Topic description and stories

From microscopic cells to massive galaxies, imaging is a core tool for many research fields today, and it’s also the basis of a surge in recent technical developments – some of which are being pioneered in Cambridge.

Minecraft tree “probably” the tallest tree in the Tropics

08 Jun 2016

A tree the height of 20 London double-decker buses has been discovered in Malaysia by conservation scientists monitoring the impact of human activity...

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World first as 3,000-year-old Chinese oracle bones go 3D

21 Mar 2016

A 3000-year-old ox bone - inscribed with the earliest-known example of Chinese writing - has become the world's first 'oracle bone' to be scanned and...

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Researchers identify when Parkinson’s proteins become toxic to brain cells

14 Mar 2016

Observation of the point at which proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease become toxic to brain cells could help identify how and why people...

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HALLUZINATION

Hallucinations linked to differences in brain structure

17 Nov 2015

People diagnosed with schizophrenia who are prone to hallucinations are likely to have structural differences in a key region of the brain compared...

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A Surprising New Path to Tumor Development

New microscopic imaging technology reveals origins of leukaemia

19 Oct 2015

Scientists at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular...

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The central object is a very distant galaxy, labelled BDF 3299. The bright red cloud just to the lower left is the ALMA detection of a vast cloud of material that is in the process of assembling the very young galaxy

Astronomers witness assembly of galaxies in the early Universe for the first time

22 Jul 2015

An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge have detected the most distant clouds of star-forming gas yet found in normal...

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Imaging atherosclerotic calcification or ‘hardening of the arteries’ using positron emission tomography

New research allows doctors to image dangerous ‘hardening’ of the arteries

10 Jul 2015

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, have shown how a radioactive agent developed in the...

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DNA representation

Expanding the DNA alphabet: ‘extra’ DNA base found to be stable in mammals

22 Jun 2015

A rare DNA base, previously thought to be a temporary modification, has been shown to be stable in mammalian DNA, suggesting that it plays a key role...

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Left: Image of HD 115600 showing a bright debris ring viewed nearly edge-on and located just beyond a Pluto-like distance to the star. Right: A model of the HD 115600 debris ring on the same scale.

Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a ‘toddler’

27 May 2015

Astronomers have discovered a disc of planetary debris surrounding a young sun-like star that shares remarkable similarities with the Kuiper Belt...

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Killer T-Cell

Body’s ‘serial killers’ captured on film destroying cancer cells

19 May 2015

A dramatic video has captured the behaviour of cytotoxic T cells – the body’s ‘serial killers’ – as they hunt down and eliminate cancer cells before...

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Artist’s impression of super-Earth 55 Cancri e, showing a hot partially-molten surface of the planet before and after possible volcanic activity on the day side.

Astronomers find first evidence of changing conditions on a super Earth

05 May 2015

Astronomers have detected wildly changing temperatures on a super Earth – the first time any atmospheric variability has been observed on a rocky...

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Adult Volvox spheroid containing multiple embryos

Upside down and inside out

27 Apr 2015

Researchers have captured the first 3D video of a living algal embryo turning itself inside out, from a sphere to a mushroom shape and back again...

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