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Tall Tales: Secrets of the Tower opens to the public

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Now, the treasures of Cambridge University Library’s fabled 17-storey Tower Collection, chosen from nearly a million volumes, will go on public display together for the first time in a free exhibition, Tall Tales: Secrets of the Tower

Click here to go behind the scenes of one of Cambridge's most famous landmarks.

It is an icon of the Cambridge skyline that has inspired authors from CS Lewis to Stephen Fry – and been an enduring source of undergraduate legend for its mythical collection of Victorian pornography.

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Yes

University of Cambridge wins Boeing Innovation Award

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The University was presented with Boeing’s Innovation Award at a gala held in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday 11 April. The award was given for the University’s ‘outstanding performance in research and development efforts, instrumental in the introduction of new products to meet Boeing’s current and future business needs’.

Accepting the award on behalf of the University were Philip Guildford, Professor Bill O'Neill and Dr John Durrell from the Department of Engineering. 

“We thought working with Boeing engineers on such exciting research for the last 15 years was already prize enough, but now Boeing has topped this wonderful experience with its most prestigious award – we are thrilled,” said Guildford. 

Professor David Cardwell, Head of the Department of Engineering, coordinated the Boeing partnership for Cambridge for many years, a role which was taken over in 2017 by Professor Duncan McFarlane.

Researchers from the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) have been working with Boeing since 2005, finding intelligent solutions to some challenging industrial problems. DIAL, headed up by McFarlane, has worked with Boeing on seven major projects to date, addressing three key challenges: how to manage supply chains more effectively, how to improve production resilience and how to make airports and airlines more efficient and robust. The lab is currently implementing a production quality tracking system in one of Boeing's US facilities.

Researchers in the Bulk Superconductivity Group, supported by Boeing, set a new Guinness World Record in 2014 for the strongest magnetic field trapped in a superconductor (17.6 tesla - roughly 100 times stronger than the field generated by a typical fridge magnet), beating a record that stood for more than a decade. They have since demonstrated a portable superconducting magnetic system that can act as a high-performance substitute for a conventional permanent magnet and can attain a 3-tesla level for the magnetic field.

The team, led by Dr John Durrell, are planning further testing for more magnetic power and overall efficiency. The group aims to enhance both the fundamental performance of superconducting bulks and to tailor them for specific applications.

And Bill O'Neill, Professor of Laser Engineering, is working with Boeing on a new generation of laser-based manufacturing technologies aimed at improving quality and productivity.

As part of its 2017 Supplier of the Year Awards, Boeing recognised 13 companies for the high-quality products, services and value they create for Boeing as well as its commercial airplanes, services, and defence, space and security customers.

The aerospace company said its award-winning suppliers had helped it achieve a ‘record year’ in its commercial airplane deliveries, growth in its services business and solid defence, space and security performance.

Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said: “Our continued success in an increasingly challenging business environment is driven in large part by having the aerospace industry’s best team and talent – and that includes the world’s best supply chain.

“The 2017 Supplier of the Year Award recipients all share a passion for innovation, collaboration and sustained exceptional performance – qualities we look for in all of our industry partners.”

Jenette Ramos, Boeing Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Operations, added: “The winners are among the best aerospace suppliers the world has to offer, and with their help, we will continue to lead the market by delivering value throughout Boeing’s second century.”

The University of Cambridge’s ‘outstanding performance’ in research and development has been recognised by Boeing in its 2017 Supplier of the Year Awards.

Collecting the Boeing Innovation Award on behalf of the University of Cambridge: Professor Bill O'Neill (holding the Award), Dr John Durrell (centre), and Philip Guildford (centre, right).

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Professor Lynn Gladden named Executive Chair of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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Professor Gladden is currently Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. She is internationally recognised for her work on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods which have benefited a wide array of industrial processes and contributed to a range of products and process technologies across multiple sectors.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the main mechanism that promotes the UK’s strengths in research and innovation both at home and around the world and ensures that the UK continues to make the most of its world-leading R&D sector and provide support for researchers and scientists.

EPSRC is the UK’s main funder for research across the engineering and physical sciences. It supports excellent, long-term research and high-quality postgraduate training, in order to contribute to the economic competitiveness of the UK.

“EPSRC science delivers world-leading, original thinking in mathematics, physical sciences and engineering that transforms the world we live in, and I am honoured to have been selected to be its new Executive Chair,” said Professor Gladden. “This is an exciting time to lead EPSRC. In particular, the formation of UKRI offers opportunities for EPSRC science and thinking to expand into new fields through collaboration with partner Councils, and to explore new ways of working to deliver the UK’s Industrial Strategy.”

Sir Mark Walport, UKRI CEO, said: “Professor Lynn Gladden is a world-leading chemical engineer. Her ground-breaking work in academia coupled with her strong collaborations with industry makes her the ideal candidate to lead EPSRC and ensure the wider success of UK Research and Innovation. 

Lynn will build on the successes of her predecessor, Professor Philip Nelson, who I would like to thank for his exceptional leadership of EPSRC over the last four years and the crucial role he has played in the creation of UK Research and Innovation.”

Professor Gladden is Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering in Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, and a Fellow of Trinity College. Her research has focused on advancing magnetic resonance imaging techniques, originally developed for use in the medical environment, and using them in engineering research to gain a greater understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena that determine the performance of chemical processes and their resulting products. In addition to her own research, Professor Gladden has held a number of research oversight roles in the UK and abroad, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Cambridge from 2010 to 2016. She is currently a Judge for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

Professor Lynn Gladden CBE, FRS, FREng has been selected to be the next Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), as announced today by Science Minister Sam Gyimah. She will take up the role in October, succeeding Professor Philip Nelson who will step down at the end of September.

Lynn Gladden

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Yes

Blood and bodies: the messy meanings of a life-giving substance

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What is blood? Today we understand this precious fluid as essential to life. In medieval and early modern Europe, definitions of blood were almost too numerous to locate. Blood was simultaneously the red fluid in human veins, a humour governing temperament, a waste product, a cause of corruption, a source of life and a medical cure.

In 1628, William Harvey, physician to James I and alumnus of Gonville & Caius College, made a discovery that changed the course of medicine and science. As the result of careful observation, he deduced that blood circulated around the body. Harvey’s discovery not only changed the way blood was thought to relate to the heart but revolutionised early science by demanding that human physiology be examined through empirical observation rather than philosophical discourse.

This turning point, and its profound repercussions for ideas about blood, is one of many strands explored in Blood Matters: Studies of European Literature and Thought,. A collection of essays, edited by Bonnie Lander Johnson (English Faculty, Cambridge University) and Eleanor Decamp, it examines blood from a variety of literary, historical and philosophical perspectives.

“The strength of the collection is that, in a series of themed headings, it brings together scholarship on blood to bridge the conventional boundaries between disciplines,” says Lander Johnson. “The volume includes historical perspectives on practical uses of blood such as phlebotomy, butchery, alchemy and birth. Through literary approaches, it also examines metaphoric understandings of blood as wine, social class, sexual identity, family, and the self.”

Contributors include several Cambridge academics. Hester Lees-Jeffries (English Faculty) writes about bloodstains in Shakespeare (most notable, of course, in Macbeth) and early modern textile culture. Heather Webb (Modern and Medieval Languages) looks at medieval understandings of blood as a spirit that existed outside the body, binding people and communities together. Joe Moshenska (English Faculty) examines the classical literary trope of trees that bleed when their branches are broken.

“The idea for the book came from my previous  work on chastity. I was struck that early modern writing about the body is all about fluids, especially blood. Blood was perceived as the vehicle for humours, the essence of being and the spirit – and something that could flow between people,” says Lander Johnson.

“I became fascinated by the fact that we use this word all the time but we have no real sense of what we mean. Our predecessors used it even more frequently and yet there was no scholarship that could help me to begin to understand how many things blood meant for them. A conference at Oxford in 2014 brought together a group of people working in related fields. The book reflects the excitement of those three days.”

Definitions of blood in Western European medical writing during the period covered by the book are changeable and conflicting. “The period’s many figurative uses of ‘blood’ are even more difficult to pin down. The term appeared in almost every sphere of life and thought and ran through discourses as significant as divine right theory, doctrinal and liturgical controversy, political reform, and family and institutional organisation,” says Lander Johnson.

“Blood, of course, was at the centre of the religious schism that split 16th-century society.  The doctrinal dispute over transubstantiation caused ongoing disagreements over the degree to which the bread and wine taken during Mass were materially altered into the body and blood of Christ or merely symbolic.”

The role of blood in sex and reproduction meant that it was routinely described as a force capable of both generation and corruption. Menstrual blood is a case in point. Menstruation was seen as a vital and purifying process, part of a natural cycle essential to human life. But menstrual blood and menstruating women were also thought to be corrupting.

In Shakespeare’s plays, blood makes many appearances, both spoken and staged, from bleeding wounds to the rebellious ‘high’ blood of youth. Lander Johnson examines Romeo and Juliet’s love affair in the light of early modern beliefs about weaning and sexual appetites.

“Writing about birth and infancy reveals that early moderns were as anxious about their children’s health as we are but for them the pressing questions were: should I breastfeed my baby myself or give it to a wet nurse? How and when should I wean it to food? What sort of food?” she says.

“The wrong decision at this early stage of life could have a fatal outcome and was thought to not only form the child’s blood in either a healthy or corrupted state but also to shape the child’s moral appetites for the rest of their lives.”

Blood is synonymous with family and, in elite circles, with dynasty. Contributor Katharine Craik (Oxford Brookes University) explores character and social class through references to blood in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V. In these plays about warfare and the relationships between royalty and common men, blood is often a substance that eliminates the differences between soldiers who die together in arms, their blood mingling in the dirt of the battlefield.

“Frequently these same descriptions turn into assertions of an essential difference between aristocratic and vulgar bloods,” says Lander Johnson. “Shakespeare is particularly inventive at building character through distinctions of this kind.”

In contrast, Ben Parsons (Leicester University) looks at blood and adolescence in the context of the medieval classroom where ‘too much blood’ was understood to cause wild and unruly behaviour. Medieval pedagogues were concerned about how the ‘full blood’ of students ought to be managed through the kind of material they were asked to read and when, the sort of food they ate while learning, and the style of punishment administered to those who were inattentive.

Blood Matters makes a valuable contribution to the history of the body and its place in literature and popular thought. It draws together scholarship that offers insight into both theory and practice during a period that saw the beginnings of empiricism and an overturning of the folklore that governed early medicine.

Today's scientists understand blood as a liquid comprising components essential to good health. But English remains a language peppered with references to blood that hint at our conflicted relationship with a liquid vital to human life.

A collection of essays explores understandings of a vital bodily fluid in the period 1400-1700. Its contributors offer insight into both theory and practice during a period that saw the start of empiricism and an overturning of the folklore that governed early medicine.

The book brings together scholarship on blood to bridge the conventional boundaries between disciplines.
Bonnie Lander Johnson
Detail from William Harvey's De motu cordis (experiment confirming direction of blood flow)

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Yes

Greenhouse gas ‘feedback loop’ discovered in freshwater lakes

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A new study of chemical reactions that occur when organic matter decomposes in freshwater lakes has revealed that the debris from trees suppresses production of methane – while debris from plants found in reed beds actually promotes this harmful greenhouse gas.

As vegetation in and around bodies of water continues to change, with forest cover being lost while global warming causes wetland plants to thrive, the many lakes of the northern hemisphere – already a major source of methane – could almost double their emissions in the next fifty years. 

The researchers say that the findings suggest the discovery of yet another “feedback loop” in which environmental disruption and climate change trigger the release of ever more greenhouse gas that further warms the planet, similar to the concerns over the methane released by fast-melting arctic permafrost.

“Methane is a greenhouse gas at least twenty-five times more potent than carbon dioxide. Freshwater ecosystems already contribute as much as 16% of the Earth’s natural methane emissions, compared to just 1% from all the world’s oceans,” said study senior author Dr Andrew Tanentzap, from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences.

“We believe we have discovered a new mechanism that has the potential to cause increasingly more greenhouse gases to be produced by freshwater lakes. The warming climates that promote the growth of aquatic plants have the potential to trigger a damaging feedback loop in natural ecosystems.”

The researchers point out that the current methane emissions of freshwater ecosystems alone offsets around a quarter of all the carbon soaked up by land plants and soil: the natural ‘carbon sink’ that drains and stores CO2 from the atmosphere.

Up to 77% of the methane emissions from an individual lake are the result of the organic matter shed primarily by plants that grow in or near the water. This matter gets buried in the sediment found toward the edge of lakes, where it is consumed by communities of microbes. Methane gets generated as a byproduct, which then bubbles up to the surface.

Working with colleagues from Canada and Germany, Tanentzap’s group found that the levels of methane produced in lakes varies enormously depending on the type of plants contributing their organic matter to the lake sediment. The study, funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, is published today in the journal Nature Communications.  

To test how organic matter affects methane emissions, the scientists took lake sediment and added three common types of plant debris: deciduous trees that shed leaves annually, evergreen pine-shedding coniferous trees, and cattails (often known in the UK as ‘bulrushes’) – a common aquatic plant that grows in the shallows of freshwater lakes.

These sediments were incubated in the lab for 150 days, during which time the scientists siphoned off and measured the methane produced. They found that the bulrush sediment produced over 400 times the amount of methane as the coniferous sediment, and almost 2,800 times the methane than that of the deciduous.     

Unlike the cattail debris, the chemical makeup of the organic matter from trees appears to trap large quantities of carbon within the lake sediment – carbon that would otherwise combine with hydrogen and get released as methane into the atmosphere.

To confirm their findings, the researchers also “spiked” the three samples with the microbes that produce methane to gauge the chemical reaction. While the forest-derived sediment remained unchanged, the sample containing the bulrush organic matter doubled its methane production.

“The organic matter that runs into lakes from the forest trees acts as a latch that suppresses the production of methane within lake sediment. These forests have long surrounded the millions of lakes in the northern hemisphere, but are now under threat,” said Dr Erik Emilson, first author of the study, who has since left Cambridge to work at Natural Resources Canada. 

“At the same time, changing climates are providing favourable conditions for the growth and spread of aquatic plants such as cattails, and the organic matter from these plants promotes the release of even more methane from the freshwater ecosystems of the global north.”

Using species distribution models for the Boreal Shield, an area that covers central and eastern Canada and “houses more forests and lakes than just about anywhere on Earth”, the researchers calculated that the number of lakes colonised by just the common cattail (Typha latifolia) could double in the next fifty years – causing current levels of lake-produced methane to increase by at least 73% in this part of the world alone.       

Added Tanentzap: “Accurately predicting methane emissions is vital to the scientific calculations used to try and understand the pace of climate change and the effects of a warmer world. We still have limited understanding of the fluctuations in methane production from plants and freshwater lakes.” 

Latest research finds plant debris in lake sediment affects methane emissions. The flourishing reed beds created by changing climates could threaten to double the already significant methane production of the world’s northern lakes.

The warming climates that promote the growth of aquatic plants have the potential to trigger a damaging feedback loop in natural ecosystems
Andrew Tanentzap
Lake near Sudbury, Ontario, in the Canadian Boreal Shield, with aquatic plants in the foreground providing fuel for methane production.

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Yes

The history of islands and their contribution to the modern world

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The islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans are “the testing grounds for modernity”, but despite their importance they have been overlooked due to the Eurocentric focus of many history textbooks, says Dr Sujit Sivasundaram.

His forthcoming book, tentatively titled ‘Revolutionary Empire’, will be about the history of Pacific and Indian Ocean islands between 1780 and 1840 and he will speak about the subject as part of the Cambridge Series at this year’s Hay Festival. “That was the period that gave rise to the modern world and which consolidated the British Empire,” he says. “If we want to think of modernity in terms of a political system of states and a globalised world linked through capital, technology, ideas and forms of self-understanding this is a crucial period. The Indian and the Pacific Oceans are the ultimate frontiers of the world. Yet they were critical to what the modern world came to be.”

Dr Sivasundaram says the history of islands in the Asia/Pacific region is underexplored compared, for instance, to the Caribbean or the Atlantic, because of the way we see the spread of languages of rights, protest and state-making, from the West to the East. The islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans were further away and ‘othered’ – viewed as exotic and with very different forms of social organisation from Europe. This made it difficult for scholars in the West to give these places the chance to have a history.

“The histories of certain countries have come to stand for Britain’s imperial engagement. For instance, India. And the same is true for the story of the birth of the modern world in the so-called ‘age of revolutions’ at the end of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth. We think that it all started with the American Revolution, the French Revolution and  the Industrial Revolution,” he states. Moreover, there is a tendency to focus mainly on the high point of empire at the end of the nineteenth century, he adds, and to consider the period of the book he is writing retrospectively. The later period was when imperial powers focused on the interiors of continents.

Yet, says Dr Sivasundaram, the study of island history casts an important light on some of the key issues associated with modernity, as they were sites of awful war, waves of migration and cultural encounter, depopulation and deforestation, wide scale attempts at conversion and concentrated attempts at the gathering of knowledge or trade. “They were crucibles of the story that would then unfold and places for the formation of categories of race and gender, for instance,” he adds.

Late 18th century and early 19th century documents also show how people in the region reflected on the environment, an abiding concern of Dr Sivasundaram’s research. Sea levels were studied by Pacific explorers. In Sri Lanka or Mauritius there was a lot of interest in natural history and deforestation. “Concerns with the environment have been long running and were present in the period my book covers,” says Dr Sivasundaram.

He anticipates that there will be more focus on islands as the impact of climate change increases and the world sees increasing numbers of climate refugees. “And the history of islands will be instructive for humanity as we face the future of modernity,”he adds.

From Tasmania to Tonga

Dr Sivasundaram will talk about the commonalities and differences between specific islands at the Hay Festival, by starting with the stories of four islands - Singapore, Tasmania, Tonga and Sri Lanka. In Tasmania, for example, disease and forcible removal led to the vast death of Aboriginals. He is particularly interested in the issue of kingship and local systems of rule. In Sri Lanka, for instance, the Kingdom of Kandy was an independent monarchy until 1815 when the British arrested the king and sent him into exile. The British then appropriated the mantle of kingship.

In Tonga, however, the imperial forces came looking for kings to negotiate with. The local chiefs picked up on the European idea of kings and adopted the model to help them to create more expansive states and retain independence. “Tonga was never colonised. It sees itself as the true Pacific,” says Dr Sivasundaram. “My interest is in the different paths taken and how the outcomes in different islands can be so different.”

He thinks there is a renewed interest in oceanic history and he sees that among the students he teaches on his popular ‘Islands and Beaches’ course for finalist undergraduate historians. “Younger people are travelling a lot off the beaten track. They are also intellectually committed to a history that is as diverse as possible.. There should not just be one history. Looking at the history of islands pluralises our view of the past in so many ways.

"Islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans are by their very nature marginalised spaces. They don’t conform with how we organise our knowledge. In universities we still focus on area studies (such as African studies or South Asian studies), but islands do not fit that disciplinary rubric. It’s a classification that dates from the time of the Cold War when area studies institutions were set up for strategic reasons. Island histories are also greatly vulnerable to loss, because of extinction, depopulation and dramatic change. These are specific reasons why islands have become so marginalised.”

Dr Sivasundaram’s previous books have been for a university readership, but his new one, which will be published by Harper Collins, is aimed at a public audience and he is keen to get it read in the Asia-Pacific region. “I want to change what is learnt about the history of islands,” he says, “and not simply in the West, but through a process of learning between island communities and students and readers in places like the UK.”

Dr Sujit Sivasundaram will speak at the Hay Festival about the history of the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans and its marginalisation despite the fact the islands played a crucial role in modern political, intellectual and cultural thought.

Islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans are by their very nature marginalised spaces. They don’t conform with how we organise our knowledge.
Dr Sujit Sivasundaram
"A Maori man and Joseph Banks exchanging a crayfish for a piece of cloth."

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‘The greatest director in the world right now’ begins residency at Centre for Film and Screen

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Lucrecia Martel comes to the Centre as this year’s Filmmaker in Residence from 5-20 May, following in the footsteps of Gianfranco Rossi (2017) and Joanna Hogg (2016).

A retrospective of her feature films — the first to be held in the UK—has been jointly organised between the Centre for Film and Screen and the Arts Picturehouse. Martel will be present following each screening for conversation and Q&A. 

Martel, who lives and works in Argentina, is one of international cinema’s major stylists. Her provocative films treat questions of family, childhood, sexuality, belonging, nation, class, historical memory, and colonialism. In a cinema that is both sensually immersive and politically attuned, Martel looks at the world in a way that acknowledges mystery and prompts criticism.

Dr John David Rhodes, Director of the Centre for Film and Screen said: “The residencies offer our students, staff and our community both inside and outside the University the opportunity to engage with serious filmmakers of the highest order, all of them crucially important figures in the unfolding history of contemporary cinema.

“The residencies also offer the filmmakers the opportunity to develop and reconsider their practices in the context of the vibrant scholarly and intellectual ecology that is unique to Cambridge.”

Described by Vogue as ‘the greatest director in the world right now’, Martel is the director of four acclaimed films and a number of award-winning shorts. After almost a decade after her last full-length feature film, Martel returned as director of the critically-lauded Zama in 2017.

Based on the 1956 novel by Antonio Di Benedetto, the film is a period drama relating the story of a 17th century Spanish officer, separated from his wife and family, and awaiting a transfer from a remote area of Paraguay to Buenos Aires.

Shining a light on colonialism and class dynamics, the film won almost universal acclaim from film critics in South America, and was chosen as Argentina’s nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Martel will be resident at the University’s Centre for Film and Screen for more than two weeks, during which she will be offering a sequence of seminars on her filmmaking practice.

 

Symposium

18 May, 10am-4pm, McCrum Lecture Theatre, Corpus Christi College.

Speakers: Lucy Bollington (Cambridge), Catherine Grant (Birkbeck), Rosalind Galt (KCL), Debbie Martin (UCL). 

Full details - TBC

 

Screenings

The screenings will all be held at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse

Tuesday 8 May at 6pm - The Swamp (La Ciénaga)

Thursday 10 May ay 6pm - The Holy Girl (La niña santa)

Tuesday 15 May at 6:30pm - The Headless Woman (La mujer sin cabeza)

Thursday 17 May at 6pm - Zama

 

One of Argentina’s and Latin America’s pre-eminent filmmakers begins a 16-day residency at Cambridge’s Centre for Film and Screen from tomorrow (May 5).

Lucrecia is a crucially important figure in the unfolding history of contemporary cinema.
John David Rhodes

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Yes

Brain cholesterol associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease

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The international team, led by the University of Cambridge, have found that in the brain, cholesterol acts as a catalyst which triggers the formation of the toxic clusters of the amyloid-beta protein, which is a central player in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

The results, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, represent another step towards a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, which affects millions worldwide. The study’s identification of a new pathway in the brain where amyloid-beta sticks together, or aggregates, could represent a new target for potential therapeutics.

It is unclear if the results have any implications for dietary cholesterol, as cholesterol does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Other studies have also found an association between cholesterol and the condition, since some genes which process cholesterol in the brain have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but the mechanism behind this link is not known.

The Cambridge researchers found that cholesterol, which is one of the main components of cell walls in neurons, can trigger amyloid-beta molecules to aggregate. The aggregation of amyloid-beta eventually leads to the formation of amyloid plaques, in a toxic chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells.

While the link between amyloid-beta and Alzheimer’s disease is well-established, what has baffled researchers to date is how amyloid-beta starts to aggregate in the brain, as it is typically present at very low levels.

“The levels of amyloid-beta normally found in the brain are about a thousand times lower than we require to observe it aggregating in the laboratory – so what happens in the brain to make it aggregate?” said Professor Michele Vendruscolo of Cambridge’s Centre for Misfolding Diseases, who led the research.

Using a kinetic approach developed over the last decade by the Cambridge team and their collaborators at Lund University in Sweden, the researchers found in in vitro studies that the presence of cholesterol in cell membranes can act as a trigger for the aggregation of amyloid-beta

Since amyloid-beta is normally present in such small quantities in the brain, the molecules don’t normally find each other and stick together. Amyloid-beta does attach itself to lipid molecules, however, which are sticky and insoluble. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, the amyloid-beta molecules stick to the lipid cell membranes that contain cholesterol. Once stuck close together on these cell membranes, the amyloid-beta molecules have a greater chance to come into contact with each other and start to aggregate – in fact, the researchers found that cholesterol speeds up the aggregation of amyloid-beta by a factor of 20.

So what, if anything, can be done to control cholesterol in the brain? According to Vendruscolo, it’s not cholesterol itself that is the problem. “The question for us now is not how to eliminate cholesterol from the brain, but about how to control cholesterol’s role in Alzheimer’s disease through the regulation of its interaction with amyloid-beta,” he said. “We’re not saying that cholesterol is the only trigger for the aggregation process, but it’s certainly one of them.”

Since it is insoluble, while travelling towards its destination in lipid membranes, cholesterol is never left around by itself, either in the blood or the brain: it has to be carried around by certain dedicated proteins, such as ApoE, a mutation of which has already been identified as a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. As we age, these protein carriers, as well as other proteins that control the balance, or homeostasis, of cholesterol in the brain become less effective. In turn, the homeostasis of amyloid-beta and hundreds of other proteins in the brain is broken. By targeting the newly-identified link between amyloid-beta and cholesterol, it could be possible to design therapeutics which maintain cholesterol homeostasis, and consequently amyloid-beta homeostasis, in the brain.

“This work has helped us narrow down a specific question in the field of Alzheimer’s research,” said Vendruscolo. “We now need to understand in more detail how the balance of cholesterol is maintained in the brain in order to find ways to inactivate a trigger of amyloid-beta aggregation.”

Reference:
Johnny Habchi et al. ‘Cholesterol catalyses amyloid-β42 aggregation through a heterogeneous nucleation pathway in the presence of lipid membranes.’ Nature Chemistry (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0031-x

Researchers have shown how cholesterol – a molecule normally linked with cardiovascular diseases – may also play an important role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The question for us now is not how to eliminate cholesterol from the brain, but about how to control cholesterol’s role in Alzheimer’s disease through the regulation of its interaction with amyloid-beta.
Michele Vendruscolo
Mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

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Yes

The Royal Society announces 2018 Fellows

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The 50 newly-elected Fellows announced today join a list of scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and Commonwealth. Past Fellows and Foreign Members have included Newton, Darwin and Einstein.

The Cambridge academics announced today as Royal Society Fellows are:

  • Alexander Dawid, Emeritus Professor of Statistics, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics
  • Gregory Hannon, Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology and Director, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute
  • Judy Hirst, Deputy Director, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit
  • Lalita Ramakrishnan, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Head of Molecular Immunity Unit, Department of Medicine

Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society, says: “Our Fellows are key to the Royal Society’s fundamental purpose of using science for the benefit of humanity. For their outstanding contributions to research and innovation, both now and in the future, it gives me great pleasure to welcome the world’s best scientists into the ranks of the Royal Society.”

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Society at the Admissions Day ceremony in July, when they will sign the Charter Book and the Obligation of the Fellows of the Royal Society.

View the full list of new Fellows and Foreign Members

Four Cambridge academics are among the new Fellows announced today by the Royal Society and chosen for their outstanding contributions to science.

For their outstanding contributions to research and innovation, both now and in the future, it gives me great pleasure to welcome the world’s best scientists into the ranks of the Royal Society
Sir Venki Ramakrishnan
Royal Society
Professor Simon Tavare elected as a Foreign Member of US National Academy of Sciences

Professor Simon Tavare, former Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, has been elected as a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences

Professor Tavare works at the interface of the mathematical sciences and the biological and medical sciences. He pioneered probabilistic and statistical aspects of coalescent theory, full likelihood-based methods for sequence variation data, methods for ancestral inference, evolutionary approaches to cancer, and approximate Bayesian computation for inference in complex stochastic processes.

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Yes

Oldest genetic evidence of Hepatitis B virus found in ancient DNA from 4,500 year-old skeletons

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A pioneering study has identified the oldest evidence of HBV in the ancient remains and proved that viruses can become extinct. The scientific significance of the research has been described as ‘truly remarkable’ and compared to the discovery of the first fossils.

Today the Hepatitis B virus affects millions of people worldwide. In 2015 it was estimated that approximately 257 million people were chronically infected with HBV and 887,000 died due to associated complications such as liver cancer.

The new research, led by a group of academics at the Center for Pathogen Evolution in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, took genetic samples from skeletons across Europe and Asia from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period, and found 25 HBV-positive skeletons amongst the remains. In 12 of these skeletons, they found enough of the HBV genome to perform detailed analyses - the oldest of which was 4,500-years-old.

From this data they were able to extract the genetic sequences of HBV that infected the individuals thousands of years ago.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, present new insights into the origins and evolution of HBV. The genetic makeup of this strain could have implications for improving vaccines for HBV.

Before this study, the oldest human viruses to be discovered were approximately 450-years- old but most are no more than 50-years-old. The research now forms the oldest and largest datasets scientists have of ancient human viruses.

Barbara Mühlemann, joint first author on the research paper and a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, said: “People have tried to unravel the history of HBV for decades - this study transforms our understanding of the virus and proves it affected people as far back as the Bronze Age. We have also shown that it is possible to recover viral sequences from samples of this age which will have much wider scientific implications.”

Although HBV is a global health issue, little is known about its origin and evolution. As with many human viruses, this is largely due to a lack of historical evidence which has been difficult to locate and identify.

Dr Terry Jones, joint first author who is based at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, explained: “Scientists mostly study modern virus strains and we have mainly been in the dark regarding ancient sequences – until now. It was like trying to study evolution without fossils. If we only studied the animals living today it would give us a very inaccurate picture of their evolution – it is the same with viruses.”

Understanding more about HBV may now be possible. Showing that the virus has been circulating in humans since at least the Bronze Age is a big scientific advancement, as previous attempts to estimate how long the virus has infected humans have ranged from 400 years to 34,000 years.

The study was led by Professor Eske Willerslev, who holds positions both at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, and the University of Copenhagen.

He said: “This data gives us an idea of how this virus behaves, and it provides us with a better idea of what is biologically possible in the future. Analysis of other ancient DNA samples may reveal further discoveries and this pioneering study could have huge implications for how the virus affects humans today.”

The research also shows the existence of ancient HBV genotypes in locations incompatible with their present-day distribution, contradicting previously-suggested geographical origins of the virus.

Professor Willerslev initially suspected that it might be possible to find viruses in human remains based on previous research during his role at the University of Copenhagen. He approached Mühlemann and Jones who have specialised in identifying and studying the evolution of viruses.

The research approach the group used in the study, called ‘shotgun sequencing’, looks at all genetic material present in a sample, as opposed to ‘genome bio-capture’ which focuses only on the human genome.

Professor Willerslev said: “This study is just the start. We’re talking about one virus here, but there are a lot of other viruses we could look for.”

Reference:
Barbara Mühlemann et al. 'Ancient Hepatitis B viruses from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period.' Nature (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0097-z

An extinct strain of the human Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been discovered in Bronze Age human skeletons found in burial sites across Europe and Asia.

This study could have huge implications for how the virus affects humans today.
Eske Willerslev
Mass burial of battle victims from the Xiongnu period in Omnogobi, Mongolia, from which scientists extracted ancient DNA from for the study.

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Yes

Proposals for the regeneration of Old Press/ Mill Lane receive strong support

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View from Silver Street Bridge showing the new public space on the riverfront

During March and April, a full public consultation was held on their proposals for a masterplan that will transform an important quarter of the city and draws residents, students and visitors into the area.  The masterplan was originally called for in the City Council’s Supplementary Planning Document  of 2010 and includes the creation of new areas of public open space on the riverfront and provides exciting retail and leisure opportunities.

The consultation included two days of public exhibitions held at the university Centre on Granta Place in late March. Key members of the project team were present to answer any questions about the scheme, and it gave the opportunity to feed back to the University and the Colleges on the proposals, including key aspects such as the creation of public open space on the riverfront through the demolition of the Laundress Lane Warehouse.

The results of the feedback have shown that there has been strong support in general for the proposals.  In responding to the consultation questionnaire, 95% felt that the exhibition had been useful, with 90% agreeing that regeneration of the area was important. Importantly, having reviewed the plans, 79% of respondents wanted to see the creation of a new area of public open space through the removal of the Laundress Lane Warehouse – this option was first reviewed in the 2010 Supplementary Planning Document that called for a Masterplan. In addition, although in the city council’s control not the University’s, 81% supported the removal of the boatshed on Granta Place – both of these proposals open up public access to the river and significantly improve views over Coe Fen.

Duncan Maskell, the University’s Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said, “We are very pleased that, overall, the proposals in the Masterplan were supported by 77% of respondents – this is a very high number for regeneration projects and reflects the public and stakeholders’ desire to see high quality regeneration of the area.”

This masterplan, which sets out general development parameters, will be followed by full planning applications that provide more detail around traffic control and architectural treatment. The first of these full applications will come from Pembroke College later this year and will provide more details about the block bounded by Mill Lane and Little St Mary’s Lane.

Although the consultation is now closed the proposals are still available to view on the project website at www.opml.sitedevelopments.cam.ac.uk or alternatively you can contact us via email at consultation@opmlcambridge.co.uk if you have any further comments/questions.

Cambridge University, together with Pembroke, Darwin and Queens’ Colleges have revealed the strong level of support for their plans to regenerate the Old Press / Mill Lane area.

We are very pleased that, overall, the proposals in the Masterplan were supported by 77% of respondents – this is a very high number for regeneration projects and reflects the public and stakeholders’ desire to see high quality regeneration of the area.
Duncan Maskell, the University’s Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor

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Yes

Academy of Medical Sciences announces 2018 Fellowships

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The new Fellows have been elected for their outstanding contributions to biomedical and health science, leading research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and the wider society.

This year's elected Fellows have expertise that spans sleep research, infectious and tropical diseases, diabetes medicine, parasite biology and ultrasound research and technology among many other fields.

Professor Sir Robert Lechler PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said: “The Academy simply could not tackle major health and policy challenges without our dynamic and diligent brain trust of Fellows. I extend my warmest congratulations to all who are joining us this year, each of whom has earnt this prestige by advancing their own field of biomedical science.

“Later this year the Academy will celebrate 20 years of supporting the translation of biomedical and health research into benefits for society. As we celebrate this special anniversary we stand at a crossroads of both enormous health challenges and great opportunity for medical sciences. So I am delighted to see the remarkable breadth and depth of the expertise within our 48 new Fellows. We look forward to these experts joining us in addressing the health challenges we face head on and exploiting opportunities to improve health in the UK and internationally.”

The Cambridge researchers among the new Fellows are:

  • Professor Simon Baron-Cohen FBA, Autism Research Centre
  • Professor Simon Griffin, Department of Public Health and Primary Care
  • Professor James Huntington, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
  • Professor Peter Hutchinson, Department of Clinical Neurosciences
  • Professor Jonathan Mant, Department of Public Health and Primary Care
  • Professor Lalita Ramakrishnan, Department of Medicine
  • Professor David Rowitch, Department of Paediatrics
  • Professor Nicole Soranzo, Department of Haematology

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on 27 June 2018.

Eight Cambridge academics are among 48 of the UK’s world leading researchers who have been elected to join the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

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Yes

Cambridge's 2017 admissions statistics published

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The latest figures also show an increase in the number of students coming from areas of the UK which have a low participation rate in higher education. Admissions from students in Polar3 Quintile 1 have risen from 3.3% to 4.6%. Admissions of students identified using other measures of socio-economic disadvantage are also up.

The proportion of Home applicants accepted who declared themselves to be from an ethnic minority background increased from 21.8% to 22.1%, another record high.

Dr Sam Lucy, Director of Admissions for the Cambridge Colleges, says:

“It’s encouraging to see the University continuing to make progress in attracting more students from low-participation neighbourhoods and other under-represented groups. This is testament to the hard work of Colleges and the University in the range of outreach activity being conducted. While welcoming these figures we cannot be complacent. There is still much work to do to reinforce the message that the University of Cambridge is open to talented young people, regardless of background. We welcome applications from all academically able students and encourage them to explore our free online extension material available at www.myheplus.com to see if our courses might suit their academic interests.”

The total number of students applying to Cambridge stood at just over 17,000, a rise of 2.6% on the 2016 cycle, and another all-time high. The total number of acceptances was 3,497, an increase of 1.2%. 

The University spends around £5m a year on outreach activities. These include residential stays at Colleges, open days and visits to schools across the UK.

Professor Graham Virgo, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, says:

“We take diversity extremely seriously and our outreach teams have been working hard to challenge misconceptions about what Cambridge is like. It’s a tribute to their hard work that more young people from different backgrounds have been given the chance of a world-class education here at Cambridge. I’m delighted that the message is getting through that people can find their place here, no matter where they’re from or whatever their background.”

Details of the 2017 admissions statistics can be found here

 

Figures released by the University of Cambridge show another rise in the number of state-educated Home students being accepted on to a course of study. The number, for the 2017 admissions cycle, has increased to 64.1% (up from 62.5% in the 2016 cycle). This is the highest level since comparable records began more than 30 years ago.  

While welcoming these figures we cannot be complacent
Dr Sam Lucy
Graduation ceremony

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Yes
License type: 

Can men respond to feminism?

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In the era of Trump, Weinstein, #metoo and Cambridge’s own #breakingthesilence campaign, feminist anger has reached a crescendo, and it is not for the first time. Lucy Delap, lecturer in modern British history, will speak as part of the Cambridge Series at the Hay Festival about past efforts by women to get men to listen and attempts by men to reshape masculinity in 20th century Britain.

Her talk will focus on two peaks of feminist activity in the 20th century: the suffrage era and the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s and 80s. The former was most recently celebrated with the erection of the statue of Millicent Fawcett. The plinth on which Fawcett stands carries the further images of 55 women – and four men, from establishment insiders to a radical vicar – who were part of the fight for women's right to vote. This was the era in which the term feminism was becoming more known and was used by self-consciously 'modern' men and women, to distinguish their ideas from those of 'the women's movement'.  “Feminism deliberately included men and it loses that over the rest of the century, although that optic is back today,” says Delap.

The second period Delap will consider is the women’s liberation movement over the course of the 1970s and 80s. Delap’s research examines men’s reaction to the movement - from men marching for abortion rights to the creation of anti-sexist groups by those who claimed that they too were suffering from patriarchy. These groups aimed to provide men with a space to work through their emotions, to cry, to share their feelings and to raise consciousness. They also focused on how men could help women in their struggles, for instance, by providing childcare through male-run creches at women’s events or through setting aside a proportion of their income to support the women’s movement - the ‘cash against sexism’ initiative.

Women had mixed feelings about some of these activities, particularly ‘cash against sexism’, since they felt they still put men in a position of power and reinforced patriarchal structures. Some women questioned men’s ability to do childcare and felt that women should instead be paid to do it. Such discussions and a feeling that they were being mocked in some quarters made some men feel that women were not supportive of their efforts to explore and question masculinity. “There were mixed feelings on both sides about what each wanted,” says Delap. “It was very difficult to navigate.”

For some men the questioning of masculinity combined with a feeling of rejection by feminists led to a tendency towards separatism, towards seeking the company of men, questioning what being a man was and a discussion of men’s rights. “There was a painful shift from the men’s movement being responsive to women to not being allowed to be full partners,” says Delap. One offshoot of this was the evolution of the kind of men’s rights groups which coalesced around child custody issues in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Child Support Act of 1990. “In some cases it led to men blaming feminists rather than listening to them,” adds Delap.

Yet, despite all of this, men did change over the next decades, she says, as can be seen in everything from the greater involvement of dads in childcare generally to the questioning of binary gender categories. “Change has happened,” she states. “More generally masculinity has pluralised and homophobia has diminished. Men and boys have more choices. For young people, you could say that Grayson Perry is the end point, not Donald Trump.”

She adds that feminist movements have become much more globally connected and that there is a real attempt to include men, for instance, through the HeforShe campaign. This extends to a recognition of men’s past role in the move towards greater equality.

Despite what has been referred to as a backlash, Delap says that the general impetus is towards progression. She highlights what she calls “the micro-capillary of change” on the everyday level. She adds that the most important change has been among young women in spite of the conflicting messages they often receive as they grow up: “Broadly speaking, they feel they can work; they do not expect sexual harassment; they are very surprised when they have children and discover the world is unequal; there is a feeling of outrage. There is a powerful sense of consciousness raising going on today.”

Lucy Delap will be speaking at the Hay Festival about men's response to peaks in feminist activism in twentieth century Britain.

Change has happened. More generally masculinity has pluralised and homophobia has diminished. Men and boys have more choices. For young people, you could say that Grayson Perry is the end point, not Donald Trump.
Lucy Delap
The Women' March Morris, US, the Saturday after Donald Trump was inaugurated.

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Yes

Online atlas explores north-south divide in childbirth and child mortality during Victorian era

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The Populations Past website is part of the Atlas of Victorian Fertility Decline research project based at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the University of Essex. It displays various demographic and socio-economic measures calculated from census data gathered between 1851 and 1911, a period which saw immense social and economic change as the population of the UK more than doubled, from just under 18 million to over 36 million, and industrialisation and urbanisation both increased rapidly.

The atlas allows users to select and view maps of a variety of measures including age structure, migration status, marriage, fertility, child mortality and household composition. Users can zoom in to an area on the map and compare side-by-side maps showing different years or measures.

The maps reveal often stark regional divides. “Geography plays a major role in pretty much every indicator we looked at,” said Dr Alice Reid from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, who led the project. “In 1851, more than one in five children born in parts of Greater Manchester did not survive to their first birthday. In parts of Surrey and Sussex however, the infant mortality rate at the same time was less than a third that number.”

While there are broad north-south divides in most of the maps, patterns at a local level were more complicated: in the northern urban-industrial centres such as Manchester, infant and child mortality were high, while many rural areas of the north had mortality rates as low as rural areas of the south. And in London, there is a sharp east/west divide in fertility, infant mortality, the number of live-in servants, and many other variables.

 

The researchers also found that different types of industry were often associated with different types of families: in coal mining areas where there was little available work for women, women married young and often ended up with large families. In contrast, women in the textile-producing areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire had more opportunities to earn a wage, and perhaps consequently, had fewer children on average.

There are also big differences over time. The period saw a sharp drop in the number of women who continued to work after marriage, for instance. In 1851, more than a third of married women were in work across large sections of the country, but by 1911, only a tiny fraction of married women worked outside the home, apart from the textile-producing areas of the Northwest.

“This might be associated with the rise of the culture of female domesticity: the idea that a woman’s place is in the home,” said Reid.

Across the Western world, fertility rates have declined over the past 150 years. Gaining a historical perspective of how and why these trends have developed can help improve understanding of the way in which modern societies are shaped.

Between 1851 and 1911, England and Wales changed from countries where there were variable fertility and mortality rates to countries where rates for both were low. Child mortality and fertility fell from the 1870s, together with a fall in illegitimacy, but infant mortality did not start to fall until the dawn of the twentieth century.

As part of the project on fertility decline, the researchers have investigated fertility in more detail. For the first time, they have been able to calculate age-specific fertility rates for more than 2000 sub-districts across England and Wales during this era, and their results challenge views on the way that fertility fell.

“It’s long been thought that the fall in fertility was achieved when couples decided how many children they wanted at the outset of their marriage, and stopped reproducing once they had reached that number,” said Reid. “While this may have happened in more recent fertility transitions, such as in South-East Asia and Latin America, when reliable contraception was widely available, it was not a realistic scenario in the Victorian era.”

“We don’t find age patterns of fertility which would be produced by this type of ‘stopping’ behaviour during the Victorian fertility decline,” said Reid’s collaborator Dr Eilidh Garrett from the University of Essex. “Such behaviour would show up as a larger reduction of fertility among older women, but instead, women of all ages appear to have been reducing their fertility.”

As well as the interactive maps, the Populations Past site provides a variety of resources for researchers, teachers and students at all levels. The research was funded by the Economic & Social Research Council and the Isaac Newton Trust.

A new interactive online atlas, which illustrates when, where and possibly how fertility rates began to fall in England and Wales during the Victorian era has been made freely available from today. 

In 1851, more than one in five children born in parts of Greater Manchester did not survive to their first birthday. In parts of Surrey and Sussex however, the infant mortality rate at the same time was less than a third that number.
Alice Reid
Early childhood mortality rates in 1851 (left) and 1911 (right). The highest rates are in red and the lowest in blue.

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Yes

Opinion: The Dambusters raid took place 75 years ago – here's how they made a bomb bounce

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Sir Barnes Wallis was a genius engineer who designed a very special bomb during World War II. The idea was that it would bounce across water and destroy German dams along the Ruhr Valley, causing massive flooding and damage to water and hydroelectricity supplies.

Partly thanks to the 1955 film The Dam Busters, the story behind Operation Chastise, which took place on May 16 and 17 in 1943, has become a familiar war time tale. But Wallis’s actual working calculations were lost (fittingly perhaps, in a flood in the 1960s). So what do we know about the complex science behind the bouncing bombs?

We know that the Germans considered their dams to be a potential target for their enemies, and placed torpedo nets in front of the structures to protect them. And to bust a dam, Wallis realised that peppering it with lots of small bombs wouldn’t work. It would be the difference between throwing a handful of sand at a window, and then doing the same with a rock.

Wallis figured that to do serious damage, a single four-tonne bomb had to be detonated right up against the dam wall at a depth of about 30ft below the water. In those days, high altitude bombing accuracy wasn’t good enough to deliver such a bomb bang on target. The idea of bouncing it across the water towards the dam like a skimming stone was inspired.

In early experiments a few things became clear. First, for the bomb to bounce it had to be spinning – with backspin. Just like that a delicate backspin dropshot in tennis, which causes the ball to hover just over the net.

Wallis worked out that a bomb with backspin would be levitated by what is known as the Magnus effect countering the downward pull of gravity and ensuring that it struck the surface of the water gently. If the bomb hit the water too hard, it would detonate prematurely, causing damage to the aircraft above, but no damage to the dam.

Spin therefore meant that the bombs could be delivered from a manageable height. Flying at 60ft was already dangerously low, but without backspin the Lancaster bombers would have to have flown even lower and faster.

In Wallis’ earliest experiments he worked with marbles and golf balls and it was obvious that his bomb would be spherical. But because it was easier to manufacture cylindrical bombs, a spherical wooden casing was strapped to the cylinders to make them round.

However, when scaled up to full size, the casing on the spherical bombs would break apart on impact with the water. It didn’t take long to establish that the spherical casing was unnecessary and that the bare cylinder would bounce just as effectively.

Spin doctor

Unlike a sphere however, cylinders will only bounce if they bounce straight. This is the second good reason for spinning the bomb, because spin keeps the axis of the cylinder horizontal so that it hits the water squarely. Just like for the spinning planet Earth, the gyroscopic effect of the spinning cylinder stabilises the axis of spin.

Wallis found yet another key benefit of backspin. The bomb couldn’t just smash into the dam wall at 240mph, as it would detonate prematurely and do no significant damage. So he made sure the bomb landed just short of the dam – but because it was still spinning, it curved down gently towards the dam wall. By the time it reached the required depth it was right up against the dam where it would cause maximum damage.

Finally, Wallis needed to know how much explosive to use. He did small-scale tests on models and then worked out how to scale up the amount of explosive to deal with a dam which is 120ft high, and ideally would have loaded his bombs with 40 tonnes of explosive. In the event (there’s only so much one plane can carry) he could only use four tonnes, so as well as the dark conditions, low altitude and enemy fire, precision was key.

(For our own bouncing bombexperiment in 2011, we found that 50 grams of explosive would completely demolish a 4ft dam, so our 30ft version would need 160kg. We used 180kg just to be sure … and it was totally wrecked.)

Following trials on water in Dorset and Kent, the actual raid took place in the early hours of May 17 1943, with 19 Lancaster bombers flying out of RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. After a three hour flight, the first plane lined itself up on the Möhne dam, flying at 240mph and at that dangerously low altitude of 60ft.

The bomb was released about half a mile in front of the dam, bounced five or six times and sank just short of the wall. At the required depth of 30ft the pressure of water triggered the explosion right next to the dam wall. In all, five planes had to drop their bombs before the first dam was breached.

The raid was dangerous, many lives were lost, and its effect on the course of the war is still debated. One thing we can surely agree on however, 75 years later, is that Wallis is rightly remembered as a genius engineer.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Hugh Hunt from Cambridge's Department of Engineering - who recreated the Dambusters raid in 2011 - discusses how engineers made a bomb bounce 75 years ago in an article for The Conversation

A plane drops a bouncing bomb at Mackenzie, British Columbia, where researchers successfully reconstructed the Dambusters mission of World War II.

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Yes

Six months of Herceptin could be as effective as 12 months for some women

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The PERSEPHONE trial, a £2.6 million study funded by the NIHR with translational research funded by Cancer Research UK, recruited over 4,000 women and compared a six month course of treatment of Herceptin with the current standard of 12 months for women with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer.

This is the largest trial of its kind examining the impact of shortening the duration of Herceptin treatment. Over the last five years, the NIHR has invested £46.5 million in funding and supporting breast cancer research.  

Herceptin, has been a major breakthrough, prolonging and saving the lives of women with breast cancers that carry the HER2 receptor on the surface of their cancer cells. Around 15 out of every 100 women with early breast cancers have HER2 positive disease.

Herceptin is a targeted therapy that works by attaching to the HER2 receptors preventing the cancer cells from growing and dividing. It has rapidly become standard of care and based on clinical research a 12 month treatment course was adopted. However, a further clinical study suggested a shorter duration could be as effective, significantly reducing side effects and cost both to patients and to the NHS.

The trial, led by a team from the University of Cambridge and Warwick Clinical Trials, the University of Warwick, found that 89.4% of patients taking six months treatment were free of disease after four years compared with 89.8% of patients taking treatment for 12 months. These results show that taking Herceptin for six months is as effective as 12 months for many women.

In addition, only 4% of women in the six month arm stopped taking the drug early because of heart problems, compared with 8% in the 12 month arm. Women also received chemotherapy (anthracycline-based, taxane-based or a combination of both) while enrolled in the trial.

Lead study author Professor Helena Earl, Professor of Clinical Cancer Medicine, University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, said: “The PERSEPHONE trials team, patient advocates who have worked with us on the study and our investigators are very excited by these results. We are confident that this will mark the first steps towards a reduction of Herceptin treatment to six months in many women with HER2-positive breast cancer.

“However, any proposed reduction in effective cancer treatment will always be complex and very challenging, and women currently taking the medication should not change their treatment without seeking advice from their doctor. There is more research to be done to define as precisely as possible the particular patients who could safely reduce their treatment duration. We are poised to do important translational research analysing blood and tissue samples collected within the trial to look for biomarkers to identify subgroups of different risk where shorter/longer durations might be tailored.”

Professor Hywel Williams, Director of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme that funded the PERSEPHONE study said: “This is a hugely important clinical trial that shows that more is not always better. Women will now have the potential to avoid unnecessary side effects of longer treatment without losing any benefit. In turn, this should help save vital funds for the NHS and prompt more studies in other situations where the optimum duration of treatment is not known. It is unlikely that research like this would ever be done by industry, so I am delighted that the NIHR are able to fund valuable research that has a direct impact on patients.”

Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician, said: “This is a critically important study that the breast cancer field has been eagerly awaiting. Targeted therapies, while effective, come at a huge health economic cost to the NHS as well as potentially causing side effects such as heart problems. Despite years of research, we haven’t been able to establish the optimal duration of Herceptin treatment, either to delay cancer coming back or to cure patients with early HER2+ breast cancer following surgery.

“The exciting early key findings from this study show that 6 months of Herceptin might be as effective as 12 months, and it may also be safer and with fewer side effects. By analysing tumour and blood samples, the researchers will now try to understand which patients can stop Herceptin at 6 months and which patients need extended therapy.”

Maggie Wilcox, President of Independent Cancer patients Voice (ICPV) who is the patient lead for the PERSEPHONE trial, said: “I am delighted to have been part of this landmark trial which is an important step to reduce the length of treatment whilst not changing effectiveness. Most trials add novel treatments to standard practice whilst this has set out to reduce duration of Herceptin. The collection of the patient reported experiences throughout the trial will greatly inform future practice and benefit patients. ICPV is working with the Persephone team to help disseminate these exciting results’.

The results of the trial, PERSEPHONE, will be presented at the upcoming 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. The full report, which will include analysis to determine the impact of treatment length on quality of life and a detailed cost effectiveness analysis, will publish in the NIHR journals library.

Press release from the NIHR

For women with HER2 positive early-stage breast cancer taking Herceptin for six months could be as effective as 12 months in preventing relapse and death, and can reduce side effects, finds new research.

We are confident that this will mark the first steps towards a reduction of Herceptin treatment to six months in many women with HER2-positive breast cancer.
Helena Earl
Breast cancer. Female hands make heart on pink ribbon

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Yes

Someone breaks their silence: what do you say?

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Her comment came as the University of Cambridge released figures showing that fears about friends’ reactions were among the main reasons Cambridge staff and students chose not to report sexual misconduct officially.

Today a film featuring Al-Ani giving staff and students advice on what to say and do when a friend confides in them was launched on the Breaking the Silence website.

She says: “What they need to hear more than anything is that you believe them, and it’s not their fault.”

To accompany the film, a new guide to handling disclosures is now available on the website.

More than a quarter (26%) of victims reported without identifying themselves or their perpetrator as they feared a backlash from friends, according to the first annual figures from the University's anonymous reporting tool, launched in May last year.

The tool is available on the Breaking the Silence website.

A Cambridge student recently told Varsity of the devastating impact of a negative reaction to her disclosure of sexual assault. “These kinds of ‘bad’ responses catch me off guard,” she said, “turning a conversation I am prepared and ready to have into a situation in which I am deeply uncomfortable.”

What a friend needs to hear

In it, Al-Ani says: “If a friend, or somebody close to you, tells you that they’ve been a victim of sexual violence, it can be a difficult thing to hear. It can be stressful, you might feel that you have to immediately resolve the issue for them or indeed you may have conflicting views if you know the person who’s perpetrated the harassment. 

“Let them know that you care, that the experience has not changed who they are or how you feel about them,” she continues.

“What they need to hear more than anything is that you believe them. If they think that you disbelieve them, they may never tell anyone again.

“Remember to say it’s not their fault. Nothing they have done or not done has resulted in the experience they have been through.”

She emphasises the need to help survivors “take back control” and empower them to make their own choices on how they wish the misconduct to be handled.

Lastly, she reminds staff and students: “As a supporter, you must remember to take your needs seriously. You are not a miracle worker. If you need to, take a supporter’s break and get some support for yourself."

As one Cambridge survivor told Varsity: “Provide a gentle, calm and encouraging space for the speaker to share what they wish to share, in their own words, and you can’t go too far wrong.”

Members of the Cambridge community are also showing solidarity with victims by sharing Breaking the Silence social media cover and profile images saying “Three little words can change a survivor’s experience: I believe you”.

More than 240 reports have been made in the 12 months since the tool was launched, compared with fewer than ten formal reports in the same period. 

Staff and students can report online at www.breakingthesilence.cam.ac.uk.

Leading culture change

Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope re-affirmed his commitment to the campaign in response to questions about unacceptable behaviour at Cambridge at a meeting with students on Tuesday.

Following a question on alcohol-related activities of some student groups, he said: “We’ve seen really sad cases in the past where people have been injured, deeply damaged, harassed, or assaulted - this is not acceptable. We know we can deal with the results through the disciplinary process and the work of Breaking the Silence but we need to tackle the underlying behaviour.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education Professor Graham Virgo added: “We need to try to think constructively about what needs to be done to change a culture that allows this.” He called for societies to be “non-gendered and not based on alcohol consumption.”

Secretary to the Senior Tutors’ Committee Dr Mark Wormald echoed these comments, saying: “There is no place for any form of harassment at the University of Cambridge. The University is dedicated to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming, inclusive and diverse community that nurtures a culture of mutual respect and consideration.

“We are aware of a number of serious allegations that have not been reported to the University or Colleges. We would strongly urge people to come forward with any concerns, and speak to their College or the central Office of Student Conduct, Complaints and Appeals so these can be subject to immediate and thorough investigation.”

Breaking the Silence is aimed at embedding a zero tolerance culture to all forms of harassment at Cambridge. Its work focuses on improving the preventing, response, support and investigation of all instances of harassment, and enabling staff and students to make disclosures without fear of reprisal.

“From a young age, the people we most want to confide in are our friends – then somehow that starts to change into worrying about what they will say if we do,” says Norah Al-Ani, Director of the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre.

What they need to hear more than anything is that you believe them, and it’s not their fault
Norah Al-Ani, Director of the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre

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The menace of monolingualism

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Is monolingualism harming us, both as individuals and as a society? Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Professor of French Philology and Linguistics, is leading a major interdisciplinary research project which looks at the value of languages for everything from health and well-being to social cohesion, diplomacy and conflict resolution.

The MEITS project (Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies) is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Open World Research Initiative and seeks to transform the health of the discipline of Modern Languages in the UK, attitudes towards multilingualism and language policy at home and abroad. The motivation for the project comes from an awareness that language learning in the UK is in a very difficult state. “There is a sense that modern languages are in crisis,” says Professor Ayres-Bennett, “and that traditional motivations to get people studying languages are not working. We need exciting new reasons to learn languages and to demonstrate the value of speaking more than one language.”

The project, which finishes in 2020, involves around 30 non-academic partners including schools and voluntary groups and has six interlocking research strands which investigate how the insights gained from stepping outside a single language, culture and mode of thought are vital to individuals and societies.

Professor Ayres-Bennett will speak about three areas of the research in a talk at the Hay Festival for the Cambridge Series, now in its 10th year. The first involves health and builds on research which shows that if you are bilingual dementia onset is on average delayed by up to five years compared to people who are monolingual, and that stroke victims who are bilingual recover cognitively twice as well as monolingual ones. What is more exciting, says Professor Ayres-Bennett, is that even those who learn a language later in life can enjoy certain cognitive benefits. One experiment conducted as part of the project involved a group who learnt Gaelic intensively for a week and were monitored to see if there was any impact on their cognitive abilities. The results were positive. “The kind of mental gymnastics that learning a language involves is good for us and for our ageing society. They help us to stay mentally active a bit longer,” says Professor Ayres-Bennett. “It’s a benefit that is little known, but learning a language is better than any drug currently available for delaying dementia.”

A second area she will speak about is how languages can bring people together and create greater social cohesion. Language is at the heart of some of the current political problems in Northern Ireland, with Irish tending to be viewed with suspicion by the Protestant-Unionist-Loyalist (PUL) community. The MEITS project has been working with two charities in Northern Ireland to enhance understanding between the Catholic and Protestant communities. It has been teaching former paramilitaries and future PUL leaders basic Irish. Professor Ayres-Bennett says: “The Irish language doesn’t have to be associated with sectarianism; the aim is to normalise it and show how it is part of everyone’s culture. In addition, demonstrating the origins of Irish place names can show that Irish is part of PUL heritage as well.”

The third area she will touch on involves the work the project is doing with a number of schools in London and East Anglia to change attitudes to languages. It is comparing language learning for children who are monolingual and started learning a language at school with those who have English as an additional language. The students are being tracked over a two-year period. “We want children to value the languages they speak and schools to think consciously about what it means to be multilingual and to see children with more than one language as a resource rather than an inconvenience,” says Professor Ayres-Bennett. She mentions one Polish student who placed himself near the monolingual end of a scale which asked children to consider how multilingual they were because he was just starting to learn French. “He didn’t value his ability to speak Polish. We need to get away from the hierarchy of good and bad languages,” she states. She adds that looking at multilingualism in a positive way improves social cohesion in the classroom as well as potentially improving students’ motivation for learning and their proficiency.

The MEITS project’s findings will be widely disseminated with the aim of raising awareness of all the different areas of policy which language learning affects. “Language is so central to who we are, to our identities, that it has to have a higher profile across all government departments,” says Professor Ayres-Bennett.

Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett will speak at the Hay Festival about her research into the health and social benefits of multilingualism.

The kind of mental gymnastics that learning a language involves is good for us and for our ageing society. They help us to stay mentally active a bit longer.
Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett

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Opinion: how mental health problems can affect early-career researchers

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Joanna Waldie

My research focuses on developing devices that can manipulate electrons one at a time. I also happen to have long gaps on my CV that take some creativity to explain in job interviews. This is because I’ve had mental health problems since I was a teenager.  During treatment for this, I’ve been privileged to meet some wonderful people with a variety of mental health conditions and to gain a little insight into their struggles.

Mental health conditions are often invisible. If I have a broken leg or a sore throat then it doesn’t take much for my colleagues to understand that I need time off work. If my mental health is bad then the onus is on me to explain to other people why I need time off work.

I worry that people will think I am silly, or oversensitive, or lazy, or skiving. However, the first person you need to convince that it’s OK to have time off is yourself. It feels like a great step forward when you do.

There are a lot of misconceptions about mental illnesses, not least because their invisibility makes awareness of their prevalence remain low. If I tell someone what mental health conditions I have, I have no idea what this will mean to them, and whether it will match the reality of how I feel. This is particularly the case in the multicultural research environment, where different cultures may have very different understandings of mental health.

As researchers we have succeeded in our University studies and got our PhDs. We are used to solving problems, achieving highly and getting stuff done.

When faced with a mental health condition, we feel desperately that we need to understand and solve the problem, and soon. But even after many years I do not fully understand my mental health problems. I cannot fix them or solve them as I would a problem in the lab.

It has taken me years to learn to spot triggers and recognise warning signs when things are getting bad, and to learn some things that sometimes help. I have learned a huge amount, but there is still much I don’t understand about this illness.

I have told few colleagues about my health problems, but those I have told have been supportive. I’ve benefited from some fantastic services at the University including the staff counselling and occupational health services. That support – at work and from family and friends – makes a huge difference.

There are still challenges – my ongoing mental health problems are classed as a disability, and that meant I had to tick a box labelling me as a “disabled person” when I started this job in order to qualify for reasonable adjustments. Not everyone would feel OK about that. These labels can create barriers to people coming forward to seek help.

Researchers often have to move around a lot to advance their careers, doing a series of short-term contracts in several places. If someone with a mental health condition comes to the UK for an 18-month postdoc job, it might take them a while to understand how to access treatment in the UK. They might wait for months to be seen by a specialist. And treatment in the UK might be very different to what they have known in in their home country.

I’ve been very lucky in this respect. When I was a PhD student, my College provided me with free accommodation near to the hospital where I was being treated so I didn’t have to move back to live with my parents and start all over again on a waiting list.

My fellowship is normally only open to people who are moving to Cambridge. But the selection panel took into account that I wanted to stay in Cambridge to continue to access treatment and support at the same clinic.

The sector needs to do more to help researchers who have moved for a job, uprooting themselves from their support networks.

Research is challenging. In trying to do things no one has ever done before there are always setbacks. For someone with a mental health condition, you can go from one setback in the lab to deep despair in the time it takes to say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’.

Sometimes I wish having someone beside me to give moral support during difficult experiments counted as a ‘reasonable adjustment’. But I am lucky to have colleagues and a boss who do support me.

As a researcher you need to believe in your research ideas and your ability to carry them out. You need to be able to sell your research. You need to be excited by your research and be able to convince other people to get excited about it, to publish it, to fund it. This is hard to do if you are feeling depressed, and you don’t even feel like life is worth living. It’s really hard.

But friends and colleague can make a real difference in helping people with mental health problems to flourish in their research.

A greater openness about mental health in the research community will surely benefit us all.

Herchel Smith postdoctoral research fellow in Physics Dr Joanna Waldie shares her personal story to support Mental Health Awareness Week

When I need time off, I worry that people will think I am silly, or oversensitive, or lazy, or skiving - the first person you need to convince that it’s OK is yourself
Joanna Waldie

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