Topic description and stories

An image from an experiment in the quantum optics laboratory in Cambridge. Laser light was used to excite individual tiny, artificially constructed atoms known as quantum dots, to create “squeezed” single photons

Scientists "squeeze" light one particle at a time

01 Sep 2015

A team of scientists have measured a bizarre effect in quantum physics, in which individual particles of light are said to have been “squeezed” – an...

Read more
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...

Read more
PhD student Maria Kiourlappou holding a piece of SmB6

To conduct, or to insulate? That is the question

02 Jul 2015

Researchers have identified a material that behaves as a conductor and an insulator at the same time, challenging current understanding of how...

Read more
Artist's impression of the SKA, which will be made up of thousands of dishes that operate as one gigantic telescope

Masters of the universe

19 Jun 2015

The ‘world’s largest IT project’ — a system with the power of one hundred million home computers — may help to unravel many of the mysteries of our...

Read more
Artist’s impression of one of the possible galaxy strangulation mechanisms: star-forming galaxies (fed by gas inflows) are accreted into a massive hot halo, which ‘strangles’ them and leads to their death.

Cause of galactic death: strangulation

13 May 2015

Astronomers have partially solved an epic whodunit: what kills galaxies so that they can no longer produce new stars?

Read more
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...

Read more
Front Group l – r Francis Shiner, Managing Director, SDC Builders Ltd; Professor Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics; Professor Lynn Gladden, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research; and Professor Andy Parker, Head of the Department of Physics

Landmark event for £26 million building named after physicist James Clerk Maxwell

15 Apr 2015

Topping out event for pioneering new building which will provide a home for blue skies thinking and interaction with industry.

Read more
The radiation pattern from a dipole antenna showing symmetry breaking of the electric field

New understanding of electromagnetism could enable ‘antennas on a chip’

09 Apr 2015

New understanding of the nature of electromagnetism could lead to antennas small enough to fit on computer chips – the ‘last frontier’ of...

Read more
3D dipole integration panoramic poster

Large Hadron Collider restarts after two years

07 Apr 2015

After two years of intense maintenance and consolidation, and several months of preparation for restart, the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful...

Read more
"Green Power". While conventional solar cells use silicon, it is possible that other materials could eventually be used that would increase their efficiency.

Scientists move closer to “two for one deal” on solar cell efficiency

16 Mar 2015

The causes of a hitherto mysterious process that could enhance the power of solar cells have been explained in a new study.

Read more
Illustration of the outflow (red) and gas flowing in to the quasar in the centre (blue). The cold clumps shown in the inset image are expelled out of the galaxy in a 'galactic hailstorm'

Galactic ‘hailstorm’ in the early Universe

16 Jan 2015

Astronomers have been able to peer back to the young Universe to determine how quasars – powered by supermassive black holes with the mass of a...

Read more
A lipid membrane functionalised with DNA-linkers

Responsive material could be the ‘golden ticket’ of sensing

07 Jan 2015

A new responsive material ‘glued’ together with short strands of DNA, and capable of translating thermal and chemical signals into visible physical...

Read more

Pages