Topic description and stories

Researcher Sanjie Jiang inside the 'flight arena' in the glasshouse of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Virus attracts bumblebees to infected plants by changing scent

11 Aug 2016

Study of bee-manipulating plant virus reveals a “short-circuiting” of natural selection. Researchers suggest that replicating the scent caused by...

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Opinion: A varied diet can prevent diabetes – but can you afford it?

20 Jul 2016

Pablo Monsivais (MRC Epidemiology Unit) and Annalijn I. Conklin (University of California, Los Angeles) discuss what sort of diet can reduce your...

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mmmm coke

Opinion: When it comes to sugary drinks, people prefer a nudge than a tax

09 Jun 2016

Theresa Marteau (Behaviour and Health Research Unit) discusses how to get people to consume less sugar.

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Neighbourhoods with more takeaways amplify social inequalities in unhealthy eating and obesity

11 May 2016

People who live or work near to a greater number of takeaway outlets are more likely to eat more takeaway food and to be overweight, but new research...

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Fish and chips

Opinion: Local takeaways create a double burden for obesity

11 May 2016

Thomas Burgoine and Pablo Monsivais (Centre for Diet and Activity Research) discuss how takeaways can make social inequality worse.

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DSC02863 (cropped)

Overweight individuals more likely to make unhealthier choices when faced with real food

14 Apr 2016

Overweight people make unhealthier food choices than lean people when presented with real food, even though both make similar selections when...

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Max burger (cropped)

It’s time to change the way we think about changing what people eat

11 Apr 2016

The Chancellor's recent announcement about a tax on sugary drinks is a step in the right direction towards fighting obesity, but we will need to use...

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Nancy's Fruit Salad by John Hritz

Healthy vs unhealthy food: the challenges of understanding food choices

11 Mar 2016

We know a lot about food but little about the food choices that affect the nation’s health. Researchers have begun to devise experiments to find out...

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Vice-Chancellor calls for increased collaboration with Africa

10 Mar 2016

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Global Gathering 2016, an international conference focused on the development of...

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Opinion: Obesity: stop accusing the poor of making bad choices

09 Mar 2016

Pablo Monsivais (Centre for Diet and Activity Research) discusses obesity and the influence of socioeconomic circumstances in shaping food choices...

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Carpenter bee (Xylocopa flavorufa) visiting coffee flower (Coffea arabica)

Pollinator species vital to our food supply are under threat, warn experts

26 Feb 2016

A new report from experts and Government around the world addresses threats to animal pollinators such as bees, birds and bats that are vital to more...

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How 'more food per field' could help save our wild spaces

28 Jan 2016

Increased farm yields could help to spare land from agriculture for natural habitats that benefit wildlife and store greenhouse gases, but only if...

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