What to take to university is a question foremost in the minds of thousands of freshers up and down the country. Christopher Page’s latest book ‘The Guitar in Tudor England’ reveals that 16th century students faced similar dilemmas – though their packing lists were rather different.

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, Q is for Queen Bumblebee, one of the UK's 1,500 species of wild pollinators that play a vital role in the environment and food production.

Professor David Runciman, Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), answers questions about UK politics, voting, and the ELECTION podcast.

New research shows male lizards are more likely than females to be attacked by predators because the bright colours they need to attract a mate also make them more conspicuous to birds.

He trained as a medical doctor in Syria and did a PhD at Cambridge in order to set up a cancer research unit in Aleppo. In 2012, Dr Talal Al-Mayhani found himself in an impossible situation and decided to settle in the UK. He has worked hard for peace in Syria ever since – and is convinced that it will come. When it does, he will return to Aleppo. 

Robert Winstanley-Chesters, Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Beyond the Korean War Project, discusses the motivations behind North Korea's relaunch of it nuclear weapons complex.

Political issues ranging from the future of Europe, the US elections, immigration and how to deal with Islamic extremists will be at the heart of this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas which runs from 19th October to 1st November.

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, P is for Pet. Cultural geographer Dr Philip Howell and PhD student Makoto Takahashi examine both the lighter and darker sides of pet keeping as a national obsession.

A five-day programme of events at Homerton College, Cambridge, will celebrate the publication, 150 years ago, of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Here, Dr Zoe Jaques, a lecturer in children’s literature, explores images of Alice from the first edition onwards. 

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, K is for Kingfisher. Look out for them among the swamp cypresses at the Botanic Garden, where the secrets behind their cyan and blue feathers are being studied by an extraordinary collaboration of scientists.