The National Quantum Technologies Programme, which began in 2013, has now entered its second phase of funding, part of which will be a £94 million investment by the UK government, via UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), in four Quantum Technologies Research Hubs.

The University of Cambridge is a partner in the Quantum Communications Hub, led by the University of York, which is pursuing quantum communications at all distance scales, to offer a range of applications and services and the potential for integration with existing infrastructure.

Through these Hubs, the UK’s world-leading quantum technologies research base will continue to drive the development of new technologies through their networks of academic and business partnerships.

“Harnessing the full potential of emerging technologies is vital as we strive to meet our Industrial Strategy ambition to be the most innovative economy in the world,” said Science Minister Chris Skidmore. “Our world-leading universities are pioneering ways to apply quantum technologies that could have serious commercial benefits for UK businesses. That’s why I am delighted to be announcing further investment in Quantum Technology Hubs that will bring academics and innovators together and make this once-futuristic technology applicable to our everyday lives.”

“The UK is leading the field in developing Quantum Technologies and this new investment will help us make the next leap forward in the drive to link discoveries to innovative applications. UKRI is committed to ensuring the best research and researchers are supported in this area,” said Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of UKRI.

The Quantum Communications Hub has already established the UK's first quantum network, the UKQN. They will be extending and enhancing the UKQN, adding function and capability, and introducing new Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technologies - using quantum light analogous to that used in conventional communications, or using entanglement working towards even longer distance fibre communications.

“We will be extending the UKQN to a national scale, with links over the EPSRC National Dark Fibre Facility to London and Bristol, as well as a link to our industrial partner BT in Adastral Park in Ipswich,” said Professor Richard Penty from the Department of Engineering. “We will be using this network to trial more advanced quantum communications technologies, including quantum repeaters, quantum entanglement, continuous variable QKD and new algorithms.”

Although widely applicable, key-sharing does not provide a solution for all secure communication scenarios. The Hub will research other new quantum protocols and the incorporation of QKD into wider security solutions. Professor Adrian Kent from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics is co-leading this work with other theorists in the Hub.

“We have been devising new applications of quantum communication which allow new secure cryptographic schemes, often also making use of the impossibility of faster-than-light signalling,” said Kent. “We have also been working with experimentalist colleagues in the Hub on the practical implementation of some of these schemes, for example over the UK Quantum Network.

“The next phase of the Hub will allow us to extend our theoretical work and experimental collaborations, including work on space-based implementations via satellite links.”

The Cambridge researchers will also be working on quantum communications on a chip, particularly for the networking aspects. “One of the barriers for take-up of quantum communications is that the transmitters and receivers are bespoke and made from discrete components,” said Penty. “Integrating many of the functions on the same chip will reduce the costs and speed up commercialisation.”

Given the changing landscape worldwide, it is becoming increasingly important for the UK to establish national capability, both in quantum communication technologies and their key components such as light sources and detectors. The Hub has assembled an excellent team to deliver this capability.

Adapted from a UKRI press release.

I am developing new methodologies in the field of probabilistic machine learning (PML), an emerging research area that lies at the intersection of statistics and computer science. PML uses elements from probabilistic modelling, a framework for representing and handling uncertainty about models and predictions; as well as machine learning, a way of designing machines that learn from data acquired through experience. In healthcare applications, where data are sensitive from several aspects, it is of great importance to be able to efficiently and accurately estimate uncertainty.

Being a researcher in artificial intelligence means that you have to efficiently manage your time. Since it is an emerging field, the rate of publications in AI is extraordinary, so I’ve got to spend time reading new things related to my topic. I also spend time developing my own methods, interacting with colleagues both inside and outside of the University, and coding. All four aspects are very important. I’ve also discussed my project with people from other universities and research institutions across the world and that has been very motivating in its own right.

It’s such a great time to be working in this field. There are so many open questions and plenty of room for applications that can improve people’s lives. My academic experience so far has enriched my arsenal with tools that are critical in problem-solving setups, such as algorithmic/methodological way of thinking, programming in several languages, understanding quantitative and qualitative properties of problems and drawing inference, which I hope to use to answer challenging questions in the broader field of probabilistic machine learning and artificial intelligence.

I’ve met some living legends at Cambridge, like Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter and Professor Neil Lawrence. Their commitment to science, their vision and enthusiasm have motivated and helped me a lot. As a Cambridge PhD student, you can also apply for ‘internal’ scholarships and, if successful, get the opportunity to further your research in other universities.

My advice for women considering a career in a STEM field is to go ahead and do it, and be assertive all the way through! There are a lot of groups out there to support you in this regard. We have recently created the Women in Data Science and Statistics group, with the generous support of the Royal Statistical Society. This group, among others, advocates for women in statistics and data science and supports them in these fields.

Another group I am very proud of is {Dis}Ability in AI, which supports and advocates for people with disabilities in the field of AI. It is officially supported by the top conferences in artificial intelligence worldwide (NeurIPS, ICML and ICLR).

These statistics are freely available on the institutions’ websites as part of their ongoing commitment to transparency and openness. The figures show that the ten institutions collectively conducted nearly a half of all UK animal research in 2018.

These ten organisations carried out 1.69 million procedures, 48% of the 3.52 million procedures carried out in Great Britain in 2018. More than 99% of these procedures were carried out on rodents or fish.

The ten organisations are listed below alongside the total number of procedures that they carried out in 2018.

A further breakdown of Cambridge’s numbers, including the number of procedures by species and detail of the levels of severity, can be found on its animal research pages.

All universities are committed to the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible, minimising the number of animals used per experiment, and improving welfare.

All ten organisations are signatories to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, a commitment to be open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. Over 120 organisations have signed the concordat including UK universities, charities, research funders, and commercial research organisations. Earlier this year, the University of Cambridge was named a Leader in Openness in recognition of its work.

Dr Martin Vinnell, the University of Cambridge’s Establishment Licence Holder, who is responsible for overseeing its animal research, said: “While the use of animals plays an important role in biomedical research, we should always be looking at ways to refine this work, find replacements and ultimately reduce the number of animals used.

“Nor should we see this kind of research as a right – it’s essential that we are open about our work and ensure the public is well informed of both what we do, and why we do it, whether or not they support this type of research. This is why it is important that institutions such as Cambridge and its peers release information about their animal research.”

Wendy Jarrett, Chief Executive of Understanding Animal Research, which helped develop the Concordat on Openness, said: “Since the publication of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK in 2014, organisations that carry out research using animals have been increasingly transparent. These organisations are providing an unprecedented level of information about how and why they conduct medical, veterinary and scientific research using animals. Facts, figures, case studies, and photos about the use of animals in research are now provided directly by the organisations that carry out the research, so that it has never been easier for members of the public to find out why those animals were used in research.”

The opening of the Oscar-winning film The Big Short, a comedy-drama on the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, begins with a famous quote: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

This phrase captures one of the main reasons why the US housing bubble popped in 2008, triggering the worst economic recession since the 1930s. The movie portrays an eccentric hedge fund manager discussing the idea of betting against subprime mortgage bonds. The investment bankers, at first, reply politely: “Those bonds only fail if millions of Americans don’t pay mortgages. That’s never happened in history.”

But it happened. And as a consequence, many people worldwide have suffered severely, and the enduring effects still haunt us, politically and economically, even a decade later.

In a new paper published in Climate Policy, we argue that a similar tragic “debt crisis” could unfold for climate change. The “debt” would be measured in excess carbon emissions, which will keep accumulating until we reach net-zero. In this scenario, the bankers are those who assume that the debt will be paid back by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

But such a bet will be necessary if we recklessly embark on the strategy of reducing emissions slowly and removing carbon later, while in the meantime using speculative technology to block out heat from the sun. Among climate scientists and policy analysts, this is the so-called temperature “overshoot and peak-shaving” scenario.

‘Overshoot and peak-shaving’

In December 2015, the world adopted the Paris Agreement and pledged to limit global temperature rise well below 2℃ – if not 1.5℃ – above pre-industrial levels. Despite that, global CO₂ emissions continue to rise.

The slow and uneven pace of global emissions reductions is increasing the likelihood of “overshoot” scenarios, in which warming will temporarily exceed 1.5 or 2°C, but will later fall to the target temperature through the large-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies. These remove CO₂ from the atmosphere by, for example, planting trees or scrubbing it through chemical filters and burying it deep underground.

But the world would still need to adapt to the impacts of increased warming during the overshooting period. Because of this concern, the idea of so-called “peak-shaving” has also emerged among some scientists who want to avoid such an overshoot by temporarily using solar geoengineering.

Solar geoengineering means dimming sunlight itself. In theory, the Earth could be cooled very quickly by, for example, spraying sulphate aerosols in the upper atmosphere.

The concept of an “overshoot and peak-shaving” scenario is therefore based on the temporary use of solar geoengineering, combined with large-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies.

In this scenario, the two technologies are in a mutually dependent relationship – solar geoengineering is used to keep the temperature down for the time being, while negative emissions technologies are used to reduce atmospheric CO₂ to the point where solar geoengineering is no longer needed.

Emissions debt and temperature debt

But this assumed reciprocity may not work as intended. Here, the notion of debt is useful. As the sociologist Lisa Adkins suggests, the logic of debt rests on a promise to pay (back) in the future. In this sense, both overshooting and peak-shaving can be seen as acts of “borrowing” or “creating debt”.

Overshooting avoids reducing carbon emissions today by effectively borrowing emissions from the future (creating “emissions debt”), with a promise to pay back that debt later through negative emissions technologies.

Peak-shaving is borrowing global temperature (creating “temperature debt”) through the temporary use of solar geoengineering to cancel excess warming until the point when no further borrowing, of either sort, is needed.

In such an outcome the world will take on a double debt: “emissions debt” and “temperature debt”.

The analogy with housing loans

The fact of being indebted may not sound so bad. (Almost everyone has a debt of some kind in their everyday life, right?) But the key question is: can we duly pay off this “climate debt”? How credible is the promise?

Here, the analogy with housing loans is most useful for properly rating the riskiness of such debt repayment.

Given that overshoot allows slow rates of emissions reductions by “promising” that delays can be compensated later through carbon removal, this looks a bit like borrowing an adjustable-rate subprime mortgage loan. Peak-shaving, on the other hand, is more like borrowing additional loans for “home improvement”, which maintains house values – (keeps global temperature constant during the overshooting period).

Since most negative emissions technologies are still speculative or under development, overshoot should be rated like a subprime loan with a high risk of default. Just as American homeowners weren’t able to keep paying their mortgages after all, so negative emissions technologies may never be an effective enough way to take carbon out of the atmosphere.

This doesn’t sound like a secure, feasible investment. The failure to keep the overshoot promise of later repayment would lead to endless peak-shaving. Solar geoengineering would become an ongoing necessity – an unpayable massive “climate debt” accumulating year-by-year.

Framing matters — let’s not blind ourselves

Concerns over crossing so-called “tipping points” – paving the way toward a “hothouse Earth” – may push some people towards accepting overshooting and peak-shaving. But because this is a speculative scenario, it matters how we frame it.

Some scientists say that solar geoengineering is like a drug to lower high-blood pressure– an overdose is harmful, but a “well-chosen” and limited dose can lower your risks, helping you have a healthier life.

They suggest that solar geoengineering is not a substitute for cutting emissions but a supplement for containing global temperature increases. But this works only if negative emissions technologies are rolled out very swiftly on a massive scale.

Read more: Blocking out the sun won't fix climate change – but it could buy us time

The housing loans analogy sheds light on an important assumption that is implicitly built into such a scenario, namely that overshooting is simply like borrowing money (for example, a mortgage) and that people pay back mortgages. This was also the unquestioned assumption in the run up to the US housing market crisis and it created the systemic failure to notice the growing risk of the bubble bursting.

We shouldn’t fool ourselves into believing that a similar “debt crisis” will not happen for managing the risk of climate change. Beware the dubious promises of “overshoot and peak-shaving” technologies – they may well turn out to be risky subprime loans.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge used volcanic minerals known as ‘crystal clocks’ to calculate how long magma can be stored in the deepest parts of volcanic systems. This is the first estimate of magma storage times near the boundary of the Earth’s crust and the mantle, called the Moho. The results are reported in the journal Science.

“This is like geological detective work,” said Dr Euan Mutch from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, and the paper’s first author. “By studying what we see in the rocks to reconstruct what the eruption was like, we can also know what kind of conditions the magma is stored in, but it’s difficult to understand what’s happening in the deeper parts of volcanic systems.”

“Determining how long magma can be stored in the Earth’s crust can help improve models of the processes that trigger volcanic eruptions,” said co-author Dr John Maclennan, also from the Department of Earth Sciences. “The speed of magma rise and storage is tightly linked to the transfer of heat and chemicals in the crust of volcanic regions, which is important for geothermal power and the release of volcanic gases to the atmosphere.”

The researchers studied the Borgarhraun eruption of the Theistareykir volcano in northern Iceland, which occurred roughly 10,000 years ago, and was fed directly from the Moho. This boundary area plays an important role in the processing of melts as they travel from their source regions in the mantle towards the Earth’s surface. To calculate how long the magma was stored at this boundary area, the researchers used a volcanic mineral known as spinel like a tiny stopwatch or crystal clock.

Using the crystal clock method, the researchers were able to model how the composition of the spinel crystals changed over time while the magma was being stored. Specifically, they looked at the rates of diffusion of aluminium and chromium within the crystals and how these elements are ‘zoned’.

“Diffusion of elements works to get the crystal into chemical equilibrium with its surroundings,” said Maclennan. “If we know how fast they diffuse we can figure out how long the minerals were stored in the magma.”

The researchers looked at how aluminium and chromium were zoned in the crystals and realised that this pattern was telling them something exciting and new about magma storage time. The diffusion rates were estimated using the results of previous lab experiments. The researchers then used a new method, combining finite element modelling and Bayesian nested sampling to estimate the storage timescales.

“We now have really good estimates in terms of where the magma comes from in terms of depth,” said Mutch. “No one’s ever gotten this kind of timescale information from the deeper crust.”

Calculating the magma storage time also helped the researchers determine how magma can be transferred to the surface. Instead of the classical model of a volcano with a large magma chamber beneath, the researchers say that instead, it’s more like a volcanic ‘plumbing system’ extending through the crust with lots of small ‘spouts’ where magma can be quickly transferred to the surface.

A second paper by the same team, recently published in Nature Geoscience, found that that there is a link between the rate of ascent of the magma and the release of CO2, which has implications for volcano monitoring.

The researchers observed that enough CO2 was transferred from the magma into gas over the days before eruption to indicate that CO2 monitoring could be a useful way of spotting the precursors to eruptions in Iceland. Based on the same set of crystals from Borgarhraun, the researchers found that magma can rise from a chamber 20 kilometres deep to the surface in as little as four days.

The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

References:
Euan J.F. Mutch et al. ‘Millennial storage of near-Moho magma.’ Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aax4092

Euan J.F. Mutch et al. ‘Rapid transcrustal magma movement under Iceland.’ Nature Geoscience (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0376-9

Being part of a world-renowned research institute is a great privilege, and it is exciting to be part of a team carrying out cutting-edge science. I have been in my current role of Information Specialist for over 15 years. My work involves facilitating the scientific management of research projects in a large lab whose focus is cancer research. I enjoy the varied nature of my job, everything from costing grant applications to tweeting about our latest research findings. I also enjoy working in an academic environment with a fantastic group of extremely talented and highly motivated scientists.

I have been very fortunate that my post has allowed me to work part-time. This is something that is much harder for bench-based scientists, and I have been able to continue to work while raising my family. I have a BSc (London) and PhD (Edinburgh) in Biochemistry. I have nine years' postdoctoral experience in human molecular genetics and several years’ experience working in small start-up drug discovery companies doing computer-based biological research.

There have been a number of important turning points in my career. I reached a point in my postdoc career when I realised I could not continue bench research and was forced to re-evaluate my skills and explore alternative career options. Another came when I was made redundant while working for a small start-up business. Having a job in the morning, but finding myself unemployed a few hours later was quite traumatic. I had to act very quickly to find a new post, all while juggling a young family.

I think it’s important to remember that careers change, and the path you set out on might not lead to where you thought you’d end up. Think laterally - academic, bench-based research trains you in many skills that are applicable to other alternative careers.

On a daily basis, I can be doing any number of things. These might involve monitoring the scientific literature, writing reports and grant applications, or editing Wikipedia pages. I also oversee lab funding and staff recruitment, assist with research publications from first drafts through to the final proof-reading stage, write press releases and other publicity materials, and deal with anything else that crosses my desk!

There is so much fascinating science happening in Cambridge. Recently I’ve been working with Professor Jackson on a European Research Council Synergy Grant application. This is a multi-disciplinary, multi-centred proposal whose aim is to use the latest technologies in gene editing and chemical biology to study DNA-damage response pathways. We aim to identify new therapeutic agents for diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Preparing such a large application has been a challenging task, requiring coordinating with multiple partners. We will hear later in the year whether this application has been accepted, which could lead to some very exciting research.

The University has also expressed an aspiration to be ten years ahead of its Science Based Target decarbonisation pathway at all times and to reach zero carbon by 2038.

“Scientists have made it clear that we need to take urgent action to prevent potentially catastrophic climate change,” says Professor Ian Leslie, Senior Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor with special responsibility for Environmental Sustainability.

“As a world-leading University, we need to not only take responsibility for our own carbon emissions, but also to demonstrate to others what is achievable. By setting an ambitious target for carbon reduction and aiming to reach it a decade early, we hope to provide opportunities for others to learn from our approach, including where we are successful and areas that are found to be challenging.”

Science Based Targets are based on independently developed models of what organisations need to do. Cambridge’s target is focused on scope 1 and 2 emissions targets: scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources; scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy.

“The important point about Science Based Targets is that they are not arbitrary, but rather are robust and evidence-based,” adds Dr Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Research on Carbon Neutrality at the University of Cambridge. Dr Shuckburgh also leads the Cambridge Carbon Neutral Futures Initiative, due to launch in the autumn.

“Achieving our commitment will undoubtedly be challenging, but it is a challenge we have a duty to meet. We encourage other universities and institutions to consider adopting similar commitments.”

Initially, the new commitment applies to the University’s operational estate, which includes buildings and assets that directly support its teaching and research activities. The University is developing Science Based Targets for its wider estate and activities over the next three years.

Work that is already underway to reach the commitment includes:

• looking at options to significantly reduce the amount of gas that the University uses for space and water heating;
• assessing the feasibility of developing a solar farm on University land;
• sourcing all of the University’s electricity from zero carbon sources;
• a programme of energy efficiency improvements across the University’s estate.

The University is also taking steps to ensure that carbon is a key consideration in decisions relating to the development of new buildings.

Other proposals in the pipeline include providing the University’s departments with better data on their energy use and carbon emissions, so that staff and students are informed to take action and to measure the impact this is having.

The University has also committed to develop targets for reducing its indirect (scope 3) carbon emissions, for example those from its supply chain and business travel, and is developing a number of initiatives to reduce these.

Science Based Targets are developed using models that calculate the level of carbon reduction a particular organisation needs to achieve in order to do its ‘fair share’ in reducing global emissions. As their starting point, the models reflect the amount by which global emissions need to be reduced to ensure that the goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement are achieved. The Paris Agreement, which is an international response to the threat of climate change, aims to limit the increase in global average temperature during this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius (measured against pre-industrial levels), ideally limiting the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The University’s Science Based Target is based on the 1.5 degree limit. It shows by how much and how quickly the University needs to reduce its emissions to ensure it is doing enough to help reduce global emissions to the levels that the latest climate science says is necessary to prevent the worst consequences of climate change.

The models and data underlying the development of Science Based Targets are provided by the Science Based Targets Initiative and the International Energy Agency. Companies adopting their own Science Based Targets can also have them assessed and validated by the Initiative, although this service is not yet available to the higher education sector. The University’s target has not yet been validated, but it has been developed by an external consultant who has direct, relevant experience and is a member of the Initiative’s Technical Advisory Group.

For further information, see the Environment and Energy website.

The discovery adds further evidence to support the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism first proposed 20 years ago.

In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later developed autism. These androgens are produced in higher quantities in male than in female foetuses on average, so might also explain why autism occurs more often in boys. They are also known to masculinise parts of the brain, and to have effects on the number of connections between brain cells.

Today, the same scientists have built on their previous findings by testing the amniotic fluid samples from the same 98 individuals sampled from the Danish Biobank, which has collected amniotic samples from over 100,000 pregnancies, but this time looking at another set of prenatal sex steroid hormones called oestrogens. This is an important next step because some of the hormones previously studied are directly converted into oestrogens.

All four oestrogens were significantly elevated, on average, in the 98 foetuses who later developed autism, compared to the 177 foetuses who did not. High levels of prenatal oestrogens were even more predictive of likelihood of autism than were high levels of prenatal androgens (such as testosterone). Contrary to popular belief that associates oestrogens with feminisation, prenatal oestrogens have effects on brain growth and also masculinise the brain in many mammals.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who led this study and who first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, said: “This new finding supports the idea that increased prenatal sex steroid hormones are one of the potential causes for the condition. Genetics is well established as another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect the developing foetal brain.”

Alex Tsompanidis, a PhD student in Cambridge who worked on the study, said: “These elevated hormones could be coming from the mother, the baby or the placenta. Our next step should be to study all these possible sources and how they interact during pregnancy.”

Dr Alexa Pohl, part of the Cambridge team, said: “This finding is exciting because the role of oestrogens in autism has hardly been studied, and we hope that we can learn more about how they contribute to foetal brain development in further experiments. We still need to see whether the same result holds true in autistic females.”

However, the team cautioned that these findings cannot and should not be used to screen for autism. “We are interested in understanding autism, not preventing it,” added Professor Baron- Cohen.

Dr Arieh Cohen, the biochemist on the team, based at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, said: “This is a terrific example of how a unique biobank set up 40 years ago is still reaping scientific fruit today in unimagined ways, through international collaboration.”

The research was supported by the Autism Research Trust, the Medical Research Council, and Wellcome.

Reference
Baron-Cohen, S et al. Foetal oestrogens and autism. Molecular Psychiatry; 29 July 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0454-9

I hope my research will lead to the accelerated control, elimination, and hopefully, eradication of anthrax in Uganda as well as other countries in Africa and worldwide. I use mathematical modelling to identify areas of Uganda that are most at risk of anthrax, which can infect both animals and humans. It is caused by B. anthracis, a bacterium that lives in the soil. By mapping areas where anthrax cases have occurred in the past and studying the environmental conditions of those areas, I hope to be able to predict other locations with conditions that are suitable for the bacteria. By building ‘risk maps’ from this data, we can help policymakers pinpoint particular areas across Uganda with the highest anthrax occurrence risk. This way, they can target prevention strategies such as vaccination and health promotion campaigns to the areas with the most need. 

I am particularly interested in mapping areas where past cases of anthrax have occurred in Uganda. I’m currently doing a literature review to identify relevant sources of information related to my study and collecting secondary data on past anthrax case occurrences. I’m also gathering information on environmental conditions from remotely-sensed satellite data and public databases to understand the characteristics of locations which have had past outbreaks. Although my study setting is in Uganda, I do most of my research work, including data analysis, at the Department of Veterinary Medicine in Cambridge.

The most interesting day I've had so far was during the orientation for the Gates Cambridge scholars. I met so many people in one day. I also learned about the incredible research being done by other students at the University. It was amazing!

Cambridge is a place of limitless possibilities. It encourages students to think outside the box, to seek solutions to problems that seem insurmountable, to go the extra mile while giving them unlimited support to achieve their goals. The University has top-notch facilities for both academic and social life. The supervisors here are leading experts in their respective fields and are also well connected, ensuring students have the best possible guidance for their research. The rich history of Cambridge, as well as its excellent reputation, helps to attract a wide array of funding available to the students, researchers, and teaching staff. Also, the numerous societies and clubs within the university help students to thrive, not only academically, but also socially and spiritually, leading to a well-balanced educational experience.

I have had an incredible opportunity to mentor several very talented young female scientists since I founded the STEMing Africa Initiative. This experience has opened my eyes to the unique challenges faced by women in STEM. Humanity has come a long way, and we still have a long way to go. Women form about half of the world’s population. If we want to fly to Jupiter someday, discover the secret to longevity, perfect organ regeneration, cure cancer, or even travel across time, we must work at full capacity. Men and women. If no one has created space for you, create it yourself. But under no circumstance must you give up. Science needs you. The world needs you.

Researchers have found that, by transplanting an area of damaged tissue with a combination of both heart muscle cells and supportive cells taken from the outer layer of the heart wall, they may be able to help the organs recover from the damage caused by a heart attack.

Scientists have been trying to use stem cells to repair damaged hearts for a number of years. Efforts have been unsuccessful so far, mainly because the vast majority of transplanted cells die within a few days.

Now, Dr Sanjay Sinha and his team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Washington, have used supportive epicardial cells developed from human stem cells to help transplanted heart cells live longer.

The researchers used 3D human heart tissue grown in the lab from human stem cells to test the cell combination, finding that the supportive epicardial cells helped heart muscle cells to grow and mature. They also improved the heart muscle cell’s ability to contract and relax.

In rats with damaged hearts, the combination also allowed the transplanted cells to survive and restore lost heart muscle and blood vessel cells.

Researchers now hope to understand how the supportive epicardial cells help to drive heart regeneration. Understanding these key details will bring them one step closer to testing heart regenerative therapies in clinical trials.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are living with debilitating heart failure, often as a result of a heart attack. During a heart attack, part of the heart is deprived of oxygen leading to death of heart muscle. This permanent loss of heart muscle as well as subsequent scarring combines to reduce the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body.

People suffering from heart failure can’t regenerate their damaged hearts and the only cure is a heart transplant. Ultimately, these researchers hope that, by harnessing the regenerative power of stem cells, they will one day be able to heal human hearts using a patient’s own cells.

The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research.

Dr Sanjay Sinha, BHF-funded researcher and leader of the study at the University of Cambridge, said: “There are hundreds of thousands of people in the UK living with heart failure – many are in a race against time for a life-saving heart transplant. But with only around 200 heart transplants performed each year in the UK, it’s absolutely essential that we start finding alternative treatments.

Dr Johannes Bargehr, first author of the study at the University of Cambridge said: “Our research shows the huge potential of stem cells for one day becoming the first therapy for heart failure. Although we still have some way to go, we believe we’re one giant step closer, and that’s incredibly exciting.”

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation which part-funded the research said: “Despite advances in medical treatments, survival rates for heart failure remain poor and life expectancy is worse than for many cancers. Breakthroughs are desperately needed to ease the devastation caused by this dreadful condition.

“When it comes to mending broken hearts, stem cells haven’t yet really lived up to their early promise. We hope that this latest research represents the turning of the tide in the use of these remarkable cells.”

Reference
Bargehr, J et al. Epicardial cells derived from human embryonic stem cells augment cardiomyocyte-driven heart regeneration. Nature Biotechnology; 2 Aug 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41587-019-0197-9

Adapted from a press release by the British Heart Foundation.

The team of researchers – from the Universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, New York and Leiden – say their findings highlight a pressing need for greater support for couples before, during and after pregnancy to improve outcomes for children. The study is the first to examine the influence of both mothers’ and fathers’ wellbeing before and after birth on children’s adjustment at 14 and 24 months of age.

Lead author, Professor Claire Hughes from Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research, said: “For too long, the experiences of first-time dads has either been side-lined or treated in isolation from that of mums. This needs to change because difficulties in children’s early relationships with both mothers and fathers can have long-term effects.

“We have already shared our findings with the NCT (National Childbirth Trust) and we encourage the NHS and other organisations to reconsider the support they offer.”

The study, published today in Development & Psychopathology, drew on the experiences of 438 first-time expectant mothers and fathers who were followed up at 4, 14 and 24 months after birth. These parents were recruited in the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands.

The researchers found that the prenatal wellbeing of first-time mothers had a direct impact on the behaviour of their children by the time they were two years old. Mothers who suffered from stress and anxiety in the prenatal period were more likely to see their child display behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, restlessness and spitefulness.

The researchers also found that two-year-olds were more likely to exhibit emotional problems – including being worried, unhappy and tearful; scaring easily; or being clingy in new situations – if their parents had been having early postnatal relationship problems. These ranged from a general lack of happiness in the relationship to rows and other kinds of conflict.

Hughes says: “Our findings highlight the need for earlier and more effective support for couples to prepare them better for the transition to parenthood.”

Links between child outcomes and parental wellbeing have been shown in other studies, but this is the first to involve couples, track parental wellbeing in both parents over an extended period of time, and focus on child behaviour in the first two years of life. While there is growing evidence for the importance of mental health support for expectant and new mothers, this study highlights the need to extend this support to expectant fathers and to go beyond individual well-being to consider the quality of new mothers’ and fathers’ couple relationships.

The researchers acknowledge that genetic factors are likely to play a role but they accounted for parents’ mental health difficulties prior to their first pregnancy and after their child’s birth. Co-author Dr Rory Devine, a developmental psychologist at the University of Birmingham, says “Our data demonstrate that mental health problems during pregnancy have a unique impact on children’s behaviour problems.”

Using standardized questionnaires and in-person interviews, participating mothers and fathers reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression in the third trimester of pregnancy and when their child was 4, 14 and 24 months old. At each of these visits, parents also completed standardized questionnaire measures of couple relationship quality and children’s emotions and behaviour.

Hughes says: “There has been an assumption that it’s really difficult to get dads involved in research like this. But our study draws on a relatively large sample and is unique because both parents answered the same questions at every stage, which enabled us to make direct comparisons.”

The research is part of an ongoing project examining the wellbeing and influence of new mothers and fathers. In a closely linked study, published in Archives of Women’s Mental Health in July 2019, the team found that fathers share in traumatic memories of birth with their partners far more than has previously been recognised. This study compared the wellbeing of parents in the third trimester of pregnancy with that when their child was four months old.

Co-author, Dr Sarah Foley, also from Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research said: “If mum has a difficult birth, that can be a potentially traumatic experience for dads.”

“What both studies show is that we need to make antenatal support much more inclusive and give first-time mums and dads the tools they need to communicate with each other and better prepare them for this major transition. With resources stretched, parents are missing out on the support they need.”

This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Dutch Research Council.

References
Hughes, C., Devine, R.T., Mesman, J., & Blair, C. ‘Parental wellbeing, couple relationship quality and children’s behavior problems in the first two years of life.’ Development & Psychopathology; 6 August 2019; DOI: 10.1017/S0954579419000804  

The goal of the €3 million Self-healing soft robot (SHERO) project, funded by the European Commission, is to create a next-generation robot made from self-healing materials (flexible plastics) that can detect damage, take the necessary steps to temporarily heal itself and then resume its work – all without the need for human interaction.

Led by the University of Brussels (VUB), the research consortium includes the Department of Engineering (University of Cambridge), École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), and the Dutch Polymer manufacturer SupraPolix.

As part of the SHERO project, the Cambridge team, led by Dr Fumiya Iida from the Department of Engineering are looking at integrating self-healing materials into soft robotic arms.

Dr Thomas George Thuruthel, also from the Department of Engineering, said self-healing materials could have future applications in modular robotics, educational robotics and evolutionary robotics where a single robot can be 'recycled' to generate a fresh prototype.

“We will be using machine learning to work on the modelling and integration of these self-healing materials, to include self-healing actuators and sensors, damage detection, localisation and controlled healing,” he said. “The adaptation of models after the loss of sensory data and during the healing process is another area we are looking to address. The end goal is to integrate the self-healing sensors and actuators into demonstration platforms in order to perform specific tasks.”

Professor Bram Vanderborght, from VUB, who is leading the project with scientists from the robotics research centre Brubotics and the polymer research lab FYSC, said: “We are obviously very pleased to be working on the next generation of robots. Over the past few years, we have already taken the first steps in creating self-healing materials for robots. With this research we want to continue and, above all, ensure that robots that are used in our working environment are safer, but also more sustainable. Due to the self-repair mechanism of this new kind of robot, complex, costly repairs may be a thing of the past.”

I think the most fun I’ve probably had at work was when I programmed a movable camera to follow me around the room. I’m a mathematician by training and now work as a Teaching Associate in Scientific Computing, specialising in algorithms. I will soon be starting at the British Antarctic Survey as a Data Scientist, to which I am immensely looking forward to.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are very popular now. These are also algorithms, with the difference that often the numbers are interpreted as probabilities. So computers do not necessarily give an exact answer, but the answer that is the most probable in some setting.  Computer vision has developed a lot in recent years. I've also worked in industry on various applications and particularly enjoy making connections between different fields. The challenge is to express the problem in mathematical terms. Then it can be tackled by algorithms.

With human learning, experiences change how we interpret our world. A levitation act will not fascinate a small child if it has not learned about gravity yet. Once it knows about gravity, it does seem to like throwing things down again and again, as any frustrated parent will tell you!  Similarly, machine learning lets the computer have experiences in the form of data - lots and lots of data. While a human child can distinguish between a cat and a dog after seeing a few examples, a computer needs far more.

The most important question is not how a computer arrives at a result, but why. Deep neural networks have had great success lately. However, their structure is so complex that a human cannot understand how they arrived at their answer. How can we then trust the answer? This can also lead to computers being easily fooled where a human would not be. This is something else that we don’t yet understand why. I'm interested in developing algorithms which are self-improving, learning from new data.

The students are my teachers. They ask interesting, challenging questions. It is best to be open, if I do not know the answer, and go on a journey of discovery together. I might not know it, but I surely will find out. Students learn in different ways and I enjoy the challenge to find ways to make a topic accessible. Artificial intelligence makes the headlines often enough to be able to remain topical.

Collaborations are easy if one is willing. A lot of high tech companies working in this field have settled in Cambridge or have opened offices here. Additionally, exciting research is conducted in many departments across Cambridge using machine learning techniques. I enjoy pointing these out to the students who can then see what they have learned in action. 

Have a go, you never know what you might achieve. When I was 15, I took part in a maths competition aimed at pupils two years above me at school, since my brother took part. I placed higher than him. He bore it gracefully. For me, it was a start to more and more opportunities opening up. If you do not try, you cannot succeed. Yes, there is failure, but then one readjusts and carries on. Lately, I have become more interested in post-graduate education in general, policies and procedures, funding and finances. The information is too dispersed, especially for those considering a post-graduate degree. I'm working on linking different sources of information. 

Franklin will leave her role as Director of Investments and Head of Private Equity at Alta Advisers, a London-based investment advisory firm and one of Europe’s leading single family investment offices.

An alumna of Jesus College, Cambridge, Franklin brings an impressive level of financial experience from Alta, private equity firm Apax Partners Ltd, BBC Worldwide and Virgin Management to the role.

Tilly Franklin said: "As an alumna, I’m delighted to be taking on a role at this great University, and helping to support its world-leading research and teaching."

The University’s Endowment Fund supports a wide range of academic and research activities across Cambridge from the world-class Fitzwilliam Museum to scholarships for hundreds of students from around the world and ground-breaking research into chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, to name just two of the many areas of cutting-edge research at Cambridge.

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope, said: “This is a key appointment. Tilly is the ideal person to lead the Endowment Fund into this new era. She brings a wealth of financial experience and a passionate commitment to responsible fund management. We are lucky to have her.”

The Fund has distributed on average about £75 million annually over the last 10 years to help support the University in its mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Franklin will take on the CIO role in a challenging era for fund management, as the world economy transitions towards a more sustainable economic model in the 21^st century. Her presence on the University’s Investment Board for the last five years ensures a continuity of the strategic approach for the Endowment that has provided a framework for success since its creation 10 years ago.

The appointment coincides with the University’s efforts to tackle the fundamental problems facing humanity such as climate change, food security and chronic disease, where the Fund’s contribution plays a vital role in supporting research and scholarship. 

Those efforts also include greater transparency into the Fund’s activities and the appointment of a University-wide Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Officer, who will establish a programme of research into responsible investment, as well as the creation of a Centre for Carbon Futures Initiative determined to tackle the challenges of Climate Change.

The Fund has a number of investors from Cambridge colleges to trusts, whose income furthers the research, learning and teaching for hundreds of University academics and scholars.

The plausible global catastrophic risks include: tipping points in environmental systems due to climate change or mass biodiversity loss; malicious or accidentally harmful use of artificial intelligence; malicious use of, or unintended consequences, from advanced biotechnologies; a natural or engineered global pandemic; and intentional, miscalculated, accidental, or terrorist-related use of nuclear weapons.

Researchers from Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) today release a new report on what governments can do to understand and inform policy around these risks, which could threaten the global population.

The likelihood that a global catastrophe will occur in the next 20 years is uncertain, say the researchers, but the potential severity means that national governments have a responsibility to their citizens to manage these types of risks.

Des Browne, former UK Secretary of State for Defence, said: “National governments struggle with understanding and developing policy for the elimination or mitigation of extreme risks, including global catastrophic risks. Effective policies may compel fundamental structural reform of political systems, but we do not need, nor do we have the time, to wait for such change.

“Our leaders can, and must, act now to better understand the global catastrophic risks that are present and developing. This report offers a practical framework for the necessary action.”

Governments must sufficiently understand the risks to design mitigation, preparation and response measures. But political systems often do not provide sufficient incentives for policy-makers to think about emerging or long-term issues, especially where vested interests and tough trade-offs are at play.

Additionally, the bureaucracies that support government can be ill-equipped to understand these risks. Depending on the issue or the country, public administrations tend to suffer from one or more of the following problems: poor agility to new or emerging issues, poor risk management culture and practice, lack of technical expertise and failure of imagination.

The report provides 59 practical options for how governments can better understand the risks. Ranging from improving risk management practices to developing better futures analysis, to increasing science and research capability, most national governments must take major policy efforts to match the scale and complexity of the problem, say the researchers.

Catherine Rhodes, CSER’s Executive Director, said: “This report gives policy-makers a set of clear, achievable and effective options. Few countries are making efforts to understand these risks, so most governments will be able to draw policy ideas from the report.

“In the UK, the government is ahead of its peers when it comes to conducting national risk assessments, delivering foresight and horizon-scanning and engaging with the academic community. But even it needs new approaches to understand and deal with global catastrophic risks.”

Professor Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and co-founder of CSER, said: “Global problems require global solutions. But countries must also act individually. Without action, these catastrophic risks will only grow over time, whether it be on climate change, ecothreats, synthetic biology or cyber.

“Governments have a responsibility to act, both to minimise the risk of such events, and to make plans to cope with a catastrophe if it occurred. And those that take the initiative will set a positive example for the rest of the world. Protect your citizens and be a world leader – that decision is available to every country.”

The results, published today in Nature, have far-reaching implications for how we understand the ageing process, and how we might develop much-needed treatments for age-related brain diseases.

As our bodies age, our muscles and joints can become stiff, making everyday movements more difficult. This study shows the same is true in our brains, and that age-related brain stiffening has a significant impact on the function of brain stem cells. 

A multi-disciplinary research team, based at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge, studied young and old rat brains to understand the impact of age-related brain stiffening on the function of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). These cells are a type of brain stem cell important for maintaining normal brain function, and for the regeneration of myelin – the fatty sheath that surrounds our nerves, which is damaged in multiple sclerosis (MS). The effects of age on these cells contributes to MS, but their function also declines with age in healthy people.

To determine whether the loss of function in aged OPCs was reversible, the researchers transplanted older OPCs from aged rats into the soft, spongy brains of younger animals. Remarkably, the older brain cells were rejuvenated, and began to behave like the younger, more vigorous cells. 

To study this further, the researchers developed new materials in the lab with varying degrees of stiffness, and used these to grow and study the rat brain stem cells in a controlled environment. The materials were engineered to have a similar softness to either young or old brains.

To fully understand how brain softness and stiffness influences cell behavior, the researchers investigated Piezo1 – a protein found on the cell surface, which informs the cell whether the surrounding environment is soft or stiff.

Dr Kevin Chalut, who co-led the research, said: “We were fascinated to see that when we grew young, functioning rat brain stem cells on the stiff material, the cells became dysfunctional and lost their ability to regenerate, and in fact began to function like aged cells. What was especially interesting, however, was that when the old brain cells were grown on the soft material, they began to function like young cells – in other words, they were rejuvenated.”

“When we removed Piezo1 from the surface of aged brain stem cells, we were able to trick the cells into perceiving a soft surrounding environment, even when they were growing on the stiff material,” explained Professor Robin Franklin, who co-led the research with Dr Chalut. “What’s more, we were able to delete Piezo1 in the OPCs within the aged rat brains, which lead to the cells becoming rejuvenated and once again able to assume their normal regenerative function.”

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, Director of Research at the MS Society, who part funded the research, said: “MS is relentless, painful, and disabling, and treatments that can slow and prevent the accumulation of disability over time are desperately needed. The Cambridge team’s discoveries on how brain stem cells age and how this process might be reversed have important implications for future treatment, because it gives us a new target to address issues associated with aging and MS, including how to potentially regain lost function in the brain.”

This research was supported by the European Research Council, MS Society, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Adelson Medical Research Foundation, Medical Research Council and Wellcome.

Niche stiffness underlies the ageing of central nervous system progenitor cells, M. Segel, B. Neumann, M. Hill, I. Weber, C. Viscomi, C. Zhao, A. Young, C. Agley, A. Thompson, G. Gonzalez, A. Sharma, S. Holmqvist, D. Rowitch, K. Franze, R. Franklin and K. Chalut is published in Nature.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, the University of Essex, the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Natural History Museum London used their machine learning algorithm to test whether butterfly species can co-evolve similar wing patterns for mutual benefit. This phenomenon, known as Müllerian mimicry, is considered evolutionary biology’s oldest mathematical model and was put forward less than two decades after Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

The algorithm was trained to quantify variation between different subspecies of Heliconius butterflies, from subtle differences in the size, shape, number, position and colour of wing pattern features, to broad differences in major pattern groups.

This is the first fully automated, objective method to successfully measure overall visual similarity, which by extension can be used to test how species use wing pattern evolution as a means of protection. The results are reported in the journal Science Advances.

The researchers found that different butterfly species act both as model and as mimic, ‘borrowing’ features from each other and even generating new patterns.

“We can now apply AI in new fields to make discoveries which simply weren’t possible before,” said lead author Dr Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. “We wanted to test Müller’s theory in the real world: did these species converge on each other’s wing patterns and if so how much? We haven’t been able to test mimicry across this evolutionary system before because of the difficulty in quantifying how similar two butterflies are.”

Müllerian mimicry theory is named after German naturalist Fritz Müller, who first proposed the concept in 1878, less than two decades after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Müller’s theory proposed that species mimic each other for mutual benefit. This is also an important case study for the phenomenon of evolutionary convergence, in which the same features evolve again and again in different species.

For example, Müller’s theory predicts that two equally bad-tasting or toxic butterfly populations in the same location will come to resemble each other because both will benefit by ‘sharing’ the loss of some individuals to predators learning how bad they taste. This provides protection through cooperation and mutualism. It contrasts with Batesian mimicry, which proposes that harmless species mimic harmful ones to protect themselves.

Heliconius butterflies are well-known mimics, and are considered a classic example of Müllerian mimicry. They are widespread across tropical and sub-tropical areas in the Americas. There are more than 30 different recognisable pattern types within the two species that the study focused on, and each pattern type contains a pair of mimic subspecies.

However, since previous studies of wing patterns had to be done manually, it hadn’t been possible to do large-scale or in-depth analysis of how these butterflies are mimicking each other.

“Machine learning is allowing us to enter a new phenomic age, in which we are able to analyse biological phenotypes - what species actually look like - at a scale comparable to genomic data,” said Hoyal Cuthill, who also holds positions at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Essex.

The researchers used more than 2,400 photographs of Heliconius butterflies from the collections of the Natural History Museum, representing 38 subspecies, to train their algorithm, called ‘ButterflyNet’.

ButterflyNet was trained to classify the photographs, first by subspecies, and then to quantify similarity between the various wing patterns and colours. It plotted the different images in a multidimensional space, with more similar butterflies closer together and less similar butterflies further apart.

“We found that these butterfly species borrow from each other, which validates Müller’s hypothesis of mutual co-evolution,” said Hoyal Cuthill. “In fact, the convergence is so strong that mimics from different species are more similar than members of the same species.”

The researchers also found that Müllerian mimicry can generate entirely new patterns by combining features from different lineages.

“Intuitively, you would expect that there would be fewer wing patterns where species are mimicking each other, but we see exactly the opposite, which has been an evolutionary mystery,” said Hoyal Cuthill. “Our analysis has shown that mutual co-evolution can actually increase the diversity of patterns that we see, explaining how evolutionary convergence can create new pattern feature combinations and add to biological diversity.

“By harnessing AI, we discovered a new mechanism by which mimicry can produce evolutionary novelty. Counterintuitively, mimicry itself can generate new patterns through the exchange of features between species which mimic each other. Thanks to AI, we are now able to quantify the remarkable diversity of life to make new scientific discoveries like this: it might open up whole new avenues of research in the natural world.”

Reference:
Jennifer F. Hoyal Cuthill et al. ‘Deep learning on butterfly phenotypes tests evolution’s oldest mathematical model.’ Science Advances (2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4967

My sisters and I were the first in our family to go to university so I was very excited to get the chance to study Geological Sciences at Leeds. I’ve always had an interest in the natural world, I loved physical Geography at school and everything just clicked when I studied Geology for A level. It’s such a broad subject, there is always something new to learn and explore, and the fieldwork in amazing, even if the weather is slightly damp!

Volcanology is definitely the coolest bit of geology. Volcanoes are such powerful natural phenomena and there is so much we still don’t know about them. The more we understand about them the better we can be prepared for future eruptions, and we can also help people harness their energy through geothermal exploration.

My fieldwork on the Main Ethiopian Rift was incredibly exciting. I went there several times to collect rock samples and make field observations. It’s such an amazing country. The landscape is awe-inspiring, the food is interesting, and the people so warm and friendly.

There is a strong volcanology community here, despite the clear lack of volcanoes in Cambridgeshire! This has allowed me to learn from lots of different people, experts in their own fields. The knowledge pool here is so diverse, from analogue experiments to gas geochemistry and volcano seismology. The name also carries weight in the international community, increasing interest in my work at conferences and fostering collaborations. Day to day I’m usually at my desk, crunching numbers and stressing over spreadsheets. As a volcanic geochemist, it is really important to collect high-quality chemical data and find interesting patterns. My thesis aims to improve understanding of where magma chambers are and how they behave in continental rifts.

My area of research is a great field to be part of. The Main Ethiopian Rift is part of the larger East African Rift, which is causing the horn of Africa to split away from the rest of the continent. This type of volcanism has not received much research attention, and a lack of literature can be challenging but new discoveries are so exciting. There are well over 50 volcanoes in Ethiopia, some of which have erupted in dramatic fashion and formed vast calderas in the past, and with the second-fastest growing economy in the world, the number of people and infrastructure near to them will increase. I have integrated my work with geophysics to improve volcanic monitoring efforts in the region and aid in geothermal exploration, an increasingly important energy source for Ethiopia.

The best day I’ve had so far was when I learned how to install geophysical equipment in Ethiopia. I’m a complete novice when it comes to geophysics so it was great to learn from an expert. The equipment is used for measuring the electrical conductivity of the Earth. The measurements we carried out can indicate the presence of magma in the Earth and have produced intriguing results that, along with my geochemical knowledge, I’m helping to interpret. It took a whole team of scientists and local people all morning to dig the holes and bury the equipment; there was a real sense of teamwork, even with the language barriers!

I’ve developed a real passion for making science accessible. This was prompted by my experiences as the assistant editor of a history of science book produced by Cambridge University Press. It showed me that there are viable and exciting careers outside of academia, and I am due to start a career in publishing this fall.

A friendly collaborative attitude goes a long way.  So many female scientists I have encountered feel the need to be tough and uber-competitive to survive in what they perceive as a ‘man's world’.  Be kind and stay true to yourself.

After two years of hard work, A-Level students across the country are receiving their results today (15 August). Among them is the next intake of Cambridge undergraduates, whose hard work and dedication has finally been rewarded.

City and Islington College student Chakira Alin, 18, is coming to Cambridge to study English after getting two A*s in Sociology and History, and an A in English Literature.

“I’m so happy because all the stress has paid off, and I got my grades for university," she said. "I felt really apprehensive over the past few days but it’s all done now and I’m delighted."

Director of the Sixth Form College, Peter Murray, added: “Congratulations to all our students and their teachers for the hard work that went into today’s results. More of our students achieved the highest A* grade this year and we know that our highest achieving students have gained entry to some of the most competitive universities such as Cambridge, King’s College and the London School of Economics".

Gower College Swansea student Emma Rowley has secured a place to read Linguistics at Magdalene College – she completed A-Levels in English Literature, Maths and French.

Principal Mark Jones said: “What is particularly great this year is the progression routes of these young people now they are leaving College. While many are heading to top universities across the UK to begin a higher education course, others have chosen to take apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship routes while others are heading straight into employment. At Gower College Swansea, we are delighted to have helped them on their way to whatever progression pathway they are taking.”

Fiorella Gallardo Sarti, 18, who studied A-Levels at The Belvedere Academy in Liverpool, will be the first member of her family to go to university when she takes up her place at Christ's College to study Law. 

She said: "Getting into Cambridge has showed me how hard work and dedication will always pay off. I am so excited to begin my journey there and take advantage of all of the opportunities Cambridge has to offer."

Hasan Nazir and Reuben O'Connell from Beckfoot School in Bingley, near Bradford, are both on their way to Cambridge. Hasan scored two A*s and an A, and will read Medicine; Reuben achieved two A*s and two As and will read Human, Social and Political Sciences.

Mathematician Lewis Gorton, 18, is heading to Cambridge after achieving A*A*A*A in his A-Levels at Nelson and Colne College, Lancashire. He gained his grades in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science.

He said: “I’m delighted with my results and I’m relieved! The idea of going to Cambridge is something that has developed while I have been at Nelson and Colne College and I’m happy to be progressing there.

“I've always been interested in Mathematics and my ultimate ambition is to become a researcher in the field. I’m grateful to NCC for funding additional one to one tutoring for me, which helped me to prepare for Cambridge’s entry exams and supported the development of my problem-solving skills."

Caroline Thurston, who studied her A-Levels at Hunterhouse College in Belfast, has secured a place to study Medicine at Murray Edwards College. 

Principal Andrew Gibson: "Caroline has excelled in her time at Hunterhouse, gaining outstanding results at both GCSE and A Level. Caroline's positivity and generosity of spirit shines through in everything she does and we have all benefited from having her as part of our school community. We wish her the very best for the years ahead and look forward to hearing of her further success."

A Twitter post by London student Meghan Kimani - who got the grades to study Human, Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge - went viral today, attracting thousands of likes and retweets. 

wow so i really did that #alevelresults2019pic.twitter.com/UZOaxbVlEF

— meghan (@meghankimani) 15 August 2019

And students from Brampton Manor, in East Ham, London, will once again be arriving in Cambridge for the start of the new academic year.

Huge congratulations to Trisha who achieved A*A*A and is off to Cambridge to study English. Well done Trisha. pic.twitter.com/EiEm1Z7Om7

— Brampton Manor (@BramptonManor1) August 15, 2019

Ermeyas is heading to Cambridge University to study Computer Science. Huge congratulations Ermeyas - well deserved. #bramptonmanorpic.twitter.com/ctLTYd2ynH

— Brampton Manor (@BramptonManor1) August 15, 2019