The University of Cambridge’s YouTube channel has reached over 50,000 subscribers and over 10 million views through nearly 700 videos on many aspects of the University’s research and life in Cambridge. From cancer assassins to the energy crisis, and from hopping insects to hidden whales (by way of a large vat of fake snot) – here are your ten favourite Cambridge videos.
10 – The future of energy?
One of the biggest challenges we face today is energy – with skyrocketing demand and the potentially catastrophic impacts of emitting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Three Cambridge academics look at three ways we can cut our CO2 emissions, saying that we must act now in order to avoid the serious risks of man-made global warming.
9 – Airflow across a wing
Aerodynamics expert Professor Holger Babinsky from the Department of Engineering debunks a popular, yet misleading, explanation of how wings lift.
8 – The Garage Laboratory
“What we have here is a giant papier-mâché pink nose, which I feel is always a good start.” Dave Ansell explains why snot is good for your lungs, and how to make electricity from hairy legs.
7 – How many light bulbs? from Cambridge Ideas
Professor David Mackay, author of Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, calculates that the average British person is using 125 lightbulbs’ worth of power every day. In a passionate, personal analysis he presents the real numbers involved in tackling the energy crisis and the alternatives to fossil fuels.
6 – Whale tale: a Dutch seascape and its lost Leviathan
When Shan Kuang from the Hamilton Kerr Institute began work restoring a 17th-century painting, she made a surprising discovery as a mysterious figure started to appear standing on the horizon line.
5 – Mechanical gears in jumping insects
“Grandad, I’ve found these plant-hoppers in my garden!” Professor Malcom Burrows explains how his 5-year-old grandson came to the rescue and helped him make an important discovery. Previously believed to be only man-made, high-speed videos of insects jumping show that evolution developed a functioning gear system long before we did.
4 – The strange new world of nanoscience, narrated by Stephen Fry
Welcome to the nanoscale – where everything behaves strangely. It can take you into atoms and beyond the stars.
3 – Introducing graphene
The world meets graphene (and Mr G) – the first 2-dimensional material, sought after since 1859: light, strong, and with an excellent utility belt.
2 – Killer T cell: the cancer assassin
Inside all of us lurks a serial killer. Cytotoxic T cells patrol our bodies, hunting down and eliminating cancer cells before moving on to their next target. This amazing footage allows us to watch them in action.
1 – Killer T cell attacking cancer
At number one, having reached over one million views, this video shows in detail how a killer T cell of the immune system attacks and destroys a cancer cell.
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From cancer assassins to the energy crisis, and from hopping insects to hidden whales – here are our top 10 most popular videos that helped us reach 10 million views on our YouTube channel.
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