to mark Cambridge’s place in history as the birthplace of modern football. This week is the start and we look forward to working together over the coming months to see where we can take this. Cambridge is a football city and football is an important part of its past, present and future.”

Professor David Cardwell, President CUAFC said: “This celebration was a landmark moment to partner with CUFC so successfully in celebrating the 1848 origins of the modern game here in Cambridge. The success of this event marks not just a reflection on our shared history, but the continuation of a meaningful and lasting partnership between our clubs of which were immensely proud.”

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Children who need life‑saving emergency surgery after a serious injury are almost six times more likely to die if in poorer countries than in wealthier ones, according to an international study led by the University of Cambridge.

The research, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, analysed 237 children aged 18 and under who underwent trauma laparotomy – emergency surgery for severe abdominal injuries – in 85 hospitals across 32 countries. This is one of the largest international studies to date to examine this type of emergency surgery in children.

Traumatic injuries, including those caused by road traffic accidents and violence, are among the leading causes of death and disability in children and adolescents worldwide. This study looked at children who needed emergency surgery for severe abdominal injuries, comparing their care and outcomes across hospitals around the world.

Large differences in care and outcomes

Overall, 8% of children in the study died within 30 days of surgery. After taking account of differences between patients and settings, children treated in countries with lower levels of development were almost six times more likely to die than those treated in countries with higher levels of development.

The study found major differences in the care children received, which are likely to be important in understanding why outcomes were worse in poorer countries. Children often faced longer delays before reaching hospital and before receiving surgery. They were also less likely to receive a blood transfusion, have a CT scan, receive medicine used to reduce bleeding, or be operated on by a consultant surgeon.

Children also made up a larger share of these cases in poorer countries than in wealthier ones. This suggests that poorer countries may face a double challenge: more children needing emergency surgery after trauma, and less access to the care needed to treat them.

“Children who need emergency surgery after trauma are far more likely to die in less developed countries,” said co-author Professor Timothy Hardcastle from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. “This reflects challenges across the trauma pathway, from delays in reaching care to limited access to blood transfusion and intensive care.”

These findings also point to a wider issue: many trauma systems have been designed around adults, even though children have different clinical needs.

“Children are not just small adults,” said senior author Dr Michael Bath from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “They need different equipment, different expertise and fast access to specialist care. Our findings show that, in many parts of the world, trauma systems are not yet set up to meet children’s needs.

“There is no single fix, but improving survival will require trauma care to be designed with children in mind — from the moment an injury happens, through transport to hospital, emergency surgery, intensive care and recovery.”

Designing trauma care around children

Adult trauma systems cannot simply be copied across to children. Children have different physical needs, injury patterns and recovery needs, meaning that best-practice trauma care for adults may not always translate into the best care for injured children.

The authors call for governments, health ministries and international organisations to prioritise child-specific trauma care. This includes age-specific equipment, referral pathways designed for children, staff training, and better access to blood transfusion, CT imaging, organ support, senior clinical care and rehabilitation. Strengthening these systems could help reduce avoidable deaths and improve recovery for injured children worldwide.
 

Reference

Riaz Aziz, Michael F. Bath et al. ‘Understanding Paediatric Trauma Laparotomy Pathways Worldwide: Analysis of a Global Dataset.’ The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (2026). DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(26)00069-6

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First major RCT on evolutionary psychiatry finds mental health clinicians are far more likely to say describing anxiety as an evolved survival response will help patients, compared to genetic ideas taught in training.

If GPs are swamped by anxiety-related appointments, evolutionary ideas may help treat people concerned for their wellbeing who don’t necessarily need medicalisation.Dr Adam Hunt

Mental health clinicians are over five times more likely to see evolutionary explanations of anxiety as helpful for their patients, rather than the genetic approaches currently taught to trainee doctors and psychiatrists in the UK and US, a new study shows.^*

Research led by the University of Cambridge also found that clinicians across the UK and Ireland are three times more likely to rate a human evolution perspective on anxiety as useful for their own practice and understanding, compared to hereditary accounts.

Explaining how anxiety helped our species to survive and thrive – essentially, a naturally evolved defensive response that can get triggered too easily – provides vital context and a more positive outlook than describing anxiety as possibly “hardwired” into a person’s DNA, argue researchers.

They say that anxiety is linked to “ancestral threats”: from running out of food to social rejection from early hunter-gatherer tribes. Aspects of the modern world, such as online socialising and constant exposure to news, can “amplify the worry response and push some individuals into the pathological range.”

“Anxiety and fear are adaptive responses that evolved to help organisms, including humans, detect and avoid potential threats,” said Dr Adam Hunt, a researcher in evolution from Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology who led the study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

“Understanding anxiety as a deeply rooted survival function that has overshot the mark helps patients see their symptoms as exaggerated versions of a positive mechanism, and not evidence of a broken or abnormal brain.”

In an accompanying report by the Foundation for Evolution and Mental Health, chaired by Hunt, experts call for a few hours of evolutionary teaching to be added to psychiatric and mental health training, along with public resources that outline the evolutionary usefulness of anxiety.

“With the growth of mental health diagnoses in recent years, the question becomes ever more pressing as to why these conditions exist,” said Hunt, from the Evolution, Mental Health and Behaviour Lab. 

“Neuroscientists spend billions of dollars zooming in on genes and rat brains. The assumption that the right level of magnification will provide answers hasn’t been working out. Evolution, the fundamental theory which explains all biology, is an obvious place to look.”

“If GPs are swamped by anxiety-related appointments, evolutionary ideas may help treat people concerned for their wellbeing who don’t necessarily need medicalisation.”

According to the World Health Organisation, 359 million people worldwide lived with an anxiety disorder in 2021, a rise of more than 55% since 1990. A quarter of 16–24-year-olds in England report having a common mental health condition such as anxiety.

For the latest study, an international team of anthropologists and psychiatrists randomly assigned 171 practising mental health clinicians from across the UK and Ireland a 30-minute session on either an evolutionary explanation for anxiety or a genetic one, based on the latest scientific thinking in both fields.^**

Pre- and post-session questionnaires assessed clinicians’ optimism for how effective they thought each “psychoeducation” intervention was likely to be, and the expected patient willingness to seek help as a result.

Clinicians overwhelmingly favoured evolutionary explanations. They were over five times more likely to find evolution rather than genetics useful for patients, and over three times more likely to believe it would improve their treatment approach.

The clinicians also believed that people would be much more willing to seek psychiatric help if evolutionary explanations were widely known (around 80% higher than for genetic explanations), and were about 60% more likely to think that patients with anxiety could recover when helped by an evolutionary perspective.

“We found a lot of enthusiasm among psychiatrists for the potential of evolutionary ideas to promote more hopeful and therapeutically empowering attitudes,” said study co-author Dr Tom Carpenter, a registrar in psychiatry at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

Importantly, differences between the two groups of clinicians were driven by both positive effects of evolutionary education and negative effects of genetic education.

The genetic presentation highlights studies showing anxiety disorders are moderately heritable (by approximately 20–60%), which may help explain familial patterns of anxiety, and how “polygenic scores” – risk factors arising from thousands of tiny genetic differences – may eventually help identify and guide prevention strategies.^***

“The genetic framing actively worsened some clinician attitudes, increasing their belief that it would make patients pessimistic about recovery,” said Hunt.

The evolutionary presentation uses the “Smoke Detector Principle” to explain why anxiety evolved to be biased toward false alarms: existential threats from predators, starvation or ostracisation in the deep history of our species made it safer to respond too often than miss a genuine danger.^****

Hunt points out that different types of anxiety evolved to address certain ancestral threats, producing clear physiological and behavioural responses.

For example, anxiety related to predators and life‑threatening danger helps explain the sensitivity seen in panic disorders and agoraphobia, where open spaces or situations in which escape may be difficult signal vulnerability.

Specific phobias reflect exaggerated fear responses to stimuli such as animals, heights, or confined spaces. Social anxiety can be understood in relation to the risk of status loss or being abandoned by the group, which carried serious consequences for survival and reproductive success – and still does.

“Social anxiety evolved as a tool for inclusion. Having people who are highly neurotic in a tribe makes a lot of sense. We see it in our friend and family groups, where anxious people are often those thinking ahead or picking up on social cues to prevent disharmony,” said Hunt.

“But now, when people spend long hours and days alone, or with just the internet, they lack the consistent feedback of acceptance. It’s instinctive for some to catastrophise.”

Hunt says he hears from psychiatrists who find that young people are leaning into an anxiety diagnosis as a reason to stop interacting with people, whereas they should be aiming for the complete opposite.

“Every organism must learn which parts of its environment are dangerous and which are not. It is among the most ancient learning mechanisms in biology and a success story of adaptation,” said Hunt.

“Exposure therapy targets these evolved learning systems by using repeated safe experiences to teach the brain that a stimulus is not a threat. Being in a tribe is a kind of constant exposure therapy for social anxiety. Humans and our lineage have spent millions of years in each other’s company,” he said. 

“The goal is not to replace existing psychiatry with slogans about evolution. It is to enrich frontline mental health work with a deeper understanding of human nature.”

He points out that Charles Darwin – a University of Cambridge alumnus – predicted his work on evolution would eventually help us understand the spectrums of neurodiversity that underpin human communities.^*****

_{* Evolutionary science is absent from the UK’s MRCPsych (Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists) syllabus, the US’s ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) psychiatry requirements, and the clinical psychology curricula of every country, say researchers.}

_{** The majority of clinicians were psychiatrists at various training grades, with a minority of psychologists and other mental health professionals. Teaching sessions were delivered within routine psychiatry teaching programmes between 2023 and 2024. Sessions took place across 17 UK NHS trusts and two Irish healthcare organisations, with wide geographic coverage across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Sessions were conducted in person (15 sessions) and online (6 sessions). Randomisation occurred at the session level (cluster‑randomised by teaching session) rather than at the individual clinician level.}

_{*** Polygenic risk scores are currently clinically non-actionable for any psychiatric disorder, according to the report ‘Before Evolution: The State of Mental Health’.}

_{**** Parts of the presentation on evolution, including the Smoke Detector Principle, were adapted from the work of Randolph Nesse: the US psychiatrist and emeritus professor at the University of Michigan, who is considered one of the founders of evolutionary psychiatry.}

_{***** In the conclusion of his defining work, On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote: “In the distant future I see open fields for more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation.”}

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Janine Roebuck, a formerly deaf opera singer who regained her hearing thanks to cochlear implants, has described as ‘life changing’ an upcoming Cambridge-led trial in hearing loss.

We know from giving bilateral implants to children that it can have a transformative effect on their quality of life and interactions with other people. Through this study, we can offer the same opportunity to adultsMatthew Smith

The UK trial will provide bilateral cochlear implants (cochlear implants on both sides) to some profoundly deaf adults. The results will be used to review NHS guidance for the provision of implants to adults.

Each year over 1,000 adults in the UK receive cochlear implants to restore their hearing. Under NHS guidance, adults currently only receive a single (unilateral) implant, yet evidence suggests having two could offer significant improvements in prospects and quality of life and may now be cost effective.

Janine said: “With bilateral implants, I no longer consider myself to be deaf. They have been utterly life changing and, for me, have broken a generational curse. I am excited that this trial will offer the same opportunity to others.”

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the trial is being co-led from Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge. It will run in 14 hospitals and include over 250 adult participants, who will either receive one (unilateral) or two (bilateral) implants. Participants will be monitored for 12 months after surgery to assess the effects of the implants on wellbeing, ability to hear speech in noise, and quality of life. The study will also evaluate the economic benefits and cost of bilateral implants for the NHS.

Called LUCIA, the trial will be co-led by Dr Matthew Smith, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and Professor Debi Vickers, a speech and hearing scientist in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, who leads the SOUND Lab.

Professor Debi Vickers, who also co-leads the Devices and Advanced Therapies theme at the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, said: “Children routinely receive bilateral cochlear implants. These can provide 3-dimensional hearing, enabling them to hear more naturally than unilateral, with improved access to sound and better engagement with society.

“Adults tell us, and I agree, that they should be given the same hearing opportunities as children. In turn these will result in reduced social isolation, enriched communication, improved mental health, and better overall quality of life.”

The trial, which is expected to begin recruiting patients in the autumn, has been designed in collaboration with Janine and other patients. By involving individuals with lived experience of cochlear implantation, the researchers aim to measure changes that patients consider to be most important.

The primary trial outcome will reflect participants’ own perceptions of their quality of hearing. The study will also measure common challenges faced by patients, such as listening effort and fatigue, a choice directly based on discussions with patient groups.

Dr Smith, who is also an academic surgeon at the University of Cambridge, said: “We know from giving bilateral implants to children that it can have a transformative effect on their quality of life and interactions with other people. Through this study, we can offer the same opportunity to adults who have become deaf, and understand the potential added value of bilateral cochlear implants, not just in terms of hearing, but also how they enrich quality of life.”

Janine was diagnosed as a teenager with a genetic condition that caused hearing loss and eventually led to her needing hearing aids. For over 30 years she hid her deteriorating hearing and became a well-known mezzo-soprano, performing in operas, operettas and musicals, including at the Royal Opera House in London.

It was only in 2019, after she had retired due to profound hearing loss, that she had cochlear implant surgery, and received bilateral implants partly through personal funding. She said: “Having two implants is lightyears away from just one. Sound quality is so much better, sounds are fuller, clearer, louder and more natural. It’s much easier to tell where sounds are coming from, especially in busy spaces.

“If you’re out in public, it can be hard to follow who is speaking, making joining in with conversations almost impossible. As a result, you have debilitating concentration fatigue at the end of every day.”

Just like at the cinema, multi-directional surround sound is a key part of creating an engaging immersive experience. By comparison, living with one implant can be like listening to life through a single, poor-quality speaker.

She explains: “Struggling to hear can be extremely isolating and many people experience anxiety or depression as a result. The implants are life changing. They reconnect you to the world and most importantly people. Communication is surely the longing of every human heart.

“I also feel safer and more secure having the two implants. I am more aware of and connected to what’s happening in the world around me. And, if anything goes wrong with one of the implants, I’m not suddenly plunged into a world of total silence.”

While hearing aids help people with mild to moderate hearing loss by making sounds louder, they often provide very little benefit for people with severe or profound hearing loss. Cochlear implants bypass the outer, middle and inner ear and send electrical impulses directly to the hearing nerve which carries signals to the brain.

Participants in the trial will need to have become deaf later in life and cannot already have an implant.

People with cochlear implants will also be involved in delivering the trial. They will be specially trained to participate in interviewing trial participants that will be used to measure the impacts of the trial.

Professor Anthony Gordon, Programme Director for the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, which funded the trial, said: “We fund innovative trials like the LUCIA study which explore how advances in technology can help make a positive difference to the day-to-day lives of those affected. This study offers real hope to people with severe hearing loss and the chance of a significant improvement in their quality of life.”

Adapted from a press release from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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A PhD student at Trinity College has unearthed a complete, unpublished play 65 years after Peter Shaffer wrote it – and before he reignited the world of theatre with the acclaimed plays The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Equus, and Amadeus.

He wanted to reinvent theatreJames Critchley

Trinity College is celebrating the centenary of the birth of twin brothers Peter Shaffer (1926-2016) and Anthony Shaffer (1926-2001) who both studied at Trinity and went on to become award-winning playwrights. Peter bequeathed his substantial archive of playscripts, correspondence and photographs to Trinity College.

PhD student James Critchley came across the unstaged play Our Lady of the Volcano in the archive, while studying Shaffer’s first play, Five Finger Exercise. The play had been catalogued by archivists, but has remained completely unknown. Our Lady of the Volcano reflects the importance of Italy in Shaffer’s creative life. Set on the sultry Amalfi Coast, the plot swirls around two British travellers staying in a villa and their interactions – for better or worse – with other residents.

James Critchley says: “It’s about competing kinds of romance narratives, primarily relating to the Brando-esque Jim Suckling, and his various encounters in relation to a religious festival near Sorrento. And in this kind of steamy, tempestuous sensuality, you can see the growing influence of writers such as Tennessee Williams, who Shaffer admired.”

For Critchley, the play is intriguing for its cinematic influences, at a time when Hollywood films set in Italy – among them Roman Holiday, Three Coins in the Fountain, Boy on a Dolphin – proved highly popular.

“It emerges from a real immersion in the cinematic world of the early 1960s – these films made in Italian studios fed into Shaffer’s thinking. It was quite unusual at the time to see a play set outdoors, in an Italian villa, so the play is an example of him thinking across different media.”

Our Lady of the Volcano marks a transition in the playwright’s early work, Critchley argues.

“Shaffer longed to leave behind the world of slammed doors and actual breakfasts being consumed in an atmosphere of domestic tension. He wanted to reinvent theatre. Of course, in later plays like Royal Hunt or Amadeus, he can be seen confidently working towards what he called ‘Total Theatre’: a mode of performance in which music, mime, movement might all play a role as important as scripted text.

“Even though the play never made it to stage, it is fascinating to see a writer developing his craft: to peek, as it were, behind the curtain. We can see in Our Lady ideas and scenarios that he would go on to flesh out more fully in the mature works of his later career.”

James, who began exploring the Shaffer Archive as an undergraduate, said his PhD offered an amazing opportunity to understand Shaffer’s evolution, as well as the ups and downs charted in his correspondence.  

“It’s really exciting to be up close and personal so to speak with the projects that didn’t necessarily make it to publication, but which still have all of the kind of thrilling imprints of a writer whose legacy continues to flourish today.”

Shaffer at Cambridge

Peter and Anthony Shaffer were conscripted to the coal mines in Kent as ‘Bevin Boys’ during the Second World War. After that, in 1947, aged 21, they arrived at Trinity, Anthony to study Law and Peter, history.

Peter Shaffer described student life as ‘heaven’ and Cambridge ‘an astonishing place for many reasons.’ He attended lectures of all kinds, including by the philosopher Bertrand Russell, and he met EM Forster at King’s College, where the novelist was an Honorary Fellow.

Peter entered a short story competition set by Forster and although he did not win, he did receive an invitation to tea. He recalled: “I said I would love to have tea with him and I went round in some awe of the great man. And he served me tea and he was very shy. … it was tremendously encouraging … the fact that he liked the story and it had merits and he had a way of conveying its demerits … that was very, very graceful.”

Enduring legacy

Peter Shaffer’s breakthrough came in 1958 with Five Finger Exercise. He would go on write acclaimed plays that continue to be staged today: a production of Equus opens in London this month and a major new production of Amadeus has been announced for 2027 in UK. Only last December Trinity alumnus Will Sharpe directed Amadeus for television, playing the title role himself.

Anthony Shaffer trained as a barrister but devoted his life to stage and film following the success of Sleuth in 1970. His film credits include Hitchcock’s Frenzy and the cult classic The Wicker Man.

In the centenary year, Trinity will announce the fifth Shaffer Playwright-in-Residence, a studentship established with funding from the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation for early-career playwrights.

More information

A catalogue of the Sir Peter Shaffer Archive at Trinity College is available online. Researchers are welcome to consult items in the archive by appointment with the Wren Library.

James Critchley has written an essay, ‘An unpublished play by Peter Shaffer‘, for The Times Literary Supplement.

His research is funded by the Alice and James Penney Studentship in English Literature.

This story was originally published by Trinity College.

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Antonio has spent the past seven years running toward fires that most others run from. A firefighter in the Brazilian Amazon since 2019, he works inside the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

But things are changing, and fast. “2024 was the most extreme year for fires,” Antonio said. “I had never seen anything like it. The forest burned like dry pasture – it was frightening for those of us who risk our lives to protect it.”

What Antonio and his fellow firefighters are witnessing on the ground has been backed up by a new study. An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, have found that the policies that helped reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over the past two decades have mostly failed to stop forest degradation: a slower and potentially more dangerous form of destruction. Their results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Unlike deforestation, where whole areas of forests are cleared for farming, industry or infrastructure, a degraded forest still has trees standing. However, it has been so damaged by fire, illegal logging, fragmentation, droughts and over-hunting that it has lost much of its ecological value. The forest floor, stripped of shade and moisture, becomes a tinderbox.

“There’s still a forest there, but it’s so damaged that the carbon it once stored starts leaking, the animals have disappeared, and new grass species colonise the forest edges,” said lead author Federico Cammelli from Cambridge’s Department of Geography and the Conservation Research Institute. “Tropical forest fires are low intensity, flames often go undetected under the canopy, but after one or two years, trees die while standing, and the forest transforms into a cemetery of dead standing trees.”

Earlier research found that between 2001 and 2018, net carbon emissions from forest degradation in the Brazilian Amazon were comparable or even higher than those from deforestation itself. By 2050, degradation could affect the entire Brazilian Amazon, but it has barely featured in the policies meant to protect it.

Brazil has made real progress on deforestation. The first phase of the government’s Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon, launched in the mid-2000s, reduced tree clearing by an estimated 60 to 80 percent. Agreements in the private sector – including a moratorium on soybeans from deforested land, and a commitment from meat packers not to source cattle from newly deforested areas – also contributed to the region’s success.

However, the researchers found that four major policies meant to reduce deforestation across three Brazilian states did not reduce degradation.

When deforestation slows down, some degradation slows as well, since forests suffer less from so-called edge effects where cleared areas touch intact woodland. “However, we found no conclusive evidence that any of the supply chain policies, like the soy moratorium or the cattle agreements, tackled other big drivers of anthropogenic degradation, like fires, logging and fragmentation,” said Cammelli.
 

In one case, the research suggests, even successful deforestation policies can make degradation worse. The G4 cattle agreement, signed by Brazil’s four biggest meat packers, appeared to be linked to an increase in timber extraction: possibly because as cattle ranching became more regulated, some businesses switched to the less-regulated logging sector.

Back in Chico Mendes, Antonio sees some of the consequences of these gaps in policy. He said the dry season now lasts longer each year, forests are growing more fragile, and the rains arrive with sudden violence, washing out bridges and blocking roads.

He is not optimistic that the law is keeping up. “Environmental laws should be stricter, and offenders should be properly punished,” he said. “If we lose the forest, we indirectly lose our lives.”

Cammelli said that political will is vital. An update to Brazilian environmental policy published in 2023 includes forest degradation among the criteria for targeting environmental law enforcement towards municipalities with poor environmental records, along with requirements to reduce deforestation specifically.

“Fires often spread over many properties and entail complex liabilities: who is responsible for ignition, who for fire spread? They are best addressed at the landscape scale. The timber sector remains poorly regulated, and much can be done to crack down on illegal logging,” he said.

The researchers are calling for a fundamental shift in how governments, companies and regulators think about how to best protect forests.

The EU Deforestation Regulation, which bans imports of products linked to forest destruction, defines degradation too narrowly, the researchers say, and largely overlooks the fire damage and fragmentation caused by soybean and beef production. The researchers are urging the EU to expand their definition of degradation.

Despite commitments on deforestation, the researchers found no publicly documented examples of companies operating in the Brazilian Amazon that had set concrete targets for specifically addressing forest degradation.

“Avoiding deforestation and degradation is so much more important for climate and nature than restoring what’s already gone,” said senior author Professor Rachael Garrett, also from Cambridge’s Department of Geography and Conservation Research Institute. “There are certain things you can’t get back.”

“Every year,” said Antonio, “the forest and wildlife become more vulnerable.”

The research was supported in part by the European Union and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Reference:
Federico Cammelli et al. ‘Deforestation-focused policies do not reduce degradation in the Brazilian Amazon.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2507793123

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Five academics from the University of Cambridge have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

They are among 252 leaders in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research, and science elected in 2026. 

The Cambridge academics elected are:

Professor Julie Ahringer (Department of Genetics; Gurdon Institute)

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (International Honorary Member) (Department of Psychology; Emmanuel College; Newnham College)

Professor Vikram S. Deshpande  (International Honorary Member) (Department of Engineering; Pembroke College)

Professor Hiranya Peiris (International Honorary Member) (Institute of Astronomy; Murray Edwards College)

Professor Susan J. Smith (International Honorary Member) (Department of Geography; Girton College)

The Academy, chartered in 1780, was established to recognise accomplished individuals and engage them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the young republic. The first members elected to the Academy include George Washington, who said – in his first annual message to Congress in 1790 – “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”

“We celebrate the achievement of each new member and the collective breadth and depth of their excellence – this is a fitting commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Academy President Laurie Patton. “The founding of the nation and the Academy are rooted in the inextricable links between a vibrant democracy, the free pursuit of knowledge, and the expansion of the public good.”

The new class joins Academy members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966), and Jacques Derrida (1985) in the twentieth; and, in this century, Madeleine K. Albright (2001), Antonin Scalia (2003), Jennifer Doudna (2003), Esther Duflo (2009), John Legend (2017), Anna Deavere Smith (2019), Salman Rushdie (2022), Xuedong Huang (2023), and José Andrés (2025).

Induction ceremonies for new members will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October 2026.

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A new study suggests that malaria influenced where early humans lived in sub-Saharan Africa between around 74,000 and 5,000 years ago, fragmenting populations and influencing patterns of genetic exchange long before recorded history.

By fragmenting human societies across the landscape, malaria contributed to the population structure we see today.Andrea Manica

The presence of malaria affected where human populations lived across sub-Saharan Africa between 74,000 and around 5,000 years ago, a new study has found.

Over tens of thousands of years, the presence of this disease shaped how human populations met and mixed – allowing genes to be exchanged, and helping create the population structure seen in humans today.

The findings suggest that infectious disease was not simply a challenge early humans faced: it was a fundamental factor shaping the course of human evolution.

The researchers say malaria may have driven populations away from high-risk environments and separated them across the landscape, or it may have caused high death rates in specific areas.

Increasing evidence suggests that modern humans emerged through interactions between populations living in different parts of Africa, rather than from a single birthplace. Until now, however, most explanations for how those populations were distributed across the continent have focused on climate alone. The new research shows that disease – specifically malaria – also played a crucial role.

The results are published today in the journal Science Advances.

To reach their results, the team started with present-day distribution maps of Africa’s main malaria‑transmitting mosquito species. Then they used climate models to reconstruct how the ranges of these mosquitoes shifted over the past 74,000 years, alongside estimates of likely malaria transmission intensity. Finally, they compared these results with archaeological maps of ancient human settlements, and looked at where and when humans and malaria potentially overlapped.

“We estimated the risk of malaria transmission across sub-Saharan Africa over the past 74,000 years, and found that ancient humans were not living in high-risk areas for the majority of this time,” said Dr Margherita Colucci in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, first author of the study.

Colucci, who is also a researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, added: “Our results indicate that ancient human populations strongly avoided, or were unable to survive in, areas with high malaria transmission risk. The effects of these choices shaped human demography for the majority of the last 74,000 years, and likely much earlier.”

“By fragmenting human societies across the landscape, malaria contributed to the population structure we see today. Our study suggests that climate and physical barriers were not the only forces shaping where human populations could live,” said Professor Andrea Manica in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, a co-senior author of the study.

The researchers found an increasing geographic overlap between human populations and malaria-carrying mosquitoes after around 15,000 years ago, beginning in West Africa. This coincides with the appearance of a human genetic mutation that gave rise to sickle-cell anaemia – and also provides partial protection against malaria.

Until now, the emergence of infectious diseases affecting human populations was thought to be linked with the domestication of crops and the transition away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, thought to have begun around 8,000-7,000 years ago.

Scientists have struggled to investigate the impact of disease on humanity’s early history due to a lack of direct evidence. The oldest ancient pathogen DNA, for example, is only around 10,000 years old, with the majority only from the last 2-3,000 years. In this study, the researchers used novel methods combining multiple lines of evidence that allowed them to reach much further back into the past.

74,000 years ago is a common time point for researchers to stop at when looking into the past. It coincides with the Toba supervolcano eruption – the largest known explosive eruption in human history.

“Disease has rarely been considered a major factor shaping the earliest prehistory of our species, and without ancient DNA from these periods it has been difficult to test. Our research changes that, and provides a new framework for exploring the role of disease in deep human history,” said Professor Eleanor Scerri at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, also a senior author of the study.

This research was funded by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.

Reference: Colucci, M et al: ‘Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years‘. Science Advances, April 2026. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aea2316

Adapted from a press release by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.

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An international team of researchers has identified an East African bat coronavirus capable of entering human cells.

We found a new coronavirus receptor in human cells ahead of any virus spillover into the human population.Giulia Gallo

The virus – Cardioderma cor coronavirus (CcCoV) KY43, or CcCoV-KY43 – can bind to a receptor cell found in the human lung, but testing in Kenya suggests it has not spilled over into the local human population.

Rather than work on ‘live’ viruses, the scientists used a public database of known genetic sequences, Genbank, to select and synthesise alphacoronavirus ‘spike’ proteins, including 27 viruses originally isolated in bats, and screened these against a library of coronavirus receptors found in human cells.

Spike proteins protrude from the surface of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and bind to specific receptors on human cells, triggering infection.

Funded largely through UK Research and Innovation’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Kenya Government’s National Research Fund, the study brought together UK and Kenyan expertise to show CcCoV-KY43 binds to the human glycoprotein CEACAM6.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team from The Pirbright Institute, the University of Cambridge, the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, the University of York and the National Museums of Kenya say their findings show alphacoronaviruses (alphaCovs) can use various receptors to enter human cells.

“Viral spike proteins are keys that fit into locks (host receptors) to open the door and enter a cell. So far, we have identified one alphaCov receptor. The challenge now is to find the others,” said Professor Stephen Graham in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, joint senior author of the paper.

“Before our study, it was assumed all alphacoronaviruses used just one of two possible receptors to enter their host, and the only difference was which species they could enter. We now know alphaCovs might use a whole variety of different receptors to open cells,” said Dr Dalan Bailey, Group Leader at the Pirbright Institute and joint senior author of the paper.

“Not only did we find the new coronavirus receptor in human cells ahead of any virus spillover into the human population, but the study was performed using just a piece of the virus (the spike) rather than the whole pathogen, negating the need to import a live virus into the UK,” said Dr Giulia Gallo, lead author of the paper who conducted the work at both the Pirbright Institute and the University of Cambridge.

CcCoV-KY43 is found in heart-nosed bats, Cardioderma cor, an ecologically important species found mainly in eastern Africa including in eastern Sudan and northern Tanzania.

The researchers say the zoonotic (animal-to-human) and pandemic potential of alphaCoVs has remained relatively unchartered – to date, only two cellular receptors have been characterized for alphaCoVs.

The work identifies the need for further study in East Africa to better understand the risk from the family of viruses that can use this receptor to enter human cells. This will help scientists to be better prepared for any spillover of the virus into humans in the future, and potentially begin to start developing human vaccines and antivirals. The team wants to apply the same computational technology used in this study to find other potential human pathogens, and also to understand the wider drivers of zoonotic potential.

Graham added: “We hope our findings will help better understand the risk from the family of viruses we identified that can use the human receptor: for example, by mapping the prevalence of the virus in bats and looking to see if it has already spilled over in at-risk populations.”

Reference: Gallo, G et al: ‘Heart-nosed bat alphacoronaviruses use human CEACAM6 to enter cells.’ Nature, April 2026. 

Adapted from a press release by The Pirbright Institute.

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Damage to white matter in the brain can trigger features associated with neurodegenerative disease, Cambridge researchers have discovered in a new study published today in the journal Nature.

A focal lesion in white matter…can trigger a coordinated response in connected grey matter, and that response is not simply damage. It is part of the brain’s attempt to repair itself.Ragnhildur Thóra Káradóttir

Until now, it was thought that neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease were primarily associated with changes to the brain’s grey matter.

This new finding suggests that treatments for neurodegenerative disease should target damage to the brain’s white matter, in addition to grey matter which has been the focus until now.

The brain is equally divided into grey and white matter. Grey matter contains the brain’s processing hubs, linked by an information highway — the white matter. Although white matter damage is a defining feature of multiple sclerosis and is also seen in neurodegeneration including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, the consequences of white matter damage are not well understood.

The team, led by Professor Ragnhildur Thóra Káradóttir at the University of Cambridge’s Stem Cell Institute, created localised damage to myelin – the main component of white matter – in a well-defined brain circuit and followed what happened over time. They found that small, localised myelin damage triggered a striking response in a connected, remote grey matter region. Neuronal activity fell, microglia – the brain’s immune cells – became activated, and connections between neurons were lost.

Crucially, these changes were not permanent. After myelin was regenerated, neuronal activity recovered, connections between neurons returned, and the inflammatory response subsided.

The study also challenges a common assumption about brain inflammation. Grey matter inflammation is traditionally viewed as harmful. But here, the team found that this transient response was part of the repair process itself. When they prevented grey matter inflammation, myelin regeneration was impaired.

Conversely, when the team blocked myelin regeneration, the grey matter response did not resolve and instead became chronic. This suggests that failed myelin regeneration may help drive the persistent low-grade inflammation seen in neurodegenerative disease.

Káradóttir, who also holds a position at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Veterinary Medicine, said: “We found that a focal lesion in white matter is not just a local event. It can trigger a coordinated response in connected grey matter, and that response is not simply damage. It is part of the brain’s attempt to repair itself.”

The finding is particularly relevant to multiple sclerosis, where white matter lesions, chronic inflammation and incomplete myelin regeneration are closely linked to disease progression.

The work offers a new framework for understanding how local white matter damage may contribute to wider dysfunction across the brain and, when regeneration fails, to sustained inflammation.

Professor Alasdair Coles, Professor of Clinical Neuroimmunology and Head of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, added: “These findings suggest that therapies enhancing myelin regeneration could help slow the progression of a potentially wide range of brain disorders.”

Reference: de Faria Jr et al: ‘Focal white matter lesions drive grey matter inflammation and synapse loss‘, Nature, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10414-w

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The first medical textbook on anti-racist healthcare, launching in Parliament on Monday, warns that ethnic inequalities still run deep throughout UK medicine. Its authors argue that proactively fighting racism is fundamental to fulfilling a founding promise of the NHS: fairness.

Being ‘race‑blind’ in medicine is not enough. The NHS must actively become anti‑racist if it is serious about equity.Zeshan Qureshi

The first medical textbook dedicated to tackling racism in medicine and delivering anti-racist healthcare in the UK is launched today in Parliament with MPs, professors, clinicians, students and patient advocates.

The project is co-led by Dr Zeshan Qureshi, an NHS doctor and philosopher, who is currently conducting a PhD at the University of Cambridge on how race and ethnicity are vital to understanding and improving healthcare outcomes in the UK.

Despite the NHS being founded on universal access, Qureshi argues that equal access to healthcare remains “an ideal rather than a reality,” with ethnic health inequalities persisting and even worsening since Sir Michael Marmot’s landmark 2010 review on health inequality in the UK.

The new book, Anti-Racist Medicine, offers a “blueprint” for medical students as well as existing frontline healthcare staff who serve ethnically diverse populations, says Qureshi, who argues that ‘race-blindness’ alone is not enough, and medical practice needs to be actively anti-racist to achieve equity in healthcare.

“The NHS England constitution, in its first principle, says that it has a duty ‘to pay particular attention to groups where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population’,” said Qureshi. “Sadly, the NHS is still failing ethnic minorities, 75 years after it promised care for all.”

“Racism affects how diseases are understood, how patients are treated, who progresses in medical careers, and whose data counts. Racism infiltrates every aspect of medicine.”

“At a time when equality and diversity programmes are being rolled back, we risk treating racism as a side-issue or optional extra in the NHS,” said Qureshi, from Cambridge’s History and Philosophy of Science Department.

“Being ‘race‑blind’ in medicine is not enough. The NHS must actively become anti‑racist if it is serious about equity.”

The book brings together a wide range of case studies and data to show how ethnicity affects the type of health issues people suffer, the ways patients get treated, and the medical professionals who treat them. These divisions are particularly stark in the areas of maternity and mental health.

Qureshi and colleagues cite research showing that Black women in England are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth as White women, while infant mortality for Black children is reported as double that of White children, showing that ethnic health gaps are still present from the very start of life in the UK.

Black patients are between six and nine times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than White patients, and Black individuals are four times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act.

Type 2 diabetes is between two and six times more common among South Asian and Black populations compared with White populations in the UK. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities arguably face some of the worst health outcomes of any group in the UK. 

“From sickle cell disease and maternal mortality to mental health and psychosis diagnoses, many areas of medicine cannot be understood or fixed without confronting racism head-on,” said Qureshi. “This includes disparities in medical career progression.”

He points out that, while the UK’s medical workforce has become increasingly diverse, persistent inequalities remain, particularly affecting Black doctors, women from ethnic minority backgrounds, and international medical graduates.

“For example, across London, on average, Black doctors are six times less likely to be appointed as a consultant, rising to 15 times in some trusts,” said Qureshi.

Inequalities in data collection are a major issue for ethnicity in healthcare, argues Qureshi, and new technologies reliant on these datasets, such as artificial intelligence, risk reinforcing racial biases in medicine on both the treatment and career fronts. 

“Ethnicity should only be used in treatment algorithms when there is clear, robust evidence for its use, and no better alternatives, which in practice is rare,” he cautioned.

Improved data is just one of the key recommendations put forward in the book, along with reforms around professional regulation, greater support for international medical graduates, safeguards against bias in digital health, and medical courses that teach “cultural humility”: a recognition of the individual values and lived experiences of patients from all backgrounds.

Qureshi and colleagues say they wanted to create a “vision for anti‑racist medicine, across the domains of leadership, education, workforce, clinical care, research, and technology.”

“Anti‑racist medicine is not about lowering standards or favouring one group over another,” added Qureshi. “It is about removing barriers that worsen outcomes for patients and professionals alike.”

“The NHS was founded on fairness, a principle that the British public holds dear. Anti-racist medicine is at the heart of ensuring this promise is honoured.”

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The news comes as the Fitzwilliam celebrates record-breaking visitor numbers with 2025 becoming the second-highest attendance on record (493,612), following a record-breaking year in 2024 (506,428).

The Fitzwilliam Museum has today been announced as one of five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2026, the world’s largest museum prize.

Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries, annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Museum of the Year. The 2026 edition recognises inspiring projects and activity from autumn 2024 through to winter 2025. In addition to looking at the overall achievements of the organisation, judges are tasked to evaluate museums who through unexpected, innovative and forward-thinking practices, are pushing the boundaries of what a museum is or can achieve.

The other shortlisted museums are The Box (Plymouth), The National Gallery (London), Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Norwich), and V&A East Storehouse (London). The winning museum, recipient of £120,000, will be announced on 25 June at a ceremony at Cutty Sark in London. £20,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists – an increase of £5,000 for each museum – bringing the total prize money to £200,000.

The 2026 judging panel, chaired by Art Fund director Jenny Waldman, includes: Tony Butler OBE (Executive Director of Derby Museums), Yinka Ilori MBE (artist), Alice Loxton (historian, author and broadcaster) and June Sarpong OBE (broadcaster, writer and campaigner). The judges will visit each of the finalists to inform their decision-making, while each museum will make the most of being shortlisted over the summer through events and activities for new and current visitors.

Luke Syson, Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum said, “This is a really exciting moment for the Fitzwilliam. It’s lovely to receive Art Fund recognition for the journey we’ve been on in the past few years, expanding our narrative and evolving our collection to link past and present, local and global, creating a museum where we hope everyone feels they belong. Our collection remixes, bold exhibitions, and innovative partnerships have encouraged reflection, dialogue and creativity – and Art Fund support has been crucial for our transformation.”

Speaking on behalf of the judges, Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund said, “Congratulations to the Fitzwilliam Museum on being shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2026. The five shortlisted museums this year showcase extraordinary breadth of creativity and innovation, demonstrating the vital role museums play in building a brighter, more connected future for us all. From opening up world-leading collections to connecting with communities of all ages through ambitious exhibitions and programmes, each one offers something special. ‘We are thrilled to celebrate their achievements as finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year, thanks to our National Art Pass members who make the prize possible. We hope people everywhere will be inspired to explore the finalists and their local museums, to see firsthand the treasures and experiences that are open to everyone.”

Part of the University of Cambridge and founded in 1816 for ‘the pursuit of learning’, the Fitzwilliam Museum is home to an extraordinary collection of works of art and material culture primarily from Europe, North Africa and Asia. Its current exhibition, ‘Frank Bowling: Seeking the Sublime‘ offers a rare opportunity to see the breadth of Bowling’s career, from his earlier figurative works from the 1960s to the dramatic, abstract paintings that the artist is best known for today.  

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Scientists have found the strongest evidence to date that a condition known as Barrett’s oesophagus is the starting point for all cases of oesophageal adenocarcinoma – the most common type of oesophageal cancer in the developed world – even when telltale signs of this pre-cancerous stage are no longer visible.

If the link between precancers and cancer is unproven or unclear, screening programmes risk doing more harm than goodRebecca Fitzgerald

The findings, published today in Nature Medicine, could help improve screening for and early detection of oesophageal cancer, the sixth most deadly cancer, helping improve outcomes for the disease.

Cancer of the oesophagus, including its most common form oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC), is on the rise in western countries. It is difficult to treat because it is often caught at an advanced stage, when treatment options are limited.

Scientists and doctors have known for some time that the development of oesophageal cancer is linked with Barrett’s oesophagus, which shows up in endoscopy as a pink patch in the surface of the oesophagus. Barrett’s oesophagus affects around one out of every 100 to 200 people in the United Kingdom.

Between three and 13 people out of 100 with Barrett’s oesophagus will go on to develop oesophageal adenocarcinoma in their lifetime. However, around half of OAC patients have no detectable Barrett’s oesophagus when their cancer is found, raising doubts about whether it is always the precursor.

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald from the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge said: “Cancer generally takes many years to evolve, giving us a window of opportunity to catch it before if develops into a life-threatening condition. Screening and preventative strategies can have a massive impact on the number of people who die from cancer, but if the link between precancers and cancer is unproven or unclear, screening programmes risk doing more harm than good.”

To answer the question of whether Barrett’s oesophagus is a pre-requisite for OAC, researchers from Professor Fitzgerald and colleagues analysed epidemiological and clinical data from 3,100 OAC patients undergoing surgery to remove their tumour or diseased tissue. Patients were recruited from 25 centres across the UK.

The team also analysed whole genome sequencing data from 710 patients, which allows them to look at all of an individual’s DNA, and whole exome sequencing from multiple samples taken from 87 patients, allowing them to understand how their tumours evolved and how different parts of the same cancer may differ genetically.

The researchers hypothesised that if OAC can arise through different routes – not always involving Barrett’s oesophagus – then genomic data and associated risk factors would differ between these two groups. Conversely, extensive overlap would strongly suggest that Barrett’s oesophagus plays a central role in OAC progression.

Just over a third of participants (35%) had a diagnosis of Barrett’s oesophagus. However, the DNA, mutations, genomic patterns, and cellular ‘identity’ inside the cancers were essentially indistinguishable, regardless of whether doctors could identify Barrett’s oesophagus during endoscopy or in pathology samples.

The only major difference between cancers with or without visible Barrett’s oesophagus was the tumour stage – those patients without signs of Barrett’s oesophagus tended to have more advanced cancers. However, the team found biomarkers for Barrett’s oesophagus, such as the proteins TFF3 and REG4 present in the oesophagus cells at all disease stages including before the cancer has developed. This suggests that the growing tumour can destroy the original Barrett’s tissue, but importantly that proteins such as TFF3 and REG4 could be used to find individuals at future risk of oesophageal cancer.

Dr Shahriar Zamani, joint first author from the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute at Cambridge and now based at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, US, said: “We found no evidence for an alternative pathway to oesophageal adenocarcinoma other than Barrett’s oesophagus. Because it seems to be the universal precursor, detecting Barrett’s oesophagus earlier could offer a clearer route to preventing oesophageal cancer.”

Dr Lianlian Wu, joint first author, also from the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute, said: “What we need now are more sensitive, minimally invasive tests that identify people at risk based on molecular markers rather than relying solely on visible changes found during endoscopy.”

The research was supported by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council, with additional support by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Dr Dani Skirrow, Research Information Manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Detecting the earliest signs that cancer might develop gives us the opportunity to intervene and potentially prevent the disease.

“This research helps to clarify how the most common type of oesophageal cancer begins and, crucially, shows that the earliest signs are detectable even when doctors can’t see them.

“This opens the door to future tests that look for molecular clues of hidden pre-cancerous changes, helping people understand their risk of oesophageal cancer and get the necessary support to help keep the disease at bay.”

Professor Fitzgerald is the Research Lead for Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a new hospital that will transform how we diagnose and treat cancer. She has led the development of a capsule sponge test to diagnose Barrett’s oesophagus, which can be easily administered at a GP surgery, speeding up diagnosis.

The University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) are fundraising for Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, where detecting cancer at its earliest stages will be a key goal. Set to be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the hospital 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

Zamani, SA et al. Integrated epidemiological and molecular data yields insights into the relationship between precancer and cancer states of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Nat Med; 16 Apr 2026; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04331-8

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University spinout, CamGraPhIC, has received the EC greenlight for €211 million funding (about £183 million) from Italy to support the development of photonic optical transceivers based on graphene.

CamGraPhIC (Cambridge Graphene Photonic Integrated Circuits), co-founded by Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, and Dr Marco Romagnoli, previously at CNIT in Italy, is developing new types of photonic circuits for energy-efficient, high-bandwidth optical interconnect technology.

Optical transceivers are devices used to send and receive data through light instead of electrons in chips. These chips can be used in different sectors, including automotive, telecommunication, aerospace and defence. Replacement of the traditionally used silicon with graphene is expected to significantly improve the devices’ performance and efficiency, vital for the development of AI applications and the transmission of large amounts of cellular data.

CamGraPhIC’s graphene-based transceivers provide a viable, stable, and scalable alternative to current silicon-based photonics. These transceivers deliver higher bandwidth density and exceptional latency performance, while consuming 80% less energy than traditional pluggable data centre optical transceivers. This is particularly effective for transferring large volumes of data between graphic processing units (GPUs) and high bandwidth memory (HBM), which are fundamental to generative AI and high-performance computing.

The transceivers operate efficiently across a broad temperature range, eliminating the need for complex and costly cooling systems. Thanks to a simplified device architecture enabled by the integration of graphene into the photonic structure, these transceivers are also more cost-effective to manufacture.

The funding – approved by the European Commission under its state aid rules – will take the form of a direct grant to CamGraPhIC. It will be used to fund a collaborative project advancing innovation in graphene photonics transceivers to be carried out in Pisa and Bergamo, in partnership with universities and research and technology organisations.

“I am delighted that the European Commission has approved the Italian state aid measure worth €211 million to support the development of graphene-based photonic chips by CamGraPhIC,” said Ferrari. “I believe this to be the largest single grant ever made to a University of Cambridge spinout. It will enable the establishment of a manufacturing facility for these new cutting-edge devices, and it comes a few months after a private investment funding of €25 million co-led by CDP Venture Capital, NATO Innovation Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, and Join Capital, with participation from Bosch Ventures, Frontier IP Group plc, and Indaco Ventures. I would like to extend particular thanks to the Sony Innovation Fund for its strategic engagement with stakeholders connected to the Italian government funding process.”

Antonio Avitabile, Managing Director, Sony Ventures EMEA, added: “This announcement represents an important milestone, marking the first concrete step in the project’s progression. The decision highlights the strategic importance of graphene photonics for the European semiconductor ecosystem and the project’s potential contribution to technological progress in the automotive, telecommunications and aerospace sectors.”

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French trip highlighting the power of partnership for innovation with Ox-Cam, Manchester and Station F.

“I believe we have a genuine opportunity to help drive the next industrial revolution for the UK. That means engaging confidently in global conversations about what world‑class innovation infrastructure looks like.”University of Cambridge Vice Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, recently returned from a trip to France, where Cambridge was cementing partnerships across the Channel with French innovators.

Organised by the OxCam Supercluster, the visit showcased Cambridge’s growing UK and international research and innovation partnerships, especially with Ox-Cam, Manchester, and Station F. Cambridge was part of a wider UK delegation that included academic leaders, industry partners, and investors from across the Ox-Cam corridor and Manchester.

Cross-Channel innovation

At Station F on 7 April, Roxanne Varza, Director of Station F, who hosted innovation leaders, discussed how to further enhance international and national collaboration.

The Vice-Chancellor addressed attendees: “For us, this kind of cross‑Channel learning really matters, and it’s inspiring to be here with colleagues from Oxford and Manchester Universities and many other partners and friends who share a commitment to creating meaningful impact through excellence. Innovation doesn’t stop at internal or external borders, and neither should the systems that support it.” She continued, “I believe we have a genuine opportunity to help drive the next industrial revolution for the UK. That means engaging confidently in global conversations about what world‑class innovation infrastructure looks like.”

At the same event, the Vice Chancellor announced Pascal Levensohn as Chair of the Cambridge Innovation Hub Global Advisory Board, explaining: “The Cambridge Innovation Hub is the centrepiece of this renewed focus on partnership: a way to seize the opportunities we know are there, together.”

The vital importance of national and international partnerships

At a visit to the UK Embassy in Paris for a reception later the same day, hosted by His Excellency the UK Ambassador to France, Sir Thomas Drew, the Vice-Chancellor spoke about the exchange of ideas between Station F and the Cambridge Innovation ecosystem, including joint initiatives such as the Entente CordIAle artificial intelligence initiative between Paris Saclay Oxford and Cambridge signed last year, and the renewed flow of people and talent between countries.

In a speech to attendees, the Vice-Chancellor described the special relationship between France and the United Kingdom, highlighting the collaborative relationship.

The Vice-Chancellor also spoke about the strength of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, adding how: “Cambridge and Oxford are two of the most innovation‑intensive ecosystems anywhere in the world – highly concentrated, mutually complementary, and at a scale where strategic connection across the corridor becomes a competitive advantage.” The corridor hosts over 8,000 high‑tech firms, 2,500 start-ups and more than 500 spin‑outs, generating tens of billions for the UK economy every year.

The Vice-Chancellor also signalled the importance of the Manchester-Cambridge partnership, with the University of Manchester Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison, joining the delegation to further strengthen pan-regional innovation partnerships across the UK.

Innovation accelerating in Cambridge

This trip comes at a time when both the pace and intensity of innovation in and around Cambridge have accelerated dramatically. In the past month, Cambridge has announced major new investments in quantum and AI – including the IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre and a significant expansion of national AI supercomputing capacity. Cambridge companies are scaling at an incredible rate. Quantinuum’s $10 billion valuation and multiple Cambridge ventures raising over $100 million illustrate the strength of momentum. This month, Cambridge also announced the creation of the Rokos School of Government – a new school designed to place science and innovation at the very centre of how future leaders are educated.

Hackathon

The visit concluded with a trip, on 8 April, with Christine Neau-Leduc, the Présidente of the Sorbonne-Panthéon, to attend part of a hackathon organised by the Entente Cordiale. Cambridge students were delighted to win the top Entente Cordiale Prize this year, and won 3 of the top 5 Prizes. All the laureates will have the opportunity to present their reports to Buckingham Palace in June.

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Professor Mark Brown has devoted decades to defending pollinators from disease, pesticides and parasites.

By Liam Morgan

One-third of the food we eat relies on bee-pollinated crops. But in Europe, at least 23% of bee species are in decline.

“What happens to pollinators could have huge knock-on effects for humanity,” says Professor Lynn Dicks from the Department of Zoology. “These small creatures play central roles in the world’s ecosystems, including many that humans and other animals rely on for nutrition. If they go, we may be in serious trouble.”

Help is coming. Meet Mark Brown, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology and the new Director of the Museum of Zoology.

Mark looks at the reasons behind pollinator decline. The story is a complex one, where pollinators are beset by stressors: emerging diseases, pesticides, disappearing habitats and parasites.

Mark has spent 28 years tracking this story, from Zürich to Dublin, then London and now to Cambridge. His teams have quantified the harmful chemicals that wild bees are exposed to and produced the world’s first regional IUCN Red List for bees – allowing for detailed plans on how to preserve pollinators in the UK.

In rearing bee colonies in his lab, Mark puts his life on the line:

“I’m actually allergic to bumblebee stings, so I have to be super careful. I became allergic through working with them and getting stung so many times. If I was stung now and didn’t receive treatment, I’d die.”

To reverse pollinator decline, we need to entwine our lives with the behaviour of these species. Mark, alongside a growing cadre of pollinator researchers at Cambridge, can point the way.

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“I’m actually allergic to bumblebee stings, so I have to be super careful. If I was stung now and didn’t receive treatment, I’d die.”

Mark Brown, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology and Director of the Museum of Zoology

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The stressful life of bees

Bees, ants, wasps and termites are special kinds of insects. Biologists sometimes call them ‘eusocial’, to reflect their complex social dynamics. They have specialised roles for individuals, with some members devoted to breeding, while others gather food.

Social insect biologists are still debating the efficiencies of these roles. They create colonies in the lab to test the strengths of different make-ups – where every ant is a worker, for instance – and compare them to each other. Zoology’s Duygu Sevilgen is doing the same with corals, in measuring how lab-grown colonies respond to varying ocean environments. 

Likewise, keeping bee colonies in the lab allows Mark to vary the environment and measure how the hive reacts. 

Mark says, “If you think of a colony as a superorganism, it opens up some fascinating possibilities. We couldn’t take a human, break up their cells, and put them back together in different ways to see how they work. But you can do that with social insect colonies.”

Coupled with bees collected in the wild, Mark can build a picture of how bee populations respond to threats. At sites across Europe, Mark and his collaborators measure environmental toxins, climate data and the number of flowers in a given area, to build a picture of the resources available to bee colonies. 

Mark says, “We take all of that information and do some heavy statistical crunching. We come out with a clear picture of what is the main driver of bee decline, and how that varies across space.”

Mark’s team found that pesticides are still a key driver of bee population decline, despite measures being taken to limit the chemicals’ spread. These findings highlight the difficulty in assessing agricultural chemicals: until they are unleashed in the real world, we can’t always foresee how an ecosystem will respond.

In addition to pesticides, Mark’s team identified the potential for pathogens to spillover from managed honeybees to wild bumblebees – something like bee COVID – and ways to stop this from happening.

“We need to work with beekeepers to make sure they have the tools and training to keep beehives as healthy as possible,” Mark says.

When trying to control the spread of diseases, Mark recommends buffer zones around protected areas that support wild bees, or other measures to prevent spillover.

We can take comfort in wider Cambridge research uncovering bees’ ability to combat disease. Biochemistry’s Dr Eyal Maori has found a new form of social immunity in honeybees, where individuals can share anti-viral RNA with each other. In this way, information on how to fight diseases can spread rapidly across the colony. 

To ensure the latest research is put to use in the real world, Mark lobbies policymakers across Europe, letting them know the best ways that we can allow pollinators to recover. 

“Seeing real world positive impacts as a result of this work is enormously satisfying,” Mark says. “To make a reliably good change sometimes takes decades, but it’s worth it.”

Using ‘natural pharmacies’ to fight parasites

The degradation of the natural world also affects the delicate balance between bees and their parasites.

Bumblebees have an annual lifecycle. The bigger bumblebees we see in spring are queens freshly out of hibernation (a sleepy state where queens slow their metabolic rate by 99%, and can breathe underwater if their home floods). Queens emerge from slumber ready to start a new colony. 

But there’s a catch, Mark says: “If a queen is infected with a particular parasite when she enters hibernation, she’ll produce 40% fewer queens and males in the next colony. For social insects like bees, there’s a huge cost to being parasitised.”

Bumblebees’ most common parasite is a trypanosome. It’s been co-evolving with bees for millions of years, with the parasite trying to exploit the bee, while the bee adapts its defences. Bees catch it when drinking nectar that’s been visited by other infected bees, who leave their poo on the flowers. The parasites then swim through the bee’s stomach and embed themselves in their gut wall. 

Mark has first-hand experience in collecting parasitised samples. 

“Bumblebees use their poo as a defence mechanism,” he says. “When you come towards the nest, many of them lie on their back and shoot their poo at you. I’ve been in the line of fire more times than I care to admit.”

Where floral resources are abundant, bees can use the environment as a ‘natural pharmacy’ – weakening their parasites with chemicals found in nectar and pollen. 

“There’s a chemical found in heather that stops bees getting infected by the parasite,” Mark explains. “It causes the parasite to lose its tail, meaning it can’t embed in bee guts.”

Land-use change, driven by intensive agriculture and urbanisation, has dramatically reduced the natural resources that bees can call upon to fight their parasites. In the UK, 80% of lowland heaths have vanished, meaning many bees have lost that method of parasite control. 

Mark thinks this is replicated elsewhere: that many flowering plants with antimicrobial benefits to bees and other pollinators are no longer available. 

These insights are crucial for future restoration efforts, which can aim to rebuild such ‘natural pharmacies’.

Mark warns, “We need to give bees their full range of defensive options, which they had access to before we simplified the landscape.”

Here, Mark’s role as Director of the Museum of Zoology comes to the fore.

“When it comes to biodiversity, the Museum’s collections underpin our understanding of what the world was like, and what we can aim for the world to be again,” Mark says. “The more museum collections are used in this way, the more important they become.”

Mark is keen for future exhibitions to directly link to current research being done at the Museum, and the wider University. He’ll also reinforce the invitation to people from all over the world to use its collections for their work. 

“We want to interrogate our collections, and work together with the communities who collected them, and from whose lands they were collected. I want to remove all barriers to access, and encourage people who’ve never been to a university museum before to visit. We want to make our collections accessible to all, and welcome people from all parts of society.”

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Support Cambridge’s pollinator research

Cambridge is working on solutions to regenerate nature, rewire energy, redefine economics, and rethink transport. You can support our pollinator research by donating online.

Donate now

Published on 8 April 2026.

Words: Liam Morgan.
Photography: Lloyd Mann.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Source: cam.ac.uk

New immersive experience will help University astronomers inspire next generation of scientists

A state-of-the-art planetarium is set to transform how pupils across the East of England learn about space and the universe – and how Cambridge University supports teaching in schools.

Believed to be the first free planetarium in the region, and one of only a handful of free planetariums in the whole of the UK, the University’s Institute of Astronomy says the new digital resource – which they have just taken delivery of – will revolutionise how they inspire the next generation of scientists.

Powered by the most up-to-date technology available, the planetarium creates an entirely immersive experience, with fully rendered 3D environments in space. It is big enough to take a class of 30 pupils on a journey tens of millions of light years from Earth, but portable enough so that the University’s AstroEast schools outreach team can take the experience to them.

Dr Matt Bothwell, Public Astronomer at the University of Cambridge, said: “The planetarium will transform our work in schools – it’s an entirely different way of engaging with the universe. I’ve been doing this job for about 10 years, and up until now it hasn’t changed all that much in terms of how we try to capture kids’ imaginations.

“The planetarium is completely immersive, and you get a feel for space in a way that you just don’t get from listening to a talk, or even Googling it and seeing images on a computer screen. We can put pupils in the middle of space, in orbit around the Moon or a planet, or on a trip to neighbouring galaxies. Basically, we now have the universe in a box.”

AstroEast already provides curriculum-based workshops and activities at schools across the East of England, using astronomy to inspire Key Stage 3 (year 7-9) pupils and improve numeracy and literacy. But Dr Hannah Strathern, Outreach Facilitator at the Institute of Astronomy, says being able to offer schools the planetarium experience is a game changer.

She said: “It will have such a huge impact on how we approach our outreach and work with schools, because we can take this amazing experience to them – and for free. And I’m sure it will be an experience that many children never forget, even more than just having an astronomer come in and talk to them – no matter how interesting the talk is! The planetarium is awe-inspiring, as soon as you go into it you feel this ‘whoosh’ as you’re transported into space.”

The University’s new planetarium was made possible following a generous philanthropic gift from Dr May Chiao, a former Research Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory, and Darwin College. It is bespoke, and because of its specialist design needed to be custom-made. Dr Bothwell said: “It’s something we’ve wanted for years. So many astronomers – and scientists more broadly – say that their first experience of science was the thing that made them fall in love with the subject, and quite often that is a planetarium. It makes science material, more visceral and real.

“Even as an astronomer, this is something entirely different. I’ve obviously spent a lot of time looking at the Moon through a telescope, but being about to travel to the Moon in 3D and fly over its mountains and valleys – rendered in extraordinary detail using images captured by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter programme – really is on another level.”

As well as its focus on school outreach, The Institute of Astronomy’s public engagement work includes public lectures and regular free stargazing evenings, which an estimated 100,000 members of the community have taken part in since they were launched in the 1990s.

To find out more about arranging a school visit, contact outreach@ast.cam.ac.uk

Published: 7th April, 2026
Words: Stephen Bevan
Images: Dr Hannah Strathern

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The announcement was made by the Vice‑Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, during a visit to Station F in Paris.

Pascal’s leadership will help ensure that our scientists and entrepreneurs have the environment, investment, and support they need to build companies that change the world.University of Cambridge Vice Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice

Cambridge University has appointed Pascal Levensohn as Chair of the Global Advisory Board for the Cambridge Innovation Hub, the flagship new initiative which seeks to transform the UK’s capacity to scale world‑leading deep tech and life sciences companies.

The announcement was made by the Vice‑Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, during a visit to Station F in Paris. Station F hosts more than 1,000 early‑stage companies and provides a fully connected ecosystem of programmes, investors, corporates and support services to accelerate startup growth.

Welcoming the appointment, Vice‑Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said:
“The Innovation Hub strengthens Cambridge’s mission to translate outstanding research into real‑world impact. Pascal’s leadership will help ensure that our scientists and entrepreneurs have the environment, investment, and support they need to build companies that change the world.”

An innovation hub for the UK

The Cambridge Innovation Hub, backed by at least £15 million in government investment as part of the £800 million Oxford–Cambridge Growth Package, is proposed to become Europe’s premier destination for early‑stage science‑based companies.

The Hub will seek to provide:

• A dedicated home for deep tech and life sciences startups
• Shared laboratories, prototyping facilities, and collaboration spaces
• A central convening point for researchers, investors, corporates, and entrepreneurs
• Focus on Cambridge’s strengths and deliver growth of the IS8 sectors
• A nationally networked platform to accelerate research translation.

Cambridge is at the forefront of new science and technology. Soon to be home to the UK’s most powerful quantum computer at the Ray Dolby Centre, the city sits at the intersection of AI, quantum computing, life sciences, engineering and advanced materials. The Innovation Hub is designed to accelerate breakthroughs across these converging fields.

Speaking about his appointment, Pascal Levensohn said: “The UK is writing the biggest cheque in its history on innovation. As Chair of the Global Advisory Board, my mandate is to advise Cambridge University’s leadership on strategy and the implementation of best governance practices related to the Innovation Hub. Our objective is to scale a robust innovation ecosystem extending well beyond the University that will deliver not just financial returns, but returns for society.”

Why the Innovation Hub matters now

Cambridge is doubling down to meet the current pace and intensity of innovation. There is a need to capitalise on the rich pool of talent in the region at a time when the UK is moving decisively to expand its innovation capacity. Recent government commitments include:

• £2 billion for quantum technologies
• £500 million for the Sovereign AI initiative
• £800 million for the Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor

This national investment aligns with the rapid rise of the Cambridge ecosystem, which has grown 80% in the past decade, with startups raising £7.9 billion since 2015 and attracting nearly 40% international investor participation.

An asset designed for the Oxford–Cambridge Corridor

The UK’s competitive advantage lies in the research‑to‑growth corridor between Oxford and Cambridge. An Innovation Hub is proposed to amplify this advantage by providing a single, interconnected platform for scaling science and deep tech‑based companies. As Pascal Levensohn explained:

“The UK doesn’t need a single centre of gravity — it needs an interconnected system, an Innovation Hub which exists in the Oxford–Cambridge corridor. The Cambridge Innovation Hub Global Advisory Board exists to serve Cambridge University’s leadership and the UK’s broader national innovation initiative; to magnify the distinctive position of the UK’s top research universities as the world’s leading research‑to‑commercialisation cluster.”

With Innovate UK shifting toward high‑conviction investment and the £500 million Sovereign AI Fund launching on 16 April, the UK is entering a new era of strategic public investment. The Innovation Hub will play a central role in ensuring that this investment is matched with world‑class governance.

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source: cam.ac.uk

Researchers have developed a solar-powered reactor to break down hard-to-recycle forms of plastic waste – such as drinks bottles, nylon textiles and polyurethane foams – using acid recovered from old car batteries, and converting it into clean hydrogen fuel and valuable industrial chemicals.

The reactor, developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, is powered by the energy from the sun, and could be a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to current chemical-based recycling methods. The team say their method could create a circular system where one waste stream solves another. Their results are reported in the journal Joule.

Global plastic production exceeds 400 million tonnes per year, yet only 18% is recycled. The rest is burned, landfilled, or leaks into ecosystems. The researchers say that their method, known as solar‑powered acid photoreforming, could help address the global mountain of plastic waste.

The researchers engineered a photocatalyst that is robust enough to withstand the highly corrosive effects of acid, while making productive use of the acid inside spent car batteries, which is normally neutralised and discarded.

“The discovery was almost accidental,” said Professor Erwin Reisner from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, who led the research. “We used to think acid was completely off limits in these solar-powered systems, because it would simply dissolve everything. But our catalyst developed didn’t – and suddenly a whole new world of reactions opened up.”

“Acids have long been used to break plastics apart, but we never had a cheap and scalable photocatalyst that could withstand them,” said lead author Kay Kwarteng, a PhD candidate in Reisner’s research group, who developed the photocatalyst. “Once we solved that problem, the advantages of this type of system became obvious.”

The method developed by Kwarteng, Reisner and their colleagues first treats waste plastics with the car battery waste acid, breaking the long polymer chains into chemical building blocks such as ethylene glycol, which the photocatalyst then converts into hydrogen and acetic acid (the main ingredient in vinegar) when exposed to sunlight.

In laboratory tests, the reactor generated high hydrogen yields and produced acetic acid with high selectivity. It also ran for more than 260 hours without any loss in performance.

The approach works for multiple types of plastic waste, even those that are currently tough to recycle, such as nylon and polyurethane. This offers a real advancement to current upcycling technologies that do not cover plastics beyond PET.

The approach works not just with new, laboratory-grade acid, but with the acid recovered from car batteries. These batteries contain between 20-40% acid by volume, and are replaced worldwide in huge numbers every year. The lead in these batteries is typically extracted for resale, but the acid creates extra waste once it is safely neutralised.

“It’s an untapped resource,” said Kwarteng. “If we can collect the acid before it’s neutralised, we can use it again and again to break down plastics: it’s a real win-win, avoiding the environmental cost of neutralising the acid, while putting it to work generating clean hydrogen.”

The researchers say their method offers a potential order‑of‑magnitude cost reduction compared with other photoreforming approaches, largely because the acid enables increased hydrogen production rates and can be reused rather than consumed or wasted.

Kwarteng says that although challenges remain – such as ensuring reactors can withstand corrosive conditions – the fundamental chemistry is sound. “These acids are already handled safely in industry,” he said. “The question now is engineering: how do we build reactors that can run continuously and handle real‑world waste?”

The researchers say that their approach won’t replace conventional recycling, but it could complement it by handling contaminated or mixed plastics that currently have no viable route to reuse.

“We’re not promising to fix the global plastics problem,” said Reisner. “But this shows how waste can become a resource. The fact we can create value from plastic waste using sunlight and discarded battery acid makes this a really promising process.”

The team plans to commercialise this process with the support of Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s innovation arm, and with a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account. The research was supported in part by the Cambridge Trust, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Leverhulme Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. Kay Kwarteng is a Member of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Reference:
Papa K. Kwarteng et al. ‘Solar Reforming of Plastics using Acid-catalyzed Depolymerization.’ Joule (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2026.102347

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source: cam.ac.uk

Cambridge Men’s Blue Boat has won The Boat Race for the fourth time in a row.

More than 200,000 spectators lined the banks of the Thames in London on Easter Saturday as Oxford and Cambridge met in the 2026 chapter of nearly 200 years of competition.

Conditions were expected to be challenging, with a south-westerly wind causing choppy conditions, and so it proved – particularly towards the end of the course.

In the Men’s race, Oxford won the toss and selected arguably the most advantageous side of the river, the Surrey station. But it was in fact Cambridge who took the advantage, getting off to a strong start. Despite strong challenges from the Dark Blues in the first two thirds of the race, the Light Blues pulled clear in the final third, claiming victory by 11.02 seconds for a seventh win in eight years.

The result meant that it is the fourth time Cambridge Men’s President Noam Mouelle (Hughes Hall), has won the Boat Race, the first Cambridge man to win four consecutive Boat Races in the 21st century and the first since Christopher Baillieu MBE in 1970, 71, 72, 73. Interestingly, both rowed in the 2 seat.

He said: “This was the most difficult race we’ve had in years.

“In these conditions we knew we had to get the job done early on in the race, which we did, but Oxford put some very good pushes in and made it as hard as possible so props to them for that.

“At the moment my main feeling is one of relief! We didn’t make any mistakes in such rough water and now I’m just going to relax and enjoy the moment. Tonight we’ll have a great dinner then take a step back and reflect on what we have achieved.”

Cox Sammy Houdaigui (Fitzwilliam) said: “We talked a lot before the race about what that first half would look like.

“Given that we were on the Middlesex [station], and given the way the race was playing out – and knowing the conditions were going to get biblical in the second half – we really wanted to make sure we had a margin and that we could be in the water we wanted to be in the second half and not be forced to stay wide into the rougher water.

“Oxford were leaning fairly hard on us in the first quarter but at a certain point, with the conditions we had, I had to put the bow ball where it needed to be for these guys to drive us out and ahead. There were some risky moments in that of course, but I had complete confidence in the crew to come out on top. It just feels fantastic.”

Earlier in the afternoon Cambridge Women’s President Gemma King (St John’s) had won the toss and selected the Surrey station. But Oxford made a strong start to the race in the tricky conditions.

Cambridge’s Women’s Blue Boat cox Matt Moran (Emmanuel), who had honed his skills on the Tideway while a member of Thames Rowing Club, tried everything to bridge the gap, but Oxford managed to hold onto their lead.

It was better news for the reserve crews, with both the women’s boat Blondie and the men’s boat Goldie winning their respective races. Blondie won by nine lengths and Goldie won by a massive margin of 58 seconds.

And on Friday both the Women and Men’s Lightweight Crews won their respective races and also both the Women’s and Men’s Veterans Crews won their races.

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “It was brilliant. It was rough out there on the water, it was really crazy in the middle of the course, and I’m so impressed with what both sides did.

“It’s delightful that Cambridge have won the Men’s race again, as well as both reserve races. The women in the Blue Boat rowed well, it was a tough course, they did everything they could to win. They rowed with real heart and we are proud of them.”

Today’s results mean the records currently stand as 49-31 in the favour of Cambridge Women and 89-81 in the favour of Cambridge Men.

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source: cam.ac.uk