Topic description and stories

Explore our long reads...

Military musicians returning from Napoleonic wars invented Britain’s brass bands

30 October 2024

Military musicians returning from the Napoleonic wars established Britain’s first brass bands earlier than previously thought, Dr Eamonn O'Keeffe has found. The study undermines the idea that brass bands were a civilian and exclusively northern creation.

Read more

Provide shady spots to protect butterflies from climate change

24 Sep 2020

Researchers have discovered significant variations in the ability of different UK butterfly species to maintain a suitable body temperature. Species...

Read more

The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy

22 Sep 2020

In his new book, Dr Arik Kershenbaum draws on his knowledge of life on Earth to argue that aliens probably aren’t as weird as we might expect.

Read more

“For the creative, with the energy to grasp them, this year will present opportunities like no other.”

18 Sep 2020

Dr Judith Bunbury, Senior Tutor at St Edmund’s College, looks ahead to the coming term, and all it has in store for new and returning students.

Read more

Unexpected experiences: Toni Fola-Alade talks about studying for finals during a pandemic

17 Sep 2020

Final-year student Toni Fola-Alade had a plan: secure investment for his startup, focus on his exams and enjoy his final term as a student. Then...

Read more

Beyond the pandemic: find better ways to talk about death

08 Sep 2020

COVID-19 has forced millions of people to confront the prospect of dying earlier than they expected and under extraordinary circumstances. Now more...

Read more

“Behind every COVID-19 test sample is a person worried about their results”

04 Sep 2020

Meet the volunteer scientists who turn swab samples into diagnoses – again and again and again.

Read more

The Facebook post that launched a thousand shields (and counting)

03 Sep 2020

Cambridge researchers are supporting a project to 3D-print face shields and face masks in Malawi. The work is helping them create a 'blueprint' for...

Read more

Cambridge University Library joins Google Arts and Culture

31 Aug 2020

Cambridge University Library partners with Google Arts and Culture to open its world-class collections freely to a global audience becoming the first...

Read more

Beyond the pandemic: put universities at the heart of an innovation-led recovery

28 Aug 2020

Universities have stepped up to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic. Tomas Ulrichsen, an expert on universities and their role in...

Read more

Call of the wild collector

28 Aug 2020

Walking at ‘botanist pace’ on Mount Terror in South Africa, Dr Ángela Cano likes to stop and smell the succulents. She then measures, photographs...

Read more

Unexpected experiences: Mike Weekes describes setting up a full-scale COVID-19 testing facility

27 Aug 2020

When infectious diseases expert Mike Weekes realised he and colleagues had know-how that could help protect staff, patients and students in a...

Read more

The chemist who fuses fashion with science

21 Aug 2020

Areeb Mahtey is studying for a PhD in epigenetics, but outside the lab he is a member of the University of Cambridge’s Fashion and Luxury Brands...

Read more

Pages