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Cambridge Earth Scientist awarded for origins of life research

20 December 2021

Cambridge University astrochemist and experimental physicist Dr Paul Rimmer of the Department of Earth Sciences has been selected to receive the Stanley L. Miller Early Career Award from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life . The award is provided in recognition of his outstanding contributions to...

Photo showing green highlands of New Guinea

New Guinea highlands offer a snapshot of mountain building in action

17 December 2021

New Guinea rests on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is therefore highly vulnerable to natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. One of the most seismically complex areas on Earth, the Island experiences over a hundred earthquakes each year of magnitude five or greater. Although the onset of...

Model illustration showing threads of blue and yellow coming out of Earth

Tank experiments help us understand how terrestrial bodies get their magnetic fields

15 December 2021

Earth’s magnetic field — the invisible shield created by dense liquids churning in Earth’s core — plays a key role in making our planet habitable. Without it, we would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and our atmosphere would, quite simply, float away into space. But how did Earth get its magnetic field, whilst...

Image of group of scientists sat on a stage

Launch of the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe

13 December 2021

11 November 2021 marked the launch of The Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe (IPLU) at Wolfson Hall, Churchill College. The IPLU is an emerging community of researchers investigating life in the Universe, from understanding how it emerged on Earth to examining the processes that could make...

Student spotlight: Madi East on coral reefs and climate change

8 December 2021

Madi East , second-year PhD student at Cambridge Earth Sciences, is on a mission to help coral reefs — which are threatened by human-induced ocean warming — through improving our understanding of how they grow their intricate and varied skeletons. Coral reefs are essential for life on Earth — providing unique ecosystems...

Image of chemicals being made up in a lab

Scientists using miniaturized ball mill close in on the details of ‘green’ chemical reactions

24 November 2021

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a new approach for observing mechanochemical reactions — where simple ingredients are ground up to make new chemical compounds and materials that can be used in anything from the pharmaceutical to metallurgical, cement and mineral industries. The study, published in...

Image showing people standing amid the rubble of destroyed building

Earthquakes without Frontiers: how our research is helping build resilience to seismic hazards

9 November 2021

In 2009 in L’Aquila, a city about 60 miles northeast of Rome, a severe earthquake killed over 300 people and left 60,000 homeless. In 2011 six Italian scientists and a government official were put on trial for manslaughter, with the prosecution alleging they had not properly communicated the risk of such a major earthquake...

Photo showing a woman knelt down at the edge of some ice taking a sample

Cambridge Geoscientist to speak during COP26 panel discussion

4 November 2021

A climate scientist from Cambridge Earth Sciences will feature in a panel discussion at the Arctic Basecamp — an organization committed to bringing the message of Arctic risk to global leaders —during the COP26 summit in Glasgow. The panel discussion, on ‘Climate Risk and Tipping Points in the Polar Regions’, will take...

Image of a desert with sand dunes and sunny sky

A new model could help stall shifting sand dunes, protecting infrastructure and ecosystems

27 October 2021

Cambridge scientists have used downscaled laboratory models to show how sand dunes move through an idealized landscape, revealing the conditions that decide whether they will pass through hurdles in their path – like pipelines or walls – or get stopped in their tracks. The team’s experiment – which featured mock-up...

Image of Dorethea in the lab with two other scientists, they are wearing orange polar gear and sorting through ice cores

Tackling the challenge of melt-affected ice cores

25 October 2021

Dorothea Moser, PhD student at the Department of Earth Sciences and British Antarctic Survey, has led an international team of scientists in new research that addresses the impact of melting on ice cores from Antarctica. Ice cores carry valuable information about how our climate has changed in the past; their annual layers...

Cambridge Earth Scientist awarded for origins of life research

New Guinea highlands offer a snapshot of mountain building in action

Tank experiments help us understand how terrestrial bodies get their magnetic fields

Launch of the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe

Student spotlight: Madi East on coral reefs and climate change

Scientists using miniaturized ball mill close in on the details of ‘green’ chemical reactions

Earthquakes without Frontiers: how our research is helping build resilience to seismic hazards

Cambridge Geoscientist to speak during COP26 panel discussion

A new model could help stall shifting sand dunes, protecting infrastructure and ecosystems

Tackling the challenge of melt-affected ice cores

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